Abstract
This chapter focuses on two questions about ritual: what is the relationship of language about baptism in some of these texts to depictions of visionary ascents? Do the striking portrayals of ascent in texts such as Allogenes represent a new salvation ritual that has replaced an earlier communal baptism? There are two historical moments of particular relevance discussed in this chapter: (i) the dispute between Plotinus and certain friends attested most explicitly in Ennead 2.9, but also famously referred to by his student Porphyry in the latter's Life of Plotinus; and (ii) the moment represented in the Nag Hammadi codices that contain the only known copies of the ascent treatises - Codex VIII and Codex XI. Not only was Allogenes bound in a codex with texts normally associated with Valentinian traditions, the pages immediately preceding Allogenes in Codex XI are devoted to Christian rituals of anointing, baptism and eucharist. Keywords: Allogenes ; Baptism; eucharist; friends; Nag Hammadi codices; Plotinus; Porphyry; Sethian ritual
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