![What looks like a dark sky with many stars](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-01/iStock-1209807496%20%281%29.jpg?itok=K89UgnRG) # The Revelation of Allogenes January 20, 2026 *Allogenes* is a pseudepigraphic apocalypse composed sometime in the early-to-mid third century. The best scholarly guesses are that the text was written in Alexandria, Egypt. While the text is mentioned by Plotinus in the Enneads, the Greek original is lost to history. In 1945, a badly damaged Coptic translation was discovered as part of the Nag Hammadi Codices in central Egypt. The apocalypse features two dramatis personae: Allogenes (lit. “Stranger” or “Foreigner”) and the angelic luminary Youel. In the first part of the text, Youel reveals the nature and structure of the Godhead to Allogenes. The text of *Allogenes* posits a series of emanations from the Unknowable One (the highest Aeon or supreme pre-existent divine principle, elsewhere referred to as the Invisible Spirit), which exists beyond the visible cosmos. The Unknowable One begets the Triply-Powered Aeon (Existence, Vitality, and Blessedness), which then gives rise to the Aeon of Barbelo, or the self-knowledge of the invisible spirit. The ascent of Allogenes takes the pseudepigraphic figure back up through the Aeon of Barbelo and into the Triply Powered Aeon, the closest that a human figure can get to the Invisible Spirit. After a period of preparation lasting 100 years, Allogenes is taken up into the Barbelo Aeon and, through withdrawal from his senses, is gifted a primary revelation of Existence. While Allogenes is a mythical figure, it is generally understood that the visionary ascent described in the text is representative of Platonic-Sethian practice. A similar series of ascents is described in the text *Zostrianos*, and a hymn of ascent to be practiced in a group setting is found in *Three Steles of Seth*. Both of these texts are part of the Platonic-Sethian corpus. The aim of all these ascents would seem to be to experience divinization while alive and to visualize the path of the nous after death. The exact *Sitz im Leben,* or social-historical context*,* of *Allogenes* remains unknown. A copy of this work must have been brought to Rome in time to be a strong influence on Plotinus’ circle by 265–266, when the lectures for the Enneads were given.\[1\] We also know, from *Vita Plotina* 16, that two tracts entitled *Zostrianos* and *Allogenes* were circulating amongst those in Plotinus’ philosophical circle. This has led some scholars in Gnostic Studies to argue that the well-known and hugely impactful Neo-Platonic model of noetic ascent was worked out in opposition to the revelatory model put forth in Platonic-Sethian texts such as *Allogenes*. It is unknown what reception history the text had between the time of Plotinus’ philosophical circle and the Coptic translation’s publication in 1977. ## Source The following selections are drawn from *Allogenes* (NHC XI,3), 58.26–60.37.\[2\] > I was seized by an eternal light from the garment (i.e., human body) which is my share alone, and I was taken up to a holy place, this one which it is not possible for an image of it to appear in the cosmos – then, through a great blessedness, I saw all of those things which I had heard about. And I blessed all of them.\[3\] Allogenes is told by the luminaries: > But whenever you want to stand, withdraw (ἀναχωρεῖν) up to the Existence. And you shall find it standing and quiet according to the likeness (ⲡⲓⲛⲉ) of that which is truly at rest. \[4\] After Allogenes learns to withdraw his attention from senses, he is transported to a primary revelation of Existence. > And I withdrew up to the Vitality, seeking it. And I partnered with it (ⲁⲉⲓⲣ̅ϣⲃⲏⲣ), going into it. And I did not stand firmly, but (I did stand) quietly. And I saw an eternal, noetic, undivided motion to all of the powers, the unformed, unbounded by any boundary. And when I desired to stand firmly, I withdrew up to the Existence, which I found standing and quiet *according to an image and likeness* which I am clothed in alone through revelation of that which is undivided and that which is silent. I was filled by a revelation through a primary revelation.\[5\] ## Bibliography Barry, Catherine, Wolf-Peter Funk, Paul-Hubert Poirier, and John D.Turner. *Zostrien (NH VIII, 1)*. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 24. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Louvain: Peeters, 2000. Brakke, David. *The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual, and Diversity in Early Christianity*. