Encyclopedia
Gnosticism is a term created by modern scholars to describe a collection of religious groups, many of which thought of themselves as Christians, which were active in the first few centuries AD. Filoramo, Giovanni .
A History of Gnosticism. Blackwell. pp. 142-7 There has been considerable scholarly controversy about exactly which groups to describe with this term. There is dispute among scholars on the extent to which early groups may have described themselves using the term "gnostikoi".Layton, Bentley .
Gnostic Scriptures. Doubleday. pp. 5, 18Williams, Michael .
Rethinking Gnosticism. Princeton University Press. pp. 31-43 Sometimes the term gnosticism is reserved for groups that might have used it to describe themselves, but often the term is used more widely to identify groups emphasizing the salvific benefit of individual
wisdom.
The term gnosis is a Greek word expressing a type of understanding or consciousness gained through personal experience. It is through this type of transcendental experience that followers of Gnostic belief systems seek escape from ignorance. Although many Gnostic movements identified with the teachings of
Jesus Christ and were Christian by their own definition, there remains widespread variation in the particular religious orientations of many Gnostic groups. Especially notable for their extended and uninterrupted presence up until the modern era are the followers of the
Persian Prophet Mani, the
Manicheans; and the Pre-Christian Mandaeans who still survive in Iraq and Iran.
Particularly with the rise and fall of the Albigensian "
Cathar" movement, European Gnostic thought became heavily influenced by the idea of a mythological struggle between competing forces of light and dark. This viewpoint would lead to the development of a strongly dualistic system in which there was a marked division between the higher celestial realms, and the material realms, the latter of which were thought to be under the governance of an ignorant entity known as the
Demiurge who created the material universe or world. Influenced by more widespread branches of Christianity, the
Demiurge was eventually conflated with many of the properties of
Satan. One potential source of this newfound dualism is directly from the other Near-Eastern schools of Gnosticism, possibly via the influence of the Bogomils.
Nature and structure of Gnosticism
A typological model: the main features of gnosticism
Though difficulties have arisen in offering a definitive, categorical definition of Gnosticism , various strategies have been employed in overcoming the problem, with varying degrees of success. It is therefore appropriate to offer a typological model of those ancient philosophical movements typically called Gnostic; the model offered is adapted from Christoph Markschies' version, as described in 'Gnosis: An Introduction'.
Gnostic systems are typically marked by:
- The notion of a remote, supreme and incomprehensible monadic
...
divinity - this figure is known under a variety of names, including 'Pleroma' and 'Bythos' ;
- The introduction by emanation of further divine beings, which are nevertheless identifiable as aspects of the God from which they proceeded; the progressive emanations are often conceived metaphorically as a gradual and progressive distancing from the ultimate source, which brings about an instability in the fabric of the divine nature;
- The subsequent identification of the Fall of Man as an occurrence with its ultimate foundations within divinity itself, rather than as occurring either entirely or indeed partially through human agency; this stage in the divine emanation is usually enacted through the recurrent Gnostic figure of Sophia , whose presence in a wide variety of Gnostic texts is indicative of her central importance;
- The introduction of a distinct creator god, who is named as in the Platonist tradition demiurgos.
Evidence exists that the conception of the demiurge has derivation from figures in Plato's Timaeus and Republic. In the former, the demiurge is the benevolent creator of the universe from pre-existent matter, to whose limitations he is enthralled in creating the cosmos; in the latter, the description of the leontomorphic 'desire' in Socrates' model of the psyche bears a strong resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion.
Elsewhere this figure is called 'Ialdabaoth', 'Samael' or 'Saklas' , who is sometimes ignorant of the superior God, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent.
The demiurge typically creates a group of coactors named 'Archons', who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it; - The estimation of the world, owing to the above, as flawed or a production of 'error' but nevertheless as good as its constituent material might allow. This world is typically an inferior simulacrum of a higher-level reality or consciousness. The inferiority may be compared to the technical inferiority of a painting, sculpture, or other handicraft to the thing those crafts are supposed to be a representation of. In certain other cases it is also perceived as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants;
- The explanation of this state through the use of a complex mythological-cosmological drama in which a divine element 'falls' into the material realm and lodges itself within certain human beings; from here, it may be returned to the divine realm through a process of awakening. It may be noted that the salvation of the individual thus mirrors a concurrent restoration of the divine nature; a central Gnostic innovation was to elevate individual redemption to the level of a cosmically significant event;
- Knowledge of a specific kind as a central factor in this process of restoration, achieved through the mediation of a redeemer figure .
