Apocryphon of John - Influence

Influence

The Apocryphon, set in the framing device of a revelation delivered by the resurrected Christ to John the son of Zebedee, contains some of the most extensive detailing of classic dualistic Gnostic mythology that has survived; as one of the principal texts of the Nag Hammadi library, it is an essential text of study for anyone interested in Gnosticism. Frederick Wisse, who translated it, asserts that "The Apocryphon of John was still used in the eighth century by the Audians of Mesopotamia" (Wisse p 104).

The Apocryphon of John has become the central text for studying the gnostic tradition of Antiquity. The creation mythology it details has been the object of study of such writers as Carl Jung and Eric Voegelin.

To see the dramatic and even sudden rise of Christianity in the 2nd to 4th centuries, one must take in context all the other religious events and movements that were going on during the same time. Christianity in those times would probably have been seen as a rising cult or a Jewish sect that has gone astray from the traditional teachings. There were always different new cults and movements that sprang up suddenly in those times. Ergo, it would be a mistake to see Christianity as the only movement that sprang up via the teachings of Jesus Christ. In an age defined by religious devotion, different people associated themselves with different individuals or ideals that appealed to their lifestyle the most. Throughout this jigsaw puzzle of different religious views, many of these beliefs underwent change and contamination.

Particularly important is the peculiar overlap of Christian and Gnostic beliefs in rituals and cosmology. What is noteworthy of these religions is that they both included a high degree of overlap of Western culture ideals inspired by Hellenism and mostly Jewish histories. There are two versions of Gnosticism as well that have substantial differences: the Sethian and Valentinian systems. A noteworthy point is that in the 1st to 4th centuries, Gnostics were not called Gnostics nor did they believe that they were not Christian. They all believed that they were Christian but tailored the specific messages to their lifestyles.

Christianity was based of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. He could be technically considered a revolutionary Jew because he changed the existing ideals of Judaism that had existed for thousands of years. He preached that he was the actual son of God and that he himself was holy and a part of a trinity (God, the Son and the Holy Spirit). Christianity ergo adapted the Jewish Bible as their Old Testament and the life of Jesus essentially became their New Testament. They accept the truth of Judaism before Christ but believed that after the coming of Christ that the dynamics had changed and now they were to be different. From the more ritualistic and formulaic foundations of Judaism, Christianity was now based on fewer rituals but a more direct connection with God through Christ.

The origins and belief of Gnosticism has a very high mix with Christian, Hellenistic and Jewish cultures. What is directly divergent from Judaism is that they believe that Moses got it all wrong. They exhort that Moses was blind in not seeing that there was a higher God than the God of the Old Testament who was to them, an evil demiurge called Yaldabaoth. Following the Platonic view analogous to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the Gnostics believed that there was some type of higher truth and higher being of themselves. They believed that somehow as the descendants of Seth that they upheld some sort of divine spark that had existed since the creation of the cosmos. With this spark, it was possible that after death, they would ascent to the Pleroma, a divine realm even higher than that of the Old Testament God. Christianity was also a huge part of Gnostic beliefs. Although Jesus himself preached that he was the son of the God in the Old Testament, the Gnostics believed that he was the son of the True Divine Father and his consort Barbelo. Christ was thus a revelatory figure who showed the elect the real higher truth. Additionally, one must take account of the various types of Gnosticism. Sethian Gnosticism has deeper roots in Judaism while Valentinian Gnosticism has a deeper root in Christianity. Sethian Gnosticism refers to the belief in the evil demiurge as mentioned before who created the world in ignorance. Valentinian Gnosticism sees the demiurge as ambivalent and that ignorance is what clouded them from God (more Neo-Platonic). In a strange way, Gnosticism therefore incorportated a mixed system of Christian, Jewish and Platonic beliefs.

We can therefore see a very heavy influence on Hellenic, Jewish, Christian and even Asian beliefs on Christinaity, Gnosticism, Mandaeism and Manichaeism. They all uphold the universal belief of the separation of Good vs. Evil and that they need to achieve some sort of spiritual level or spark to reach heaven/the pleroma. Christianity can be seen as a mix of beliefs from the Bible of the Jews mixed with the New Testament of Jesus Christ. Gnostics and Mandaens are very similar in a way. Although Manichaeism is the least similar to Christianity and Gnosticism, there is a very clear mash of similar elements.