Trimorphic Protennoia


The Trimorphic Protennoia is a Sethian Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha. The only surviving copy comes from the Nag Hammadi library.

I the Thought of the Father, Protennoia, that is, Barbelo, the perfect Glory, and the immeasurable Invisible One who is hidden. I am the Image of the Invisible Spirit, and it is through me that the All took shape, and the Mother the Light which she appointed as Virgin, she who is called 'Meirothea', the incomprehensible Womb, the unrestrainable and immeasurable Voice.

Similarities with other texts

Like the more familiar Apocryphon of John, to which it is similar, it is thought to be from the mid-second century, and similar in style to the Gospel of John. In particular, there is great similarity with the prologue.

Mysticism

The name of the text means The First Thought which is in Three Forms, and appears to have been rewritten at some point to incorporate Sethian beliefs, when originally it was a treatise from another Gnostic sect. Unusually, the text is in the form of an explanation of the nature of cosmology, creation, and a docetic view of Jesus, in the first person. That is, the text is written as if the writer is God, the three-fold first thought. Like most Gnostic writing, the text is extremely mystical, more so for being in the first person.

Secret teachings

In common with mystery religions, there were secret teachings, and not all texts were intended to be read by uninitiated people. This text appears to have been written for a higher level of initiate, part of the way through — stating "Now behold! I will reveal to you my mysteries, since you are my fellow brethren, and you shall know them all", although tantalizingly the next five lines are missing and followed by "I told all of them about my mysteries". Some speculation has considered the possibility that these missing five lines were always missing, having never originally existed, their absence itself being a teaching of the text.