The model limits itself to describing characteristics of the Syrian-Egyptian school of Gnosticism. This is for the reason that the greatest expressions of the Persian gnostic school -
Manicheanism and Mandaeanism - are typically conceived of as religious traditions in their own right; indeed, the typical usage of 'Gnosticism' is to refer to the Syrian-Egyptian schools alone, while 'Manichean' describes the movements of the Persia school.
The conception of Gnosticism offered above has recently been challenged by Michael Allen William's groundbreaking work 'Rethinking Gnosticism', which re-examines the common conception of categorical 'Gnosticism' in an effort to demonstrate the somewhat nebulous nature of the term . Despite this, the understanding presented above remains in common usage, and retains at least
some usefulness in aiding meaningful discussion of the phenomena that compose Gnosticism, even if the extent of that usefulness is in doubt.
Dualism and monism
Typically, Gnostic systems are loosely described as being 'dualistic' in nature. Within this definition, they run the gamut from the 'extreme' or 'radical dualist' systems of Manicheanism to the 'weak' or 'mitigated dualism' of classic gnostic movements; Valentinian developments arguably approach a form of
monism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner.
- Radical Dualism - or absolute Dualism which posits two co-equal divine forces. Manichaeism conceives of two previously coexistent realms of light and darkness which become embroiled in conflict, owing to the chaotic actions of the latter. Subsequently, certain elements of the light became entrapped within darkness; the purpose of material creation is to enact the slow process of extraction of these individual elements, at the end of which the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness. Manicheanism likely inherits this dualistic mythology from Zoroastrianism, in which the eternal spirit Ahura Mazda is opposed by his antithesis, Angra Mainyu; the two are engaged in a cosmic struggle, the conclusion of which will likewise see Ahura Mazda triumphant.
The Mandaean creation myth witnesses the progressive emanations of Supreme Being of Light, with each emanation bringing about a progressive corruption resulting in the eventual emergence of Ptahil, the god of darkness who had a hand in creating and henceforward rules the material realm.
Additionally, general Gnostic thought commonly included the belief that the material world corresponds to some sort of malevolent intoxication brought about by the powers of darkness to keep elements of the light trapped inside it, or literally to keep them 'in the dark', or ignorant; in a state of drunken distraction. - Mitigated Dualism - where one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other. Such classical Gnostic movements as the Sethians conceived of the material world as being created by a lesser divinity than the true God that was the object of their devotion. The spiritual world is conceived of as being radically different from the material world, co-extensive with the true God, and the true home of certain enlightened members of humanity; thus, these systems were expressive of a feeling of acute alienation within the world, and their resultant aim was to allow the soul to escape the constraints presented by the physical realm.
- Qualified Monism - where it is arguable whether or not the second entity is divine or semi-divine. Elements of Valentinian versions of Gnostic myth suggest to some that its understanding of the universe may have been monistic rather than a dualistic one: 'Valentinian gnosticism [...] differs essentially from dualism' ; 'a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic' . In these myths, the malevolence of the demiurge is mitigated; his creation of a flawed materiality is not due to any moral failing on his part, but due to his honest ignorance of the superior spiritual world above him. As such, Valentinians already have more cause to treat physical reality with less contempt than might a Sethian Gnostic.
Perhaps for this reason Valentinus appears to conceive of materiality, rather than as being a separate substance from the divine, as attributable to an error of perception. Thus it follows that the Valentinian conception of the universe may be of a fundamentally monistic nature, in which all things are aspects of the divine; our ordinary view which is limited to the material realm is owing to our errors of perception, which become symbolized mythopoetically as the demiurge's act of creation.
Moral and ritual practice
Evidence in the source texts indicates Gnostic moral behaviour as being generally
ascetic in basis, expressed most fluently in their sexual and dietary practice. This presented a problem for the heresiologists writing on gnostic movements: as this mode of behaviour was one which they themselves favoured and supported, the Church Fathers, it seemed, would be required perforce to offer support to the practices of their theological opponents. In order to avoid this, a common heresiological approach was to avoid the issue completely by resorting to slanderous allegations of libertinism, or to explain Gnostic asceticism as being based on incorrect interpretations of scripture, or simply duplicitous in nature. Epiphanius provides an example when he writes of the 'Archontics' 'Some of them ruin their bodies by dissipation, but others feign ostensible fasts and deceive simple people while they pride themselves with a sort of abstinence, under the disguise of monks' . Thus it might be noted that moral asceticism provides a point of cohesion and co-development between orthodox Christianity and Gnostic Christianity which the Church Fathers sought to downplay.
