Bruce Codex
The Codex Brucianus (also: Bruce Codex ) is a collection of Coptic Gnostic manuscripts, which includes the two books of Jeû, a " font untitled" and some fragments.
History of Codex and its exploration
The codex is named after the Scotsman James Bruce, who in 1769 bought the manuscript in Egypt Medinet Habu. He existed at the time of the acquisition of 78 sheets of papyrus in quarto (29 x 17 cm). The Orientalist Karl Gottfried Woide (1725-1790) was the first copy of this manuscript, its copy is owned by the Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press today. 1842 bought the Bodleian Library in Oxford the manuscript of the heirs. The state of the handwriting is bad; since the first copy of Woide are completely lost and 49 half destroyed or disintegrated into fragments due to the wet storage in England and belated preservatives seven leaves.
Moritz God Help Schwartze (1802-1848) in 1848 could see the copy Woides, copy, and compare with the original. But his early death prevented any publication. The first complete edition was made until 1892 by Carl Schmidt ( 1868-1938 ), who was able to use the notes Woides and Schwartzes. Schmidt noted that the Codex is composed in its present form consists of two quite different typefaces. The parts have different Papyrus quality and different content. There are two different hands visible, besides that, the letter shapes will differ significantly from one another, that the parts must be kept well apart in time. The two manuscripts were found together, sells and only secondarily combined. Schmidt they dated to the 5th and the 5th - 6th Century.
The first bond of the Code was due to lack of specialists in complete ignorance of the Scriptures and of the content, so that the sides were reversed and upside down involved partly in the Code. According to Schmidt's publication, the pages were bound according to the reconstructed them in order for a second time.
Author, source
The authors of the three written in dialect sahidischem main writings of the Codex are unknown. Woide held Valentinus a possible author. As a result, there are some editions of books, call the Valentinus as a writer. Carl Schmidt but considers this questionable. The original works were originally written in Greek. This is reflected in the acquired Greek words and word for word translated passages.
Content
The first two books of the Codex includes the Jeû, plus at the end of two fragmentary Gnostic prayers and another fragment. The second codex contains a altgnostisches work with an unknown title. The two books of Jeû show a close substantive connections to the Pistis Sophia, which is preserved in the Codex Askewianus. Jeû is the first emanation of the supreme God. Schmidt considers it possible that Pistis Sophia and the Books of Jeû originate from the same author.
Importance
Along with the Codex Berolinensis Gnosticus 8502 and Codex Askewianus were these three codices for a long time the only direct sources of Gnosticism. Otherwise there was only indirect evidence of the Church Fathers. Only after the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, the source situation improved significantly.