,I;' ...

'itn_ absolute·gold mine ~f

the literature of ,Gnosticism."
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C

1.'

rari

REVISED EDITION

Tbe definitive new

translation of the Gnostic scriptures,
complete in one volume f

James M. Robinson
General Editor
 THE THREE STELES OF SETH (VII,5)
Introduced by
JAMES E. GOEHRING

Tra,:islated by
JAMES M. ROBINSON

The Three Ste/es of Seth offers a rare view into the worship practice of a Gnos-
tic Sethian community. These Gnostics identified their teachings with the primal
revelation of God to Aclam, which had passed through Seth to his descendants
(The Apocalypse of Adam, V,5). Lost and forgotten for ages, this Sethian gnosis
had been revealed anew in the latter days. The recipients of this renewed reve-
lation understood themselves as "the living and unshakable race" (118,12-13),
the true latter-day descendants of Seth (hence the modern label,of Sethian Gnos-
ticism). The Three Ste/es of Seth is presented as part of this latter-day revelation,
in this case to-Dositheos, the supposed Samaritan ,founder of Gn,osticism.
The text, which shows no Christian influence, is indebted to Jewish and Neo-
platonic traditions. In Genesis, Seth marks a new beginning after the tragic con-
flict between Cain and Abel (Gn 3:25-5:8). Appointed by God to replace Abel,
he is a son in the likeness of his father Adam, as Adam is in the likeness of God.
It is in his time that "men began to call upon the name of the Lord." According
to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus (Ant. 1,67-71), Seth's descendants
continued to follow his godfearing ways for seven generations, after which they
too fell into a life of depravity. During this time, they preserved and added to
the knowledge transmitted by Adam to Seth. Forwarned of impending divine
judgements by water and fire, they preserved this knowledge-for future genera-
tions on two steles, one of stone to survive the flood and one of brick to survive
the fire. ·
This legend accounts for the presentation of the present text as the content of
steles attributed to Seth (cf. Zost. 130,1-_4 and Gos. Eg. 68,10-23). The expansion
from the original two steles in the Jewish legend to three represents the influence
of Neoplatonic conceptions of the divine triad. The three steles or hymnic prayers
of th~ present text are addressed in ascending order to the threefold nature of
god: the Selfbegotten Son, the male virgin Barbelo (mother), and the Unbegotten
Father.
Ecstatic trips through the heavens are well attested in Sethian Gnosticism. The
Sethian tractates Zostrianos and A/logenes record such journeys by the seers for
which the texts were named. These accounts, however, record what was revealed
to the seer in his ascent. The invocations of the seer to the divine triad are only
noted in passing, as when Zostrfanos affirms, "I joined with them all and blessed
the Kalyptos aeon and the virgin Barbelo and the Invisible Spirit. I became all-
perfect." In The Three Ste/es. of Seth these blessings or hymnic prayers are re-
corded in full.

A
p

' THE THREE STELES OF SETH (vrr,5) 397

' .
Since Allogenes may be interpreted as another name for Seth, both tractates
may commemorate the ascent of the community's primal ancestor to tne divine
triad. However, while A/logenes records for edification what was revealed to the
seer, The Three Ste/es of Seth preserves the invoc~tions of the seer as a prototype
to serve the latter-day Sethian community in its liturgical reenactment of his as-
cent. While the hymnic prayers are set ·forth in the tractate as prayers of Seth,
first person plural references in the text (e.g. 124,17-18) betray the use of the
prayers in the worship practice of the community. The text has led Hans Martin
Schenke to posit the existence of a Sethian mystery of ascension. The three sub-
divisions of the text thus correspond to the three stages or levels in the worship-
pers' ascent to the threefold nature of god, since at the conclusion of the tractate
one must return from the third back down to the se~ond and first.
Neoplatonic philosophical \erminology abounds in the text, especially the
Existence-Life-Mind triad in the deity. The terminology is also found in the relat-
ed tractates of Zostrianos, Allogenes, and Marsanes, which together form a
cluster of Sethian Gnostic texts with close ties to Neoplatonism. Zostrianos.and
Allogenes are both mentioned by Porphyry in his Life of Plotinus as texts refuted
by Plotinus, who taught a course "Against the Gnostics" in 265-266 C.E. Thus
a dating for this stage of Sethian Gnosticism and therefore for The Three Ste/es
oJ Seth is suggested. Provenience is uncertain, though the philosophical nature
of the text would be much at home in Alexandria, Egypt. . I