In other areas of morality Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behaviour. Ptolemy's
Epistle to Flora lays out a project of general asceticism in which the basis of action is the moral inclination of the individual:
This extract marks a definite shift away from the position of orthodoxy, that the correct behaviour for Christians is best administered and prescribed by the central authority of the church, as transmitted through the apostles. Instead, the internalised inclination of the individual assumes paramount importance; there is the recognition that ritualistic behaviour, though well-intentioned, possesses no significance or effectiveness unless its external prescription is matched by a personal, internal motivation.
Charges of Gnostic libertinism arguably find their source in the works of
Irenaeus. According to this writer,
Simon Magus founded the school of moral freedom . Irenaeus reports that Simon's argument, that those who put their trust in him and his consort Helen, need trouble themselves no further with the biblical prophets or their moral exhortations and are free 'to do what they wish', as men are saved by his grace, and not by their 'righteous works' .
Simon is not known for any libertinistic practice, save for his curious attachment to Helen, typically reputed to be a prostitute. There is, however, clear evidence in the Testimony of Truth that followers of Simon did, in fact, get married and beget children, so a general tendency to asceticism can likewise be ruled out.
Irenaeus reports of the Valentinians, whom he characterizes as eventual inheritors of Simon, that they are lax in their dietary habits , sexually promiscuous and guilty of taking wives under the pretence of living with them as adopted 'sisters'. In the latter case, Michael Allen Williams has argued plausibly that Irenaeus was here broadly correct in the behaviour described, but not in his apprehension of its causes. Williams argues that members of a cult might live together as 'brother' and 'sister': intimate, yet not sexually active. Over time, however, the self-denial required of such an endeavour becomes harder and harder to maintain, leading to the state of affairs Irenaeus criticizes.
Irenaeus also makes reference to the Valentinian practise of Bridal Chamber, a ritualistic
sacrament in which sexual union is seen as analogous to the activities of the paired syzygies that constitute the Valentinian Pleroma; though it is known that Valentinus had a more relaxed approach to sexuality than much of the orthodox church , it is not known whether the Bridal Chamber was a ritual involving actual intercourse, or whether human sexuality is here simply being used in a metaphorical sense.
Of the Carpocratians Irenaeus makes much the same report: they 'are so abandoned in their recklessness that they claim to have in their power and be able to practise anything whatsoever that is ungodly and impious ... they say that conduct is only good or evil in the eyes of man' . Once again a differentiation might be detected between a man's actions and the grace he has received through his adherence to a system of
gnosis; whether this is due to a common sharing of such an attitude amongst Gnostic circles, or whether this is simply a blanket-charge used by Irenaeus is open to conjecture.
On the whole, it would seem that Gnostic behaviour tended towards the ascetic. This said, the heresiological accusation of duplicity in such practises should not be taken at face value; nor should similar accusations of amoral libertinism. The Nag Hammadi library itself is full of passages which appear to encourage abstinence over indulgence. Fundamentally, however, gnostic movements appear to take the 'ancient schema of the two ways, which leaves the decision to do what is right to human endeavour and promises a reward for those who make the effort, and punishment for those who are negligent' .
Major Gnostic movements and their texts
As noted above, schools of Gnosticism can be defined according to one classification system as being a member of two broad categories. These are the 'Eastern'/'Persian' school, and a 'Syrian-Egyptic' school. The former possesses more demonstrably dualist tendencies, reflecting a strong influence from the beliefs of the Persian
Zoroastrians. Among the Syrian-Egyptian schools and the movements they spawned are a typically more Monist view. Notable exceptions include relatively modern movements which seem to include elements of both categories, namely: the Cathars, Bogomils, and Carpocratians which are included their own section.
Persian Gnosticism
The Persian Schools are representative of what is believed to be among the oldest of the Gnostic thought forms. These movements are considered by most to be religions in their own right, and are not emanations from
Christianity or
Judaism.
- Mandaeanism is still practised in small numbers, in parts of southern Iraq and the Iranian province of Khuzestan. The name of the group derives from the term: Manda d-Heyyi which roughly means "Knowledge of Life." Although the exact chronological origins of this movement are not known, John the Baptist eventually would come to be a key figure in the religion. As part of the core of their beliefs is an emphasis placed on baptism. As with Manichaeism, despite certain ties with Christianity, Mandaeans do not believe in Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed. Their beliefs and practices likewise have little overlap with the religions that manifested from those religious figures and the two should not be confused. Significant amounts of original Mandaean Scripture survive in the modern era. The primary source text is known as the Genza Rabba and has portions identified by some scholars as being copied as early as the 2nd century CE. Also important as the Qolasta, or Canonical Book of Prayer and The Book of John the Baptist .
