Outre un prologue et une section conclusive, il compte trois parties dont
le contexte liturgique et baptismal est evident. La premiere partie, qui
se conclut par un ≪ Amen ≫,
consiste en une vision du monde superieur en lequel se revele la lumiere ou le
Logos jailli du sein du Père du silence ou du monde inengendre (NHC III
41,7–55,16; IV 50,23–67,1). A partir de ce mouvement, qui en est un
d’autogeneration, se produit une incarnation spirituelle : le texte decrit
ensuite l’union du Verbe et de l’Homme (anthropos), pour former un Logos
humain. Il ne s’agit pas ici de la chair mortelle revetue par le Sauveur, mais
de sa manifestation comme Homme celeste dont chaque baptise porte en lui-meme
l’image ou la puissance lumineuse. C’est Adamas, la forme archetype de l’Homme spirituel,
l’auteur interpretant ainsi le prologue johannique: ≪ Car
(c’est) (lui) Adamas, la
lumiere qui illumine . . . celui par qui tout est arrive, celui pour qui toute
chose existe, celui sans qui rien ne s’est produit ≫ (NHC
III 49,8–12; IV 61,8–14). Comme Philon, l’Evangile egyptien identifijie
l’Homme archetype et le Logos5. Cependant, dans ce dernier, l’Homme celeste,
dont Seth est la manifestation, revet Jesus le vivant au bapteme afijin de se
manifester dans notre monde. La seconde partie relate l’apparition du
monde, qualifijie d’engendre, et la venue du salut par l’institution d’un rite
baptismal de regeneration (NHC III 55,16–66,8; IV 67,2–78,10).
Dans la troisieme partie est decrit un rituel baptismal marque par
un changement de pronoms (NHC III 66,8–68,1; IV 78,10–80,15). De la troisième personne
utilisee jusque la, le recit passe a la premiere et a la seconde : un
narrateur, s’exprimant en ≪ je ≫, vit en tant qu’initie une experience de regeneration par
le bapteme et invoque directement Dieu. Bien que la revelation se deroule de
haut en bas, les deux premieres parties servant de preparation a l’initiation
proprement dite, pour l’initie le chemin est inverse : au cours du bapteme, il
est forme a l’image de l’Homme archetype et contemple le monde celeste du
commencement.
. . .
Le rituel baptismal (III 66,8–68,1; IV
78,10–80,15)
Comme on l’a dit, le theme du bapteme est present tout au long de l’ecrit. A
trois reprises, le monde a ete detruit et regenere. Il l’a d’abord ete de maniere
prefijigurative par l’eau, lors du deluge, et par le feu, lors de l’episode de
Sodome et Gomorrhe. Puis cette regeneration fut accomplie par le bapteme du
Sauveur au moyen d’un corps ne du Logos, un corps logogene, par l’entremise de
la Vierge. Jesus le vivant, qu’a revetu le sauveur celeste, Seth ou le Christ,
est celui qui a cloue les puissances inferieures pour que soient engendres les
saints au moyen de l’Esprit (NHC III 63,4–66,8; IV 74,17–78,10) : epiclese,
renonciation au monde, bain dans l’eau vivante, onction, sceau, illumination,
epoptie et transformation, par la reception d’une forme et du nom,
caracterisent le bapteme. (Anne Pasquier, “Invocation et glorification du Nom
divin dans le Livre sacré du grand Esprit invisible ou Évangile égyptien (NHC
III,2; NHC IV,2),” in Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and
Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices—Studies for Einar Thomassen at
Sixty, ed. Christian H. Bull, Liv Ingeborg Lied, and John D. Turner
[Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 76; Leiden: Brill, 2012], 119-20, 124)
English Translation:
Besides a prologue and a concluding section, it
comprises three parts whose liturgical and baptismal context is evident. The
first part, which ends with an “Amen,” consists of a vision of the higher world
in which the light or the Logos, sprung from the bosom of the Father of Silence
or the Unbegotten World, is revealed (NHC III 41,7–55,16; IV 50,23–67,1). From
this movement, which is one of self-generation, a spiritual incarnation occurs:
the text then describes the union of the Word and Man (anthropos) to form a
human Logos. This is not the mortal flesh assumed by the Savior, but his
manifestation as a heavenly Man whose image or luminous power each baptized
person carries within himself. This is Adamas, the archetypal form of the
spiritual Man, the author thus interpreting the Johannine prologue: “For (it
is) (he) Adamas, the light that illuminates . . . the one by whom everything
has come, the one for whom all things exist, the one without whom nothing
happened.” (NHC III 49,8–12; IV 61,8–14). Like Philo, the Egyptian Gospel
identifies the archetypal Man and the Logos. However, in this latter passage
the heavenly Man, whose manifestation is Seth, clothes Jesus the Living One at
the baptism in order to manifest himself in our world. The second part relates
the appearance of the world, described as engendered, and the coming of
salvation by the institution of a baptismal rite of regeneration (NHC III
55,16–66,8; IV 67,2–78,10).
