Codex Tchacos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Part of a series on Gnosticism
Image:Simple crossed circle.svg
History of Gnosticism
Persian Gnosticism Mandaeism Manichaeism
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism Sethians Thomasines Valentinians Basilideans
Fathers of Christian Gnosticism Simon Magus Cerinthus Marcion Valentinus
Early Gnosticism Ophites Cainites Carpocratians Borborites Thomasines
Medieval Gnosticism Paulicianism Tondrakians Bogomils Cathars
Gnosticism in modern times Gnosticism in popular culture</br>
Gnostic texts Nag Hammadi Library Codex Tchacos Gnosticism and the New Testament
Related Articles Gnosis Pythagoreanism Neoplatonism and Gnosticism Esoteric Christianity Theosophy This box: view • talk • edit</div>

The Codex Tchacos is an ancient Egyptian Coptic papyrus document from approximately the year 300 C.E., containing early Christian Gnostic texts:

It is important because it contains the first known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas, a text that was rejected as heresy by the early Christian church, and lost for 1700 years before this rediscovery.

The codex was discovered near El Minya, in Egypt, during the 1970s but was not examined and translated until 2001, after its current owner, Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos, concerned with its deteriorating condition, transferred it to the Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art in Basel, Switzerland. Swiss antiquities dealer Frieda Nussberger-Tchacos purchased the document in September 2000, and named it in honor of her father, Dimaratos Tchacos.

In April 2006, a complete translation of the text, with extensive footnotes, was released by the National Geographic Society: The Gospel Of Judas (ISBN 1-4262-0042-0, April 2006). National Geographic, which played a large part in the restoration and conservation of the codex, has also created a two hour television documentary, The Gospel of Judas, which aired worldwide on the National Geographic Channel on April 9, 2006.