Gnosticism is the "true religion" of jesus christ

Simonians

The Simonians were a Gnostic sect of the 2nd century which regarded Simon Magus as its founder and traced its doctrines, known as Simonianism, back to him. The sect flourished in Syria, in various districts of Asia Minor and at Rome. In the 3rd century remnants of it still existed, which survived until the 4th century.

the gnostic sect of the Simonians appeared to have been formidable.

In the second century, under influence of Christianity, Simon was transformed into a Gnostic saviour.

these sects were an offshoot of John the Baptist. One offshoot was in turn headed by Dositheus, Simon Magus, and Menander. It was in this milieu that the idea emerged that the world was created by ignorant angels.

Their baptismal ritual removed the consequences of sin, and lead to a regeneration by which natural death, which was caused by these angels, was overcome.

The Samaritan leaders were viewed as "the embodiment of God's power, spirit, or wisdom, and as the redeemer and revealer of 'true knowledge'.

Dositheus, a Samaritan who died from starvation, is said to have originally been the "Standing One," or leader, of John the Baptist's sect, but stepped aside in favor of Simon Magus.

the Simonians are briefly mentioned in the Testimony of Truth (58,1-60,3) from the Nag Hammadi Library, wherein the Gnostic author seems to include them among a long list of "heretics".

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Menander

was a first-century CE Samaritan gnostic, magician and a leader of the Simonians following the death of his master and instructor, Simon Magus, who was in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius.

He is mentioned in the works of Irenaeus, Tertullian and others. Justin Martyr is the oldest source of knowledge about Menander after he met some of the devoted Menandrians in their old age.

Menander was born in Cappareteia and established a school in Antioch where he announced himself a messiah and vowed to defeat the angels that were keeping the world in captivity, possibly through exorcism.

Irenaeus claimed that those in receipt of Menander's water baptism no longer grew old and became immortal.

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Antitactæ,

or antitactici, in antiquity, were a sect of gnostics who believe that God was good and just, but that one of his creatures had created evil, and had engaged humans to follow it, in order to set us in opposition to God. They believed that it was the duty of humanity to oppose this author of evil, in order to avenge God of his enemy. Their name is from the ancient Greek for "I oppose; I am contrary".

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Archontics

The Archontics, or Archontici, were a Gnostic sect that existed in Palestine and Armenia, who arose towards the close of the 2nd century CE. They were thus called from the "principalities", or "rulers", by reason that they held the world to have been created and ruled by malevolent Archons.

The Archontics held that there were Seven Heavens, ruled by the Demiurge surrounded by Archons begotten by him, who are the jailers of the souls. In the eighth heaven dwells the supreme Mother of light. The king or tyrant of the seventh heaven is Sabaoth, the god of the Jews, who is the father of the Devil. The Devil, dwelling upon earth, rebelled against his father, and opposed him in all things.

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Ascodroutes

a sect of Christian heretics in the 2nd century, who rejected all use of sacraments, on the principle that incorporeal things cannot be communicated by things visible and corporeal. They made perfect redemption consist in the knowledge of the universe.

Barbeliotae

refers to the first emanation of God in several forms of Gnostic cosmogony. Barbelo; is often depicted as a supreme female principle, the single passive antecedent of creation in its manifoldness. This figure is also variously referred to as 'Mother-Father' (hinting at her apparent androgyny), 'First Human Being', 'The Triple Androgynous Name', or 'Eternal Aeon'. So prominent was her place amongst some Gnostics that some schools were designated as Barbeliotae, Barbelo; worshippers or Barbelo;gnostics.

For Noah was obedient to the archon, they say, but Noria revealed the powers on high and Barbelo, the scion of the powers—the opposite of the archon, as the other powers are. And she intimated that what has been taken from the Mother on High by the archon who made the world, and others with him—gods, demons, and angels—must be gathered from the power in the bodies, through the male and female emissions.

