Codex Tchacos
Encyclopedia
The Codex Tchacos is an ancient Egyptian Coptic
papyrus
containing early Christian Gnostic
texts from approximately 300 AD:
(This is not the previously-known Nag Hammadi text Allogenes.)
The Codex Tchacos is important because it contains the first known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas, a text that was rejected as heresy by the early Christian church and lost for 1700 years. The Gospel of Judas was mentioned and summarized by the Church Father Irenaeus of Lyons in his work Against Heresies
. This would make the Gospel of Judas older than the codex it was discovered in, though there is some uncertainty as to whether this reference was explicitly added in a later Latin translation.
The codex
was rediscovered near El Minya, Egypt
during the 1970s, and stored in a variety of unorthodox ways by various dealers who had little experience with antiquities. One stored it in a safe deposit box
and another actually froze the documents, causing a unique and difficult kind of decay that makes the papyrus appear sandblasted. (Archivists can do nothing to remedy this damage since it is caused by the outer layers of the papyrus flaking off—taking ink with them.) Scholars heard rumors of the text from the 1980s onward as dealers periodically offered it for sale (displaying portions of the text or photographs of portions of the text in the process.) It was not examined and translated until 2001 after its current owner, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, concerned with its deteriorating condition, transferred it to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Basel, Switzerland. She named it in honor of her father, Dimaratos Tchacos.
Roughly a dozen pages of the original manuscript, seen briefly by scholars in the 1970s, are missing from the Codex today; it is believed that they were sold secretly to dealers, but none have come forward. According to National Geographic's website, fragments purported to be from the codex may also be part of an Ohio antiquities dealer's estate.
In April 2006, a complete translation of the text, with extensive footnotes, was released by the National Geographic Society
: The Gospel Of Judas (ISBN 1-4262-0042-0, April 2006). National Geographic, which restored and conserved of the codex, has also created a two hour television documentary, The Gospel of Judas, which aired worldwide on the National Geographic Channel
on April 9, 2006. A special issue of the magazine was also devoted to the Gospel of Judas. A critical edition of the Codex Tchacos, including complete, near life-sized color photographs by National Geographic, a revised transcription of the Coptic, and complete translation of the codex appeared in late 2007. The team also hopes to look at the cartonnage (a sort of paper-mâché used to stiffen the codex's cover) in order to find clues about who made the codex and when/where. (As a book the Tchacos Codex may be older than the twelve surviving volumes of the Nag Hammadi Library, making it the oldest surviving book in Western history.)
April D. DeConick
(the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University) has published a book, The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, questioning both the National Geographic's handling of the Gospel of Judas' publication and the veracity of its translation. She has argued both that National Geographic denied competent scholars access and that the scholars who were granted access to the Codex Tchacos were not able to go about their work properly due to the constraints put upon them, accusations similar to those leveled at the guardians of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most notably, she points out that the first National Geographic translation omitted a "not," reversing the meaning of the text. In an opinion piece in the New York Times (December 1, 2007), she wrote:
The importance of the Codex Tchacos is not in doubt, but work has only begun in understanding its true influence and origin.
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
containing early Christian Gnostic
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
texts from approximately 300 AD:
- The Gospel of JudasGospel of JudasThe Gospel of Judas is a Gnostic gospel that purportedly documents conversations between the Disciple Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ.It is believed to have been written by Gnostic followers of Jesus, rather than by Judas himself, and probably dates from no earlier than the 2nd century, since it...
- The First Apocalypse of JamesFirst Apocalypse of JamesThe First Apocalypse of James, part of the New Testament apocrypha also called the Revelation of Jacob, was first discovered amongst 52 other Gnostic Christian texts spread over 13 codices by an Arab peasant, Mohammad Ali al-Samman, in the Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi late in December 1945...
- The Letter of Peter to PhilipLetter of Peter to PhilipThe Letter of Peter to Philip, found in the cache of texts at Nag Hammadi , contains a brief letter purporting to be from Saint Peter to Saint Philip, followed by a narrative and gnostic discourse upon the nature of Christ...