The scribal no.t eat the end of the text (127,28-32) has been variously interpret-
ed as applying to The Three Ste/es of Seth alone or to the codex as a whole.

THE THREE STELES OF SETH

vn 118, 10-121, 21
127, 28-32
I
The revelation of Dositheos I about the three steles of Seth, the
I
Father of the living I and unshakabie race, which he (Dositheos) 'saw
I
and understood. 15 And after he had read them, he remembered them. 20
I
And he gave them I to the elect, just I as they w~re inscribed there.
Many times I joined in I giving glory with the powers, and I became
1
worthy of the I immeasurable majesties.
Now they (the steles) are as. follows: .
'

The First 25
Stele of Seth.
1
I bless I thee, Father Geradama(s), I, 1 as thine (own) Son, Emma-
30
cha Seth, whom thou didst beget I without begetting, as a blessing of
our God; for I am I thine (own) Son. And thou 119 art my mind, O my
 398 THE NAG HAMMAD! LIBRARY IN ENGLISH

Father. And I I, I sowed and begot; 1 [but] thou hast [seen] the ma-
5
jesties. 1 Thou hast stood imperishable. I bless thee, Father. Bless me,
Father. It is because of thee that I exist; it is because of God that
1
1

I
thou dost exist. Because I of thee I am with that very one. Thou art
light, 10 since thou beholdest light. Thou hast I revealed light. Thou art
,. 1 Mirotheas; thou art my Mirotheos.
1 I
I bless thee as God; I bless thy
15 divinity. Great is the I good Self-begotten who I stood, the God who
1
had already I stood. Thou didst come in goodness; thou hast ap-
I
peared, and thou hast 20 revealed goodness. I shall utter thy name, for
thou art a first I name. Thou art unbegotten. Thou I hast appeared in
25
order that thou I mightest reveal the eternal ones. Thou art he who is.
Therefore I thou hast revealed those who really I are. Thot1: att he who
30
is uttered I by a voice, 1 but by mind art thou glorified, thou who hast
I
1• dominion everywhere. Therefore 1 [the] perceptible world too knows
thee because of thee and they seed. Thou art merciful. 120
I

And thou art from another race, 1 and its place is over another race.
1 And now thou art from another I race, and its [place is] over another

5 race. Thou art from another I race, for thou art not similar. And thou
1
1 art merciful, for thou art eternal. 1 And thy place is over a race, for
10
thou hast caused all these to increase; and for the sake of my seed. For
it is thou who knows I it, that its place is in begetting. But they I are
from other races, for 1- they are not similar. But their place is over 1
other races, for their-place is in 15 life. Thou art Mirotheos.
I bless his power which was I given to me, who caused the I male-
20
nesses that really are to become I male three times; he who was divid-
ed into the pentad, the one who I was given to us in triple I power, the
one who was begotten without begetting, the one who I came from that
. which is elect; because of 25 what is humble, he went I forth from the
midst.
Thou art a Father I through a Father, 1 a word from a command. 1
We bless thee, Thrice Male, 30 for thou didst unite the all I through
them all, for thou hast I empowered us. Thou. hast arisen from I one;
from one thou hast gone forth; 1 thou hast come to one. [Thou] hast
saved, 35 thou hast saved, thou hast saved us, 0 1 crown-bearer, crown-
giver! 121 We bless thee eternally. 1 We bless ,thee, once we have I been
saved, as the perfect individuals, 1 perfect on account 5 of thee, those
who [became] perfect with thee I who is complete, who completes, 1 the
one perfect through all these, 1 who is similar everywhere.
Thrice I Male, thou hast stood. Thou hast already 10 stood. Thou
wast divided everywhere. Thou didst continue being one. And I those
 -------....
THE THREE STELES OF SETH (vrr,5)
399
whom thou hast willed, thou hast saved I But th d t .
1 all who are worthy. · · ou OS will to be saved
15
Thou art perfect! Thou art perfect ·' 1 Th ou art per fect !