The third part describes a baptismal ritual marked by a
change of pronouns (NHC III 66,8–68,1; IV 78,10–80,15). From the third person
used up to that point, the narrative shifts to the first and second persons: a
narrator, speaking in the “I,” as an initiate undergoes an experience of
regeneration through baptism and directly invokes God. Although the revelation
unfolds from above downward, the two first parts serving as preparation for the
initiation proper, for the initiate the path is the reverse: during baptism he
is formed in the image of the archetypal Man and contemplates the celestial
world of the beginning.
. . .
The baptismal ritual (III
66,8–68,1; IV 78,10–80,15)
As already noted, the theme of baptism is present
throughout the text. On three occasions the world has been destroyed and
regenerated. First this happened in a prefigurative way by water at the Flood,
and by fire in the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then this regeneration was
accomplished by the Savior’s baptism through a body born of the Logos — a
logogenous body — by means of the Virgin. Jesus the Living One, whom the
heavenly savior (Seth or the Christ) has clothed, is he who has nailed the
inferior powers so that the saints may be begotten by the Spirit (NHC III
63,4–66,8; IV 74,17–78,10): epiclesis, renunciation of the world, bathing in
living water, anointing, sealing, illumination, epopteia (mystical vision), and
transformation — by the reception of a form and of a name — characterize the
baptism.
Another scholar, Robert J. Wilkinson, agrees with Pasquier’s
assessment, He also added some material concerning the reception of the Tetragrammaton
in this text:
A persuasive case has been made
by Anne Pasquier for a liturgical and baptismal context for The Sacred Book
of the Great Invisible Spirit, otherwise known as the Egyptian Gospel (III.2
and IV.2), probably from the 3rd century. It would appear that the initiate in
the act of ritual incarnated in himself the process of transformation of the
Word. It must be admitted that this is a difficult text and I follow Anne
Pasquier’s guidance, only simplifying her rich exposition. The initial
mythology is complicated as we follow emanations from the Supreme God in the
superior world to the Heavenly Man, who unites with the Word to become the
human logos. None of this yet refers to mortal flesh put on by the
Saviour, but to the manifestation of the Heavenly Man, whose image or powerful
light each of the baptized carries in himself. This Heavenly Man is also
equivalent to Seth, who puts on Jesus like a garment in his mission in our world.
The text moves on to the engendering of the world and the arrival of salvation
by baptismal regeneration. Thereafter, the third person is abandoned for the
second, and it would appear that the authorial voice also identifies with the
candidate and speaks as I—as he, as it were, experiences the rite and evokes
God directly. This work seems to represent the Tetragrammaton as IEOUE (where OU
equals one letter w) or in the evocation as IEOUEAO, where use is
made of all of the seven vowels and each letter is repeated four or twenty-two times
(twenty-two is the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet) (Robert J.
Wilkinson, Tetragrammaton: Western Christians and the Hebrew Name of God—From
the Beginnings to the Seventeenth Century [Studies in the History of
Christian Traditions 179; Leiden: Brill, 2015], 165)
One can find an online edition of The Gospel of the
Egyptians (III,2 and IV,2) with introduction and translation by
Alexander Böhlig and Fredrik
Wisse here. This is
the same introduction and translation that appears in The Nag Hammadi
Library: The Definitive Translation of the Gnostic Scriptures Complete in One Volume,
ed. James M. Robinson (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1990), 208-19.
Another work, with a more comprehensive commentary, can be found in Nag
Hammadi Codices III,2 and IV,2: The Gospel of the Egyptians, ed. Alexander
Böhlig and Fredrik Wisse (Nag
Hammadi Studies 4; Leiden: Brill, 1975).
