c. fourth or fifth century CE
trans. Jason Colavito
2025
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NOTE |
The Cologne Mani Codex is the most important Manichaean text uncovered in the twentieth century. The tiny Greek codex, translated sometime in the fourth or fifth century CE from a Syriac original, is one of the sole primary sources surviving in a more or less complete state from a once-extensive Manichaean literature. The text purports to be Mani's autobiography, and the oldest layers of the text appear to draw on original Manichaean tracts, particularly the Gospel of Mani, one of the seven key Manichaean scriptures. Because the full English translation of the 192-page text is under copyright, I have here provided my own translation of the remarkable section running from pages 48 to 63 in which a variety of antediluvian patriarchs (plus St. Paul) and their angelic encounters are discussed, referencing otherwise unknown Apocalypses (Revelations), which many scholars believe to be fragments of either Gnostic or Second Temple Jewish apocryphal literature. According to John Reeves of UNC Charlotte, the texts are most likely Gnostic in origin, perhaps rewritten from Jewish originals. Ellipses indicate missing lines of text.
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from the COLOGNE MANI CODEX
(48) … write and prove afterwards and strengthen, unite, and magnify their teachers and the truth and the hope that they revealed to them. Thus, each one according to the period and the circuit of his apostleship each spoke and wrote for a memorial—and also about his rapture. [Thus] first Adam […] said | in [his] Revelation: “. . . angel. . . . (49) . . . before thy [radiant] face, whom I know not.” Then he said to him: “I am Balsamos, the greatest angel of light: For this reason, write these things which I reveal to thee on clean papyrus that is unspoiled and which is free from worms”—and many other things he revealed in the vision. The glory about him was exceedingly great. He (Adam) saw and beheld the angels and [chief] officials and mighty powers. . . . (50) Adam. And he became greater than the angels of creation. Many other similar things are in his writings.
Likewise, Sethil, his son, thus wrote in his Revelation, saying that “I opened my eyes and I saw before my face an [angel] whom I could not speak of, for there was nothing else that [appeared] but lightning . . . (51) . . . When I heard these things, my heart rejoiced and my mind was changed, and I became like one of the greatest angels. That angel laid his hand on my right hand, and he pulled me out of the world in which I was born and was carried to another. Now I heard a great tumult from the angels, who remained behind me [in the] world . . . [I] saw . . . (52) Many more things are said in his writings, and how he was carried away by that angel from world to world and [how he] revealed to him the greatest mysteries of majesty.
Again, in the Revelation of Enosh, it says thus: “In the third year and in the tenth month, I went out for a walk into the desert land, thinking about heaven and earth and [about all] the works [and things]—how they manifested and who willed them to happen . . . (53) . . . of death. He seized me in great silence. The burden on my heart was heavy, and the limbs of my whole body trembled and the joints of my back shook with violence, and my feet on their pins could not stand. I went out onto many flat plains, and I saw there very high mountains. And I flew up with the Spirit and was taken atop the mountain in the silent power of the angels, and I saw many revelations.” Again, he said . . . “The angel . . . (54) [to the] north I saw exceedingly great mountains and angels and many places. Now he spoke to me and said, “He who is greatest and most powerful sent me to you, that I may reveal to you the hidden things which you have thought about, because you were chosen for the truth. All these secrets you are to write on tablets of bronze and go down into the land of the desert and store them. All that you write, write clearly! For this deathless revelation is ready to be delivered to all the brothers and sisters.” Now, many other things (55) are contained in his writings, which tell about his own rapture and revelation. For all that he heard and saw he wrote down for all the descendants of the spirit of truth.
In the same way also Shem spoke in his revelation: “I thought about all the works and in what way they were brought into being. But as I thought, suddenly the living [spirit] flew away with me with great force and put me down | and on the edge of a mountain of great height and said to [me: ‘. . .] (56) Glory to the greatest king of honor.’” Again, he said, “Silently doors opened and the wind parted the clouds. I saw a glorious throne room descending from the heights of the most high and a great angel in its presence. And the image of the form of his face was lovely and fresh, greater than even the splendor [of the sun] and also [of lightning]. . . . . (57) of embroidery [like] a crown made of Pharmouthi (May) flowers. And then the features of my face changed, so that I fell on the ground. And the joints of my back shook with violence, and my feet on their pins could not stand. Then a voice arose in me, calling from the throne room, and it took hold of my right hand, and picked me up. It breathed into me the breath of life, and he increased in me both power and glory.” And many other such things were written in his writings, including the revelations the angels told him to write down as a memorial.
And again, Enoch spoke in this way his Revelation: “I am Enoch the righteous. My distress is great, and there is much shedding of tears from my eyes, for I have heard the evil coming forth from the mouths of the unrighteous.” Now he said, “With tears in my eyes and supplication on my lips, I saw standing before me [seven] angels [descending] from heaven. And when I saw them, (59) I trembled with fear, so that my knees knocked one another.” And again he said, “One of the angels, Michael, said unto me, ‘For this reason I am sent unto thee, that I may shew thee all works, and shew thee the place of the righteous, and the place of the wicked, and the place of the punishment of the wicked.’” And again he said, “They set me on a chariot of wind and they carried me to the ends of the heavens. We passed through the worlds, the world of death and the world of darkness, (60) and the world of fire. And after this they brought me into a world most rich, which was resplendent with light, more beautiful than the luminaries I saw.” He beheld everything and questioned the angels, and what they said, he recorded in his writings.
(61) In the same way, the Apostle Paul also says that he went to the third heaven, as he says in the Letter to the Galatians: “Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (Gal. 1:1). And in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities” (2 Cor. 1-5). And again in the Letter to the Galatians: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:11-12). While he was outside of himself and (62) raptured to the third heaven and Paradise, he both saw and heard, and this he recorded in secret riddles about his rapture and his service as an apostle to his fellow initiates in hidden things.
