# Untitled Text > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Untitled_Text > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Untitled_Text.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Text > Source revision: 1292442049 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Gnostic text}} {{Gnosticism}} {{italic title}} The '''''Untitled Text'''''{{cite journal |last1=Schmidt |first1=Carl |title=The Untitled Text |journal=The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex |date=1 July 1978 |pages=213–317 |doi=10.1163/9789004438866_004 |isbn=9789004057548 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004438866/BP000004.xml |access-date=25 February 2023|url-access=subscription }}{{cite web |title=The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex |url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/untitl.htm |website=The Gnostic Society Library |access-date=25 February 2023}} in the [Bruce Codex](/source/Bruce_Codex)—also called the '''''Untitled Treatise''''',{{cite journal |last1=Muehlberger |first1=Ellen |title=Preserving the Divine: αὐτο-Prefixed Generative Terms and the "Untitled Treatise" in the Bruce Codex |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |date=2011 |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=311–328 |doi=10.1163/157007211X543040 |jstor=41291358 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41291358 |access-date=25 February 2023 |issn=0042-6032|url-access=subscription }} the '''''Untitled Apocalypse''''',{{cite book |last1=Lamplugh |first1=F. |title=The Gnôsis of the Light: A Translation of the Untitled Apocalypse Contained in the Codex Brucianus, with Introduction and Notes |date=1918 |publisher=J. M. Watkins |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Po8wAQAAMAAJ |access-date=25 February 2023 |language=en}} and '''''The Gnosis of the Light'''''—is a [Gnostic](/source/Gnosticism) text. When [James Bruce](/source/James_Bruce) acquired the codex in [Egypt](/source/Egypt) in 1769,{{cite web |last1=Krause |first1=Martin |title=Bruce, James (1730-1794) |url=https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/cce/id/383/rec/5 |website=The Coptic encyclopedia, volume 2 |publisher=Claremont Graduate University. School of Religion |access-date=25 February 2023 |language=en}} "very little knowledge" was available about this period of Gnostic [Christianity](/source/Christianity). It was one of the few known surviving Gnostic works until the discovery of the [Nag Hammadi library](/source/Nag_Hammadi_library) in 1945.{{cite web |title=Classical Gnostic Scriptures and Fragments |url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/gs.htm |website=The Gnostic Society Library |access-date=25 February 2023}} [Carl Schmidt](/source/Carl_Schmidt_(Coptologist)) described the text's author as having "full knowledge of [Greek philosophy](/source/Ancient_Greek_philosophy)" and being "full of the doctrine of the [Platonic](/source/Platonism) ideas." ==Background== James Bruce purchased the Bruce Codex near [Medinet Habu](/source/Medinet_Habu), [Upper Egypt](/source/Upper_Egypt), around 1769.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|p=IX}} It contained text in [Coptic](/source/Coptic_alphabet), [Arabic](/source/Arabic_script), and [Geʽez](/source/Ge%CA%BDez_script).{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|p=IX}} [Carl Gottfried Woide](/source/Carl_Gottfried_Woide) transcribed the entire codex in 1776.{{sfn|Crégheur|2017|p=398}} The [Bodleian Library](/source/Bodleian_Library) obtained the codex in 1848, and in 1886 they [bound](/source/bookbinding) the texts together.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|pp=IX, XI}} Between Woide's transcription of the codex and the 1970s, seven leaves disappeared altogether, and there is significant damage throughout the manuscripts.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|pp=X–XI}} Among the texts in the Bruce Codex were the ''Untitled Text'' and the [Books of Jeu](/source/Books_of_Jeu). The manuscript in the Bruce Codex is a [Coptic](/source/Coptic_language){{cite journal |last1=Crégheur |first1=Eric |title=The Manuscript and the Coptic Text of the Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex |journal=Chronique d'Égypte |date=July 2017 |volume=92 |issue=184 |pages=397–407 |doi=10.1484/J.CDE.5.115214 |url=https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.CDE.5.115214 |access-date=25 February 2023|url-access=subscription }} translation of an older [Greek](/source/Greek_language) original. The existing Coptic manuscript of the ''Untitled Text'' probably dates to around 350 CE, and an original Greek manuscript may date to the late third century.{{sfn|Crégheur|2017|p=401}} It is written in the [Sahidic](/source/Sahidic) dialect.{{sfn|Crégheur|2017|p=405}} It contains 31 [leaves](/source/leaf_(books)) in [uncial script](/source/uncial_script) on dark, reddish [papyrus](/source/papyrus), including eight fragmentary leaves and four missing leaves.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|p=XI}} There are five leaves that do not clearly correspond with any portions of the text, so they have been variously placed by editors at the beginning or end of the text.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|p=XII}} The text may be several texts compiled together; in {{harvnb|Schmidt|1978}}'s edited sequence, chapter 21 is possibly a different version of the text that recounts the same stories as earlier chapters.