Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (24 page)

75
Duff,
Who Rides the Beast?
53.

76
Aune,
Revelation 1–5,
vol. 52A, cxxi. For the more traditional view that John here denounces actual Jews, see, for example, Yarbro Collins, “Conflict with Jews,” wherein she states that in John’s letters, “the name ‘Jews’ is denied to the Jewish community in Smyrna … because the followers of Jesus are held to be the true Jews,” in
Crisis and Catharsis,
85ff. Prigent agrees that, for John, “the Jews … are truly a synagogue of Satan … who denounce Christians,” 78–79. Throughout his well-informed and influential commentary, Prigent confidently asserts that when John speaks of Israel, he actually means “Christians”: “In the eyes of the seer,
for whom the people of God is made up of
Christians,
these Jews have obviously ceased deserving to belong to Israel,”
Commentary,
152. Prigent later declares that “for our author, the true Israel,
the only true people of God, are the Christians.” Commentary,
284. (All italics mine.)

77
On the term
Christianoi,
see Philippa Townsend, “Who Were the First Christians? Jews, Gentile, and the
Christianoi
,” in Eduard Iricinschi and Holger M. Zellentin, eds.,
Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity
(Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 212–230.

78
Pliny to Trajan, Letter X, 96.3; Trajan’s reply, Letter X, 97 1–2.

79
Acts 11:26.

80
The church leader Irenaeus, himself a Gentile convert who came from his native city of Smyrna to Gaul, traces the teaching of another group of believers whom John of Patmos despises and calls Nicolitains to a man named Nicolaus, whom the Book of Acts identifies as “a proselyte from Antioch” (Acts 6:5), apparently another Syrian converted to what Paul had preached. As we shall see, it is Ignatius, also a Syrian convert to Paul’s teaching, who is the first, so far as we know, to insist on being called a Christian.

81
Acts 15:20.

82
Romans 11:17–24.

83
Romans 11:18–20; 3:27. See the corrective work of John Gager, who rightly identifies Paul as a first-century Jew, in his book
Reinventing Paul
(Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000).

84
Romans 2:28–29.

85
Romans 9:2–3, to mention only one example. For more citations and an incisive discussion, see Daniel Boyarin,
Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).

86
Romans 9:8.

87
Galatians 3:7, 23–29, 4:21–31.

88
Galatians 6:16.

89
Revelation 3:9.

90
Hans Conzelmann, “Paulus und die Weisheit,” in
New Testament Studies
12: 231–244; Meeks,
The First Urban Christians,
40–50.

91
We do not know the date of Ignatius’ conversion; he may, in fact, have grown up in a Christian family. Historians place his birth date around 50
C.E.
and the date of his death between 98 and 117
C.E.
For a detailed and careful analysis of the evidence, see Christine Trevett,
A Study of Ignatius of Antioch in Syria and Asia
(Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992).

92
Ignatius, Letter to the Romans, IV.

93
The date is debatable, with guesses ranging from 98 to 117. For discussion, see Trevett,
A Study of Ignatius.

94
I Corinthians 12:28.

95
See Akira Satake,
Die Gemeindeordnung in der Johannesapokalypse
(Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany: Neukirchen, 1966); see also Hans-Josef Klauck, who states that John’s silence about priests and bishops “must be deliberate and intensely polemical,” in his article “Das Sendschreiben nach Pergamon und der Kaiserkult,”
Biblica
73 (1992): 153–182; and Pagels, “The Social History of Satan, Part III,” 501–505.

96
Ignatius, Letter to the Trallians, 3.1–3.

97
Revelation 21:14. John says he sees their names inscribed on the twelve foundations of the wall surrounding the New Jerusalem, suggesting that he sees them as founders of the future kingdom.

98
Revelation 2:2.

99
See discussion by Trevett in
A Study of Ignatius,
and also the articles cited in the following note.

100
See Christine Trevett,
Montanism: Gender, Authority, and the New Prophecy
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 23, 142–144; “Prophecy and Anti-Episcopal Activity: A Third Error Combated by Ignatius?”
Journal of Ecclesiastical
History
(1983): 1–18; “Apocalypse, Ignatius, Montanism: Seeking the Seeds,”
Vigiliae Christianae
43 (1989): 313–338.

