The Prayer of Thanksgiving
Home > Gnostics > The Prayer of Thanksgiving The Prayer of Thanksgiving At a Glance Treatise Genre: (5/5) ***** Reliability of Dating: (5/5) ***** Length of Text: Greek Original Language: Ancient Translations: Modern Translations: Estimated Range of Dating: 200-300 A.D. Chronological List of Early Christian Writings Discuss this text on the Early Writings forum. Text The Prayer of Thanksgiving Offsite Links French Translation Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia: Prayer of Thanksgiving The Gnostic Bible Thanks and Joy: The Prayer of Thanksgiving Books Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures: A New Translation With Annotations and Introductions (Doubleday 1987) Marvin Meyer, ed., The Nag Hammadi Scriptures (HarperOne 2009) Birger A. Pearson, Ancient Gnosticism: Traditions And Literature (Fortress Press 2007) Recommended Books for the Study of Early Christian Writings Information on the Prayer of Thanksgiving Jean-Pierre Mah writes, "The Prayer of Thanksgiving, which appears in Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi library as an epilogue to the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, was originally an independent writing destined to be recycled in different contexts. It also serves as the conclusion to both a Greek magical collection of texts (in the so-called Papyrus Mimaut) and Asclepius, a Latin adaptation of the Greek Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus. In the latter dialogue (Asclepius 41), the prayer is flanked by two liturgical rubrics containing instructions for the use of the prayer. Thus, before the text of the prayer, we read, 'When someone wants to entreat God at the sunset, he should direct his gaze to that quarter, and likewise at sunrise toward the direction they call east.' A similar instruction (Corpus Hermeticum XIII, 16) is also given in the Secret Hymn (XIII, 17-20) contained in another Hermetic writing. Similarly, the following words of recommendation bring the prayer to a conclusion: 'with such hope we turn to a pure meal that includes no living thing.' Although the second rubric for the use of the prayer has been preserved in Nag Hammadi Codex VI (65,2-7), the first has been replaced with a narrative introduction, 'This is the prayer they offered' (63,33), which obviously echoes a previous sentence in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth: 'When he finished praising, he called out' (59,23-24)." (The Nag Hammadi Scriptures, p. 419) Birger A. Pearson writes, "While some scholars think that the prayer was originally the concluding part of the Asclepius, it is more likely that it constituted a Hermetic prayer that circulated independently. It was editorially tacked on to the end of the Asclepius to give concrete expression to the closing prayers with which that tractate ends. It was also tacked on to the end of the aforementioned magical spell in the Papyrus Mimaut, for reasons that are not at all clear. The scribe of Codex VI thought it appropriate to add it as a closing prayer to the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. ... The original Greek version of the prayer was probably composed sometime in the third century, somewhere in Egypt. It may have been composed by a leader of a Hermetic fraternity." (Ancient Gnosticism, p. 291) Some Contemporary Texts Books of Jeu (200-250 A.D.) Pistis Sophia (200-300 A.D.) Tripartite Tractate (200-300 A.D.) Hypostasis of the Archons (200-300 A.D.) Prayer of Thanksgiving (200-300 A.D.) Coptic Apocalypse of Peter (200-300 A.D.) Apostolic Church Order (200-330 A.D.) Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit (200-350 A.D.) Monarchian Prologues (200-450 A.D.) Go to the Chronological List of all Early Christian Writings Please buy the CD to support the site, view it without ads, and get bonus stuff! Early Christian Writings is copyright © Peter Kirby <E-Mail&gt. Follow @mrpeterkirby MLA Style Kirby, Peter. "The Prayer of Thanksgiving." Early Christian Writings. <http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thanksgiving.html>. 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