This copy printed: 10/26/05

“Worship him, all ye heavenly hosts”: heavenly worship in second temple

Judaism, early Christianity, and Gnostic sects

Stephen L Huebscher
Pastor of Wildwood Chapel, huebscher@juno.com

Ancient peoples often believed that heavenly (celestial) worship provided a normative model
for earthly worship. 1 I found this to be generally true of the groups I investigated, at least those who left
sufficient records to indicate their beliefs. Belief in a heavenly paradigm was common among these
groups, as was a belief in the divinization of the worshipers when they were in the presence of the Deity.
Beyond this, however, things began to break down. The biblical texts tended to belong to one stream,
while the texts with a platonic-like cosmology tended to belong to another. Although these streams
seemingly come from a single spring, over time their divergence becomes greater, which really shows up
later in the Jewish Hekhalot texts.
Be aware: This paper covers a great deal of ground, and does not therefore deal with many of
the subtleties we all would like to. Although there are generalizations, I have tried not to overdo it, and
although I draw conclusions, I have tried not to overstate them.
This paper is an exploration, but alas, there remain more stones to turn over.

Conceptions of heavenly worship in second temple Judaism

There were a variety of groups and beliefs at this time. They used texts like 1 Enoch which
provided the basis for later forms of Jewish mysticism, biblical texts, and sectarian texts (e.g., DSS). It
was common to believe in joint human/angelic worship. 2 Also within this mix it is becoming more
apparent that it was accepted for Jews to believe in a “second power” in heaven that was worshiped along
with Yahweh.

OT—Biblical texts
Deut. 32:43 “Rejoice with him, O heavens; bow down to him, all gods.”
Isaiah 6.1-3
Psalm 29:1, (9) “Ascribe to YHWH, O sons of God, ascribe to YHWH glory and strength.”
Psalm 89:5 “Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!”
Psalm 97:7 “Worship him, all you gods”
Psalm 97:9 “you are exalted far above all gods”
Psalm 103.19-22 Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word. . . . Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his
ministers . . . .
Psalm 148:2 “Praise him, all his messengers! Praise him, all his hosts!”
Job 38.7 sons of God shouted for joy, and all the stars sang

Biblical texts regarding heavenly worship cannot be neatly divided beginning with the second
temple period. While it is true that there appears to have been some doctrinal development (though this is
partly a function of how you date the texts themselves), most of the second temple celestial worship texts
are themselves an exegesis of earlier texts, especially those from the Torah.

1
Here is a brief overview of some of the key words and concepts relating to worship, some of which are not obviously connected
with worship at a first glance. Obvious worship words are the easy ones, words like sing, worship, priest, sacrifice, incense, and
pray, especially when several of these are used together in phrases such as “sing the praise of x.” Subtle worship words are a bit
more tricky, like congregation, assembly, stand before, serve, bow, remember. These words are more dependent on the context
for their liturgical meaning. Exaltation words are not directly about worship, but often give the context where worship is implied.
I would point to phrases like exalted above every name, exalted in the heavenlies, etc. There can be overlap with cosmological
words. Cosmological words are also not directly about worship, but often give the context where worship is implied. This would
include such things as the highest heaven, the heaven of heaven, ascending, etc. Architectural words include things like temple,
palace, tabernacle, house, and tent. All of these words can be used for the dwelling place of a god/God, and therefore also for the
place of worship.
2
“The notion that the community in its prayer life participated in some way in the liturgy of the angels is well attested in first-
century Judaism, and will later emerge as an element in Christian liturgical practice,”Attridge, Hebrews, 51.
© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved. 1
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
The problem with these passages is that they cannot be rightly understood apart from a
knowledge of what else was happening around God’s throne, and who was there. This takes us to the
concept of the divine council (DC) or divine assembly, those highly ranked beings with close proximity to
God and great responsibility and power. The DC has rightly been called the foundation of Israelite
cosmology. 3 If you do not understand the DC, then you will not understand either Israelite worship or
cosmology. Thus, we see right away an illustration of the close connection between religion and
cosmology, a connection that has been observed by sociologists and anthropologists. 4 Therefore, it is not
an exaggeration to say that the DC is the most important hermeneutical guide for understanding celestial
worship in ancient Israel, whether before or during the second temple period.
A lexical study of the words used for the DC includes the Hebrew words qahal, ‘edah, and
most importantly, sod. The sod is never explicitly defined in Scripture, but seems to have been
understood as the 70 sons of God (beney ’elohim, beney ’elim, or sometimes just called ’elohim; also they
were called kokabim—stars) who each ruled over one of the 70 nations thought to comprise the world
(Gen. 10; Deut. 32; Deut. 4). In other words, the sod was a group of divine beings, a community, a
congregation that worked closely with Yahweh. It was also applied to human worshipers in some texts.5
Those beings in his council (‫דוס‬, sod) are charged with three functions:
(a) demonstration of Yahweh’s omnipotence in the form of accompaniment (Dt. 33:2), praise (job 38:7;
Ps. 19:2[1]; 29:1f.6), fear . . .;
(b) mediation of Yahweh’s salvific will to the world of human beings (1 K. 22; Isa. 6; cf Dt. 32:8f.; Jer.
23:22);
(c) implementation of social justice (Am. 3:7; cf. Ps. 82:3f.).7
The first category contains our primary interest—heavenly worship, but you can see that it is
likely that these various functions are interconnected. Perhaps this explains in part why both conservative
Protestant Christians and NT scholars have frequently been stymied in their attempts to develop a
comprehensive theology of worship that has strong biblical ties.
I said earlier that second temple biblical texts are frequently exegetical interpretations or
applications of previous texts. The DC is the heavenly model for the creation of the human community in
the early chapters of Genesis. It is the congregation that is the plural referent in “let us make man as our
image” (Gen. 1.26-27). The text is clear that God made the man (the Hebrew verbs are singular here), but
that the model was plural. Thus at the very beginning of the Torah, the cornerstone of the OT and thus of
the whole Bible, we have humans created in order to be the physical, earthly representation of the
spiritual, celestial community.8 To say that the image of God is the primary overarching motif in
Scripture is good; but to say that humanity is supposed to model the life and worship of those beings
around God’s throne is even better. That is why we were created. That is our purpose.
This kind of cosmology (and the hermeneutics that go along with it) are foreign to us, but
they were anything but odd to the ancient Israelites and their second millennium B.C. pagan neighbors.
Once we have this basic orientation in our thinking, we are ready to begin thinking about Jewish worship
in the second temple period.
There were several doctrinal developments, though whether they preceded the second temple
or not depends on how one dates the texts. One doctrine was the belief that the righteous, cultic (e.g.,
worshiping) human community was also part of God’s sod. This seems to have been the primary
ecclesiological model in post-exilic times.9 The accompanying belief was that the worshipers were in