- Manichaeism which represented an entire independent religious heritage, but is now mostly extinct was founded by the Prophet Mani . Although most of the literature/scripture of the Manichaeins was believed lost, the discovery of an original series of documents have helped to shed new light on the subject. Now housed in Cologne Germany, the Codex Manichaicus Coloniensis contains mainly biographical information on the prophet and details on his claims and teachings. Despite connections with Jesus Christ, it is not believed that the Manichaeins in any way practiced a religion with identifiable overlap with any of the various Christian sects.
Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism
The Syrian-Egyptian school derives much of its outlook from Platonist influences. Typically, it depicts creation in a series of emanations from a primal monadic source, finally resulting in the creation of the material universe. As a result, there is a tendency in these schools to view evil in terms of matter which is markedly inferior to goodness, evil as lacking spiritual insight and goodness, rather than to emphasize portrayals of evil as an equal force. These schools of gnosticism may be said to use the terms 'evil' and 'good' as being
relative descriptive terms, as they refer to the relative plight of human existence caught between such realities and confused in its orientation, with 'evil' indicating the extremes of distance from the principle and source of goodness, without necessarily emphasizing an
inherent negativity. As can be seen below, many of these movements included source material related to Christianity, with some identifying themselves as specifically Christian .
Syrian-Egyptic scripture
Most of the literature from this category is known/confirmed to us in the modern age through the Library discovered at
Nag Hammadi.
- Sethian works are named after the third son of Adam and Eve, believed to be a possessor and disseminator of gnosis. These typically include:
- The Apocryphon of John
- The Apocalypse of Adam
- The Reality of the Rulers
- The Thunder-Perfect Mind
- The Three-fold First Thought
- The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit
- Zostrianos
- Allogenes
- The Three Steles of Seth
- Thomasine works are so-named after the School of St. Thomas the Apostle. See Thomasine Church . The texts commonly attributed to this school are:
- The Hymn of the Pearl, or, the Hymn of Jude Thomas the Apostle in the Country of Indians
- The Gospel of Thomas
-
- Valentinian works are named in reference to the Bishop and teacher Valentinius, also spelled Valentinus. ca. 153 AD/CE, Valentinius developed a complex Cosmology outside of the Sethian tradition. At one point he was close to being appointed the Bishop of Rome of what is now the Roman Catholic Church. Works attributed to his school are listed below, and fragmentary pieces directly linked to him are noted with an asterisk:
- The Divine Word Present in the Infant *
- On the Three Natures *
- Adam's Faculty of Speech *
- *
- Annihilation of the Realm of Death *
- *
- Epistle on Attachments *
- Summer Harvest*
- The Gospel of Truth*
- Ptolemy's Version of the Gnostic Myth
- The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
- Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora
- Treatise on Resurrection
- Gospel of Philip
- Basilidian works are named for the founder of their school, Basilides . These works are mainly known to us through the criticisms of one of his opponents, Irenaeus
...
in his work
Adversus Haereses. The other pieces are known through the work of
Clement of Alexandria:
- The Octet of Subsistent Entities
- The Uniqueness of the World
- Election Naturally Entails Faith and Virtue
- The State of Virtue
- The Elect Transcend the World
- Reincarnation
- Human Suffering and the Goodness of Providence
- Forgivable Sins
Later Gnosticism and Gnostic-influenced groups
- Other schools and related movements; these are presented in chronological order:
- Simon Magus and Marcion of Sinope both had Gnostic tendencies, but such familiar ideas that they presented were as-yet unformed; they might thus be described as pseudo- or proto-Gnostics. Both developed a sizeable following. Simon Magus' pupil Menander of Antioch could potentially be included within this grouping.
- Cerinthus, the leader of a late first century or early second century cult; though he believed in the existence of a lesser, creator deity who governs the world, Cerinthus apparently sets great store against observation of ceremonies as a redemptive observance, rather than the gnosis that is naturally the emphasis of gnostic schools.
- The Ophites, so-named because they worshipped the serpent of Genesis as the bestower of knowledge.
- The Cainites, as the term implies, worshipped Cain, as well as Esau, Korah, and the Sodomites. There is little evidence concerning the nature of this group; however, it is surmisable that they believed that indulgence in sin was the key to salvation because since the body is evil, one must defile it through immoral activity .