101
Ignatius, Letter to the Philadelphians, 7.1–2.

102
Mark 1:2–3.

103
I owe the metaphor to Prigent,
L’Apocalypse de Saint Jean
(Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1988), 41.

104
Trevett notes in Ignatius’ letters three allusions to passages in the Hebrew Bible, while Ignatius refers to Paul’s writings dozens of times.

105
Ignatius, Letter to the Philadelphians, 8.1–2.

106
Perhaps the earliest reference to Paul’s letters as part of “the Scriptures” occurs in 2 Peter 3:15–16, probably written in the early or mid–second century. Codices containing Paul’s collected letters began to be circulated in some groups as early as the second to third centuries; the earliest lists that include them as part of a “canonical” collection date to the fourth century, from Eusebius’
History of the Church,
and canon lists from the time of Cyril of Jerusalem; for discussion, see chapter
5
.

107
Ignatius, Letter to the Philadelphians; Letter to the Magnesians, 10.3.

108
Ignatius, Letter to the Magnesians, 10.1.

109
For an incisive and influential discussion of the term as second-century authors used it, see Denise Buell,
Why This New Race? Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2005).

110
Romans 11.1; 2 Corinthians 11:22.

Please note:
Scholars and students are advised to consult the more complete and technical discussion of the material contained in this chapter, previously published as “Anthony’s Letters and
Nag Hammadi Codex 1: Sources of Religious Conflict in Fourth Century Egypt,” by Lance Jenott and Elaine Pagels, in the
Journal of Early Christians Studies
18:4 (2010): 557–589.

1
Norman R. Cohn,
The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1970).

2
Viktor E. Frankl,
Man’s Search for Meaning,
trans. Ilse Lasch (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006), 40–41, 69.

3
Wolfson,
Through a Speculum That Shines: Vision and Imagination in Medieval Jewish Mysticism
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), 29. Note that I am not speaking here of a specific genre of literature, notoriously hard to classify, since scholars often take John’s Book of Revelation as the paradigm of what they define as a “revelation” text—even though it differs from most others in basic ways (it is not, for example, pseudonymously written). For the former discussion, see the influential study by John J. Collins,
The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature
, and the publications of David Hellholm. Note also how David Frankfurter cites Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza: “The very word
apocalypsis
in the earliest Christian texts ‘denotes a visionary ecstatic experience similar to prophecy’ rather than a literary presentation of esoteric knowledge,” in “The Legacy of Jewish Apocalypses in Early Christianity: Regional Trajectories,” in William Adler and James C. Vanderkam, eds.,
The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity
(Assen, Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1996), 135, and his note on terminology on 156; see also Schüssler Fiorenza’s “
Apocalypsis
and
Propheteia
: Revelation in the Context of Early Christian Prophecy,” republished in her book
The Book of Revelation
(Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), 133–156.

4
Zostrianos
3.23–31, NHC VIII, 1,
in
The Coptic Gnostic Library,
ed. J.A. Robinson (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2000; hereafter cited as
CGL
), vol. 4, 36–37.

5
Zostrianos 5.11–13,
NHC VIII, 1,
in
CGL
vol. 4, 39.

6
The Revelation [Apocalypse] of Peter, 72. 5–9, 15–28,
NHC VII, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 4, 222–225.

7
See Bentley Layton’s intriguing article “The Riddle of the Thunder (CG VI,2): The Function of Paradox in a Gnostic Text from Nag Hammadi,” in Charles Hedrick and Robert Hodgeson Jr., eds.,
Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1986), and Anne McGuire,
Valentinus and the Gnostike Hairesis: An Investigation of Valentinus’ Position in the History of Gnosticism,
unpublished dissertation, Yale University, 1983.

8
The Revelation of Ezra, 3.1–3; the citations here, with minor alterations, follow the excellent translation, edition, and commentary by Michael E. Stone,
Fourth Ezra: A Commentary on the Book of Fourth Ezra
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990).