3
Patrick D. Miller, ______.
4
_____, “Cosmology, cosmogony,” ABD, ____.
5
Dennis Pardee writes “There appears to be very little semantic development of the term [sod] within Biblical
Hebrew. The picture in the Dead Sea Scrolls is less clear,” (JBL 116 (1997): 117.
6
“If Psalm 29 were to be considered a song for the solemn prostration before Yahweh. . ., then we would have to assume that a
heavenly act would correspond to the earthly hymn of praise and prayer (cf. especially Psalm 148)” (H. J. Krause, Psalms 1-59:
A Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988), 348). In other words, the heavenly worship is the model
for the earthly worship. In fact, Psalm 29:9b “is the key-verse of the whole psalm—it leads us away from the commotions on the
earth up to the heavenly sanctuary where the company of the heavenly beings recognizes and glorifies these very occurrences on
the earth as a revelation of the glory of Jahweh,” (G. von Rad, OT Theol, 1.360; quoted in H. J. Krause, Psalms 1-59: A
Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1988), 350).
7
Fabry, “ ‫ ”דוס‬in TDOT 10.174-75; idem., “ ‫ דוס‬als ekkleiologischer Terminus,” 123.
8
For a more complete statement of this, see “tselem, image” in TLOT.
9
Fabry, “ ‫ ”דוס‬in TDOT 10.174-75.
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
some way and some sense divinized (i.e., the human worshipers became like the divine beings on which
they were modeled, variously called qodeshim (holy ones), beney ’elohim (sons of God), kokabim (stars),
etc.). This paved the way for joint human/divine (angelic) worship, which is recorded in some texts.
Another doctrine that was important during the second temple period was that of a second
divine being separate from YHWH and yet equal to him in power and essence, even to the point of
forgiving sin and receiving worship. Daniel 7 is the most obvious text, but there are many other texts.
Again, just when these doctrines appeared and began to develop is not always clear, since many later texts
find their exegetical basis in earlier ones. (The monkey wrench that can be thrown in this assertion is that
the earlier texts are often terse, and simply do not give the level of detail that later ones do.) This second
being was called by various titles, such as the Word, Wisdom, and the Name.
The Word is used in Genesis 15:1-6 (the Word appeared to Abraham; he saw it and
conversed with it).10 It also is used in Exodus.
During the second temple period, this interpretive tradition is found in Philo and the
Targums.11 The Aramaic word memra’ means “the word,” and it is used in the creation account and
elsewhere, where the Memra creates the world.
The Name is used in Exodus 32, where God’s Name passes by Moses. It is also used in 1
Kings 8, where Solomon’s prayer states that if anyone prays to Yahweh’s Name in the Temple, Yahweh
in heaven will hear it. Several of the psalms can also be read this way.
So in conclusion, by the second temple period at the latest, the Jews had common, orthodox
traditions of a second divine being dwelling who received worship both from the human congregation
(sod) and the celestial host.
A third major doctrine of the period was the teaching that the heavenly worship was
paradigmatic for earthly worship. This was made especially clear during the Sinai revelation, but was
also reaffirmed to David later on. And actually, this idea was fairly common in the ANE.
Exodus
Chronicles
This tied in with a fourth major doctrine was joint worship with heavenly beings, and the
angelomorphing or even divinization of the human worshipers. (The texts are not always as clear on this
latter point as we would like.)
Psalm 138:1 “Before the gods I sing your praise.”
Psalm 34:10 “Fear the LORD, you his saints.”12

