Paper short abstract:

In this presentation we will study the presence of vowel sequences or voces magicae in the Gnostic treatise The Gospel of the Egyptians, their function within Gnostic thought, possible ritual features and their relationship with similar ones in the Greek magical papyri.

Paper long abstract:

The Gnostic texts preserved at Nag Hammadi (4th-5th c.) were quickly identified as translations of Greek originals. However, in some cases they prove to have undergone not only additions but also more subtle influences characteristic of the Egyptian context in which they circulated. Such is the case of the appearance of voces magicae in texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC III,2 and IV,2), whose closest exponent can be found in some Greek and Demotic magical papyri.

The additions and reworkings undergone by these texts are only traceable through the preservation of earlier versions, in such exceptional cases as the Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1; III,1; IV,1; BG 8502,2), but texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians may have undergone a similar process.

The Coptic copies from Nag Hammadi also seem to be the fruit of a successful internal circulation in Late Antique Egypt. But did the voces magicae have the same function in these texts as in the magical papyri, where the presence of Christian teachings is much scarcer? How would Gnostic Christians use these formulas to be integrated into treatises that deal with protology and Platonic views on the divine?

In this presentation we will try to observe the power of voces magicae in the conception of divine transcendence within Gnostic thought, and how this development may have responded to a local and relatively late context compared to other Gnostic texts.