9
I am grateful to Professor Martha Himmelfarb for noting Salathiel’s meaning as a pen name.

10
The Revelation of Ezra, 3.27–32.

11
The Revelation of Ezra, 4.1–5.

12
Job 38:4–7, 19–37.

13
Job 42:1–6.

14
The Revelation of Ezra, 4.12.

15
The Revelation of Ezra, 4.22–24.

16
The Revelation of Ezra, 4.26–6.25.

17
The Revelation of Ezra, 7.29. For discussion, see Stone,
Fourth Ezra,
208–209, 368–69.

18
The Revelation of Ezra, 4.52.

19
The Revelation of Ezra, 7.75–91.

20
The Revelation of Ezra, 5.15–15.

21
The Revelation of Ezra, 5.34ff.

22
The Revelation of Ezra, 9.24–25. See the incisive discussion by Martha Himmelfarb,
Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses
(Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1993),
especially 98–100, 106–107;
The Apocalypse: A Brief History
(Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 55–62, as well as Stone’s edition and commentary cited above.

23
The Revelation of Ezra, 9.38–10.16.

24
For an outstanding review of scholarly discussion of the composition of the text, as well as a fascinating analysis of how the text describes Ezra’s “change of heart,” see Stone,
Fourth Ezra,
especially 11–47, 302–331.

25
The Revelation of Ezra, 10.26–54. See also Stone’s discussion and comparison with John of Patmos’ account of the holy city of Jerusalem.

26
The Revelation of Ezra, 14:38–41.

27
The Revelation of Ezra, 14:44–47.

28
We can see that this book was widely read by Christians in antiquity; Irenaeus seems to have known the book, or much of its contents. Of the thirteen volumes found at Nag Hammadi, each containing a number of ancient texts, three include copies of the Secret Revelation of John. A fourth copy survives in the socalled Berlin Codex 8502, 2. For discussion of the textual evidence, along with parallel transcription of the texts, with translation and commentary, see Michael Waldstein and Frederik Wisse,
The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II, 1; III, 1, and IV, 1, with BG 8502, 2
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1995), 1–8. For a more recent translation, along with scholarly discussion, see Karen L. King,
The Secret Revelation of John
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), and for a fascinating discussion of the Secret Revelation in relation to Irenaeus’ critique, see her “Social and Theological Effects of Heresiological Discourse,” in Eduard Iricinschi and Holger M. Zellentin, eds.,
Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity
(Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), 28–49.

29
The Secret Revelation [Apocryphon] of John,
II.1.3–2.4, NHC II, 1,
in
CGL
vol. 2, 13–19.

30
To see how scholars disagree on the translation of this passage, compare, for example, the translation by Michael Waldstein and Frederick Wisse in
The Coptic Gnostic Library,
vol. 2, 17; Karen L. King,
The Secret Revelation of John,
27; and Zlatko Plese,
The Apocryphon of John: Narrative, Cosmology, Composition,
Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1996, 28ff.

31
The Secret Revelation of John,
NHC II, 2, 2–6; 6, 14;
see, for example,
CGL
vol. 2, 17–35, 85, 113. Note that the version transmitted in Codex II often uses the term “Mother-Father,” while other versions (Codex III and the Berlin Codex, for example) differ. For discussion of gendered language, see King,
Secret Revelation,
125–136.

32
The Secret Revelation of John,
NHC II, 25, 1–15,
in
CGL
vol. 2, 147.

33
The Secret Revelation of John,
NHC II,
26.6–7, in
CGL
vol. 2, 151. Note: I have offered here a slightly different translation of the Coptic
rome nim
as “every human being” (instead of “every man”).

34
The Secret Revelation of John,
NHC II, 31, 9,
in
CGL
vol. 2, 175. Here, too, I have offered a freer translation of the Coptic phrase that speaks of the “immovable race,” in order to convey its meaning, as interpreted by Michael Williams in his influential monograph
The Immovable Race: A Gnostic Designation and the Theme of Stability in Late Antiquity
(Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1995).