Extra-biblical texts
1 Enoch
First Enoch is a pivotal text in many ways. In my understanding, it is a kind of liturgically
and cosmologically mixed text, mixing elements from the biblical stream and elements from the stream
later characterized by Platonism.13 (Perhaps this is why, although it is quoted in the NT, it was never
recognized as canonical. Just a guess.) First Enoch was also quite influential on other later Jewish works,
such as the Testament of Levi. It would also form an important transition to the later merkavah texts,
which are characterized by in part by the “worship=ascending” view. 14
According to 1 Enoch, the real temple is in heaven, the heavenly palace where God dwells. 15
1 Enoch teaches that most angels cannot approach God’s throne. Four holy ones seem to be the

10
Thanks to Michael Heiser for these references. Mike features this issue in his forthcoming book, probably titled something
like The Myth that Is True.
11
Daniel Boyarin, “The Gospel of the Memra: Jewish Binitarianism and the Prologue to John,” in HTR 94 (2001) 243-84.
12
The word for saints/holy ones (qodeshim) is almost always used for angels or divine/celestial beings in the OT, but here it is
used of humans.
13
See the article in SL about cosmology, dealing with Bar-timaeus in Mark’s gospel] In 14:23, cultic activity may be suggested
by three elements: (1) the adjective “holy, (2) the term “approach” (the throne of God), and the expression “day and night.”
Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 265-66.
14
14.8-23 “Historically, this reveals the section to be an important transition from the older Ezekiel tradition of the prophetic ca ll
to the much later tradition of Jewish Merkabah mysticism.” “This active and subjective involvement of the seer in his vision
differentiates our text not only from Ezekiel 1—2 but also from other prophetic calls” (Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 259). In 14.8-23
“There are also important differences from the later mystical texts. We have here no hymn of the angelic attendants”
(Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 261).
15
In 15.3 “The adjective “high” . . .[hupselon] could imply a plurality of heavens, but the idea is not as clear in 1 Enoch as it is in
2 Enoch [sic] (see comm.. on 1:4). More likely . . .an attempt to portray the separation be/w heaven and earth”. Discussion of
heavenly sanctuary. (nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 271). Elsewhere Nickelsburg speculates, “Notions of a heavenly temple and an
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
exceptions, and it is to these, who serve as intercessors and take those prayers to God, that prayer is to be
made. Some of the angels serve as priests, including Michael, who serves as the eschatological high
priest.16 In 15:3, the phrase “the sanctuary of the eternal station” occurs, and the word “station” can refer
in the contemporary literature to a priestly course. 17 Some of the holy ones also serve in a chorus that
sings the praises of God.

Qumran
The scrolls from Qumran have yielded a wealth of information about the covenanteers’ views
of heaven and practice of liturgy.18 The two primary groups of texts are the Berakhot and the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice. A third group, the Songs of the Sage, also shows some interest in these matters. 19 Their
cosmology is often similar to parts of 1 Enoch, the Gnostics, and the later Jewish Hekhalot mystical texts.
Berakhot. These texts were used for communal recitation in the liturgy of the sectarian
group’s annual covenant renewal ceremony. 20 For our interests, several of the songs that show
similarities both to the songs in Revelation and to the later Hekhalot hymns. These are sometimes called
merkavah (“throne”) hymns, though technically the term refers to post-biblical compositions. 21
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. There are some similarities to biblical texts. There is great
interest in the throne of God, such as is found in Revelation. At times there is great noise in heaven from
the worship, while at other times there is stillness or silence. The beings of heaven (angels, cherubim,
ophanim [“wheels” in Ezekiel], divinities) obey God and psalm him. In several texts from Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice, some of the fixtures of heaven are animate, reminiscent of the throne in Revelation that
commands praise to God.
Most scholars have interpreted these 13 texts as being read by the human worshiping
community to heavenly angels and elohim in joint worship. One scholar has recently tried to make a case
that the human community sees itself as the heavenly angelic and divine host.22 Either way, the humans
ascend to heaven to join the worship there. This is one form of the “worship=ascending” doctrine, unlike
the view in the biblical stream.
One of the striking differences from Revelation, however, is the absence of reference to
Isaiah 6:1-3 in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. The Isaiah text forms a key part of the understanding
of the heavenly throne room in Revelation.23
Songs of the Sage (4Q510, 4Q511) These two texts, of which the second is significantly
longer, are hymns to God that call on the righteous to praise him. Frequently the unrighteous are
denounced, along with unclean owls and Lilith. They also deal more with theurgy and magic.

