Gnosticism
The classical Gnostic schools of Valentinus, Basilides and the Sethians. What the Fathers quoted — and what G.R.S. Mead recovered from the Askew Codex — is public-domain; the codices dug up in the 20th century are not.
The public-domain core — what the Fathers quoted & Mead recovered5
Pistis Sophia (the Askew Codex)Fragments of a Faith Forgotten (Valentinus · Basilides · the Sethians)The Valentinian fragments (Ptolemy’s Letter to Flora · Heracleon)Simon Magus & the Simonians (the Apophasis Megalē)The Gospel of Thomas — the Greek fragments (Oxyrhynchus)
The buried codices — discovered too late, all ©5
The Nag Hammadi Library (Gospel of Truth · Philip · Apocryphon of John…)The Gospel of Thomas — the complete Coptic textThe Gospel of Mary (the Berlin Codex)The Gospel of Judas (Codex Tchacos)The Bruce Codex (the Books of Jeu · the Untitled Text)
Manichaeism
Once a rival to Christianity from North Africa to China, now wholly extinct. Mani wrote his own scriptures — and almost none survive in public-domain English; the church is visible mainly through the Fathers who condemned it.
The lost church of Light5
Mani’s own scriptures (the Living Gospel · the Shābuhragān · the Book of Giants)The Kephalaia (the Coptic Medinet Madi codices)The Cologne Mani-Codex (On the Origin of His Body)The Chinese Manichaean texts (the Hymnscroll · the Compendium)Augustine against the Manichees (Contra Faustum)
Mandaeism
The only Gnostic religion to survive to the present day — and, strikingly, the one with no public-domain English scripture at all. Its holy books exist in English only in modern copyrighted or German editions.
A living faith with no public-domain scripture3
The Ginza Rabbā (the Great Treasure)The Book of John (Drašā d-Yahia)The Qolastā (the canonical prayerbook)
Dualist heresies & the late-antique fringe
The medieval dualist churches and the great late-antique heresies. Two survive in surprising public-domain English (the Cathar Secret Supper and the Paulician Key of Truth); the rest are © or unrecovered.
The dualist churches6
The Secret Supper (Interrogatio Iohannis — the Cathar/Bogomil gospel)The Key of Truth (the Paulician / Tondrakian manual)Marcion’s Gospel & Apostolikon (reconstructed)The Cathar rituals (the Lyon Ritual · the Book of the Two Principles)Priscillian (the Würzburg Tractates)The Sabians of Harran (the star-worshippers)
Held in this archive awaiting placement3 texts
Texts of this tradition the archive holds that have no chip on this map and no room placement — browsable here honestly; each awaits a reviewed binding or a structure-growth pass (the stays-reception rulings of the placement program, 2026-07).
The Gnostics and Their RemainsC.W. King 1887 · awaits a reviewed binding or structure growth · read in the archive ↗The KybalionThree Initiates 1908 · awaits a reviewed binding or structure growth · read in the archive ↗Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol 1G.R.S. Mead 1906 · awaits a reviewed binding or structure growth · read in the archive ↗