The Emergence of Philosophical Divergence in Christianity: The Gnostic Teachings

Apologists defended the Christian worldview against external adversaries—pagans and Jews—such as seen in the treatise by Hermias. However, during the 2nd century, Christian writers also faced ideological schisms within Christianity itself. One significant movement was Gnosticism, a heretical sect that claimed to possess the true knowledge (gnosis) and interpretation of Christian doctrine. The Gnostics seemed to believe that they alone had tasted the fruit of the divine tree of gnosis.

Gnosticism can be preliminarily classified as a pagan, specifically mythological, interpretation of Christian ideas. It posits a vast multitude of divine powers, both light and dark, good and evil, continually in conflict. The Old and New Testament positions are incorporated into this theomachy.

Our knowledge of the founders and their beliefs comes primarily from 2nd-century Christian authors like Irenaeus of Lyons and Clement of Alexandria. Notable figures in this movement include Marcion, Basilides, and Valentinus, each leading their own schools of followers. However, limiting ourselves to these sources would be insufficient. We must also consult the surviving Gnostic texts, such as the Nag Hammadi library discovered in Egypt in 1945. These texts, written in Coptic, are translations from Greek.

From a historical-philosophical perspective, the content of Gnostic teachings is relatively uninteresting, as it primarily addresses theological rather than philosophical questions. Gnostics focused on the celestial world and the interactions of divine powers within it, leaving the explanation of the earthly world and real human beings, which we consider the realm of philosophy, less developed. One Gnostic work, "The Testimony of Truth," presents only a list of philosophical questions—such as "What is light? What is darkness? Who created the earth? What is the soul? What is the spirit?—without providing answers.

Thus, our focus will be less on the theological aspects of Gnosticism and more on the philosophical questions it raises. We will primarily refer to Valentinus's teachings as transmitted by Irenaeus, supplemented by other sources.

In adhering to the tradition of discussing Gnostic teachings, let us briefly describe the Gnostic view of the celestial world. Orthodox Christianity mentions heavenly entities sparingly, referring to the heavenly host: God's angels, and various thrones, dominions, authorities, and powers, along with the devil and his angels. In contrast, Gnostics provide a highly detailed depiction of this realm. It exists in the "invisible and unnameable heights" and is termed the "Invisible and Spiritual Fullness" (Pleroma). It consists of divine beings called aeons, which are born through a process often referred to as emanation. Each aeon represents a pair with male and female aspects.

Initially, there existed a perfect aeon named Depth-Silence (Thought), also called the First Father or simply the Father. He begot Mind-Truth, who is called the Only Begotten. This being then produced the Word-Life, who in turn generated the Man-Church. Thus, the "primordial octet" emerged: Depth, Mind, Word, and Man. This sequence of births eventually led to 30 aeons, which further increased. Notably, the Only Begotten created the pair of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Collectively, all the aeons produced the most perfect being, Jesus, who is called the Savior, Christ, the Word, and Everything, for He is from all.

Valentinus's teachings are also detailed in the surviving Gnostic work "The Valentinians' Explanation." It starts with the Father, the Root of All, dwelling in the Monad, and also in the Dyad, as its counterpart is Silence. His Son, the Mind of All, is then mentioned. This Triad produces a Tetrad consisting of the Word, Life, Man, and the Church. Following this, the Decade from the Word and Life generates Decades to make the Pleroma a Hundred. The Dodecade from Man and the Church produces the Triacontad, making the Three Hundred Sixty the Pleroma of the Year. This partial description reflects a similarity to Irenaeus's account.

Other diverse Gnostic views on the Pleroma and the aeons filling it exist. For instance, Basilides modified the celestial realm's composition, adding further forces, principalities, and angels born from Wisdom, resulting in 365 heavens. The head of these heavens is Abraxas, whose name, when considering the numerical value of the Greek letters, corresponds to the number 365.

Mark offered a symbolic representation of the aeons, linking the 24 letters of the alphabet to the celestial elements. For instance, "nine mute letters are images of the Father and Truth, as they are also mute, i.e., ineffable and unspoken." Mark also used numerical symbolism, with letters serving as numbers. For example, the name Jesus (Ιησούς) has six letters, numerically totaling 888. Similar symbolic practices are seen in the works of Eugnostos the Blessed.

Gnostic worldviews often reflect their religious and philosophical complexity. The Gnostics' systems, while elaborate, often link their ideas to the known world and Christian history. For example, Basilides used the number of days in a year to justify the existence of 365 heavens, while Eugnostos related the eons to temporal measures.

In religious-philosophical terms, Gnostic aeons can be seen as creative forces and archetypes of reality. For instance, Irenaeus describes the Fullness as the root and beginning of all things. Wisdom (Sophia) produced a formless, female entity—a substance born from ignorance, sorrow, fear, and astonishment.

