Unknown to many until the publication of Dan Brown's bestselling book, Da Vinci Code, the canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's) are only four out of dozens that circulated in antiquity. The most prolific writers of gospels were the Gnostics, a group of early Christians, who recorded and taught the teachings that Jesus gave privately to a few select chosen followers. They were originally part of the emerging Christian church, but as the church became more institutionalized and dogmatic, becoming the Catholic church, the ruling bishops and popes rejected and denounced their books and teachings as heretical. The writings of the Gnostics and other rival groups were burned and destroyed by the early Christian and the Catholic churches for centuries, and their leaders and followers persecuted, forced to tow the orthodox line of the church hierarchy or die. As a result, the Gnostic writings became lost to the world for a very, very long time, their existence confined mainly to churchmen, historians and scholars.
However, fragments and even whole books of Gnostic writings have been unearthed, in the last 200 years. Along with it were also found other very old Christian writings, such as the acts and letters of various apostles. A bulk of the recovered ancient Gnostic text were found hidden inside a large old earthenware jar buried underground. It was found accidentally by farmers in Naq Hammadi, Upper Egypt near the monastery of St. Pachomius. It is believed to have been buried there some 1,700(?) years ago by someone from the nearby monastery, possibly a monk, who did not want it destroyed. (The early Christian church and the Catholic church ordered that such books be burned, and made possession of such books a criminal offense.)