- A fragment of the Book of AllogenesAllogenesAllogenes is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library, though there are many missing lines. A small fragment also survives in the more recently discovered Codex Tchacos, which may help in filling the gaps.The text concerns...
(or the Book of the Stranger)
(This is not the previously-known Nag Hammadi text Allogenes.)
The Codex Tchacos is important because it contains the first known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas, a text that was rejected as heresy by the early Christian church and lost for 1700 years. The Gospel of Judas was mentioned and summarized by the Church Father Irenaeus of Lyons in his work Against Heresies
On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis
On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis, today also called On the Detection and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So Called , commonly called Against Heresies , is a five-volume work written by St. Irenaeus in the 2nd century...
. This would make the Gospel of Judas older than the codex it was discovered in, though there is some uncertainty as to whether this reference was explicitly added in a later Latin translation.
The Codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
was rediscovered near El Minya, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
during the 1970s, and stored in a variety of unorthodox ways by various dealers who had little experience with antiquities. One stored it in a safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
and another actually froze the documents, causing a unique and difficult kind of decay that makes the papyrus appear sandblasted. (Archivists can do nothing to remedy this damage since it is caused by the outer layers of the papyrus flaking off—taking ink with them.) Scholars heard rumors of the text from the 1980s onward as dealers periodically offered it for sale (displaying portions of the text or photographs of portions of the text in the process.) It was not examined and translated until 2001 after its current owner, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, concerned with its deteriorating condition, transferred it to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Basel, Switzerland. She named it in honor of her father, Dimaratos Tchacos.
Roughly a dozen pages of the original manuscript, seen briefly by scholars in the 1970s, are missing from the Codex today; it is believed that they were sold secretly to dealers, but none have come forward. According to National Geographic's website, fragments purported to be from the codex may also be part of an Ohio antiquities dealer's estate.
In April 2006, a complete translation of the text, with extensive footnotes, was released by the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
: The Gospel Of Judas (ISBN 1-4262-0042-0, April 2006). National Geographic, which restored and conserved of the codex, has also created a two hour television documentary, The Gospel of Judas, which aired worldwide on the National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
on April 9, 2006. A special issue of the magazine was also devoted to the Gospel of Judas. A critical edition of the Codex Tchacos, including complete, near life-sized color photographs by National Geographic, a revised transcription of the Coptic, and complete translation of the codex appeared in late 2007. The team also hopes to look at the cartonnage (a sort of paper-mâché used to stiffen the codex's cover) in order to find clues about who made the codex and when/where. (As a book the Tchacos Codex may be older than the twelve surviving volumes of the Nag Hammadi Library, making it the oldest surviving book in Western history.)
April D. DeConick
April DeConick
April D. DeConick is the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University, Texas and is a historian of early Jewish and Christian thought.DeConick received her PhD in Near Eastern Studies at The University of Michigan in 1994...
(the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University) has published a book, The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says, questioning both the National Geographic's handling of the Gospel of Judas' publication and the veracity of its translation. She has argued both that National Geographic denied competent scholars access and that the scholars who were granted access to the Codex Tchacos were not able to go about their work properly due to the constraints put upon them, accusations similar to those leveled at the guardians of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most notably, she points out that the first National Geographic translation omitted a "not," reversing the meaning of the text. In an opinion piece in the New York Times (December 1, 2007), she wrote:
- According to the National Geographic translation, Judas’s ascent to the holy generation would be cursed. But it’s clear from the transcription that the scholars altered the Coptic original, which eliminated a negative from the original sentence. In fact, the original states that Judas will "not ascend to the holy generation."
The importance of the Codex Tchacos is not in doubt, but work has only begun in understanding its true influence and origin.
External links
- Frequently Asked Questions, from National Geographic.
- The Coptic Ps.Gospel of Judas
- April D. DeConick, "Gospel Truth." The New York Times, December 1, 2007.