The Gnostic Bible: Gnostic Texts of Mystical Wisdom form the Ancient and Medieval Worlds

LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 483

Thomas) that constitute alternative versions of Gospel of Thomas 4 and 11;
the parallel to Gospel of Thomas 11 is in the translation below. Many of the ex-
planations in the sermon are based on suggested—and forced—proof texts
and etymologies in the text.
The two hymns and the sermon given here are taken from Hippolytus's
Refutation of All Heresies 5.6.3-11.1 (see also 10.9.1-3). Another hymn is
quoted at Refutation of All Heresies 5.9.9:

I shall sing of Attis, son of Rhea,

not with the clang of bells nor with the flute,

nor with the bellowing of the Kouretes of Ida,

but I shall tune it to the muse of Phoebus's lyre.

All hail, all hail—as Pan, as Bacchus,

as shepherd of the shining stars.

THE NAASSENE SERMON

1

SONG TO ATTIS

Whether you are the offspring of Kronos,^2

or the blessed child of Zeus^3 or great Rhea,^4

hail to you, Attis,^5 at whose name Rhea looks down.

Assyrians call you thrice-lamented Adonis;^6

1. The Naassene Sermon and two hymns: from Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 5.6.3-11.1
   (M. Marcovich, ed., Hippolyti refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decern quae supersunt,
   Patristische Texte und Studien 25); translated by Robert M. Grant in Gnosticism: An Anthology,
   pp. 105-15). Naassene song also translated by J. F. Henry in Haardt, ed., Gnosis: Character and
   Testimony, pp. 99-100); revised in verse and prose by Willis Barnstone. Grant's convention of
   placing the song to Attis before the sermon commenting on it is followed here. Of the long dis-
   cussion on the Naassenes, we reproduce, with Grant, Hippolytus's Refutation of All Heresies
   5.9.8; 5-7-3-8; 5-8-1-5; 5-8-9-9-6; 5-10.2.


2. Kronos is a Greek god, the ruler of the Titans and father of Zeus.


3. Zeus is the Greek father god and the ruler of the Olympian deities.


4. Rhea is a Greek goddess, the wife of Kronos and mother of Zeus.


5. Attis is a Phrygian eunuch, the lover of the Great Mother, who mirrors the interests of the
   dying and rising deities.


6. Adonis, the lover of Aphrodite, is a youth whose name means "lord" in Semitic languages
   and who dies and rises.