35
The Secret Revelation of James, 1.9–2.15,
NHC I, 1; CGL
vol. 1, 28–31 (here, too, minor alterations in the translation).

36
Acts 1:9–10.

37
The Secret Revelation of James, 2.20–26,
NHC I, 1, CGL
vol. 1, 30–31.

38
The Secret Revelation of James, 9.1–9,
NHC I, 1,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 40–43.

39
The Secret Revelation of James, 6.19–20,
NHC I, 1,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 36–37.

40
The Secret Revelation of James, 15.6–29,
NHC I, 1,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 50–53.

41
For a discussion of ascent as exemplified in
NHC XI, 3,
the text called Allogenes, in relation to the pattern of ascent described by Plato and taught by his disciple Plotinus, see Karen L. King,
Revelation of the Unknowable God
:
With Text
,
Translation
,
and Notes to NHC XI, 3 Allogenes
(Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 1995: 9–16, and also the brilliant essay by John Turner, which compares philosophical and Jewish practices of ascent, “The Gnostic Threefold Path to Enlightenment: The Ascent of Mind and the Descent of Wisdom,” in
Novum Testamentum
22 (1980), 324–35. For a discussion of Jewish apocalyptic practice in light of psychoanalytic perspectives, see Dan Merkur, “The Visionary Practices of Jewish Apocalyptists,” in
Psychoanalytic Study of Society
14 (1989), 119–148.

42
For an early study of these dialogues, see Pheme Perkins,
The Gnostic Dialogue: The Early Church and the Crisis of Gnosticism
(New York: Paulist Press, 1980).

43
Matthew 18:20.

44
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul, A.1.5–B.29,
NHC I, A–B,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 8–9. The Secret Revelation of James is bound into the same volume, which scholars call Codex I, as the first of five writings. For discussion of this text, see chapter
5
, pages 149–153.

45
The Dialogue of the Savior, 135.28–136.3,
NHC III, 5,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 70–71.

46
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies,
I.13.2.

47
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies,
I.20.1. For a discussion of the evidence that Irenaeus read this work or another with similar
content, see Karen L. King,
The Secret Revelation of John,
17, and especially her article on the topic cited in note 28.

48
The Dialogue of the Savior, 139.53,
NHC III, 5,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 78–79.

49
The Gospel of Truth, 17.5–20,
NHC I, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 82–83.

50
The Gospel of Truth, 42.11–20,
NHC I, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 1, 116–117.

51
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, 52.2–6,
NHC VI, 6,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 346–347.

52
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, 52.6–7,
NHC VI, 6,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 346–347; 55.4–17, in
CGL
vol. 3, 352–353.

53
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, 57.30–58.17,
NHC VI, 6,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 356–361.

54
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, 59.24–61.15
, NHC VI, 6,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 362–367.

55
Allogenes, 52.8–12,
NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 206–207. For the sake of consistency, I continue to cite the text and translation in Robinson’s
The Coptic Gnostic Library;
see also the excellent text and translation, with commentary and introduction, by King,
Revelation of the Unknowable God.

56
Allogenes, 56.15–20
, NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 214–215; note that the text is broken here and partially reconstructed, and I have slightly altered the translation.

57
Allogenes, 57.26–31,
NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 217.

58
Allogenes, 59.26–60.8,
NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 220–223.

59
Allogenes, 59.36ff.,
NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 222–225.

60
Allogenes, 68.25–31,
NHC XI, 3,
in
CGL
vol. 5, 238–239.

61
The Greek term
teleios,
often translated “perfect,” connotes what is “full, complete, mature.”

62
Gospel of John 12:28–30.

63
Thunder, Perfect Mind, 13.1–14.2,
NHC VI, 2,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 234–237; cf. Layton, “The Riddle of the Thunder,” and also Anne McGuire’s discussion in
Searching the Scriptures, Vol. 2: A
Feminist Commentary,
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, ed. (New York: Herder & Herder, 1994), 39–54.

64
Thunder, Perfect Mind, 16.6–17.25,
NHC VI, 2,
in
CGL
vol. 3, 240–243.