Theos-Talk Archives (March 2004 Message tt00406)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Mauri <mhart@i...> wrote:
> I'm tending to wonder where one might 
> find such "ancient documents," in that, 
> even if they (or whatever "more-original 
> versions," say) are purposely hidden and 
> guarded (if so), one might wonder about 
> the nature of the info/sources that 
> refer to such "ancient documents"...

That comments makes me wonder about the nature of my querent.

Translations of the apostolic fathers and ante-nicene fathers can be 
found in any large library. The problem with them is, they are 
boring as hell and you have to dig much earth to find little gold, as 
Heraclitus said.

The system of degrees was secret, but there are hints here and there 
regarding their nature and if you assemble all these (a feat 
impossible in ancient times) the nature of the degrees becomes 
clear. Some have suggested the system was patterned after the three 
degrees of initiation in Neo-Platonism, but that does not wash 
because the Neo-Platonists came after the primitice church. The same 
general structure was there, though: "purification" in the second 
degree and epopteua (vision) in the third.

> Then there's the Pistis Sophia ... And 
> what about the source/nature of the 
> Pistis Sophia, eg ...

I don't understand that question. The PS is a gnostic tect from the 
Valentinian school.