Perates
Encyclopedia
The Perates or Peratae (Greek- Περατής, "to pass through"; πέρας, "to penetrate") were a Gnostic sect from the 2nd century AD. The Philosophumena of Hippolytus is our only real source of information on their origin and beliefs. The founders of the school were a certain Euphrates (whom Origen
calls the founder of those Ophites
to whom Celsus
referred about 175 AD) and Celbes, elsewhere called Acembes and Ademes.
It had been known from Clement of Alexandria
that there was a sect of that name, though he tells nothing as to its tenets. Hippolytus was acquainted with more books of the sect than one. One called Oi Proasteioi appears to have been of an astrological
character, treating of the influence of the stars upon the human race, and connecting various mythologies with the planetary powers. There was besides a treatise which resembles the doctrine of the Naassenes.
, the world is one, but admits of a threefold division, Pater, Uios, Hyle. Each of these parts contains in itself an infinity of powers.
Intermediate between Hyle and the father sits the Son, the Word, the Serpent, ever turning, now to the immovable father, now to the moving Hyle, drawing powers from the first by means of which Hyle, in itself destitute of properties or of form, is fashioned according to the ideas received from the father. These he draws in some ineffable manner, just as the various colours passed into the sheep from the rods which Jacob
set up, or rather as a painter transfers forms to his canvas withont detracting aught from his model. When, then, the Saviour says, "Your Father which is in heaven," he means that heavenly father, the first principle, from which the forms have been derived; but when he says "your father was a murderer from the beginning," he means the ruler and framer of Hyle, who, taking the forms transmitted by the Son, works generation here, a work which is destruction and death.
, from the region of the unbegotten, a man himself threefold, having in himself powers from the three parts of the world, "for in Him the whole Pleroma
was pleased to dwell bodily," and in Him was the whole Godhead. His mission is in order that those elements which descended from above may by him be enabled to return, while those elements which plotted against the higher ones shall be separated and left for punishment.
When, then, the Saviour comes into the world, just as the amber attracts the chaff, and the magnet the iron, and the spine of the sea hawk the gold, so this serpent attracts to himself those whose nature is such as to be capable of receiving his influence. Such persons are called Peratae because, by means of their gnosis they have learned how safely to pass through (perasai) the corruption to which everything that is generated is subject.
is the body, coming out of Egypt is coming out of the body, and passing the Red Sea
, that is the water of destruction; or, in other words, generation. Those, however, who suppose themselves to have passed the Red Sea, are still liable to be assailed by the gods of destruction, whom Moses called the serpents of the desert, who bite and destroy those who had hoped to escape the power of the gods of generation. For these Moses exhibited the true and perfect serpent, on whom they who believed were not bitten by the gods of destruction. None but this true serpent, the perfect of the perfect, can save and deliver those who go out of Egypt, that is to say from the body and from the world.
We are given additional insight by Hippolytus into what G.R.S. Mead calls an "analogical psycho-physiological process in man":
, speaks of the Peratae as founded by Euphrates the "Peratic," and Acembes the Carystian. There is certainly a case for suspicion that this Euphrates the Peratic, the supposed founder of the sect of Peratics, may be as mythical a personage as Ebion, the eponymous founder of the Ebionites
. We do not read elsewhere of any Euphrates
but the Stoic
philosopher, who lived in the reign of Hadrian
, whom we cannot suppose to have been a teacher of Ophite doctrine. But the name of the river Euphrates
was largely used among the Peratae with a mystical signification; and it is conceivable that members of the sect, knowing the name to be held in honour among them, and knowing also that there had been an eminent teacher so called, may have been led to claim him as their founder. On the other hand, it is plain that the Peratic treatise of which Hippolytus gives an abstract, and which may have been also seen by Origen, contained the name of Euphrates coupled with that of Acembes the Carystian, a personage whom there was no motive for inventing. There is nothing incredible in the supposition that these are the names of real Ophite teachers, too obscure to leave any record of their existence, outside their own sect.
as one derived from place. In this sense it may have taken its origin from the phrase Ἅβραμ ὁ περατής , which was understood to mean one who came from the other side of the Euphrates. Pliny
, speaking of a certain gum which came from Arabia, India
, Media, and Babylon
, adds that that which came from Media was called by some Peratic. This seems to be the same as the Peratic frankincense spoken of by Arrian
. It is probably a mere corruption that Sophronius of Jerusalem speaks of Euphrates "Persicus," for he clearly got the name from Theodoret; yet the corruption may have originated in the change of an unfamiliar word into a supposed equivalent. On the whole, we may conclude that this Euphrates, if he existed, came from the extreme east.
