the heretics’ apostle and two pauline pseudepigrapha 343
estingly, this compiler’s definition of the genre encompassed both “hori-
zontal” and “vertical” apocalypses,15 to use our modern distinction. several
features are common to four of the five works (the first work in the codex,
Eugnostos, perhaps excepted).16 The narrative structure emphasizes the
familiar motif of a human who is unaware of the true nature of reality.
This human receives a visitation from a heavenly being who reveals the
secret plan underlying the deceptive appearance of the world, the way in
which this secret plan will become manifest, involving both an enlight-
ening of the protagonist (vertical aspect), and a prediction of history’s
denouement (horizontal aspect).
As we have seen, the Apocalypse of Paul fits comfortably into this con-
text, being a very traditionally structured (if skeletally presented) ascen-
sion apocalypse. however, it is also the only one of the four apocalypses
that, so to speak, opens out into subsequent history. The other three
apocalypses are first of all set in contexts that are specific, “historical”
in an ancient if not a modern sense, and not accessible to later readers,
whether it is the Jewish, israel-focused earliest apostolic period as in the
tales of James, or the garden of eden, as in the Apocalypse of Adam. The
Apocalypse of Paul, too, has allusions or references to pauline writings that
could enable the reader to create a temporal and spatial context for it, but
it lacks the specificity of the other three works, particularly with regard
to the revelation it contains, which comes out of nowhere. Aside from its
ambiguous reference to the mountain of Jericho, there are no place names
in the work; aside from its use of paul, no characters are named. walking
esting to note a conceivably parallel situation: the recently published codex Tchacos, in
which the (in)famous Gospel of Judas was found, also contains a work called James which
is a version of the work entitled the Apocalypse of James in nag hammadi codex V. if James
could circulate in codex V as the Apocalypse of James, it is at least possible that Eugnostos
could have been entitled Apocalypse of Eugnostos in codex V, thus matching the rest of the
contents. i am also greatly indebted to Julia caesar chaves at université laval for these
insights (personal communication): he has a paper currently in preparation for Le Museon,
in which he discusses them at great length.
15 for the classic statement of this distinction, see John J. collins, “introduction:
Towards the morphology of genre,” Semeia 14 (1979): 1–19.
16 it is interesting to note that the Sophia of Jesus Christ, in codex iii, drew upon a
text related to Eugnostos, but added a very standard revelation dialogue narrative frame
to clothe and legitimate the technical material that it draws from the Eugnostos-related
source. given that the other four writings in codex V are apocalyptic revelation dialogues,
we can suggest that the compiler of the codex might have found the Sophia of Jesus Christ,
had she known of it, to be more in keeping with the rest of the codex than Eugnostos.
consideration of the Sophia of Jesus Christ also shows us that the Eugnostos material was
considered to be compatible with apocalyptic revelations by someone else, as well as the
compiler of codex V.