- The Carpocratians
- The Borborites
- The Bogomils
- The Cathars are typically seen as being imitative of Gnosticism; whether or not the Cathari possessed direct historical influence from ancient Gnosticism is disputed. Though the basic conceptions of Gnostic cosmology are to be found in Cathar beliefs , they did not apparently place any special relevance upon knowledge as an effective salvific force. For the relationship between these medieval heresies and earlier Gnostic forms, see historical discussion above.
- The Gospel of Judas is the most recently discovered gnostic text. National Geographic has published an English translation of it and is promoting it into mainstream awareness. It portrays Judas Iscariot as the most enlightened disciple, who acted at Jesus' request when he handed Jesus over to the authorities. Its reference to Barbelo and inclusion of material similar to the Apocryphon of John and other such texts, connects the text to Barbeloite and/or Sethian Gnosticism.
Important terms and concepts
Aeons
In many Gnostic systems, the various emanations of the
God, who is also known by such names as the One, the
Monad, Aion teleos , Bythos , Proarkhe , E Arkhe , are called
aeons. This first being is also an æon and has an inner being within itself, known as Ennoia , Charis , or Sige . The split perfect being conceives the second aeon, Caen , within itself. Along with the male Caen comes the female æon Akhana .
The aeons often came in male/female pairs called
syzygies, and were numerous . Two of the most commonly listed æons were
Jesus and Sophia. The aeons constitute the
pleroma, the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.
When an æon named
Sophia emanated without her partner aeon, the result was the
Demiurge, or half-creator , a creature that should never have come into existence. This creature does not belong to the pleroma, and the One emanates two savior æons,
Christ and
the Holy Spirit to save man from the Demiurge. Christ then took the form of the man,
Jesus, in order to be able to teach man how to achieve gnosis; that is, return to the pleroma.
These systems, however, are only a sample of the various interpretations that exist. The roles of familiar beings such as Jesus, Christ, Sophia, and the Demiurge usually share the same general themes between systems but may have somewhat different functions or identities ascribed to them.
Archon
In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term
Archon to refer to several servants of the
Demiurge, the "creator god" that stood between spiritual humanity and a transcendent God that could only be reached through gnosis. In this context they may be seen as having the roles of the angels and demons of the Old Testament.
Abraxas/Abrasax
The Egyptian Gnostic Basilideans refered to a figure called
Abraxas who was at the head of 365 spiritual beings ; it is unclear what to make of Irenaeus' use of the term 'Archon', which may simply mean 'ruler' in this context. The role and function of Abraxas for Basilideans is not clear.
The Orphics accepted the existence of seven archons:
Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth , Iao,
Sabaoth, Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos and Horaios . Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion, just like
Mithraic Kronos and Vedic
Narasimha, a form of
Vishnu.
The word
Abrasax was engraved on certain
antique stones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which may have been used as
amulets or charms by Gnostic sects. In popular culture, Abraxas is sometimes considered the name of a
god who incorporated both
Good and Evil in one entity, and therefore representing the
monotheistic God, singular, but not omni-benevolent . Opinions abound on Abraxas, who in recent centuries has been claimed to be both an
Egyptian god and a
demon, sometimes even being associated with the dual nature of
Satan/
Lucifer. The word abracadabra may be related to Abraxas.
The above information relates to interpretations of ancient amulets and to reports of Christian heresy hunters which are not always clear.
Actual ancient Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi Library, such as the Gospel of the Egyptians, refer to Abrasax as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Spiritual Fullness in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge and Archon's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abrasax, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Divine Fullness that encounters the ignornace of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.
Words like or similar to Abraxas or Abrasax also appear in the Greek Magical Papyrii. It is important to note the similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basiledes' teaching, in the larger magical traditions of the Graeco-Roman world, in the classic ancient Gnostic texts such as the Gospel of the Egyptians, and in later magical and esoteric writings.
Demiurge
The term
Demiurge refers to an entity responsible for the creation of the physical universe and the physical aspect of
humanity.
The term occurs in a number of other religious and philosophical systems, most notably Platonism. While always suggestive of a creator god, the moral judgements regarding the demiurge vary wildly, from a benign grand architect to an evil subvertor of God's will.
