Gnosticism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Concepts== ===Monad=== {{Main|Monad (Gnosticism)}} In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the ''Monad'', [[Neoplatonism#The One|the One]].{{refn|group=note|Other names include [[Absolute (philosophy)|The Absolute]], ''Aion teleos'' (The Perfect [[Æon]]), ''Bythos'' (Depth or Profundity, Βυθός), ''Proarkhe'' (Before the Beginning, προαρχή), and ''He Arkhe'' (The Beginning, ἡ ἀρχή).}} God is the high source of the [[pleroma]], the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According to [[Hippolytus of Rome|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 (geometry)|point]], begetting [[Line (geometry)|lines]], etc. ===Pleroma=== {{Main|Pleroma}} ''Pleroma'' (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes [[Archon (Gnosticism)|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|Greek Orthodox church]] in this general form, since the word appears in the [[Epistle to the Colossians]]. Proponents of the view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a gnostic sense. ===Emanation=== {{Main|Emanationism}} The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation. ===Aeon=== {{Main|Aeon (Gnosticism)}} In many Gnostic systems, the aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the [[hermaphrodite|hermaphroditic]] aeon [[Barbelo]],<ref name="apocryphon" /><ref name="allogenes">{{cite web | title=Allogenes | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/allogene.html | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref><ref name="trimorph">{{cite web | title=Trimorphic Protennoia | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library |url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/trimorph.html | access-date=September 29, 2013}}</ref> the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called ''syzygies''.<ref name="valen_syzygy">{{cite web | title=The Pair (Syzygy) in Valentinian Thought | url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/valentinus/Syzygy_Valentinian.htm | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.{{sfn|Mead|2005|p={{page needed|date=January 2024}}}} The aeons as a totality constitute the ''pleroma'', the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and ''Sophia'' (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in ''A Valentinian Exposition''.<ref name="valen_expos">{{cite web | title=A Valentinian Exposition | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/valex.html | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> ===Sophia=== {{Main|Sophia (Gnosticism)}} In Gnostic tradition, the name [[Sophia (Gnosticism)|'''Sophia''']] (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and is identified with the ''[[anima mundi]]'' or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] equivalent of ''Achamoth'' {{dubious|talk=Talk:Topic#https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Gnosticism#Sophia_in_Jewish_Gnosticism?|date=May 2023}} (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sumney |first=Jerry L. |date=1989 |title=The Letter of Eugnostos and the Origins of Gnosticism |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nt/31/2/article-p172_6.xml |journal=Novum Testamentum |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=172–181 |doi=10.1163/156853689X00063 |issn=0048-1009}}</ref> 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 and negative depictions of materiality depend on the myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia in this highly patriarchal narrative is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buckley |first=Jorunn Jacobsen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/13009837 |title=Female fault and fulfilment in Gnosticism |date=1986 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=0-8078-1696-5 |location=Chapel Hill |oclc=13009837}}</ref> ''Sophia'', emanating without her partner, resulted in the production of the ''Demiurge'' (Greek: lit. "public builder"),<ref name="newad_demi">{{cite web | title=Demiurge | publisher=Catholic encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm | access-date=2009-02-13}}</ref> who is also referred to as ''[[Yaldabaoth]]'' and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts.<ref name="apocryphon" /> This creature is concealed outside the pleroma;<ref name="apocryphon" /> in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind; trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies.<ref name="apocryphon" /><ref name=hypostasis>{{cite web | title=The Hypostasis of the Archons | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html | access-date=2009-02-12}}</ref> In response, the Godhead emanates two savior aeons, ''Christ'' and ''the Holy Spirit''; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma.<ref name="nhlintro"/> ===Demiurge=== {{Main|Demiurge}} [[File:Lion-faced deity.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'' may be a depiction of [[Demiurge#Yaldabaoth|Yaldabaoth]], the Demiurge; however, see [[Mithraism#Lion headed figure|Mithraic Zervan Akarana]].