Hypostasis of the Archons

The Hypostasis of the Archons, also called The Reality of the Rulers or The Nature of the Rulers, is a Gnostic writing. The only known surviving manuscript is in Coptic as the fourth tractate in Codex II of the Nag Hammadi library. It has some similarities with On the Origin of the World, which immediately follows it in the codex. The Coptic version is a translation of a Greek original, possibly written in Egypt in the third century AD. The text begins as an exegesis on Genesis 1–6 and concludes as a discourse explaining the nature of the world's evil authorities. It applies Christian Gnostic beliefs to the Jewish origin story, and translator Bentley Layton believes the intent is anti-Jewish. The text proclaims to describe the reality of the authorities or the powers of darkness that are in conflict with the spirit of truth. The author directly quotes Ephesians 6:12: "our contest is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness." The chief of the authorities is Samael, who proclaims himself as God but is actually blind and mistaken. The authorities create a man out of soil from the earth, but they are powerless to give him life until the spirit comes forth from the Adamantine Land and breathes life into him. The man is named Adam and is put in the Garden to cultivate it, with a warning not to eat from the tree of recognizing good and evil. The rulers cause Adam to fall into a deep sleep, then they open his side and create his female counterpart. When the spirit-endowed woman comes to him and speaks with him, the rulers become agitated and pursue her, but they defile only her shadowy reflection, because her incorruptible Spirit passes to the snake. The snake instructs the carnal woman to eat from the tree of recognizing good and evil, and she convinces Adam to do the same. Doing so causes their imperfection to become apparent, and they recognize their nakedness of the spiritual element. The chief ruler comes to Adam and asks him where he is.

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Related concepts (16)

Norea

Norea is a figure in Gnostic cosmology. She plays a prominent role in two surviving texts from the Nag Hammadi library. In Hypostasis of the Archons, she is the daughter of Adam and Eve and sister of Seth. She sets fire to Noah's Ark and receives a divine revelation from the Luminary Eleleth. In Thought of Norea, she "extends into prehistory" as "she assumes the features here of the fallen Sophia." In Mandean literature, she is instead identified as the wife of either Noah or Shem. She is also sometimes said to be the syzygy of Adam.

Sophia (Gnosticism)

Sophia (Σοφíα "Wisdom", ⲧⲥⲟⲫⲓⲁ "the Sophia") is a major theme, along with Knowledge (γνῶσις gnosis, Coptic ), among many of the early Christian knowledge-theologies grouped by the heresiologist Irenaeus as (γνωστικοί), "knowing" or "men that claimed to have deeper wisdom". Gnosticism is a 17th-century term expanding the definition of Irenaeus' groups to include other syncretic and mystery religions. In Gnosticism, Sophia is a feminine figure, analogous to the human soul but also simultaneously one of the feminine aspects of God.

List of Gnostic texts

Gnosticism used a number of religious texts that are preserved, in part or whole, in ancient manuscripts, or lost but mentioned critically in Patristic writings. Prior to the discovery at Nag Hammadi, only the following texts were available to students of Gnosticism. Reconstructions were attempted from the records of the heresiologists, but these were necessarily coloured by the motivation behind the source accounts.