LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 219The list includes figures well known from Sethian lore, for example, the four
luminaries Harmozel, Oroiael, Daveithai, and Eleleth. The last such figure is
Yoel, who is stationed over the name of the one baptizing "with the holy,
incorruptible baptism that surpasses heaven." The balance of the Baptismal
Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians consists mainly of a hymn that is
apparently uttered by the person being baptized. The hymn is an ecstatic
statement of confession and praise, and it incorporates, after the manner of
some other gnostic texts and magical texts of ritual power, the chanting of the
(Greek) vowels. However this baptismal ceremony was enacted (or under-
stood on a metaphoric level, rather than literally enacted), baptism is here
portrayed as an ecstatic celebration. As the text puts it, those baptized "have
been instructed and have understood, and they will not taste death."
The Gospel of the Egyptians was composed in Greek, but the circum-
stances of composition are unknown. The text is now represented in two Cop-
tic versions in the Nag Hammadi library.
THE BAPTISMAL CEREMONY
OF THE GOSPEL OF
THE EGYPTIANS
1
Through forethought Seth established what is holy and the baptism that sur-
passes the heavens—through what is holy, through what is incorruptible, and
through Jesus,^2 who has been conceived by a living word^3 and with whom
great Seth has been clothed. He has nailed down the powers of the thirteen
realms and neutralized them; through him they are brought in and taken out.
And they are equipped with armor of the knowledge of truth, with incorrupt-
ible, invincible power.i. The Baptismal Ceremony of the Gospel of the Egyptians: Nag Hammadi Codex IV,2, pp.
75,24 to 80,15; translated by Marvin Meyer. The text is preserved in Nag Hammadi Codex 111,2
and Codex IV,2: this translation is based mainly on the version found in Nag Hammadi Codex
IV, though the Codex III version has also been consulted and used for lines of the ceremony
not found in Codex IV.- Or "the living Jesus" (more clearly in Nag Hammadi Codex III). This phrase also occurs in
the prologue of the Gospel of Thomas. - If "Jesus" is read as "the living Jesus," above, then "living word" may be read simply as "word."