Philo
The concept of the heavenly tabernacle/temple was very important and explicit in some of his
writings. Spec. leg. 1.66 views the universe as a whole as a temple. In other texts, he uses allegorical
interpretation to draw correspondence between the parts of the tabernacle and the parts of the cosmos. In
still other texts, he relies heavily on a Platonic understanding of the ideal sanctuary being in heaven, and
the copy being on earth.24

Conceptions of heavenly worship in early Christianity

eschatological angelic high priest may have arisen . . . in circles that considered the temple cult to be noneffective,”(
Nickelsburg, Ancient Judaism, 69).
16
A heavenly temple is implied in 14.1-7; 12.4 & 15.3 speak of ‘eternal sanctuary’; ‘angels who “approach God” suggest that at
least some of the angels are construed as priests’; Test Lev 2—5 reuses material and is explicitly about heavenly temple
(Nickelsburg, 1Enoch 1, 256).
17
Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1, 271.
18
Liturgical Works, Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001) by James R. Davila
is the best book I have found to begin study of these liturgical works.
19
Davila, lit, 2.
20
Davila, li., 41-42.
21
Davila, lit, 45. Davila includes 4Q286 ii:1-13; 2:1-7; 4Q287 2:1-13; 7:1-2? (p. 45).
22
Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam.
23
Davila, lit, 91.
24
Attridge has a great excursus “The heavenly temple and its significance,” in which he covers, among others, Philo (Hebrews,
222-24).
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
Conceptions in early Christianity of the worship in heaven drew heavily on the OT and, not
surprisingly, show a similarity, though with some important differences.

NT
In the NT, the most important development is the identification of the Christian church,
ekklesia (but also synagogue), as the new expression of the ‫( דוס‬sod). For instance,
Heb 12.22-23 Myriads of angels. . . and to the ekklesia of the firstborn enrolled in heaven
James 2.2 If a man . . . comes into your synagoge (assembly).
The Christian ekklesia has taken over the bivalence of celestial and earthly participants incumbent with
the term. It is in this context, the context of the local, gathered congregation that we find concrete
representation of the celestial ‫( דוס‬sod), and it is here that the worship is carried out. This provided the
strongest guideline for how churches were to worship and serve God. Heaven and earth are different, but
they are no longer strictly separated. As in the OT, this leads to a mixture of heaven with earth, when
God is present with angels during corporate worship. This takes place because of Christ’s permanent
sacrifice for sins. The church is the new spiritual house of God, a temple not made with hands. 25 In
heaven, Christ receives worship along with the father. The holy ones, hagioi, also present the prayers of
the hagioi on earth. Again, the picture of family is of prime importance, with God’s family in heaven,
and Christians being called sons of God and saints already while still on earth.
The cosmology and population of heaven is very similar to that found in OT texts, which
present God, one like a son of man, an inner circle, and an innumerable host of heavenly beings.

Eph 3.10 that the wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities
in the heavenly places
1 Tim 5.21 I charge you, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect
angels 26

The differences in heaven are both cosmological and liturgical. Cosmologically, Christ has
been highly exalted. The liturgical implication is that he therefore receives worship. In other words,
Christ now becomes the focal point of heavenly worship. Unlike some of the DSS and later hekhalot
texts, no angels, not even exalted ones, are worshiped in heaven. A second cosmological difference, is
that whereas OT Israelites would pray to the Name in the Jerusalem temple and God would hear in
heaven, now Christians are to pray to Jesus in heaven, and the Father will hear them. 27
The importance of celestial or heavenly activity for corresponding human/earthly activity should
not be underestimated. This is true for many things, but especially so for worship/liturgy. In other words,
celestial worship was viewed as the normative paradigm for earthly worship. That this was true in the
ANE, biblical texts, and DSS is often acknowledged. But that it continued to hold true for early Christians
in biblical and post-biblical texts, and also perhaps for Gnostic groups, has not been considered widely.
Some texts show or imply an “as in heaven, so on earth” paradigm, both for worship and beyond.28
Matt 18 whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven
Luke 20.4 the baptism of John—was it from heaven or men?
Heb 9.24 Christ has entered, not copies, but heaven