Bunsen has suggested that this designation can mean Euboea
n. He founds this conjecture on the facts that Acembes, with whom Euphrates is coupled, came from Euboea, and that Euboea is sometimes spoken of as ἡ πέραν, the other side. But this does not prove that the name "Peratic" would ever have been understood as equivalent to "Euboean;" it is nowhere stated that Euphrates and Acembes were fellow countrymen, and if they were, it is not likely that the one would have been designated after his town and the other generally after the island.
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
calls the founder of those Ophites
Ophites
The Ophites or Ophians were members of a Christian Gnostic sect depicted by Hippolytus of Rome in a lost work, the Syntagma....
to whom Celsus
Celsus
Celsus was a 2nd century Greek philosopher and opponent of Early Christianity. He is known for his literary work, The True Word , written about by Origen. This work, c. 177 is the earliest known comprehensive attack on Christianity.According to Origen, Celsus was the author of an...
referred about 175 AD) and Celbes, elsewhere called Acembes and Ademes.
It had been known from Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
that there was a sect of that name, though he tells nothing as to its tenets. Hippolytus was acquainted with more books of the sect than one. One called Oi Proasteioi appears to have been of an astrological
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
character, treating of the influence of the stars upon the human race, and connecting various mythologies with the planetary powers. There was besides a treatise which resembles the doctrine of the Naassenes.
Beliefs
In macrocosm and microcosmMacrocosm and microcosm
Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...
, the world is one, but admits of a threefold division, Pater, Uios, Hyle. Each of these parts contains in itself an infinity of powers.
- Father—perfect goodness, unbegotten, megethos patrikon
- Son—agathon autogenes
- HyleMatterMatter is a general term for the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, matter includes atoms and other particles which have mass. A common way of defining matter is as anything that has mass and occupies volume...
—genneton, idikon
Intermediate between Hyle and the father sits the Son, the Word, the Serpent, ever turning, now to the immovable father, now to the moving Hyle, drawing powers from the first by means of which Hyle, in itself destitute of properties or of form, is fashioned according to the ideas received from the father. These he draws in some ineffable manner, just as the various colours passed into the sheep from the rods which Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
set up, or rather as a painter transfers forms to his canvas withont detracting aught from his model. When, then, the Saviour says, "Your Father which is in heaven," he means that heavenly father, the first principle, from which the forms have been derived; but when he says "your father was a murderer from the beginning," he means the ruler and framer of Hyle, who, taking the forms transmitted by the Son, works generation here, a work which is destruction and death.
Redemption
For the redemption of this world below, Christ was made to descend in the days of HerodHerod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
, from the region of the unbegotten, a man himself threefold, having in himself powers from the three parts of the world, "for in Him the whole Pleroma
Pleroma
Pleroma generally refers to the totality of divine powers. The word means fullness from comparable to πλήρης which means "full", and is used in Christian theological contexts: both in Gnosticism generally, and by Paul of Tarsus in Colossians Colossians 2:9 KJV .Gnosticism holds that the...
was pleased to dwell bodily," and in Him was the whole Godhead. His mission is in order that those elements which descended from above may by him be enabled to return, while those elements which plotted against the higher ones shall be separated and left for punishment.
- When it is said "the Son of Man came not to destroy the world, but that the world through Him might be saved," by "the world" is meant the two superior parts, to agenneton and to autogenneton.
- When the Scripture says "that we should not be condemned with the world," by the world is meant the third part or the kosmos idikos; for that part must be destroyed, but the two superior parts freed from destruction.
When, then, the Saviour comes into the world, just as the amber attracts the chaff, and the magnet the iron, and the spine of the sea hawk the gold, so this serpent attracts to himself those whose nature is such as to be capable of receiving his influence. Such persons are called Peratae because, by means of their gnosis they have learned how safely to pass through (perasai) the corruption to which everything that is generated is subject.
Physiology
All the ignorant are Egyptians. EgyptEgypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
is the body, coming out of Egypt is coming out of the body, and passing the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, that is the water of destruction; or, in other words, generation. Those, however, who suppose themselves to have passed the Red Sea, are still liable to be assailed by the gods of destruction, whom Moses called the serpents of the desert, who bite and destroy those who had hoped to escape the power of the gods of generation. For these Moses exhibited the true and perfect serpent, on whom they who believed were not bitten by the gods of destruction. None but this true serpent, the perfect of the perfect, can save and deliver those who go out of Egypt, that is to say from the body and from the world.
