Apocryphal "Dialogus Iohannis cum Iesu" (CApNT 27) as a Gnostic Reinterpretation of Patriarchal Story and a Commentary to Hebr. 7:3

Rafał Zarzeczny

Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawie Collegium Bobolanum , Poland


Abstract

This article contains Polish translation and commentary to an apocryphal Gnostic text known as Dialogus Johannis cum Iesu (CApNT 27). The fragmental Coptic manuscript from the Deir el-Bala’izah collection (IV/V century A.D.) is the unique known testimony of this document. The text has a form of dialog between John the Apostle and the Risen Christ or some celestial messenger on creation and story of antediluvian patriarchs. Document reveals a particular similitude with other Gnostic texts, especially the Apocryphon of John from the Nag Hammadi library. It conserves the fragment of Hebr. 7:3, which probably received a large explanation in original document. The speculation on biblical personages, especially on Melchisedek, appears to be an important element in this text. The placement of Melchisedek’s name immediately after the name of Noah may suggests the identification of Melchisedek with Shem, the Noah’s son. Similar motif is known to us from the Jewish and ancient Christian literature, for instance the targumic elaborations of Genesis and the Syriac apocryphal text called Cave of Treasures (Spelunca thesaurorum).

Keywords:

Dialogus Johannis cum Iesu, gnosticism, Melchisedek, Letter to the Hebrews, interpretation