Like
Plato, Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable "alien God" and the demiurgic "creator" of the material. However, in contrast to Plato, several systems of Gnostic thought present the Demiurge as antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Creator: his act of creation either in unconscious imitation of the divine model, and thus is fundamentally flawed, or else formed with the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine
in materiality. Thus, in such systems, the Demiurge acts as a solution to the problem of evil. In the Apocryphon of John , the Demiurge has the name "
Yaltabaoth", and proclaims himself as God:
- "Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, 'I am God and there is no other God beside me,' for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come."
Gnostic myth recounts that Sophia , the Demiurge's mother and a partial aspect of the divine Pleroma or "Fullness", desired to create something apart from the divine totality, and without the receipt of divine assent. In this abortive act of separate creation, she gave birth to the monstrous Demiurge and, being ashamed of her deed, she wrapped him in a cloud and created a throne for him within it. The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, and thus concluded that only he himself existed, being ignorant of the superior levels of reality that were his birth-place.
The Gnostic myths describing these events are full of intricate nuances portraying the declination of aspects of the divine into human form; this process occurs through the agency of the Demiurge who, having stolen a portion of power from his mother, sets about a work of creation in unconscious imitation of the superior Pleromatic realm. Thus Sophia's power becomes enclosed within the material forms of humanity, themselves entrapped within the material universe: the goal of Gnostic movements was typically the awakening of this spark, which permitted a return by the subject to the superior, non-material realities which were its primal source.
"Samael" may equate to the
Judaic Angel of Death, and corresponds to the Christian
demon of that name, as well as
Satan. Literally, it can mean "Blind God" or "God of the Blind" in
Aramaic . Another alternative title for Yaldabaoth, "Saklas", is Aramaic for "fool" .
Some Gnostic philosophers identify the Demiurge with
Yahweh, the
God of the Old Testament, in opposition and contrast to the God of the
New Testament. Still others equated the being with
Satan.
Catharism apparently inherited their idea of Satan as the creator of the evil world directly or indirectly from Gnosticism.
Gnosis
The word 'Gnosticism' is a modern construction, though based on an antiquated linguistic expression: it comes from the Greek word meaning 'knowledge',
gnosis . However,
gnosis itself refers to a very specialised form of knowledge, deriving both from the exact meaning of the original Greek term and its usage in
Platonist philosophy.
Unlike modern
English, ancient Greek was capable of discerning between several different forms of knowing. These different forms may be described in English as being propositional knowledge, indicative of knowledge acquired
indirectly through the reports of others or otherwise by inference , and empirical knowledge acquired by
direct participation or
acquaintance .
Gnosis refers to knowledge of the second kind. Therefore, in a religious context, to be 'Gnostic' should be understood as being reliant not on
knowledge in a general sense, but as being specially receptive to
mystical or esoteric experiences of direct participation with the divine. Indeed, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this 'knowledge of' the divine. This is commonly identified with a process of inward 'knowing' or self-exploration, comparable to that encouraged by
Plotinus . However, as may be seen, the term 'gnostic' also had precedent usage in several ancient
philosophical traditions, which must also be weighed in considering the very subtle implications of its appellation to a set of ancient religious groups.
Monad
In many
Gnostic systems ,
God is known as the
Monad, the One, The Absolute,
Aion teleos ,
Bythos ,
Proarkhe , and
E Arkhe . God is the high source of the pleroma, the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons.
Within certain variations of Gnosticism, especially those inspired by Monoimus, the
Monad was the highest
God which created lesser gods, or elements .
According to Hippolytus, this view was inspired by the
Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence the
Monad, which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point, begetting lines, etc. This was also clarified in the writings of
Plato,
Aristotle and
Plotinus. This teaching being largely
Neopythagorean via Numenius as well.
This Monad is the
spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma, and could be contrasted to the dark
Demiurge that controls matter.
The Sethian cosmogony as most famously contained in the Apocryphon of John describes an unknown
God, very similar to the orthodox apophatic theology, although very different from the orthodox credal teachings that there is one such god who is identified also as creator of heaven and earth. In describing the nature of a creator god associated with Biblical texts, orthodox theologians often attempt to defines God through a series of explicit positive statements, themselves universal but in the divine taken to their superlative degrees: as well as being explicitly male, he is omniscient, omnipotent and truly benevolent. The Sethian conception of the most hidden transcendent God is, by contrast, defined through negative theology: he is immovable, invisible, intangible, ineffable; commonly, 'he' is seen as being
hermaphroditic, a potent symbol for being, as it were, 'all-containing'. In the Apocryphon of John, this god is good in that it bestows goodness. After the apophatic statements, the process of the Divine in action are used to describe the effect of such a god.
