The Bruce Papyrus was acquired in the eighteenth century by the Scottish explorer and geographer James Bruce. This Gnostic treatise is one of the oldest sources of Gnosticism.
Paradoxically, it is now among the least known texts in Gnostic literature, as if the discovery of the Nag Hammadi codices had overshadowed the unearthing of this treatise.
This papyrus presents a post-resurrection dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, during which Jesus reveals the structure of the celestial spheres, composed of aeons and treasures, and provides the means necessary for souls to pass through them. Once they have traversed all the realms and overcome all the obstacles posed by the archons who dwell in them, the souls reach the higher place where they can behold the inaccessible God and offer Him glory. These revelations of Jesus are accompanied by several diagrams and drawings, illustrating the treasures and the seals with which the souls must mark themselves.
Eric Crégheur, Université Laval
Translation by Émile Clément Amélineau – 1891
The French translation I offer here is the work of Egyptologist Émile Clément Amélineau, extracted from his book titled: Notice sur le papyrus gnostique Bruce, texte et traduction, published in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale et autres bibliothèques.
I emphasize “extracted from” because the original book contains the Coptic text and numerous commentaries on the papyrus and the translation choices for certain passages.
Personally, I find it cumbersome to read a text filled with notes and references. While this may be essential for some, I preferred to offer here a simplified version containing only the French translation. The original pages are mainly divided into three columns — the Coptic text, the French translation, and the notes. To retain only the translation, I had to bring each page into Photoshop and assemble the pieces into complete pages.
The only thing I would criticize about this translation is that the translator chose to keep the proper names in Coptic; I would have preferred that they be replaced with French equivalents.