{{sfn|Campbell|1991|p=262}}]] The term ''demiurge'' derives from the [[Latin]]ized form of the Greek term ''dēmiourgos'', δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker".{{refn|group=note|The term ''dēmiourgos'' occurs in a number of other religious and philosophical systems, most notably Platonism. The gnostic demiurge bears resemblance to figures in Plato's ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[The Republic (Plato)|Republic]]''. In ''Timaeus'', the ''demiourgós'' is a central figure, a benevolent creator of the universe who works to make the universe as benevolent as the limitations of matter will allow. In ''The Republic'' the description of the leontomorphic "desire" in [[Socrates]]' model of the [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]] bears a resemblance to descriptions of the demiurge as being in the shape of the lion.{{refn|group=note|The relevant passage of ''The Republic'' was found within the [[Nag Hammadi library]],<ref name="nhlrepublic">{{cite web | url = http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/plato.html | title = Plato, Republic 588A–589B | publisher = "The Gnostic Society Library | access-date = 2009-02-12 }}</ref> wherein a text existed describing the demiurge as a "lion-faced serpent".<ref name="apocryphon">{{cite web | url = http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_sbj.htm | title = The Apocryphon of John | publisher = The Gnostic Society Library | access-date = 2009-02-12 }}</ref>}}}} This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth",<ref name="apocryphon" /> [[Samael]] ([[Aramaic]]: ''sæmʻa-ʼel'', "blind god"), or "Saklas" ([[Syriac language|Syriac]]: ''sækla'', "the foolish one"), who is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications are [[Ahriman]], [[El (deity)|El]], [[Satan]], and [[Yahweh]]. The demiurge creates the [[physical universe]] and the physical aspect of [[Human nature|humanity]].<ref name="na_demiurge">{{cite web | title=Demiurge | publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04707b.htm | access-date=2009-02-12}}</ref> The demiurge typically creates a group of co-actors named [[archon (Gnosticism)|archons]] who preside over the material realm and, in some cases, present obstacles to the soul seeking ascent from it.<ref name="apocryphon" /> The inferiority of the demiurge's creation may be compared to the technical inferiority of a work of art, painting, sculpture, etc. to the thing the art [[mimesis|represents]]. In other cases, it takes on a more [[ascetic]] tendency to view material existence negatively, which then becomes more extreme when materiality, including the human body, is perceived as evil and constrictive, a deliberate prison for its inhabitants. Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within the broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/philosophy/philosophy-terms-and-concepts/demiurge|title=Demiurge | Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> ===Archon=== {{Main|Archon (Gnosticism)}} In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge.<ref name=hypostasis /> According to [[Origen]]'s ''[[Contra Celsum]]'', a sect called the [[Ophites]] posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created the six that follow: Iao, [[Sabaoth]], Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios.<ref name="contra_celsum">{{cite web | title=Cotra Celsum | author=Origen | publisher=The Gnostic Society Library | url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/orig_cc6.htm | access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion.<ref name=apocryphon /><ref name="mithraic_art">{{cite web | title=Mithraic Art | url=http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml | access-date=2009-12-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727101037/http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/classic_greece_rome/mom/mom10.shtml | archive-date=2011-07-27 | url-status=dead }}</ref> ===Other concepts=== Other Gnostic concepts are:{{sfn|Pagels|1975}} * [[sarkic]] – earthly, hidebound, ignorant, uninitiated. The lowest level of human thought; the fleshly, instinctive level of thinking. * hylic – lowest order of the three types of human. Unable to be saved since their thinking is entirely material, incapable of understanding the gnosis. * psychic – "soulful", partially initiated. Matter-dwelling spirits * [[Pneumatic (Gnosticism)|pneumatic]] – "spiritual", fully initiated, immaterial souls escaping the doom of the material world via gnosis. * [[kenoma]] – the visible or manifest cosmos, "lower" than the pleroma * [[charisma]] – gift, or energy, bestowed by pneumatics through oral teaching and personal encounters * [[logos]] – the divine ordering principle of the cosmos; personified as Christ. See also [[Odic force]]. * [[Hypostasis (religion)|hypostasis]] – literally "that which stands beneath" the inner reality, emanation (appearance) of God, known to psychics * [[ousia]] – essence of God, known to [[Pneumatic (Gnosticism)|pneumatics]]. Specific individual things or being. 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