The most transcendent hidden invisible Spirit is not depicted as actively participating in creation. This significance is reflected both in her apparent androgyny (reinforced by several of her given epithets), and in the name Barbelo; itself.

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When the time comes, who will be of value and who will be useless? That question will not resolve in religion, but progression. You were commanded to go forward and do great things. What have you done that would make the world a better place through your actions? Witnessing to get everyone to join a club of labels, for the sake of a label, is not doing something great.

The Cainites

or Cainians were a Gnostic and Antinomian sect who were known to venerate Cain as the first victim of the Demiurge, the deity of the Tanakh, who was identified by many groups of Gnostics as evil.

He tells us that the Cainites regarded Cain as derived from the higher principle. They claimed fellowship with Esau, Korah, the men of Sodom, and all such people, and regarded themselves as on that account persecuted by the Creator. But they escaped injury from him, for Sophia used to carry away from them to herself that which belonged to her.

They regarded Judas the traitor as having full cognizance of the truth. He therefore, rather than the other disciples, was able to accomplish the mystery of the betrayal, and so bring about the dissolution of all things both celestial and terrestrial. The Cainites possessed a work entitled The Gospel of Judas, and Irenaeus says that he had himself collected writings of theirs, where they advocated that the work of Hystera should be dissolved. By Hystera they meant the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Epiphanius also says that Judas forced the Archons, or rulers, against their will to slay Christ, and thus assisted us to the salvation of the Cross.

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Carpocrates

of Alexandria was the founder of an early Gnostic sect from the first half of the 2nd century. As with many Gnostic sects, we know of the Carpocratians only through the writings of the Church Fathers, principally Irenaeus of Lyons and Clement of Alexandria. As these writers strongly opposed Gnostic doctrine, there is a question of negative bias when using this source.

They believe, he writes, that Jesus was not divine; but because his soul was "steadfast and pure", he "remembered those things which he had witnessed within the sphere of the unbegotten God" (similar to Plato's concept of Anamnesis). Because of this, Jesus was able to free himself from the material powers (what other Gnostics call Archons, the Demiurge, etc.). Carpocratians believed they themselves could transcend the material realm, and therefore were no longer bound by Mosaic law, which was based on the material powers, or by any other morality, which, they held, was mere human opinion. Irenaeus offers this belief as an explanation of their licentious behaviour.

Irenaeus says that they practised various magical arts as well as leading a licentious life. He also says that they possessed a portrait of Christ, a painting they claimed had been made by Pontius Pilate during his lifetime, which they honoured along with images of Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle "in the manner of the Gentiles".

"Only one group of early Christians, the heretical Carpocratians, are known to have owned portraits of Christ".

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Cerinthians

Cerinthus was a gnostic and to some, an early Christian, who was prominent as a heresiarch in the view of the early Church Fathers. Contrary to the Church Fathers, he used the Gospel of cerinthus, and denied that the Supreme God made the physical world. In Cerinthus' interpretation, the Christ descended upon Jesus at baptism and guided him in ministry and the performing of miracles, but left him at the crucifixion.

Similarly to the Ebionites, he maintained that Jesus was not born of a virgin, but was a mere man, the biological son of Mary and Joseph.

Cerinthus flourished during the second half of the first century, though the date of his birth and his death are unknown. None of Cerinthus' actual writings seem to have survived.

Irenaeus writes that Cerinthus was educated in the Gnosis of the Egyptians. According to Epiphanius, Cerinthus was the instigator of trouble against the Apostles Paul and Peter at Jerusalem.

Cerinthus taught that the visible world and heavens were not made by the supreme being, but by a lesser power (Demiurge) distinct from him. He taught that this power was ignorant of the existence of the Supreme God.

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Encratites

The Encratites ("self-controlled") were an ascetic 2nd century sect of Christians who forbade marriage and counselled abstinence from meat.

In their hatred of marriage they declared woman the work of Satan or the devil, as was sexual intercourse and marriage and in their hatred of alcohol they called wine drops of venom from the great Serpent.