An apophatic approach to discussing the Divine is found throughout gnosticism, Vendantic hinduism, and Platonic and Aristotelian theology as well. It is also found in some Judaic sources.
Pleroma
Pleroma generally refers to the totality of God's powers. The term means
fullness, and is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and in Colossians 2.9.
Gnosticism holds that the world is controlled by evil archons, one of whom is the demiurge, the deity of the Old Testament who holds the human spirit captive.
The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons and sometimes archons.
Jesus is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic
cosmology.
Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form since the word appears under the book of Colossians. Proponents of the view that
Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels of
Princeton University, view the reference in Colossians as something that was to be interpreted in the gnostic sense.
Sophia
In Gnostic tradition, the term
Sophia refers to the final and lowest emanation of God.
In most if not all versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the
demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive or negative depiction of materiality thus resides a great deal on mythic depictions of Sophia's actions. She is occasionally referred to by the
Hebrew equivalent of
Achamoth .
Almost all gnostic systems of the
Syrian or
Egyptian type taught that the universe began with an original, unknowable
God, referred to as the Parent or Bythos, as the
Monad by Monoimus, or the first Aeon by still other traditions. From this initial unitary beginning, the One spontaneously emanated further Aeons, pairs of progressively 'lesser' beings in sequence. The lowest of these pairs were Sophia and Christ. The Aeons together made up the Pleroma, or fullness, of God, and thus should not be seen as distinct from the divine, but symbolic abstractions of the divine nature.
History
The development of the Syrian-Egyptian school
Bentley Layton has sketched out a relationship between the various gnostic movements in his introduction to
The Gnostic Scriptures . In this model, 'Classical Gnosticism' and 'The School of Thomas' antedated and influenced the development of Valentinus, who was to found his own school of Gnosticism in both
Alexandria and
Rome, whom Layton called 'the great [Gnostic] reformer' and 'the focal point' of Gnostic development. While in Alexandria, where he was born, Valentinus probably would have had contact with the Gnostic teacher Basilides, and may have been influenced by him.
Valentinianism flourished throughout the early centuries of the common era: while Valentinus himself lived from
ca. 100–175 AD/CE, a list of sectarians or heretics, composed in 388 AD/CE, against whom Emperor Constantine intended legislation includes Valentinus . The school is also known to have been extremely popular: several varieties of their central myth are known, and we know of 'reports from outsiders from which the intellectual liveliness of the group is evident' . It is known that Valentinus' students, in further evidence of their intellectual activity, elaborated upon the teachings and materials they received from him , for example, in the version of the Valentinian myth brought to us through
Ptolemy.
Valentinianism might be described as the most elaborate and philosophically 'dense' form of the Syrian-Egyptian schools of Gnosticism, though it should be acknowledged that this in no way debarred other schools from attracting followers: Basilides' own school was popular also, and survived in
Egypt until the 4th century.
Simone Petrement, in
A Separate God, in arguing for a Christian origin of Gnosticism, places Valentinus after Basilides, but before the Sethians. It is her assertion that Valentinus represented a moderation of the anti-Judaism of the earlier Hellenized teachers; the demiurge, widely regarded to be a mythological depiction of the Old Testament God of the Hebrews, is depicted as more ignorant than evil.
The development of the Persian school
An alternate heritage is offered by Kurt Rudolph in his book
Gnosis: The Nature & Structure of Gnosticism , to explain the lineage of Persian Gnostic schools. The decline of
Manicheism that occurred in Persia in the 5th century AD/CE was too late to prevent the spread of the movement into the east and the west. In the west, the teachings of the school moved into
Syria,
Northern Arabia,
Egypt and
North Africa ; from Syria it progressed still farther, into
Palestine,
Asia Minor and
Armenia. There is evidence for Manicheans in Rome and
Dalmatia in the 4th century, and also in
Gaul and
Spain. The influence of Manicheanism was attacked by imperial elects and polemical writings, but the religion remained prevalent until the 6th century, and still exerted influence in the emergence of the
Paulicians, Bogomils and
Cathari in the middle ages, until it was ultimately stamped out as a heresy by the Catholic Church.
In the east, Rudolph relates, Manicheanism was able to bloom, given that the religious monopoly position previously held by Christianity and
Zoroastrianism had been broken by nascent
Islam. In the early years of the Arab conquest, Manicheanism again found followers in Persia , but flourished most in
Central Asia, to which it had spread through Iran. Here, in 762, Manicheanism became the state religion of the
Uyghur Empire.