Origen Comm John 13.146
We want to honor God in truth and no longer in types, shadows, and examples, even as the
angels do not serve God in examples and the shadow of heavenly realities, but in realities
that belong to the spiritual and heavenly order, having a high priest of the order of
Melchisedech as leader of the saving worship for those who need both the mystical and secret
contemplation.29

Apos const 7.35.6 But Israel, Thy Church on earth, taken out of the Gentiles, emulating the heavenly powers
night and day, with a full heart and a willing soul sings, “The chariot of God is ten

25
Book about the church, temple.
26
This should be understood as a divine council scene.
27
1 Kings 8____; John _____.
28
Although not the point of this article, this points to the central meaning of the image of God—that humans themselves are
God’s images.
29
All quotations of Origen’s Commentary on John 13-32 are from Heinle’s translation in the FOTC. Thanks to Peter Martens for
pointing out this passage to me.
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
thousandfold thousands of them that rejoice: The Lord is among them in Sinai, in the holy
place.” [shows joint worship, heavenly beings as model, and Lord’s presence]

Igna Trall 3.1 Similarly, let everyone respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, just as they should respect the
bishop, who is a model of the Father, and the presbyters as God’s council and as the band of
the apostles. Without these no group can be called a church. [intimates heavenly council
paradigm in general]30

Igna Magn 6.1 Be eager to do everything in godly harmony, the bishop presiding in the place of God and the
presbyters in the place [topos; var. typos : after the model] of the council of the apostles and
the deacons . . . . [shows heavenly council paradigm in general]

Origen comm John 13.99 For just as the angels (as even the Jews would agree) do not worship the Father in Jerusalem
because they worship the Father in a better way than those in Jerusalem, so those who
can already be like the angels in their attitude will not worship the Father in Jerusalem but in
a better way than those in Jerusalem . . . . [boldface added]

Passion Perpetua & Felicitas 4
This was the vision I had. I saw a ladder of tremendous height made of bronze, reaching all
the way to the heavens, but it was so narrow that only one person could climb up at a time. . . .
At the foot of the ladder lay a dragon of enormous size. . . . I trod on his head and went up.
Then I saw an immense garden, and in it a grey-haired man sat in shepherd’s garb; tall he was,
and milking sheep. And standing around him were many thousands of people clad in white
garments. He raised his head, looked at me, and said: ‘I am glad you have come, my child.’
He called me over to him and gave me, as it were, a mouthful of the milk he was drawing; and
I took it into my cupped hands and consumed it. And all those who stood around said:
‘Amen!’ At the sound of this word I came to, with the taste of something sweet still in my
mouth.31

The present identity of Christians is often referred to in the same terms used of celestial
beings: sons of God, children of God, children of the Most High, saints/holy ones, etc. The future identity
of Christians seems to be celestial beings, and some texts seem to state that Christians will be on par with
or part of God’s divine council (DC).

Matt 21.30 they are like the angels in heaven

Luke 6.35 you will be sons of the Most High
___ Do you no know that you will judge angels?

Justin, Apol. I, 65-66 On the day which is called Sun-day, all . . . gather in the same place. Then the Memoirs of the
Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets are read . . . . The president speaks. . . . Then we rise
all together and pray.32

Some texts show joint human/angelic worship, just as some texts, esp. OT, show joint human/angelic
combat. This joint worship makes sense when we understand that God is present among worshipers. The
fact that God is present accounts for the emphasis on the proper way of worshiping God. The worship of
angels in Colossae that Paul opposed “may represent a cultic practice of visionary ascent and
deification,”33 a practice which has connections with the mystical views both in Jewish and Gnostic sects.

