The Shelves · Philosophy

Gospel according to the Egyptians

Conjecturedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Philosophy

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Anonymous

Gospel according to the Egyptians

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in fragments

Known only from quotations in Clement. Not the same work as the Nag Hammadi text sometimes given the same name (the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit).

Was it in Alexandria?

Conjectured

Of the Egyptian milieu.

On the ledge: written in Egypt or in a tradition the city shaped; not known in the Library.

Read it today

Clement, Stromata book 3 (Wilson translation, New Advent) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026

III · In the show

Heresiologists and early Christian doctrine, episode 2, at 43 secondsTranscriptHeresiologists: the early schools known through their opponents.Known: attested
Gnostic readings of the serpent and demiurge, episode 2, at 37 minutes 33 secondsTranscriptGnostic readings of the serpent and the demiurge.Known: attested
Gnostic texts and orthodoxy, episode 11, at 19 minutesTranscriptKnown: attested

+ 6 more

Gnosticism, Material vs Spiritual Reality, episode 23, at 37 minutes 20 secondsTranscriptValentinians and Basilideans.Known: attested
Plato’s Demiurge vs. the Gnostic Demiurge, episode 36, at 1 hour 54 minutes 33 secondsTranscriptPlato's demiurge against the Gnostic demiurge.Known: attested
Gnostic texts and orthodoxy, episode 11, at 20 minutes 11 secondsTranscript“The the Coptic schools in Alexandria in and around Alexandria”Known: attested
Correction
What was said
"The Coptic schools in Alexandria".
What the sources say
The Alexandrian teachers wrote in Greek; Coptic belongs to the later translations made in Upper Egypt.
Gnosticism · Irenaeus, Against Heresies I: Thirty aeons and a LimitKnown: attested
Gnosticism · Traditions: Sethian, Valentinian, BasilideanKnown: attested
Gnosticism · Chronology: Great system-buildersKnown: attested

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)

Clement, Stromata 3.45, 63-66, 91-93
Origen, Homilies on Luke 1

Modern scholarship (4)

B. D. Ehrman and Z. Plese, The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
B. A. Pearson, Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman and Coptic Egypt (New York: T&T Clark, 2004)
M. A. Williams, Rethinking 'Gnosticism': An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
D. Brakke, The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE EGYPTIANS