Influence in East Asia
Early missionaries, including
Manicheans,
Zoroastrians, and
Nestorians, traveled and proselytized along the
Silk Road east to Chang'an, the
Tang Dynasty capital of China. The first introduction of Christianity, under the Chinese name
Jingjiào , was from Nestorianism or the
Assyrian Church of the East. In 635, when Nestorian missionaries arrived in Chang'an, the Emperor assigned his famous Prime Minister Fang Xuanling to hold a grand welcome ceremony. Chinese Nestorianism was popular in the late 8th century, but never became a widely-practice mainstream religion in China. In 845,
Emperor Wuzong of Tang ordered the Great Persecution of Buddhism, which affected other foreign religions, weakened Nestorianism and practically destroyed Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism in China.
Chinese Nestorianism revived during the 13th-14th century
Yuan Dynasty, but was replaced by
Roman Catholicism in 16th-17th centuries. Rudolph reported that despite the suppression, Manichean traditions are reputed to have survived until the 17th century .
'Gnosticism' as a potentially flawed category
In 1966 in
Messina,
Italy, a conference was held concerning systems of
gnosis. Among its several aims were the need to establish a program to translate the recently-acquired Nag Hammadi library and the need to arrive at an agreement concerning an accurate definition of 'Gnosticism'. This was in answer to the tendency, prevalent since the eighteenth century, to use the term 'gnostic' less as its origins implied, but rather as an interpretive category for
contemporary philosophical and religious movements. For example, in 1835,
New Testament scholar Ferdinand Baur constructed a developmental model of Gnosticism that culminates in the religious philosophy of
Hegel; one might compare literary critic
Harold Bloom's recent attempts to identify Gnostic elements in contemporary
American religion, or Eric Voegelin's analysis of totalitarian impulses through the interpretive lens of Gnosticism.
The 'cautious proposal' reached by the conference concerning Gnosticism is described by Markschies:
In essence, it had been decided that 'Gnosticism' would become a historically-specific term, restricted to mean the Gnostic movements prevalent in the 3rd century, while 'gnosis' would be an universal term, denoting a system of knowledge retained 'for a privileged élite'. However, this effort towards providing clarity in fact created more conceptual confusion, as the historical term 'Gnosticism' was an entirely modern construction, while the new universal term 'gnosis'
was a historical term: 'something was being called "gnosticism" that the ancient theologians had called "gnosis" ... [A] concept of gnosis had been created by Messina that was almost unusable in a historical sense' . In antiquity, all agreed that knowledge was centrally important to life, but few were agreed as to what exactly
constituted knowledge; the unitary conception that the Messina proposal presupposed did not exist.
These flaws have meant that the problems concerning an exact definition of Gnosticism persist. It remains current convention to use 'Gnosticism' in a historical sense, and 'gnosis' universally. Leaving aside the issues with the latter noted above, the usage of 'Gnosticism' to designate a category of religions in the 3rd century has recently been questioned as well. Of note is the work of Michael Allen Williams in
Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for the Dismantling of a Dubious Category, in which the author examines the terms by which gnosticism as a category is defined, and then closely compares these suppositions with the contents of actual Gnostic texts .
Williams argues that the conceptual foundations on which the category of Gnosticism rests are the remains of the agenda of the heresiologists. Too much emphasis has been laid on perceptions of dualism, body-and-matter hatred, and anticosmism, without these suppositions being properly
tested. In essence, the interpretive definition of Gnosticism that was created by the antagonistic efforts of the heresiologists has been taken up by modern scholarship and reflected in a
categorical definition, even though the means now exist to verify its accuracy. Attempting to do so, Williams contests, reveals the dubious nature of categorical 'Gnosticism', and he concludes that the term needs replacing in order to more accurately reflect those movements it comprises. Williams' observations have provoked debate; however, to date his suggested replacement term 'the Biblical demiurgical tradition' has not become widely used.
This sort of denotational rigidity is acceptable within academic circles but cannot be reasonably expected to dictate common usage of the term within the vernacular, any more than attempts to restrict the use of
buffalo to exclude
bison in
United States English have been successful.
Gnosticism in modern times
A number of 19th century thinkers such as
William Blake,
Schopenhauer,
Albert Pike,
Madame Blavatsky, studied Gnostic thought extensively and were influenced by it, and even figures like Melville and
W. B. Yeats were more tangentially influenced. Jules Doinel "re-established" a Gnostic church in France in 1890.
Early 20th century thinkers who heavily studied and were influenced by Gnosticism include
Carl Jung , Eric Voegelin , and
Aleister Crowley, with figures such as
