The Naassenes were adherents of a 2nd-century Gnostic sect that is only known through an extensive report by Hippolytus, Refutatio, V, 6-11. The greater part of this report consists of an extract from a Naassene document, which is usually called the “Naassene Sermon” (V, 7, 2-9, 9). It is preceded by an introduction (V, 6, 1-7, 1) and followed by a concluding section (V, 9, 10-11, 1), in which Hippolytus provides further information about their beliefs. The whole section is part of Hippolytus' so-called “Sondergut”, which is, inter alia, characterized by the ascription of similar i…