Of their mode of life, passing their days inflated with pride"; "abstaining from animal food, being water-drinkers.

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The Marcosians

were a Gnostic sect founded by Marcus, active in Lyon, France and southern Europe from the second to the 4th century. Women held special status in the Marcosian communities; they were regarded as prophetesses and participated in administering the Eucharistic rites.

Irenaeus accuses Marcus of seducing his followers, and scornfully writes (Adversus Haereses I. 13, 4) that the whole sect was an affair of "silly women."

The Marcosian system was a variation of that of Valentinus. It retained the 30 Aeons, but called them "Greatnesses" and gave them numerical values. It kept the myth of the fall of Sophia but called it a "Divine Deficiency". Unique to it was the adaptation of the Pythagorean number theory (Isopsephy) to Gnosticism.

Marcus holds his knowledge to be the product of a divine revelation of the body of the Anthropos:

The infinitely exalted Tetrad descended upon him from the invisible and indescribable places in the form of a woman . . . and expounded to him alone its own nature, and the origin of all things, which it had never before revealed to any one either of gods or men. . . . [and] said:—I wish to show thee Aletheia (Truth) herself; for I have brought her down from the dwellings above, that thou mayest see her without a veil, and understand her beauty—that thou mayest also hear her speaking, and admire her wisdom. Behold, then, her head on high, Alpha and Omega; her neck, Beta and Psi; her shoulders with her hands, Gamma and Chi; her breast, Delta and Phi; her diaphragm, Epsilon and Upsilon; her back, Zeta and Tau; her belly, Eta and Sigma; her thighs, Theta and Rho; her knees, Iota and Pi; her legs, Kappa and Omicron; her ankles, Lambda and Xi; her feet, Mu and Nu. Such is the body of Truth, according to this magician, such the figure of the element, such the character of the letter. And he calls this element Anthropos (Man), and says that is the fountain of all speech, and the beginning of all sound, and the expression of all that is unspeakable, and the mouth of the silent Sige.

To understand the generation of the thirty Aeons

from the Ogdoad, we have only to take the first eight numbers and add them up, leaving out six—for it is the Episemon and not a letter of the usual Greek alphabet:—

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 8 = 30

Again, we find the fall of the twelfth Aeon, Sophia, indicated in the alphabet; for Λ, which arithmetically denotes 30, the number of the Aeons, is only the eleventh letter in the alphabet. But it set about to seek another like itself, and so the next letter is M, or ΛΛ. Again, add up the numerical value of all the letters of the alphabet ending with λ and we have ninety-nine; that is deficiency, a number still counted on the left hand, which they who have "knowledge" escape by following after the one which, added to ninety-nine, transfers them to the right hand. The reader will remember Juvenal's "jam dextera computat annos."

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Messalianism

is a heresy that originated in Mesopotamia about the year 360. The Messalians denied that the Sacraments gave grace, including baptism, and declared that the only spiritual power was constant prayer that led to possession by the Holy Spirit.

This heresy affected monasticism. Messalians were ascetics who practiced poverty, celibacy, and fasting. They rejected the sacramental life of the church

Under Messalianism, intense meditation was supposed to achieve union with God and encourage the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, through which sinful inclinations would be purged and demons would be expelled. Such exaggerated claims included the ability to see demons and even the Holy Trinity.

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The Ophites

Ophians "snake" were members of a Christian Gnostic sect depicted by Hippolytus of Rome (170–235) in a lost work, the Syntagma ("arrangement").

He details what has been identified by subsequent writers as an Ophite cosmogony.[4] Creation began as a series of emanations:

The True and Holy Church:

Bythos (Depth):
Father of All (the First Man):
Ennoia, the Son of Man (the Second Man):
The Holy Spirit, the First Woman:
Water
Darkness
The Abyss
Chaos
Of the beauty of the Holy Spirit, both First and Second Man became enamoured, and they generated from her a third male, an Incorruptible Light, called Christ.

