Elena Sol

The 'Second Discourse of the Great Seth' has been characterised by its eclectic use of different Gnostic traditions such as Sethian, Valentinian and Basilidian concepts, setting it apart from any clear categorisation. It can be compared to other polemical texts and similar conceptions of cosmology present in Gnostic accounts that may have been influenced by similar developments in salvific history. After focusing on multiple cosmological teachings that underline the treatise, this study approaches the soteriological description of a group that is placed within a context of religious polemics among Christian exegesis and social pressures. The final aim of this paper is to suggest the kind of ritual interpretations that would have been performed by this text’s audience considering the sources compared and to determine the function of the Valentinian terminology that conditions soteriology.

This Master‟s Dissertation studies the ritual of investiture in gnostic Christian groups in the second and third centuries CE and its social and spiritual meaning, focusing on its significance and importance within the gnostic ritual as well as its relationship with other Gnostic rituals.

Este Trabajo de Fin de Master estudia el ritual de la investidura en los grupos gnósticos cristianos de los siglos II y III, en sus vertientes social y espiritual, haciendo hincapié en el significado y la importancia de la investidura en el ritual gnóstico y su afinidad con otros rituales.