30
All quotations from the Apostolic Fathers are from the translation of Lightfoot, Harner, Holmes, 2 nd edition.
31
“The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas,” in Acts of the Christian Martyrs, trans. Herbert Musurillo (London, UK:
Oxford University Press, 1972), 111-13. Thanks to David H. Tripp for sharing a paper-in-progress on this topic, and for much
other guidance. “[The] interpretative dream, which, in this context, can have only one content: the Paradise of the martyrs, and
the sweetness of Eucharistic Communion. The central figure is clearly the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 and John 10. . . . The
allusion is clearly to the reception of Communion as Perpetua had shared it only once, at her baptism, and, with the assembled
faithful, she had been taught to receive it with “Amen”. . . . The sweetness in Perpetua’s mouth as she awakes is suggestive of
the milk and honey presented to the neophytes at baptism” [Tripp, unpublished [forthcoming?] paper].
32
St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 27; see B. Pruche, Baile de Césarée, Traité du Saint Esprit, Sources chrétienne, 17, (Paris, 1945),
236-37; quoted in Lucien Deiss, trans Benet Weatherhead, Early Sources of the Liturgy (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press,
1975), 25. Note the later statement by Basil: “We stand up when we pray, on the first day of the week (i.e., Sunday)… also
because that day itself seems in some fashion to be an image of the world to come” [angels who serve God are often said to stand
before him] (St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 27; see B. Pruche, Baile de Césarée, Traité du Saint Esprit, Sources chrétienne, 17,
(Paris, 1945), 236-37; quoted in Lucien Deiss, trans Benet Weatherhead, Early Sources of the Liturgy (Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press, 1975), 25.
33
Pheme Perkins, “Identification with the Savior,” 167.
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
This mystical belief of “worship=ascending to heaven” seems to have built on the Platonic cosmology of
various levels described in Timaeus, and which seems to be opposed in the gospel of Mark.34

1 Cor 11.10 Angels present at worship

Apos const 7.35.1-5
And [creation] compels all men to cry out: “How great are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom
hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy creation.” /2/ And the bright host of angels
and the intellectual spirits say to Palmoni [“the wonderful Numberer”], /3/ “There is but one
holy being;” /4/ and the holy seraphim, together with the six-winged cherubim, who sing to
Thee their triumphal song, cry out with never-ceasing voices, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of
hosts! Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory;” /5/ and the other multitudes of the orders,
angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers cry aloud, and
say, “Blessed be the glory of the Lord out of His place.” [shows joint worship with angels]35

1 Tim__ How you ought to behave in the house [oikos, temple] of God
Heb 9.1 even the first had regulations for worship
Heb 12.28 let us offer acceptable worship

Conceptions of heaven/heavenly worship in Gnostic groups

The semi-Christian groups who drew on the “proto-mystical” elements present in some
streams of Judaism (e.g., Enoch) as well as Platonism in its middle form, came to be known as
“Gnostics.” There were many different Gnostic groups, which have been divided by some scholars into
three major types, based on their liturgical practices. 36 There is not much material extant on what they
did for liturgy, and even less on what they thought they were accomplishing by what they did.
First the cosmology and population of heaven. These groups generally believed that there
was one God, but many lower, divine beings in heaven, and that there were angels. Some also believed
that the male God had a female consort. Notice the connection in some texts between cosmology and
worship.

Val Exp 25.30—26.21
[He is] . . .the [true] High Priest, [the one who has] the authority to enter the Holies of Holies,
revealing the glory of the Aeons and bringing forth the abundance to <fragrance>. The East [. .
. that is] in [him. He is the one who revealed himself as] the primal [sanctuary] and [the]
treasury of [the All]. [liturgical terms and cosmology with heavenly paradigm—primal
sanctuary—implied]37

Treat Seth 50.1-11 Let us gather an assembly together. Let us visit the creation of his. . . . And I said these things
to the whole multitude of the multitudinous assembly of the rejoicing Majesty.

Treat. Seth 60.16-29 It is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the sons of light, of which they
made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble

34
Gordon W. Lathrop, “Holy Ground: biblical and liturgical reorientation in the world,” in Worship 77 (Jan 2003): 2-22.
35
Thanks to____ for this reference. Quotation from______.
36
David H. Tripp (“‘Gnostic Worship’: the State of the Question,” in Gnosticism in the Early Church, Studies in
Early Christianity 5, ed. David M. Scholer (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1993), 322-23; reprinted from Sudia
Liturgica 1 (1987): 210-20.) has divided them into three groups: (1) Cults of Power—Simon Magus, Menander, Satornil, Cerdo
(?), Carpocrates, Marcus and Elchasai; (2) Groups originating from the Separation of Christianity from Judaism—‘Peratae’,
‘Naassenes’, ‘phites’, the Phibionites of Epiphanius, Archontics, various sub-groups without known names either of their own
choice or imposed by opponents; and (3) ‘The Gentile Counter-Churches’—Basilides and Isidore, Valentinus and Ptolemaeus
and Herakleon, Marcion, and Tatian (Although Montanus may be classed in this division, he and his Church cannot usefully be
pushed into the same theological classification with the others as a ‘Gnostic’ phenomenon.)
The first category, cults of power, is “marginal to Christian liturgical history . . . . Except in some disputed areas,
they do more than reflect, usually in misapplied forms, the worship of the conventional Christian congregations. The chief value
of a thorough study of them is that they are detached from consideration of the other early Christian minority movements, which
are thereby left alone for a more realistic investigation.” (Tripp, “Gnostic Worship,” 327).
The second group, groups originating from the separation of christianity from judaism, “combine in their interest
astrological speculation, devotion to the saving Mother (derived from where?), baptism, and a version of the Merkabah mysticism
. . . . In [diverse ways]. . . these traditions combined baptism (and perhaps repeated baptisms into successive mystical states), an
ascent-of-the-soul mysticism derived from Jewish models (and conceivably related in some way to the main-stream Christian use
of the Sanctus as the apogee of eucharistic rapture, with the Benedictus qui venit as the welcome by the angels of their kindred
spirits into the heavenly presence), and rites for preparing the soul for ascent after death through the threatening heavens into its
true home.” (Tripp, “Gnostic Worship,” 328).
37
All quotations from the Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. by James Robinson, 3rd edition.
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© 2005 Stephen Huebscher. All rights reserved.
the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, (and) <joining> themselves with their
doctrine to rear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship . . . .

