Dialogus Iohannis cum Iesu
Standard abbreviation: Dial. Rev. John
Other titles: the Bala’izah fragment 52 (P. Bal. 52), Fragments of a Dialogue between John and Jesus, Fragmentum Balaizah
Clavis numbers: ECCA 178; CANT 27; CPC 670
Category: Revelatory Dialogues
Related literature: thematic parallels with various Sethian texts.
Compiled by Philip L. Tite, University of Washington ([email protected])
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Tite, Philip L. “The Dialogue of the Revealer and John.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/dialogue-of-the-revealer-and-john/.
Created June 2020.
1. SUMMARY
The Dialogue of the Revealer and John is a fragmentary dialogue between an unnamed Revealer and someone named John (likely either the apostle John or the elder John, though there is a remote possibility that this character is John Mark or John the Baptist). The Revealer may be Jesus, as previous scholarship has suggested, but there is nothing in the text to definitely support this identification. The dialogue survives in a set of Sahidic Coptic fragments (Bala’izah fragment 52; P. Bal. 52), first edited and published by Walter E. Crum in 1943, discovered as part of a larger archaeological find at a monastery at Deir el-Bala’izah, approximately twelve miles south of the Assyut on the west side of the Nile. P. Bal. 52 was further edited and placed under glass by Eric O. Winstedt. Further editing of P. Bal. 52 was done by Paul E. Kahle in 1952 and published by Kahle as part of a cache of nearly 370 literary and nonliterary texts published from the approximate 3000 texts discovered. Kahle’s edition remains the standard. P. Bal. 52 can be dated to approximately the seventh century, due to the monastic provenance, though the dialogue may have been written much earlier. Crum and Kahle date it to the fourth or fifth century, while Schenke and Horton have argued for a second-century dating (which seems unlikely). A Sethian connection could situate the dialogue in the third century given shifts in the descent/ascent patterns in Sethianism (see Turner on Sethian history). Most likely the dialogue was produced in Egypt, originally written in Coptic (rather than a translation from Greek) and can more plausibly be dated to the seventh century. Whether the dialogue was composed at Deir el-Bala’izah or circulated to the monastery is unknown. An extensive analysis with English translation (and chapter/verse system) is offered by Tite.
The dialogue is comprised of a series of question-and-answer exchanges (fitting the erōtapokriseis genre) between the Revealer and John over key passages in Genesis and possibly also Hebrews (there is a direct quotation from Heb. 7:3 [Dial. Rev. John 5] and the ordering of the biblical passages may reflect Heb. 11). The extant text falls into four major blocks of material:
1. Protological condition and cosmogonic crisis (Dial. Rev. John 1–2)
a. Protological unity of humanity (Adam and Eve [though Eve is not mentioned in the text] or the incorruptible Adamas)
b. Cosmological crisis and resolution (silence becoming rational power, heavenly paradise, ritual sealing, and myth)
2. Question on Cain and Abel (Dial. Rev. John 3)
3. Question on the Noahic flood (Dial. Rev. John 4)
4. Questions on Melchizedek (Dial. Rev. John 5)
The dialogue begins with a discussion of the primordial condition of Adam as “the body(?) … naked … without sin …” (1:1–2) and the state of quietness in the heavenly paradise (2:1) where “rational power” carried the name “silence” prior to a cosmic crisis or fall. By being “sealed with the five powers” there is a return to a state of “quietness” and thus perfection. John receives this revelation “through a noetic symbol” (2:2) and thus has “made a good beginning” toward “perfect knowledge through a hidden mystery and symbols of truth” (2:3). This opening exchange establishes the main theme of the dialogue, which is the cosmogonic crisis and the role of silence and rational power, through myth and ritual, to restore those fallen to a state of perfection/sinlessness or “quietness.” The further exchanges on Genesis (Cain and Abel, Noahic flood, and Melchizedek) seem to build on this opening exchange.
Dialogue Rev. John demonstrates strong affinities with Sethianism and ancient models for moral progression. The mention of the five seals, the “five trees,” and the role of rationality and “silence and quietness” all point to Sethianism. It is possible that the dialogue is another Sethian text or that it has been influenced by Sethian ideas as “free-floating” theologumena (cf. Wisse). The mention of “hav[ing] made a good beginning,” along with the goal of a restoration to “fullness” and “completion” (Dial. Rev. John 4) as well as “perfect knowledge” (Dial. Rev. John 2:3) suggest that the dialogue conceptualizes redemption in terms of moral progression toward perfection—a key concept in ancient moral philosophy (see discussion in Dunderberg and applied to the dialogue by Tite).
Named historical figures and characters: Abel, Adam (patriarch), Cain, John (son of Zebedee), Melchizedek, Noah (patriarch).
Geographical locations: paradise.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (Sahidici) (PAThs entry)
Oxford, Bodliean Library, Copt. d 54 (p) (P. Bal. 52) (PAThs entry)
Crum, Walter E. “Coptic Anecdota.” JTS 44 (1943): 176–82 (editio princeps with English translation).