Sophia

But the excess of light with which she had been impregnated was more than she could contain, and while Christ her right-hand birth was borne upward with his mother, forming with the First and Second Man the True and Holy Church, a drop of light fell on the left hand downwards into the world of matter, and was called Sophia (Wisdom) or Prunikos, an androgynous being.

By this arrival the still waters were set in motion, all things rushing to embrace the Light, and Prunikos wantonly playing with the waters, assumed to herself a body, without the protection of which the light was in danger of being completely absorbed by matter. Yet when oppressed by the grossness of her surroundings, she strove to escape the waters and ascend to her mother, the body weighed her down, and she could do no more than arch herself above the waters, constituting thus the visible heaven. In process of time, however, by intensity of desire she was able to free herself from the encumbrance of the body, and leaving it behind to ascend to the region immediately above, called in the language of another sect the middle region.

Ialdabaoth

Meanwhile a son, Ialdabaoth, born to her from her contact with the waters, having in him a certain breath of the incorruptible light left him from his mother, by means of which he works, generates from the waters a son without any mother. And this son in like manner another, until there were seven Archons in all, ruling the seven heavens;[5] a Hebdomad which their mother completes into an Ogdoad.

Ialdabaoth ("yalda bahut" = "son of chaos"), the Demiurge
Iao
Sabaoth
Adonaios
Elaios
Astaphanos
Horaios ("or" = "light")

But it came to pass that these sons strove for mastery with their father Ialdabaoth, whereat he suffered great affliction, and casting his despairing gaze on the dregs of matter below, he, through them, consolidated his longing and obtained a son Ophiomorphus, the serpent-formed Nous, whence come the spirit and soul, and all things of this lower world; but whence came also oblivion, wickedness, jealousy, envy, and death. Ialdabaoth, stretching himself over his upper heaven, had shut out from all below the knowledge that there was anything higher than himself, and having puffed up with pride at the sons whom he had begotten without help from his mother, he cried,

“ I am Father and God, and above me there is none other. ”
On this his mother, hearing him, cried out (1:30, 6),

“ Do not lie, Ialdabaoth, for above thee is the Father of All, the First Man, and the Son of Man. ”

When the heavenly powers marvelled at this voice, Ialdabaoth, to call off their attention, exclaimed, "Let us make man after our image." Then the six powers formed a gigantic man, the mother Sophia having given assistance to the design, in order that by this means she might recover the Light-fluid from Ialdabaoth. For the man whom the six powers had formed, lay unable to raise itself, writhing like a worm until they brought it to their father, who breathed into it the breath of life, and so emptied himself of his power. But the man having now Thought and Conception (Nous and Enthymesis), forthwith gave thanks to the First Man, disregarding those who had made him.

At this Ialdabaoth, being jealous, planned to despoil the man by means of a woman, and formed Eve, of whose beauty the six powers being enamoured generated sons from her, namely, the angels. Then Sophia devised by means of the serpent to seduce Eve and Adam to transgress the precept of Ialdabaoth; and Eve, accepting the advice of one who seemed a Son of God, persuaded Adam also to eat of the forbidden tree. And when they ate they gained knowledge of the power which is over all, and revoked from those who had made them. Thereupon Ialdabaoth cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise; but the mother had secretly emptied them of the Light-fluid in order that it might not share the curse or reproach. So they were cast down into this world, as was also the serpent who had been detected in working against his father. He brought the angels here under his power, and himself generated six sons, a counterpart of the Hebdomad of which his father was a member. These seven demons always oppose and thwart the human race on whose account their father was cast down.

Adam and Eve at first had light and clear and, as it were, spiritual bodies, which on their fall became dull and gross; and their spirits were also languid because they had lost all but the breath of this lower world which their maker had breathed into them; until Prunikos taking pity on them gave them back the sweet odour of the Light-fluid through which they woke to a knowledge of themselves and knew that they were naked.