Origen comm John 13.114 Heracleon thinks, however, that the expression “we worship” means the one who is in the
aeon and those who have come with him, for these, he says, have known whom they worship,
because they worship in truth. [italics original]

Most references to worship in the realms above the earth are rather general, whether in the
presence of God or merely in the Aeons between heaven and earth. These references often only say that
one being praised another, or that one prayed for forgiveness. Generally, liturgical form is not implied.

Ap James 10.34—11.1 Blessed is he who has seen you with Him when He was proclaimed among the angels, and
glorified among the saints; yours (pl.) is life. Rejoice and be glad as sons of God. [activity in
heaven; term ‘sons of God’]

Ap James 14.26-31 But pay heed to the glory that awaits me, and, having opened your heart, listen to the hymns
that await me up in the heavens; for today I must take (my place at) the right hand of the
Father. [hymns (=worship?) in heavens]

Some groups, such as the Valentinians, believed that the person’s soul ascended to the
heavens and passed through them, sometimes seven, to gaze upon God and sometimes participate there in
the angelic liturgy. In other words, worship=ascending to heaven. In addition, in order to get to the
heavens, at least in the Valentinian form, one had to ascend first through thirty levels (Aeons).

Ap James 15.13-23 And when we had passed beyond that place, we sent our mind(s) farther upwards and saw
with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns and angelic benedictions and angelic rejoicing.
And heavenly majesties were singing praise, and we too rejoiced. [worship in heaven]

Hyp Arch 97.7-9, 16-20 And they will ascend into the limitless light, where this sown element belongs. . . . They will
all say with a single voice, “The father’s truth is just, and the son presides over the entirety”:
And from everyone unto the ages of ages, “Holy – holy – holy! Amen!” [worship by those
who ascend]

Disc. 8-9, 56.22—57.9
Lord, grant us a wisdom from your power that reaches us, so that we may describe to
ourselves the vision off the eighth and the ninth. We have already advanced to the seventh,
since we are pious and walk in your law. . . . Lord, grant us the truth in the image. Allow us
through the spirit to see the form of the image that has no deficiency, and receive the reflection
of the pleroma from us through our praise. [individual, silent praise becomes a means to
receive the heavenly paradigm]

Disc. 8-9, 59.23—60.1
When he had finished praising he shouted, “Father Trismegistus! What shall I say? We have
received this light. And I myself see this same vision in you. And I see the eighth and the
souls that are in it and the angels singing a hymn to the ninth and its powers. And I see him
who has the power of them all, creating those <that are> in the spirit.” [ascension/vision
through silent, individual worship]

Jesus was not worshiped because he was human. “Gnostics did not worship Jesus.” 38 There
were many other heavenly beings who were much higher and much more important and glorious than the
Christ. In the Gospel of Philip, “the sacramental catechesis. . . insists that its rites transform the initiate
into Christ in contrast to those of conventional Christians which merely lend the name Christian.”39 And
because God did not create the world, he was not worshiped as such.
Val Exp 39.20-22 [The complete one glorifies] Sophia; the image [glorifies] Truth. [worship in the heavenly
realms, but not worshiping Jesus]

Val Exp 40.20-29 And we [glorify] thee: [Glory] be to thee, the Father in the [Son, the Father] in the Son, the
Father [in the] holy [Church and in the] holy [angels]! [glory to God among the angels]

Gosp Truth 40.30—41.3 For that very reason he brought him forth in order to speak about the place and his
restingplace from which he had come forth, and to glorify the pleroma, the greatness of his

38
Pheme Perkins, “Identification with the Savior in Coptic Texts from Nag Hammadi, ” in Jewish Roots of Christological
Monotheism, ed. Newman, Davila, Lewis (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 166.
39
Pheme Perkins, “Identification with the Savior,” 183.
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name and the sweetness of the Father. [The Son was created to praise the pleroma (in
heaven?)]