Kahle, Paul E. Bala’izah: Coptic Texts from Deir El-Bala’izah in Upper Egypt. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1954 (edition and English translation, vol. 1, pp. 473–77).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Crum, Walter E. “The Coptic Manuscripts.” Pages 39-43 in William M. Flinders Petrie. Gizeh and Rifeh. London: School of Archaeology, 1907 (English translation pp. 39–40).
__________. “Coptic Anecdota.” JTS 44 (1943): 176–82 (editio princeps with English translation).
Horton, Fred L. The Melchizedek Tradition: A Critical Examination of the Sources to the Fifth Century A.D. and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. SNTSMS 30. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979 (English translation, pp. 132–34).
Kahle, Paul E. Bala’izah: Coptic Texts from Deir El-Bala’izah in Upper Egypt. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1954 (edition and English translation, vol. 1, pp. 473–77).
Lundhaug, Hugo and Lance Jenott. The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 97. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015 (English translation, p. 162 n. 80).
Puech, Henri-Charles and Beate Blatz. “Fragments of a Dialogue between John and Jesus.” Pages 388–389 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 1: Writings Relating to the Apostles, Apocalypse and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by Robert McLachlan Wilson. 2 vols. Rev. ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1991–1992 (English translation from the German edition 1:210–311).
Tite, Philip L. “The Dialogue of the Revealer and John.” Pages 355–77 in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 2. Edited by Tony Burke. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020 (English translation, pp. 376–77).
3.2.2 German
Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Die Fragmente eines Gesprächs des Johannes mit Jesus.” Pages 1217–19 in Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Vol. 1.1: Evangelien und Verwandtes. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012 (German translation).
3.2.3 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. in 4. Turin: Marietti, 1966–1981 (Italian introduction and translation in vol. 1.1, p. 212).
3.4 General Works
Dunderberg, Ismo. Gnostic Morality Revisited. WUNT 347. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.
Goehring, James E. “The Monastery of Apollo at Bala’iza and Its Literary Texts.” Pages 41–56 In Christianity and Monasticism in Middle Egypt: Al-Minya and Asyut. Edited by Gawdat Gabra and Hany N. Takla. Cairo/New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2015.
Logan, Alastair H. B. “The Mystery of the Five Seals: Gnostic Initiation Reconsidered.” VC 51.2 (1997): 188–206.
Pearson, Birger. “Melchizedek in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism.” Pages 176–202 in Biblical Figures Outside the Bible. Edited by Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergen. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998.
Papadoyannakis, Yannis. “Instruction by Question and Answer: The Case of Late Antique and Byzantine Erotapokriseis.” Pages 91–105 in Greek Literature in Late Antiquity: Dynamism, Didacticism, Classicism. Edited by Scott Fitzgerald Johnson. London/New York: Routledge, 2006.
__________. “Defining Orthodoxy in Pseudo-Justin’s ‘Quaestiones et responsiones ad orthodoxos.’” Pages 115–27 in Heresy and Identity in Late Antiquity. Edited by Eduard Iricinschi and Holger M. Zellentin. TSAJ 119. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008.
Parton, Elizabeth A. “Apocalyptic and Sethian Trajectories and Melchizedek Speculations in Late Antique Egypt: The Melchizedek Apocalypse from Nag Hammadi (NHC IX, 1) as a Test Case.” PhD diss., University of Ottawa, 2008.
Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das sethianische System nach Nag-hammadi-Handschriften.” Pages 165–73 in Studia Gnostica. Edited by Peter Nagel. Berliner Byzantinische Arbeiten 45. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1974.
__________. “The Phenomenon and Significance of Sethian Gnosticism.” Pages 588–616 in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. Vol. 2: Sethianism. Edited by Bentley Layton. SHR 41. Leiden: Brill, 1981.
Sevrin, Jean-Marie. Le dossier baptimal séthien: Études sur la sacramentaire gnostique. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Études 2. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1986.
Turner, John D. “Ritual in Gnosticism.” Pages 136–81 in Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 1994. Edited by Eugene H. Lovering. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994.
__________. “The Gnostic Seth.” Pages 33–58 in Biblical Figures Outside the Bible. Edited by Michael E. Stone and Theodore A. Bergen. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998.
__________. Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi. Études 6. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Leuven: Peeters, 2001.
Waldstein, Michael and Frederik Wisse. The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II,1; III,1; and IV,1 with BG 8502,2. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 33. Leiden: Brill, 1995 (see “Appendix 6: Bala’izah Fragment 52”).
Williams, Michael A. “Sethianism.” Pages 32–63 in A Companion to Second-Century Christian ‘Heretics.’ Edited by Antti Marjanen and Petri Luomanen. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
Wisse, Frederik. “Stalking those Elusive Sethians.” Pages 563–76 in The Rediscovery of Gnosticism. Vol. 2: Sethianism. Edited by Bentley Layton. SHR 41. Leiden: Brill, 1981.