Early Christianity

was the famous Pachomius or some other man of that name

cannot be ascertained (Goehring 2001: 236–9). These factors have

prompted some scholars to postulate a fourth-century context for

the Nag Hammadi library. In particular, it has been argued that

the books originally belonged to a monastery library and that they

were buried at a stage when the monks became worried that the

contents might land them in trouble.

A possible context for the burial has been sought in a

letter written in AD367 by bishop Athanasius of Alexandria. This

document is the thirty-ninth in a collection known as his Festal

Letters– letters that he wrote each Easter to Egyptian Christians

on matters of discipline. Festal Letter39 is concerned with ‘the

teaching of the worship of God’, which, Athanasius stated, could

be found only in scripture. In this letter, for the first time, we

have a list of the twenty-seven books that now constitute the New

Testament canon. Athanasius also noted certain non-canonical

works – such as the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach,

Judith,Tobit, the Shepherdof Hermas, and the Didache– that

could be used for Christian instruction. Then he noted:

Nevertheless, the former books [i.e. scripture] are canon-

ised; the latter are (only) read; and there is no mention of

the apocryphal books. Rather (the category of the apoc-

rypha) is an invention of the heretics, who write these books

whenever they want and grant and bestow on them dates,

so that, by publishing them as if they were ancient, they

might have a pretext for deceiving simple folk.

(Athanasius,Festal Letter39, trans. Brakke 1995: 330)

Athanasius ordered such apocryphal books to be rejected. It is

suggested, therefore, that a community of monks, having received

the letter, diligently collected any codices of heretical works they

might possess, sealed them in a jar, and buried them where they

lay hidden until Muhammad Ali chanced upon them.

Attractive though this story is, it is mainly a whimsical

conjecture built on circumstantial evidence. Many scholars have

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