Tripart Trac 64.20-22 The one whom they hymn, thereby glorifying him, he has sons. [the beings created by the
?son sing hymns of praise to him]

Tripart Trac 68.22- Therefore, in the song of glorification and in the power of the unity of him from whom they
have come, they were drawn into a mingling and a combination and a unity with one another.
They offered glory worthy of the Father from the pleromatic congregation, which is a single
representation although many. . . . Now this was a praise […] [the pleromas sing praise]

Origen, CommJohn 13.117 In addition, when Heracleon explains the saying that “God is worshipped in spirit and in
truth,” he says that the former worshipper, worshipping in a fleshly and erroneous manner,
worshipped him who was not the Father. Consequently, in his opinion, all who have
worshipped the Creator have erred.

At least some of these groups believed in a heavenly paradigm, though whether that paradigm
was applied to worship is not always specified. For the sake of argument, even if many of the Gnostic
groups did not believe that heaven was the paradigm, this in itself would have been a significant
difference from catholic Christianity (and Jewish groups of the period).
Many of these texts are not about worship, but still reflect a belief in a heavenly paradigm.

Irenaeus AH 1.21.3 For some of them prepare a nuptial couch, and perform a sort of mystic rite
(pronouncing certain expressions) with those who are being initiated, and affirm that
it is a spiritual marriage which is celebrated by them, after the likeness of the
conjuctions above [italics mine]. 40

Irenaeus AH 1.21.3 After this [baptism] they anoint the initiated person with balsam; for they assert that
this unguent is a type of that sweet odour which is above all things.

Orig ComJohn 13.115 Salvation has come about from the Jews since he considers them to be images of those in the
Pleroma. [italics original]

Prayer of Paul A.1.25-31 Grant what no angel eye has [seen] and no archon ear (has) heard and what has not entered
into the human heart which came to be angelic and (modeled) after the image of the psychic
God . . . . [shows the superiority of heavenly things]

Gos. Egypt. 67.22—68.1 Therefore the incense of life is in me. I mixed it with water after the model of all archons, in
order that I may live with thee in the peace of the saints, thou who existeth really truly for
ever. [shows some kind of higher paradigm]

Eugenestos [78].15-24 As I said earlier, among the things that were created, the monad is first, The [sic] dyad follows
it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the hundredths; the hundredths rule the
thousandths; the thousand<th>s rule the ten thousand<th>s. This is the pattern <among the>
immortals. [higher paradigm]

Eugenestos V [7].23-25 Again it is this pattern [that] exists among the immortals: the monad and the thought are those
things that belong to [Immortal] Man. [higher paradigm]

Zost 8.10-14 And about this airy-earth, why it has a cosmic model? And about the aeon copies, how many
there are, and, why they are [not] in pain?

Zost 22.1-4 Then [he said], “How then can he contain an eternal model?

Trim Prot 4132—42.3 And I went down [to those who were mine] from the first and I [reached them and broke] the
first strands that [enslaved them. Then] everyone [of those] within me shone, and I prepared
[a pattern] for those ineffable Lights that are within me. Amen.

Conclusion

It is appropriate to make some observations.

40
This group used to be categorized as Valentinian, but more recently scholars have come to regard it as a cult of power, based
on a theoretical re-ordering of the transmission of the text of Irenaeus. (Tripp, gnostic worship, 212).
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1) All of these groups, with some exceptions, shared some common assumptions:
a) the human worshiper could have real contact with the divine world by means of worship;
b) humans would become divine/angelic, but yet subservient to the Most High God;
c) there were a variety of activities in heaven, including worship;
d) these activities are often inter-related and inter-dependent;
e) these activities, often including worship, provide a normative model for humans to copy or
image.
2) Because of their common belief in the overlap of earthly and celestial worship, there is frequently a
strong correspondence between the worship practices of a given group and their perception of the
worship in heaven.
3) Some similarities between different groups exist because both use similar traditions or exegete the
same biblical passages similarly.
4) Because of the frequent link between cosmology and liturgy, we should not rule out the significant
differences that existed between Gnostic and Christian groups as constituting an important difference
both for faith and practice.
5) By demonstrating first the essential unity between biblical Jewish beliefs and early Christian beliefs
about the cosmology and celestial liturgy; second, the similarity between Jewish mystical (proto-
merkavah) and Gnostic mystical beliefs about cosmology and celestial liturgy; and, third, the
resulting gap between the two streams’ conceptions of heavenly worship, this paper has shown that
Christianity may have been chosen as much for its liturgical and cosmological reasons as for its
theological ones.
Certainly, such findings do not support the thesis of competing but equally-valid forms of
Christianity (e.g., W. Bauer, B. Ehrman).