Ambrosius, De fide, CSEL 78, tłum. I. Bogaszewicz: Św. Ambroży, O wierze, Warszawa 1970
Ambrosius, De sacramentis
Barc B., La taille cosmique d’Adam dans la litterature juive rabbinique dans trois premiers siecles apres J.C., RevSR 49 (1975) nr 3, 173-185
Bianchi U., L’Ascensione d’Isaia. Tematiche soteriologiche di descensus-ascensus, w: M. Pesce (wyd.), Isaia, ii Diletto e la Chiesa, Brescia 1983, 155-178
Bohlig A., Der Judenchristliche Hintergrund in gnostischen Schriften von Nag Hammadi, w: Mysterion und Wahrheit, Leiden 1968
Coquin R.G. - Martin M., Dayr al-Bala’yzah, w: A.S. Atiya (red.), The Coptic Encyclopedia, t. 3, New York 1991
Crum W.E., Coptic Anecdota. I: A Gnostic Fragment, JTS 44 (1943)
Cyrillus Alexandrinus, Homilia II de Melchisedech (aethiop.), w: B.M. Weischer (ed.), Qerellos, t. IV/3, Wiesbaden 1980
Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Catechesis
Danielou J., Teologia judeochrześcijańska. Historia doktryn chrześcijańskich przed Soborem Nicejskim, tłum. S. Basista, Kraków 2002
Dembska A. - Myszor W., Podręczny słownik koptyjsko-polski, Warszawa 1996
Efrem, Commentarius in Genesin
Epiphanius, Panarion, GCS 31
Eusebius, Demonstratio evangelica
Fedwick P.J., Bibliotheca Basiliana Universalis, II 2, Tumhout 1996
Funk W.P. - Mahe J.P.- Gianotto C., Melchisedek (NHIX,1). Oblation, bapteme et vision dans la gnose sethienne (BCNH Textes, 28), Qućbec - Paris 2001, tłum. poi. W. Myszor: Melchizedek (NHC IX,1), STV 24 (1986) 209-226
Geerard M., Clavis Apocryphorum Novi Testatmenti: Dialogus lohannis cum Iesu (fragmenta coptica), Tumhout 1992
Harnack A., Chronologische Berechnung des Tags von Damaskus, Berlin 1912
Helderman J., Die Bundeslade kibotós. Ihre Geschichte ais eine Metapher in der Umwelt der Manichaer, w: L. Cirillo - A. van Tongerloo (wyd.), Atti del terzo congresso interna-zionale di studi Manicheismo e Oriente cristiano antico, Louvain 1997, 125-148
Helmbold A.K., Gnostic Elements in the 'Ascension of Isaiah’, NTS 18 (1972)
Hieronim, Epsitula
Hieronim, Lib. ąuaest. hebr. in Gen., PL 23
Homer G.W., The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Northern Dialect Otherwise Called Memphitic and Bohairic, with Introduction, Critical Apparatus, and Literal English Trans-lation, vol. 3, Osnabriick 1969
Horton F.L., The Melchizedek Tradition. A critical examination of the sources to the Fifth Century A.D. and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Cambridge 1976
Ignatius Antiochaenus, Epistula ad Ephesios, SCh 10
Ignatius Antiochaenus, Epistula ad Magnesios, SCh 10
Irenaeus, Adversus haereses, SCh 264
Józef Flawiusz, Antiquitates
Justinus, Dialogus cum Tryphone Iudaeo
Kahle P.E., Bala’izah. Coptic Textsfrom Deir el-Bala’izah in Upper Egypt, t. 1, London 1954
Konstytucje apostolskie
Lampe G.W.H., A Patristic Greek Lexikon, Oxford 1961
Liber apis, ed. E.A.W. Budge, The Book of the Bee, Oxford 1886
Liber Scholiorum, CSCO 69
Lilia S., Sigillo, w: A. di Berardino (red.), Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichita cristiane, t. 3, Genova - Milano 2008
Manzi F., Melchisedech e Tangelologia nell'Epistola agli Ebrei e a Qumran (AnBibl 136), Roma 1997
Marcus Eremita, De Melchisedech, SCh 455
Massi P., Abel, Abramo e Melchisedech nel Canone, RivLit 53 (1966) 593-605
McNamara M., Melchisedek: Gen 14, 17-20 in the Targums, in Rabbinic and Early Christian Literature, „Biblica” 72 (2000) 1-31
Meliton z Sardes, Homilia paschalis, PSP 45
Menard J.E., Le traite de Melchisedek de Nag Hammadi, RevSR 64 (1990) nr 3-4
Myszor W., Apokryf Jana (NHC II, 1), ŚSHT 35 (2002) 73-89
Myszor W., Melchizedek w tekstach gnostyków, STV 22 (1984) nr 1
Newsom C.A., Songs of Sabbath Sacrifice. A Critical Edition, Atlanta 1985
Orbe A., Cristologia gnóstica. Intro-ducción a la soteriologla de los siglos II y II, II, Madrid 1976
Origenes, In Genesim hom., PSP 31/1
Parsons M.C., Son and High Priest. A Study in the Christology of Hebrew, EQ 60 (1988) 195-216
Pearson B.A., The Figure of Melchizedek in Gnostic Literature, w: Gnosticism, Judaism and Egyptian Christianity, Minneapolis 1990
Pistis Sophia, NHC 9, Leiden 1978
Ps-Basilius, Homilia de iudicio extremo et templo Salomonis coptice (CPG 2966), ed. E.A.W. Budge, Coptic homilies in the dialect of Upper Egypt, London 1910
Ps.-Hippolytus, Refutatio, PG 16
Ps.-Tertullianus, Adversus omnes haereses, PSP 29
Rubinkiewicz R., Apokryfy Starego Testamentu, Warszawa 1999
Rudolf K., Gnoza. Istota i historia pófnoantycznej formacji religijnej, tłum. G. Sowiński, Kraków 1995
Rudolph K., Der gnostische Dialog ais literarisches Genus, w: P. Nagel (wyd.), Probleme der koptischen Literatur, Halle-Wittenberg 1968, 85-107
Schenke H.M., Die jiidische Melchisedek- Gestalt ais Thema der Gnosis, w: W. Troger (red.), Altes Testament - Friihjudentum - Gnosis. Neue Studien zu Gnosis und Bibel, Berlin 1980
Sed N., La mystique cosmologique juive (Etudes Juives 16), Paris 1981
Sevrin J.M., Le dossier baptismal sethien, Quebec 1986
Siegert F., Nag-Hammadi-Register (WUNT, 26), Tubingen 1982
Simon M., Melchisedech dans la polemiąue entre juifs et chretiens et dans la legende, w: Recherches d’histoire judeo-chretienne, Paris 1962
Su-Min Ri A., Commentaire de la Caveme des tresors. Etude sur 1’histoire du texte et de ses sources, CSCO 581/ subs. 103, Louvain 2000
Tertullianus, Adversus Iudaeos
Testa E., La figura di Noe secondo i SS. Padri. Contributo alla storia delfesegesi, SBF LA 20 (1970) 138-165
Thompson H., The Coptic Version of the Acts of the Apostles and Pauline Epistles in the Sahidic Dialect, Cambridge 1932
Till W.C., Zu den koptischen Texten aus Bala’izah, „Orientalia” 25 (1956) 384-403
Trumpp E., Der Kampf Adams, Munchen 1881
Turner J.D., Sethian gnosticism and theplatonic tradition (BCNH Etudes 6), Quebec - Louvain - Paris 2001
Turner J.D., Typologies of the Sethian Gnostic Treatises from Nag Hammadi, w: L. Painchaud — A. Pasąuier, Les Textes de Nag Hammadi et le probleme de leur classification (BCNH Etudes 3), Quebec - Louvain - Paris 1995
Vanhoye A., La lettre aux Hćbreux. Jesus-Christ mediateur d’une alliance nouvelle, Paris 2002
Vanhoye A., Pretres anciens, Pretre nouveau selon le Nouveau Testament, Paris 1980
Waldstein M. - Wisse F., The Apocryphon of John. Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II, 1; III, 1; and IV, 1 with BG 8520, 2 (NHMS, 33), Leiden - New York - Koln 1995
Widengren G., Synkretismus in der syrischen Christenheit, w: A. Dietrich (ed.), Synkretismus im syrisch-persischen Kulturgebiet, Góttingen 1975, 38-64
Wilson M.R., Gnosis and the New Testament, Philadelphia 1968
Zachariasz Retor, Historia ecclesiastica, CSCO 83
Zarzeczny R., Melchizedek w literaturze wczesnochrześcijańskiej i gnostyckiej, Katowice
Zarzeczny R., Pneumatologia Hierakasa z Egiptu na tle apokryficznego Wniebowstąpienia Izajasza i starożytnych tradycji melchizedekiańskich, VoxP 26 (2006), t. 49, 735-748

Published
2007-06-15


Zarzeczny, R. (2007). Apokryficzny "Dialogus Iohannis cum Iesu" (CApNT 27) jako gnostycka reinterpretacja dziejów patriarchów i komentarz do Hbr 7, 3. Vox Patrum, 50, 291–306. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.6692

Rafał Zarzeczny 
Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawie Collegium Bobolanum



License

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.