The above is clearly a variant of the account of the Creation given in chapter 1 of The Book of Genesis - but with the major difference that the single, omnipotent God of the original Biblical story is here depicted as Ialdabaoth - one of many Divine beings, and not the most important of them, with his claim to exclusive Godhood described as an arrogant and false usurpation.

The story proceeds to give a version of Old Testament history, in which Ialdabaoth is represented as making a series of efforts to obtain exclusive adoration for himself, and to avenge himself on those who refused to pay it, while he is counteracted by Prunikos, who strives to enlighten mankind as to the existence of higher powers more deserving of adoration. In particular the prophets who were each the organ of one of the Hebdomad, the glorification of whom was their main theme, were nevertheless inspired by Sophia to make fragmentary revelations about the First Man and about Christ above, whose descent also she caused to be predicted.

And here we come to the version given of New Testament history in this system. Sophia, having no rest either in heaven or on earth, implored the assistance of her mother, the First Woman. She, moved with pity at her daughter's repentance, begged of the First Man that Christ should be sent down to her assistance. Sophia, apprized of the coming help, announced his advent by John, prepared the baptism of repentance, and by means of her son, Ialdabaoth, got ready a woman to receive the annunciation from Christ, in order that when he came there might be a pure and clean vessel to receive him, namely Jesus, who, being born of a virgin by divine power, was wiser, purer, and more righteous than any other man. Christ then descended through the seven heavens, taking the form of the sons of each as he came down, and depriving each of their rulers of his power. For wheresoever Christ came the Light-fluid rushed to him, and when he came into this world he first united himself with his sister Sophia, and they refreshed one another as bridegroom and bride, and the two united descended into Jesus (though never actually dwelling in his flesh), who thus became Jesus Christ. Then he began to work miracles, and to announce the unknown Father, and to declare himself manifestly the son of the First Man.

Then Ialdabaoth and the other princes of the Hebdomad, being angry, sought to have Jesus crucified, but Christ and Sophia did not share his passion, having withdrawn themselves into the incorruptible Aeon. But Christ did not forget Jesus, but sent a power which raised his body up, not indeed his choical body, for "flesh and blood cannot lay hold of the kingdom of God," but his animal and spiritual body. So it was that Jesus did no miracles, either before his baptism, when he was first united to Christ, or after his resurrection, when Christ had withdrawn himself from him. Jesus then remained on earth after his resurrection eighteen months, at first himself not understanding the whole truth, but enlightened by a revelation subsequently made him, which he taught to a chosen few of his disciples, and then was taken up to heaven.

The story proceeds to tell that Christ, sitting on the right hand of the father Ialdabaoth, without his knowledge enriches himself with the souls of those who had known him, inflicting a corresponding loss on Ialdabaoth. For as righteous souls instead of returning to him are united to Christ, Ialdabaoth is less and less able to bestow any of the Light-fluid on souls afterwards entering this world, and can only breathe into them his own animal breath. The consummation of all things will take place when, by successive union of righteous souls with Christ, the last drop of the Light-fluid shall be recovered from this lower world.

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The Naassenes

claimed to have been taught their doctrines by Mariamne, a disciple of James the Just.[2] The retention of the Hebrew form shows that their beliefs may represent the earliest stages of Gnosticism. Hippolytus regards them as among the first to be called simply "Gnostics", alleging that they alone have sounded the depths of knowledge.

Three classes

Thus there are three classes of men and three corresponding churches:

Material (the Bound)—the heathen chiefly captive under the dominion of matter.

Psychic (the Called)—ordinary Christians.

Spiritual (the Elect)—out of the many called, the few chosen members of the Naassene sect.

