Three Steles of Seth

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The Three Steles of Seth is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library, and were translated and explained by professor Paul-Jean Claude (retired), member of the Nag Hammadi Research Group of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Université Laval (Quebec).

The text concerns a revelation to Dositheos about three steles (text written into specially created stones). Many scholars think they are designed as liturgy.

The text is thought to be from the Sethian sect of Gnostics (the sect that viewed the biblical Seth as their hero, who was reincarnated as Jesus). Their other texts include the Apocalypse of Adam, Apocryphon of John, the Trimorphic Protennoia, and the Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians.

The text is thought to be a 3rd century development of the Sethian Gnostics, as they became more separated from Christianity, and closer to Platonism.

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Last updated on Wednesday January 30, 2008 at 05:55:57 PST (GMT -0800)
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