And finally, all the most blessed apostles and saviors and evangelists and prophets of the truth—each one of them beheld according to the revelation given to him, whether it was hope or life, for the proclamation, and they wrote and left behind [their testimony] and entrusted [it] for a remembrance to the sons who were to come, of the divine Spirit, and to those who would know the perception of his voice.
(63) In this way, it is fitting for the most praiseworthy apostle (Mani), through whom and from whom the hope and the inheritance of life was revealed to us, it is necessary for us to write about it for all those who are born after, and for the children of faith and the spiritual offspring, increasing through his waters of light, so that his rapture and revelation may be known to them. For, brethren, we know the greatness of the wisdom of the Paraclete of Truth in relation to ourselves.
Likewise, Sethil, his son, thus wrote in his Revelation, saying that “I opened my eyes and I saw before my face an [angel] whom I could not speak of, for there was nothing else that [appeared] but lightning . . . (51) . . . When I heard these things, my heart rejoiced and my mind was changed, and I became like one of the greatest angels. That angel laid his hand on my right hand, and he pulled me out of the world in which I was born and was carried to another. Now I heard a great tumult from the angels, who remained behind me [in the] world . . . [I] saw . . . (52) Many more things are said in his writings, and how he was carried away by that angel from world to world and [how he] revealed to him the greatest mysteries of majesty.
Again, in the Revelation of Enosh, it says thus: “In the third year and in the tenth month, I went out for a walk into the desert land, thinking about heaven and earth and [about all] the works [and things]—how they manifested and who willed them to happen . . . (53) . . . of death. He seized me in great silence. The burden on my heart was heavy, and the limbs of my whole body trembled and the joints of my back shook with violence, and my feet on their pins could not stand. I went out onto many flat plains, and I saw there very high mountains. And I flew up with the Spirit and was taken atop the mountain in the silent power of the angels, and I saw many revelations.” Again, he said . . . “The angel . . . (54) [to the] north I saw exceedingly great mountains and angels and many places. Now he spoke to me and said, “He who is greatest and most powerful sent me to you, that I may reveal to you the hidden things which you have thought about, because you were chosen for the truth. All these secrets you are to write on tablets of bronze and go down into the land of the desert and store them. All that you write, write clearly! For this deathless revelation is ready to be delivered to all the brothers and sisters.” Now, many other things (55) are contained in his writings, which tell about his own rapture and revelation. For all that he heard and saw he wrote down for all the descendants of the spirit of truth.
In the same way also Shem spoke in his revelation: “I thought about all the works and in what way they were brought into being. But as I thought, suddenly the living [spirit] flew away with me with great force and put me down | and on the edge of a mountain of great height and said to [me: ‘. . .] (56) Glory to the greatest king of honor.’” Again, he said, “Silently doors opened and the wind parted the clouds. I saw a glorious throne room descending from the heights of the most high and a great angel in its presence. And the image of the form of his face was lovely and fresh, greater than even the splendor [of the sun] and also [of lightning]. . . . . (57) of embroidery [like] a crown made of Pharmouthi (May) flowers. And then the features of my face changed, so that I fell on the ground. And the joints of my back shook with violence, and my feet on their pins could not stand. Then a voice arose in me, calling from the throne room, and it took hold of my right hand, and picked me up. It breathed into me the breath of life, and he increased in me both power and glory.” And many other such things were written in his writings, including the revelations the angels told him to write down as a memorial.
And again, Enoch spoke in this way his Revelation: “I am Enoch the righteous. My distress is great, and there is much shedding of tears from my eyes, for I have heard the evil coming forth from the mouths of the unrighteous.” Now he said, “With tears in my eyes and supplication on my lips, I saw standing before me [seven] angels [descending] from heaven. And when I saw them, (59) I trembled with fear, so that my knees knocked one another.” And again he said, “One of the angels, Michael, said unto me, ‘For this reason I am sent unto thee, that I may shew thee all works, and shew thee the place of the righteous, and the place of the wicked, and the place of the punishment of the wicked.’” And again he said, “They set me on a chariot of wind and they carried me to the ends of the heavens. We passed through the worlds, the world of death and the world of darkness, (60) and the world of fire. And after this they brought me into a world most rich, which was resplendent with light, more beautiful than the luminaries I saw.” He beheld everything and questioned the angels, and what they said, he recorded in his writings.
(61) In the same way, the Apostle Paul also says that he went to the third heaven, as he says in the Letter to the Galatians: “Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (Gal. 1:1). And in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: “I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities” (2 Cor. 1-5). And again in the Letter to the Galatians: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1:11-12). While he was outside of himself and (62) raptured to the third heaven and Paradise, he both saw and heard, and this he recorded in secret riddles about his rapture and his service as an apostle to his fellow initiates in hidden things.
And finally, all the most blessed apostles and saviors and evangelists and prophets of the truth—each one of them beheld according to the revelation given to him, whether it was hope or life, for the proclamation, and they wrote and left behind [their testimony] and entrusted [it] for a remembrance to the sons who were to come, of the divine Spirit, and to those who would know the perception of his voice.
(63) In this way, it is fitting for the most praiseworthy apostle (Mani), through whom and from whom the hope and the inheritance of life was revealed to us, it is necessary for us to write about it for all those who are born after, and for the children of faith and the spiritual offspring, increasing through his waters of light, so that his rapture and revelation may be known to them. For, brethren, we know the greatness of the wisdom of the Paraclete of Truth in relation to ourselves.