The Logos is the mediator which draws forms from above and transfers them to the world below. Yet he seems to have a rival in this work; for we have reference made to a fourth being, whence or how brought into existence we are not told, a "fiery God," Esaldaios, the father of the idikos kosmos. That is to say, it was this fiery being, the same who appeared to Moses in the burning bush, who gave forms to the choical or purely material parts of nature. It is he who supplies the fiery heat of generation by which these forms are still continued. In this work the Logos had no part, for "all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing." The "nothing" that was made without him is the kosmos idikos. On the other hand, it is the Logos, who is identified with the serpent, and this again with the principle of Water, who brings down the pneumatic and psychical elements, so that through him man became a living soul. But he has now to do a greater work, namely, to provide for the release of the higher elements now enslaved under the dominion of matter, and for their restoration to the good God.

The Mysteries of the ancient world, it is taught, pertained to generation. The Lesser Mysteries pertained to the carnal, and the Greater dealt with the spiritual. Within the seed—sperma—is the Mystery of the Logos, as it is the original cause of all things that exist.

For that which is born from below is fleshly and mortal, that which is born from above is spiritual and immortal.

naos, shows by its title that it is intended for the honour of the serpent naas as "the Moist Essence," of the universe, without which "naught at all of existing things, immortal or mortal, animate or inanimate, can hold together." Furthermore, "all things are subject to Him, and He is Good, and has all things in Him ... so that He distributes beauty and bloom to all that exist according to each one's nature and peculiarity, as though permeating all."

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Perates

according to the Peratics, the cosmos consists of a threefold division; this rendering of the cosmos they symbolized by a circle circumscribing a triangle.

The circle denoted the cosmos, while the triangle represented the "Three Worlds" Huios, These "three Minds" or "three Gods," as they were called, each possessed certain characteristics:

Pater (Father)—the unbegotten perfect-goodness; megethos patrikon [Paternal Greatness]

Huios (Son)—agathon autogenes [self-begotten goodness/perfection]

Hule —basic matter or unformed substance, genneton [begotten/created]

In this conception of the cosmos, the Son sits as an intermediary between the immovable source of all existence (the Father) and the formless chaos of Matter.

The Son, as the Word and represented by an ever-turning Serpent, first faces the Father, collecting the outflow of divine powers (or Ideas, Forms), then turns to face Hule, pouring the powers upon the Matter. It is in this way that formless Hule is transformed into material reality, the sensible cosmos that mirrors the divine, noetic one from which it receives its existence. This process is akin to several other cosmogonic conceptions of the ancient world (especially those found in Stoicism (see also Stoic Physics), Platonism (see also Plato's Theory of Forms), Neoplatonism, Hermetism, and Aristotelian hylomorphism).

For the redemption of this world below, Christ was made to descend in the days of Herod, 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 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.

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Priscillianism

is a Christian belief system developed in the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania) in the 4th century by Priscillian, derived from the Gnostic-Manichaean doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis, and later considered a heresy by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church

Marcus, a native of Memphis in Egypt, came to Spain and taught Gnostic and Manichean theories. Two of his followers, a Spanish lady named Agape and the rhetorician Helpidius, converted Priscillian,[1] who was a layman "of noble birth, of great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned through much reading, very ready at debate and discussion".

The foundation of the doctrines of the Priscillianists was Gnostic-Manichaean dualism, a belief in the existence of two kingdoms, one of Light and one of Darkness. Angels and the souls of men were said to be severed from the substance of the Deity. Human souls were intended to conquer the Kingdom of Darkness, but fell and were imprisoned in material bodies. Thus both kingdoms were represented in man, and hence a conflict symbolized on the side of Light by the Twelve Patriarchs, heavenly spirits, who corresponded to certain of man's powers, and on the side of Darkness by the Signs of the Zodiac, the symbols of matter and the lower kingdom. The salvation of man consists in liberation from the domination of matter. The twelve heavenly spirits having failed to accomplish their release, the Saviour came in a heavenly body which appeared to be like that of other men, and through His doctrine and His apparent death released the souls of the men from the influence of earthly matter.

Priscillian and some others guilty of the crime of magic. This decision was reported to the emperor, who killed Priscillian and several of his followers; the property of others was confiscated and they were banished.

After the death of Priscillian and his followers, however, the numbers and zeal of the heretics only increased.