We are given additional insight by Hippolytus into what G.R.S. Mead calls an "analogical psycho-physiological process in man":
For a proof of this, they adduce the anatomy of the brainBrainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
, assimilating, from the fact of its immobility, the brain itself to the Father, and the cerebellumCerebellumThe cerebellum is a region of the brain that plays an important role in motor control. It may also be involved in some cognitive functions such as attention and language, and in regulating fear and pleasure responses, but its movement-related functions are the most solidly established...
to the Son, because of its being moved and being of the form of (the head of) a serpent. And they allege that this (cerebellum), by an ineffable and inscrutable process, attracts through the pineal glandPineal glandThe pineal gland is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain. It produces the serotonin derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions...
the spiritual and life-giving substance emanating from the vaulted chamber (in which the brain is embedded). And on receiving this, the cerebellum in an ineffable manner imparts the ideas, just as the Son does, to matter; or, in other words, the seeds and the genera of the things produced according to the flesh flow along into the spinal marrowSpinal cordThe spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
. Employing this exemplar, (the heretics) seem to adroitly introduce their secret mysteries, which are delivered in silence.
Euphrates
Hippolytus, followed by TheodoretTheodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria . He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms...
, speaks of the Peratae as founded by Euphrates the "Peratic," and Acembes the Carystian. There is certainly a case for suspicion that this Euphrates the Peratic, the supposed founder of the sect of Peratics, may be as mythical a personage as Ebion, the eponymous founder of the Ebionites
Ebionites
Ebionites, or Ebionaioi, , is a patristic term referring to a Jewish Christian sect or sects that existed during the first centuries of the Christian Era. They regarded Jesus as the Messiah and insisted on the necessity of following Jewish religious law and rites...
. We do not read elsewhere of any Euphrates
Euphrates the Stoic
Euphrates , was an eminent Stoic philosopher, who lived c. 35-118 AD.According to Philostratus, he was a native of Tyre, and according to Stephanus of Byzantium, of Epiphania in Syria; whereas Eunapius calls him an Egyptian. At the time when Pliny the Younger served in Syria , he became acquainted...
but the Stoic
STOIC
STOIC was a variant of Forth.It started out at the MIT and Harvard Biomedical Engineering Centre in Boston, and was written in the mid 1970s by Jonathan Sachs...
philosopher, who lived in the reign of Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, whom we cannot suppose to have been a teacher of Ophite doctrine. But the name of the river Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
was largely used among the Peratae with a mystical signification; and it is conceivable that members of the sect, knowing the name to be held in honour among them, and knowing also that there had been an eminent teacher so called, may have been led to claim him as their founder. On the other hand, it is plain that the Peratic treatise of which Hippolytus gives an abstract, and which may have been also seen by Origen, contained the name of Euphrates coupled with that of Acembes the Carystian, a personage whom there was no motive for inventing. There is nothing incredible in the supposition that these are the names of real Ophite teachers, too obscure to leave any record of their existence, outside their own sect.
Etymology
The title "Peratic," as applied to the sect, is explained by Clement of AlexandriaClement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
as one derived from place. In this sense it may have taken its origin from the phrase Ἅβραμ ὁ περατής , which was understood to mean one who came from the other side of the Euphrates. Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, speaking of a certain gum which came from Arabia, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Media, and Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
, adds that that which came from Media was called by some Peratic. This seems to be the same as the Peratic frankincense spoken of by Arrian
Arrian
Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Roman historian, public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the 2nd-century Roman period...
. It is probably a mere corruption that Sophronius of Jerusalem speaks of Euphrates "Persicus," for he clearly got the name from Theodoret; yet the corruption may have originated in the change of an unfamiliar word into a supposed equivalent. On the whole, we may conclude that this Euphrates, if he existed, came from the extreme east.
Bunsen has suggested that this designation can mean Euboea
Euboea
Euboea is the second largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to...
n. He founds this conjecture on the facts that Acembes, with whom Euphrates is coupled, came from Euboea, and that Euboea is sometimes spoken of as ἡ πέραν, the other side. But this does not prove that the name "Peratic" would ever have been understood as equivalent to "Euboean;" it is nowhere stated that Euphrates and Acembes were fellow countrymen, and if they were, it is not likely that the one would have been designated after his town and the other generally after the island.
See also
- The OphitesOphitesThe Ophites or Ophians were members of a Christian Gnostic sect depicted by Hippolytus of Rome in a lost work, the Syntagma....
- The Naassenes
- The Sethians
- The Mandaeans
- The BorboritesBorboritesAccording to the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis , and Theodoret's Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, the Borborites or Borborians were a libertine Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans...