Bernard Simon - The Essence of the Gnostics

The Essence of the

GNOSTICS

BERNARD SIMON

This edition published in 2017 by Arcturus Publishing Limited
26/27 Bickels Yard, 151153 Bermondsey Street,
London SE1 3HA

Copyright 2004 Arcturus Publishing Limited

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person or persons who do any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Gnosticism is a system of belief that came to notice in the early years of the first century AD. While often operating from hidden places, it has survived in one form or another until the present day. Its adherents ranged from magicians to theologians, many of whom were branded as non-believers and heretics by the orthodox Christians.

The Greek language has two different words for knowledge: one of them represents scientific or reflective knowledge while the other, gnosis, stands for knowing through observation or experience. The group of people who became known as the Gnostics used this word to mean knowledge of a particular kind, which was not gained through intellectual discovery but through personal experience or association.

Such knowledge might be translated as insight, for gnosis involves an intuitive means of knowing oneself. By extension, knowing oneself is to know humankind and human destiny. Such insight involves a comprehension of spiritual truths which can both initiate one into the more esoteric mysteries and alert one to the awareness of the existence of the divine spark within each of us.

The Greek word gnosis gives us both Gnosticism and agnosticism. However, agnosticism is the absence of the knowledge of the existence of God, while Gnosticism not only admits his existence but also claims to have special knowledge of him as well as spiritual matters.

According to the Gnostic teacher Theodotus, writing in Asia Minor (c.140160), the gnostic:

has come to understand who we were, and what we have become; where we were whither we are hastening; from what we are being released; what birth is, and what is rebirth.

It is this special knowledge of God which allows Gnosticism to be categorized as a mystery religion, although to be fair it probably did not properly achieve that status until after the birth and death of the man they called Jesus Christ.

When we explore the origins of gnosticism we find that part of its roots can be found in Zoroastrianism, the adherents of which believed in one God and were taught that the world was basically the battleground of two beings: Ahura Mazda, the god of light, creation, goodness and life and Ahriman, the god of darkness, destruction, corruption and death. This duality and conflict between good and evil or, rather, two polarities is an integral part of Gnosticism in its later forms.

Incidentally, a similar notion of duality and the juxtaposition of two polarities is to be found in almost every major ancient religious movement, both in the east and in the west. The other main influence on Gnosticism the Dionysian cult and its later offshoot, Orpheanism was based on a more ecstatic approach. In addition to considering Christian Gnosticism, it is sensible to look at these mystery religions and other such influences. Although all mystery religions, as a rule, have different features they tend to have certain points in common. These are:

• A ritual bath, cleansing or baptism, is part of an initiation ceremony
• Adherents to the belief take part in a ritual meal on a regular basis
• The birth and death of the instigator of the religion is in some way miraculous or remarkable
• At death, or on what appears to be death, he is restored to life but ultimately ends up in heaven thus proving his divinity
• There is often a goddess, or female principle, in attendance
  (usually a mother, but sometimes a consort)
• Whilst he is living, the divine man is ridiculed but takes care to impart certain arcane knowledge to his followers

By the time of Christ, Gnosticism was simply another embodiment of a very old belief system, therefore, going back at least to the sixth century BC and using what were perceived to be various types of magic as its tools. We shall spend some time attempting to understand what gives Gnosticism its unique flavour and what eventually attracted people like Simon Magus, Valentinus, Marcion and other leaders to it. There were many sects within the religion itself and this diversity of belief, which we attempt to clarify for the reader, is an important aspect of Gnosticism.

In exploring the features of mystery religions in relation to Gnosticism we shall also discover that Gnostics differed from their orthodox counterparts in the questions they asked about what occurred before Creation. They speculated: If a creator god made this universe, then where did he live before that happened?; Did he make our universe because he was forced to leave his old one for some reason?; and Who created God, anyway?

The originators of Gnosticism had their own supreme being, in one form or another, as well as a retinue of demigods and their representatives on earth. Their system of beliefs incorporated at least one exclusive theory of creation, together with an account of the origin of good and evil. They later argued the need for an alternative to Jehovah (Jahweh), Judaisms jealous god, and at one point Gnosticism came very close to becoming the mainstream Christian church. It was not until the discovery, in 1945, of the lost documents of what has become known as the Nag Hammadi library a collection of thirteen ancient codices containing over fifty texts that we in the present day were able to have an enhanced understanding of Gnostic thought.

The scriptures from Nag Hammadi contain such texts as the Gospels of Thomas, of Philip and of Truth. A translation of the Gospel of Thomas into English demonstrates that Jesus seems to have taught his disciples in more depth than he did the masses, which is in keeping with the idea that there were three levels of awareness for Gnostics:

1. Those who had an inherent knowledge of the mysteries
2. Those who could be brought to an understanding of the mysteries
3. Those who would accept the teachings almost at face value

Later Gnostics believed that Jesus had taught the apostles sacred knowledge which was never put into writing, because its very nature dictated that it should never have been recorded. The disciples themselves were privy to these secret doctrines, open only to the initiated, but only after the outer mysteries, or publicly-acknowledged teachings, had been mastered.

Some of the scriptures allow us to have a totally different view, unsullied by others interpretations, of the way in which Jesus imparted information. Here, the Gospel of Thomas speaks of the idea of an insightful life:

And he said, Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.

Jesus said, Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the all.