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Seleucians

According to Philastrius, the teaching of these beliefs was based on the crudest form of dualism.

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Athinganoi

were a 9th-century sect of Monarchians located in Phrygia, founded by Theodotus the banker. The etymology of the word is not certain, but a common determination is a derivation in Greek for "(the) untouchables".

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The Bagnolians

were a sect in the 8th century, deemed heretical, who rejected the Old Testament and part of the New Testament.

They derived their name from Bagnols,[1] a city in Languedoc, France. Their doctrine generally agreed with that of the Manicheans.

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Bogomils

was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century

The Bogomils called for a return to what they considered to be early spiritual teaching, rejecting the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and their primary political tendencies were resistance to the state and church authorities. This helped the movement spread quickly in the Balkans, gradually expanding throughout the Byzantine Empire and later reaching Kievan Rus', Bosnia (Bosnian Church), Dalmatia, Serbia, Italy, and France (Cathars).

The Bogomils were dualists or Gnostics in that they believed in a world within the body and a world outside the body. They did not use the Christian cross, nor build churches, as they revered their gifted form and considered their body to be the temple. This gave rise to many forms of practice to cleanse oneself through purging, fasting, celebrating and dancing.

Much of their literature has been lost or destroyed by the contemporary Christian Churches. The earliest description of the Bogomils is in a letter from Patriarch Theophylact of Bulgaria to Tsar Peter of Bulgaria, and the main source of doctrinal information is the work of Euthymius Zigabenus, who says that they believe that God created man's soul but matter was the invention of Satan, God's older son, who in seducing Eve lost his creative power.

In spite of all measures of repression, it remained strong and popular until the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the end of the 14th century. Bogomilism was an outcome of many factors that had arisen in the beginning of the 10th century, most probably in the region of Macedonia.

God rules the spiritual part of the world, and Satan the material. They regarded every material being to be the work of Satan. They also opposed established forms of government and church as alike to anarchism (see Christian anarchism).

They held the "Lord's Prayer" in high respect as the most potent weapon against Satan, and had a number of conjurations against "evil spirits". Each community had its own twelve "apostles", and women could be raised to the rank of "elect". The Bogomils wore garments like mendicant friars and were known as keen missionaries.

The essence of Bogomilism is the duality in the creation of the world. This is why it is considered a heresy by the Catholic Church. Bogomils explained the earthly sinful corporeal life as a creation of Satan, an angel that was sent to Earth. Due to this duality, the church believes that their doctrine undervalues everything that is created with materialistic and governmental goals and further claims that the doctrine does not come from the soul, the only divine possession of the human.

St. Paul had taught that simpleminded men should instruct one another; therefore they elected their "teachers" from among themselves to be their spiritual guides, and had no special priests. There is a tradition that the Bogomils taught that prayers were to be said in private houses, not in separate buildings such as churches. Ordination was conferred by the congregation and not by any specially appointed minister. The congregation were the "elect", and each member could obtain the perfection of Christ and become a Christ or "Chlist". Marriage was not a sacrament. Bogomils refused to fast on Mondays and Fridays, and they rejected monasticism.

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The Black Brotherhood was an urban society (or militia) established in Toulouse in 1211 in response to the White Brotherhood led by the bishop Folquet de Marselha. The Blacks opposed the Albigensian Crusade and supported the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII.

Unlike the Whites, who were predominantly from the city proper, many of the Blacks came from the suburbs. They were moderate in their political outlook and some may have been Cathars, the very heretics the Whites were set up to destroy. They defended Cathar and Jewish homes and shops from the violence of the Whites and, according to William of Puylaurens, "daily the two parties would clash, banners flying, bristling with weapons, even with cavalry in evidence."

