PRAYER OF THANKSGIVIN

This text fits among the Hermetic works of Codex VI of the NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY. Known in Greek and Latin versions, it preserves a prayer of thanksgiving for “mind, speech, knowledge” (64.9f.). The recitation itself preceded a (ritual) embrace and a communal meal consisting of flesh which, as in Jewish custom, had been drained of blood (65.2-7). Following this short petition in the codex there appears a scribal note stating that the copyist had at hand several other tractates that were not included (65.8-14).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Nock, A. D., ed. Corpus Hermeticum, 4 vols. Paris, 1945-1954. Robinson, J. M., ed. The Nag Hammadi Library in English, pp. 298-99. San Francisco, 1977.

S. KENT BROWN