The First 1
Stele of Seth 1

The Second Stele 1

of Seth 20
G_rea! _is the first aeon, 1 male vi;ginal Barbelo, 1 the first glory I of
the mv1s1ble Father, she I who is called 25 "perfect. "
Thou (fem .) hast seen first I the one who truly pre-exists I because he
is a non-being. And I from hill! and through I him thou hast pre-existed
30
eternally, the non-being I from one indivisible, 1 triple [power], thou
a triple I power, [thou a] great monad I from [a] pure monad, 122 thou
an elect monad, the I first [shadow] of the holy I Father, light from 1
light.
[We] bless thee, 5 producer (fem.) of perfection, aeon-giver (fem.). 1
Thou hast [seen] the eternal ones because they are from a shadow.
I 1

And thou hast become numerable. And I thou didst find , thou didst
continue being 10 one (fem.); yet becoming numerable in division, thou
1 art three-fold . Thou art truly thrice, thou one (fem:) 1 of the one
I

15
(masc.). And thou art from I a shadow of him, thou a Hidden One,
1
thou a world of understanding, 1 knowi!}g those of the one,-that they
are from a shadow . And these I are thine in the heart.
20
For I their sake thou hast empowered the eternal ones in being;
thou hast empowered divinity in living; thou hast empowered knowl-
I 1

25
edge in I goodness; in I blessedness thou hast empowered the shadows
which pour from the one . .1 Thou hast empowered this (one) in knowl-
edge; thou hast empowered another one in creation. Thou hast em-
1
1
30
powered him who is equal 1· and him who is not equal, him who is
similar and him who is not similar. Thou hast empowered in be-
1

-I
getting, and (provided) forms in [that which] exists to others. [ . ...
I
1
1
1 Thou hast] empowered 123 these. - He is that One Hidden [in] the
heart. - And [thou hast] come forth to I these and [from] these. Thou
5
art divided · 1 [ among them] . And thou dost become a great male
[noetic] First-Appearer. 1
Fatherly God , divine child, begetter of multiplicity according to a
1
1

division I of all who really are, 10 thou (masc.) hast appeared to them all
r

400 THE NAO HAMMADI LIBRARY IN ENGLISH

in I a word. And thou (masc.) dost possess I them all without begetting
1
and eternally indestructible I on account of thee (fem.). 15
Salvation has come to us; from I thee is 'salvation. Thou art I wisdom,
thou knowledge; thou I art truthfulness. On account of thee is I life;
front thee is life. 20 On account of thee · is mind; from I thee is mind.
Thou art mind, ·1 thou a world of truthfulness, 1 thou a triple power,
thou I threefold. Truly thou art 25 thrice, the aeon of I aeons. It is thou
only 1 ~ho sees pu~ely the first I eternal ones and the unbegotten ones .. 1 .
But the first divisions are as 30 thou wast divided. Unite us I as thou
hast been united. 1 Teach us [those] things which thou dost see. 1 Em-
power [us] that we may 124 be saved to eternal life. 1 For [we] are [each]
a shadow I of thee as thou art I a shadow [of that] 5 first pre-existent
one. Hear I us first. We are eternal ones. 1 Hear us as the I perfect indi-
viduals. Thou art the aeon I of aeons, the all-perfect one 10 who is es-
tablished.
Thou hast heard! 1 Thou hast heard!
Thou hast saved! Thou hast saved! 1
We give tha~ks! We bless thee always! 1 We shall glorify thee! 1