Thread: Gnosticism is the "true religion" of jesus christ (Page 24)

Credentes

or Believers, were the ordinary followers of what became known as the Cathar or Albigensian movement, a heretical sect which flourished in western Europe during the 11th, 12th and 13th Centuries. Credentes constituted the main part of the Cathar community in the region. Although Catharism sprang up in Spain, the Rhineland, Flanders and Italy its main focus was in the southern region of France, particularly the area known as the Languedoc. Although pacifist in nature, Catharism drew the condemnation of the Catholic Church which, when persuasion failed, launched the successive Albigensian Crusade and instigated the Inquisition to destroy it.

The Cathar community was layered between the spiritual elite and the ordinary believers, much as other Christian communities were. The elite were referred to by the Catholic Church as Perfecti (Parfaits in French, Perfects in English). The Perfecti consisted of both men and women and traveled around the Languedoc in same-sex pairs administering to the community spiritually and as healers. The rest of the Cathar followers were referred to as Credentes, or Believers. These constituted the majority of the movement and were not expected to adopt the austere lifestyle of the Perfecti, who, as carriers of the Holy Spirit, lived lives of extreme poverty as well as abstinence from sexual contact and eating meat.

Credentes had the option of becoming Perfecti after a long and arduous process of training, after which they were inducted into the Perfecti community.

As with their Perfecti leaders, the Credentes underwent immense persecution at the hands of the Catholic Church and the temporal authorities of the day who invaded their regions through a crusade launched by the Pope at the time. Although largely wiped out by the mid 13th century, some isolated Cathar communities survived in the Languedoc until the 14th century, most famously at the small village of Montaillou in the Ariege region of the French Pyrenees.

It is said that on the last night of the Siege of Montsegur, the last major Cathar stronghold to resist the Crusaders before the movement was finally destroyed, the Perfecti present gave the Credentes the option to become Perfecti, thus condemning them to the stake, or to go free as part of the conditions of surrender agreed with the besieging forces. Twenty six Credentes came forward to do so, thus facing certain death rather than recant their faith.

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Pasagians

The Pasagians, also spelled Passagians or Pasagini, were a religious sect which appeared in Lombardy in the late 12th or early 13th century and possibly appearing much earlier in the East.

They considered Christ the highest created being and a demiurge by whom all other creatures were brought into being, citing both the Old and New Testaments in support of their doctrine.

“After what has been said of the Cathar, there still remains the sect of the Pasagini .

They teach Christ to be the first and pure creature; that the Old Testament festivals are to be observed-- circumcision, distinction of foods, and in nearly all other matters, save the sacrifices, the Old Testament is to be observed as literally as the New-- circumcision is to be kept according to the letter.

They say that no good person before the advent of Christ descended into the lower regions; and that there is no one in the lower regions and in paradise until now, nor will there be until sentence has been rendered on the day of Judgement.”

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Is God holy?

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the human race of vipers, the lovers of death.

His plan was to ascend and then the Holy Spirit would finish it.

Jesus tells Mary, “Touch Me not”

he was either forbidden to come into contact with anything that was unclean(matter) in order to avoid being disqualified to reenter the pleroma and the light would burn or harm her if she did.

This wasn’t just a touch; it was a grip. Obviously, when Mary recognized Jesus, she immediately clung to Him. Matthew 28:9 records the other women doing the same thing when they saw the resurrected Christ.

Mary’s reaction was motivated, possibly, by several things. One is simply her loving devotion to the Lord. Mary is overwhelmed by the events of the morning, and as her grief turns to joy, she naturally embraces Jesus. Another motivation is Mary’s desire to restore the fellowship that death had broken. She had lost Him once, and she was going to make sure she didn’t lose Him again—she wanted to keep Jesus with her always.

When jesus did push her away with one of his fingers it burned her on her forehead and left a scar.

However, it was not Jesus’ plan to stay in this world always, and His resurrection was not to be seen as His promised return.

That is why He tells Mary of the ascension. His plan was to ascend to the Pleroma and then the Holy Spirit will send himself.(John 16:7; 20:22; Acts 2:1-4).

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Thread: ETs hunting humans

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the muslim jewish and catholic religion are not for you they are against you.