Gospel of Eve

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The Gospel of Eve (εὐαγγεέλιον Εὔας) is a New Testament apocryphal script from the 2nd century, of which we have only received a quote from Epiphanius von Salamis . It is likely a Gnostic apocalypse . There is only one single quote from Epiphanius about the "Gnostics or Borborites" that can certainly be assigned to the Gospel of Mary :

“I stood on a high mountain and saw a tall person and another shortened and heard a kind of thunderous sound and went closer to hear. Then he spoke to me and said: 'I am you and you are me, and wherever you are, there I am and am sown in everything; and wherever you want from, you collect me, but if you collect me, you collect yourself. '"

- Epiph., Haer. XXVI 3.2

The writing is attributed to various groups by Bishop Epiphanius, according to the current state of Gnosis research these would be the " Sethians " or " Barbelo-Gnostics ". If the short quote is representative of the Scriptures, then it is a dialogue gospel in literary genre . The identity of the people named in the quote remains unclear.

The writing is first attested in the middle of the fourth century in Egypt ( terminus ad quem ). However, it is uncertain how long before the script came into being. The early dating of Harnack to the second century is the earliest possible point in time; the third century is also possible. The original language was probably Greek. The writing is only mentioned by Epiphanius and by no one else, so it was probably not very common.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Markschies, The Gospel of Mary. In: Ancient Christian Apocrypha in German translation, edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter in conjunction with Andreas Heiser. I. Volume Gospels and Related, Part 1, Mohr, Siebeck, Tübingen 2012. p. 403

literature

  • Adolf Harnack : History of early Christian literature . Volume 1: The tradition and the inventory . 1st chapter. 2nd expanded edition. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1958, p. 156; P. 166ff.
  • Wilhelm Schneemelcher (Ed.): New Testament Apocrypha in German translation . Volume 1: Gospels. 6th edition. Mohr, Tübingen 1990, ISBN 3-16-145606-8 , pp. 288ff.
  • Christoph Markschies : The Gospel of Mary . In: Ancient Christian Apocrypha in German translation , edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter in conjunction with Andreas Heiser. I. Volume Gospels and Related, Part 1, Mohr, Siebeck, Tübingen 2012. P. 402ff.