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. Burns, Dylan M. “Apophatic Strategies in *Allogenes* (NHC XI, 3).” *Harvard Theological Review* 103, no. 2 (2010): 161–79. ———. *Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism*. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. DeConick, April D., and Grant Adamson, eds. *Histories of the Hidden God: Concealment and Revelation in Western Gnostic, Esoteric, and Mystical Traditions*. Durham: Acumen, 2013. Dillon, John M. *The Middle Platonists, 80 B.C. to A.D. 220*. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977. Funk, Wolf-Peter, Paul-Hubert Poirier, Madeleine Scopello, and John D. Turner, eds. and trans. *L’Allogène (NH XI, 3)*. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 30. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Louvain: Peeters, 2004. Hedrick, Charles W., ed. *Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII*. Nag Hammadi Studies 28. Leiden: Brill, 1990. King, Karen L. *Revelation of the Unknowable God: With Text, Translation, and Notes to NHC XI, 3 Allogenes*. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 1995. Logan, A. H. B. *Gnostic Truth and Christian Heresy: A Study in the History of Gnosticism*. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996. ———. *The Gnostics: Identifying an Early Christian Cult*. London: T&T Clark, 2006. Robinson, James M., ed. *The Nag Hammadi Library in English*. 3rd rev. ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988. ———. *The Coptic Gnostic Library: A Complete Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices*. Leiden: Brill, 2000. Sevrin, Jean-Marie. *Le dossier baptismal séthien: études sur la sacramentaire gnostique*. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 1986. Thomassen, Einar, Christian H. Bull, Liv Ingeborg Lied, and John D. Turner, eds. *Mystery and Secrecy in the Nag Hammadi Collection and Other Ancient Literature: Ideas and Practices. Studies for Einar Thomassen at Sixty*. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Turner, John D. *Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition*. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Études” 6. Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval; Louvain: Peeters, 2001. ———. “The Gnostic Threefold Path to Enlightenment: The Ascent of Mind and the Descent of Wisdom.” *Novum Testamentum* 22, no. 4 (1980): 324–51. . Turner, John D., and Ruth Majercik, eds. *Gnosticism and Later Platonism: Themes, Figures, and Texts*. SBL Symposium Series 12. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000. Williams, Michael A. *The Immovable Race: A Gnostic Designation and the Theme of Stability in Late Antiquity*. Nag Hammadi Studies 29. Leiden: Brill, 1985. Author Biography ### Matthew Dillon Matthew J. Dillon served as Research Associate and Program Lead for the Archive of Mystical Experience project at the Center for the Study of World Religions from 2023 to 2026. He earned his PhD from Rice University with specializations in Christian Studies and the History of Religions. His research examines the afterlives of ancient apocryphal and Gnostic sources in American religion. To that end, he published articles on conspirituality, neo-Gnostic churches, Gnosticism in the works of Grant Morrison, Gnosticism and attachment theory, James Hillman's psychology, and theoretical approaches to the study of Gnosticism. His first book, *The Kingdom Is Within You: The Nag Hammadi Library and Post-Christianity in America*, is under contract with the University of Virginia Press's American Spirituality series. During his appointment at the CSWR, Dillon led the development of the Archive of Mystical Experience database. He also created and hosted *Pop Apocalypse*, the CSWR's first podcast series, which explored gnostic, esoteric, mystical, and visionary currents in popular culture through conversations with artists, writers, scholars, and musicians. Episodes and recordings from the series remain available through the CSWR website and YouTube channel. [Pop Apocalypse (CSWR)](https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/research-programming/transcendence-transformation/pop-apocalypse-podcast?utm_source=chatgpt.com) · [Pop Apocalypse YouTube Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX_9feVneSp3MKVKN4mu_VdJ-hIdMtfPv&utm_source=chatgpt.com) ![Photo of Matt Dillon looking into the camera](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2024-10/Matt%20Dillon%20serious%20headshot%20Harvard.jpeg?itok=67oo1WSo) See also:- [ Archive of Mystical Experiences ](/topic-tags/archive-mystical-experiences)