{{sfn|Schmidt|1978|p=XIII}} ==Summary== The opening of the text describes the First Father as the king of unassailables and the first source who cannot be understood. He gave form to the All within himself and is the source of all. The [demiurge](/source/demiurge) is the Father of the All and oversees the [aeons](/source/Aeon_(Gnosticism)), which are a crown upon his head. The Father creates through the breath of his mouth and commands the All, creating the holy [Pleroma](/source/Pleroma) with four gates. There are many beings and rulers in the Pleroma, including the forefather, [Adam](/source/Adam), and the perfect mind. The indivisible one has three aspects and contains an only-begotten one with triple powers. The immeasurable deep has a table with three greatnesses and a sonship called [Christ](/source/Jesus) the Verifier with twelve aspects and twelve sources called rational sources. The text describes the deep of Setheus, which has twelve fatherhoods with three aspects each. The only-begotten one is hidden within Setheus and has twelve fatherhoods in his right hand and thirty powers in his left, giving light to the aeons. The [monad](/source/Monad_(philosophy)) has twelve monads, ten decads, nine [ennead](/source/ennead)s, and seven hebdomads. The only-begotten [God](/source/God) is in the monad, which is in Setheus. The creative [Word](/source/Logos_(Christianity)) commands the All to work, and the grace of the aeons of the light was granted to some and taken away from others. Watchers were sent to helpers to those who believed in the light-spark. The text describes the indivisible one's crown, which contains every species and [gnosis](/source/gnosis) and gives power to every power, [prayed](/source/Prayer) for by all the [immortal](/source/Immortality) ones. The god-begetting land is described, where all powers receive crowns upon their heads, and the Paralemptores (receivers) are known by the crowns upon their heads. The only-begotten one hidden in the indivisible one commands twelve beneficent ones with crowns upon their heads who bless the only-begotten king and receive the unfading crown. There are multiple enneads and fatherhoods, each with their own rules and monads. The immeasurable deep, surrounded by 365 fatherhoods, is where the [year](/source/year) was divided. The text describes the roles of an all-visible being and a mother figure in assigning rank and bestowing crowns to believers. The mother figure sets up the self-father and the protogenitor son, who is given the power to create worlds and an aeon called imperishability and [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem). The father of the all sends a crown and an ineffable [garment](/source/Clothing) to the protogenitor, who gives light to all and gathers them into the form of a veil. The text also explores the concept of the existent being separated from the non-existent, and the mother is placed as head with purifying powers and a hidden all-womb. The forefather is given the authority of fatherhood, powers to make all things live and perish, and a power out of the aeon called Solmistos. The text describes the forefather's powers, which were given to him in the aeon of the mother, and his creation of a great aeon, where he placed all the powers he received. He wished to turn the All towards the hidden Father and cried out for his children to bring forth Christ. The mother established her first-born son, gave him hosts of [angel](/source/angel)s and [archangel](/source/archangel)s, twelve powers to serve him, and a garment containing all bodies. The protogenitor divided all matter, raised up myriad kinds, and gave law to them to love and honor God. The mother of the All, forefather, self-father, protogenitor, and powers of the aeon of the mother sang a great song of praise and blessing to the One Alone, praying for ranks and [ordinance](/source/Ordinance_(Christianity))s for their offspring, while those who fled from the matter of the aeon received praise, joy, and knowledge of the true God. The text describes the prayer of the mother to the infinite and unknowable one who sends a power from the Man they desire to see, the Lord of Glory. He separates matter into two parts, the land of life and the land of death, and grants eternal life and immortality to those who [worship](/source/worship) him. The beings begotten of matter rejoice in their existence and pray for authority to create their own aeons and worlds. God sends powers of discernment to establish ranks and create a dwelling place, which is described as a place of repentance and immersion in the name of the self-begotten one who is God over them. Within this dwelling place are the aeons of the [Sophia](/source/Sophia_(Gnosticism)), truth, and the pre-existent living Jesus, and powers are placed over the [living water](/source/living_water) to purify those who come to this dwelling place. ==Analysis== While many scholars place the ''Untitled Text'' in the [Sethian](/source/Sethianism) school of Gnosticism, it was likely written after other Sethian works and has influences from [Valentinianism](/source/Valentinianism) (such as two divine mothers).{{cite journal |last=Brakke |first=David |title=The body as/at the boundary of gnosis |journal=[Journal of Early Christian Studies](/source/Journal_of_Early_Christian_Studies) |volume=17 |issue=2 |date=2009 |pages=195–214 |doi=10.1353/earl.0.0256|s2cid=170605465 }} The writing has a significant amount of similarities with ''[Zostrianos](/source/Zostrianos)'',{{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=Dylan M. |title=The Embroidered Bible: Studies in Biblical Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in Honour of Michael E. Stone |date=27 November 2017 |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-35721-1 |pages=285–300 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1IJ1DwAAQBAJ&q=9789004357211 |access-date=25 February 2023 |language=en}} an apocalyptic and [neoplatonist](/source/neoplatonism) text found near Nag Hammadi.{{sfn|Burns|2017|pp=286–288}} The similarities are so substantial—their shared descriptions of Aeons, of celestial "judges", of [Michar and Micheau](/source/Micheus%2C_Michar%2C_and_Mnesinous), and occasional identical wording—that scholar Dylan M. Burns writes that the texts demonstrate "literary dependence, although its direction cannot be ascertained".{{sfn|Burns|2017|p=300}} It also shares theological similarities with [Numenius of Apamea](/source/Numenius_of_Apamea), particularly Numenius's conception of a second god, which was common in late Platonist philosophy.{{sfn|Muehlberger|2011|pp=322–323}} ==References== {{Reflist}} Category:4th-century Christian texts Category:Coptic literature Category:Gnostic texts Category:Sethian texts --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Untitled Text](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Text) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Text?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.