Esoterista

by Abode of Chaos

Who were the gnostics?

Who are the Gnostics?

The Gnostics were a religious movement that emphasized gnosis or knowledge especially of one’s origin, this movement also believed in cosmological dualism, were spiritual good and evil existed and everything natural was part of the dark world of evil. No one knows for sure where the roots of Gnosticism came from, some say it came from a heretical Jewish group and others give it a Christian context, it may even have a pagan origin. It was considered a major threat by the early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria.[1]

Gnostic Texts and beliefs

Irenaeus book called against heresies gives a good view of what Gnostics believed. Three Coptic Gnostic codices were published; two were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. The most well known from the Nag Hammadi documents is the Gospel of Thomas and other documents such as the Gospel of Mary, Acts of Peter and a Sophia of Jesus.  The early church has traditions that the Gnostics came from Simon the sorcerer mentioned in Acts of the Apostles. According to the early church fathers Simon practiced magic, claimed to be divine and also taught that his prostitute companion was Helen of troy reincarnated.

The Gnostics lacked a common authority and it had a variety of beliefs, however there were some central beliefs held by many Gnostics which were:

1. Cosmic dualism between spirit and matter, which was good and evil.

2. A distinction between a finite God Yahweh and the transcendent God of the New Testament.

3. Most people are ignorant of their origins and condition

4. That salvation was attained through secret knowledge that was given by Jesus Christ.

5.  The view that Christ resurrection was spiritual not physical

Gnosticism was completely critiqued by the early church fathers and said to be heresy and not of the true faith of Christianity, especially by Irenaeus, Augustine and Origen. Gnosticism as a religious organization has pretty much died; however there is a surviving remnant in southwestern Iraq and the teachings of the Gnostics is popular amongst New Age groups, existentialists and bible critics.

[1] E. Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, 1979, pp xix-xxi

Find More Gnosticism Articles