15
The Second Stele
of Seth 1

The Third Stele ·'

We rejoice! We rejoice! We rejoice! 1
We have seen! We have seen! We have seen the I really pre-existent
one (masc.), 20 that he really exists, that he is the I first eternal one.
0 Unconceived, 1 from thee are the eternal ones I and the aeons, the
all-perfect ones I who are established~ and the 25 perfect individuals.
We bless I thee, non-being, existence I which is before existences, 1
first , being which is before I beings, Father of 30 divinity and life, 1
creator of mind, 1 giver of good, giver of I blessedness!
We all bless I thee, knower, in 35 a [glorifying] blessing, (thou) 125
because of whom [all these are. · 1 ••• really, 1 ••• ], who knows thee 1
[through] thee alone. For there is no· one 5 [who is] active before I thee.
Thou ar't an only and living [spirit]. 1 And [thou] .knowest one, 1 for this
one who belongs to thee is on every side. 1 We are not able' to express
him. For lO thy light shines upon us. I
Present a command to us I to see thee, so that I we may be saved.
Knowledge of thee, it I is the salvation of us all. Present 15 a command!
 THE THREE STELES OF SETH (vn,5) 401

When thou dost command, 1 we have been saved! Truly we have been 1
saved! We have seen thee by mind! 1 Thou art them all, for thou dost
save I them all, he who 20 was not saved, nor was he I saved through
them. 1 For thou, thou hast commanded us. 1
25
Thou art one. Thou art one, just as I there is one (who) will say to
1
thee: Thou art one, thou art a single living spirit. 1 How shall we give
I
thee a name? We do not have it. 1 For thou art the existence of them
1
all. 30 Thou art the life of them I all. Thou art the mind I of them all.
[For] thou [art he in whom they all] rejoice. 126
I
Thou hast commanded all these [to be saved] through thy word
1

[ ••• ) 1 glory
5 who is before him, Hidden One, blessed I Senaon, [he
1
who begat] 1 himself, [Asi]neu(s). 1 [ • • • ]ephneu(s), Optaon, Elemaon
1
the great power, Emouniar, 10 Nibareu(s), Kandephor(os), Aphredon,
1
Deiphaneus, thou I who art Armedon to me, power-begetter, Thalana-
15
theu(s), Antitheus, 1 thou who existeth within thyself, thou who art
before I thyself - and after thee I no one entered into activity.
As what shall we I bless thee? We are I not empowered. But we give
I
thanks, 20 as being humble toward thee. For thou hast commanded us,
1
as he who I is elect, to glorify thee to the extent that I we are able. We
bless thee because we were saved. 25 Always we glorify thee. For this
I

reason we shall I glorify thee, that we may be I saved to eternal salva-

tion. 1 We have blessed thee, for we are 30 empowered. We have been
saved, for thou I hast willed always I that we all do this.
3 1
We all did this. [ ... ] not through [. . . 127 aeon. . .. ], the one
I
1

I
who was 5 [ •• • ] , we and those I who [ . . . ]. He who will remember
these and give I glory always will I become perfect among those who are
I
perfect 10 and impassable beyond I all things. For they all bless these
I
individually and together. 1 And afterwards they shall be silent. And
just as they 15 were ordained, they ascend. 1 After the silence, they des-
20
cend from the third. They bless the second; after these the first.
I 1
1

The way of ascent is the way I of descent.

Know therefore, I as those who live, that you have I attained. And
25
you taught I yourselves the infinite things. Marvel at the truth which
is within I them, and (at) the revelation. .
1

1
The Three Steles of Seth.
*******
This book belongs to the fatherhood.
1

30
It is the son who wrote it.
Bless me, 0 father. I bless 1
you, 0 father, in peace. 1
Amen.