The visible earthly world appears outside and below the Pleroma, created by two forces: the aeon Thought (Achamoth), who separated from Wisdom, and the Demiurge. Achamoth, suffering and passionate, produced various manifestations of substance. She is also the source of both soulful existence in fear and spiritual renewal. From her essence, the Demiurge was created as the maker of all soulish and material things, though he was merely a blind tool of Achamoth, unaware of the ideas behind his creations.

Overall, the Gnostic vision portrays a world where Achamoth occupies a central place, below the Pleroma but above the Demiurge, positioned on the seventh heaven.

Mark offers a different perspective on the Demiurge's creation. According to him, the Demiurge fashioned the world based on the model of invisible things, essentially aligning with the numerical structure of the Pleroma and the Aeons, as previously noted. Thus, the four elements—fire, water, earth, and air—were created according to the image of the supreme tetrad. The image of the octet was completed with their qualities: warmth, cold, dryness, and moisture. The invisible decad, emerging from the Word and Life, became the seven celestial bodies, encompassing their orbit (the eighth heaven), the sun, and the moon. The twelfth, signified by the zodiac, represents the circle of the eons. The lunar month (30 days) symbolizes the number 30 eons, while the solar year (12 months) corresponds to the twelve eons. This view, more rational than the earlier naturalistic understanding of creation, aligns closely with Pythagorean ideas.

After creating the world, the Demiurge fashioned humanity. He took from the fluid substance and breathed into it a soul. The creation of humans in the image and likeness is explained as follows: in image, humans are material; in likeness, they are soulful (like the Demiurge). However, Aharmon, without the Demiurge’s knowledge, infused a spiritual element into humans, resulting in a description of humans as having a soul from the Demiurge, flesh from the substance, and a spiritual component from Aharmon.

Vasilius and other Gnostics (Simon, Menander, Saturninus, and Carpocrates) offered their interpretations of the origin of the earthly world, influenced by their understanding of the celestial realm and its creative forces. They shared a common belief that the world and everything in it were created by angels descending from the unknown Father or from Thought. Humans were also the creation of these angels. The chief of these angels, who organized the world, is the God of the Jews. According to the Ophites' doctrine, the biblical creation story is as follows: Wisdom Prunikos descended into the depths and acquired a body. She then ascended and fashioned the visible heaven from her body, but remained beneath the heavens in the form of a watery body. Her son, the heavenly Christ, generated the first son Ialdabaoth (Yaldabaoth) from the waters, who in turn created the second, and so forth up to the seventh. Ialdabaoth declared himself Father and God, creating Adam and Eve, thus playing the role of the Jewish God. He became angry with humans, expelled Adam and Eve from paradise, and sent a flood upon humanity. Wisdom opposed him, transforming into a serpent (whence the name of the Ophite sect) and imparting knowledge to humanity. Unlike Ialdabaoth, the Ophites revered Wisdom as the hidden parent of humans, as evidenced by the arrangement of our intestines in the shape of a serpent.

In the "Untitled Treatise (On the Origin of the World)," the primordial beginning is described as Shadow, also known as Darkness or Chaos. From Shadow emerged a spiritless matter. The bile from Shadow became a watery substance. Another creative force, called in this treatise Pistis Sophia, desired that matter be governed by one without a spirit. Thus, from the waters emerged the Archon, in the form of a lion, androgynous Ialdabaoth. He separated the watery substance from the dry land, creating the sky and earth from matter. Plants grew from the blood of the First Soul spilled on the earth. The forces created all animals, reptiles, and birds from the waters. Pistis Sophia created the celestial bodies and placed them in the sky. Justice created a luxurious paradise on the eastern side of the earth. By the command of the Originator, seven Archons (descendants of Ialdabaoth) created humanity, Adam, into whom Sophia Zoe (Life; daughter of Pistis Sophia) breathed her spirit. The Archons placed Adam in Paradise, and Zoe created Eve, her likeness. Geymarhene set their lifespan to a thousand years according to the movement of the celestial bodies.

The Gnostic text "The Essence of the Archons" offers a somewhat similar account of human creation, with a focus on the Rulers (archons) replacing the Biblical God. They created man entirely from the earth in the likeness of their bodies and the image of a god who appeared to them in the waters. They breathed into his face, and man became a living being. Then the Spirit descended upon him and named him Adam. The Rulers placed Adam in the garden, created a woman from his side, and expelled them from the garden when they ate from the tree, casting humankind into labor. These Rulers also planned to send a flood to destroy all flesh, from humans to animals.

The "Untitled Treatise (On the Celestial World)" vaguely describes the origin of humanity. The Progenitor spread over Matter "like a bird stretching its wings over its eggs." When Matter became warm, it produced numerous Powers, growing like vegetation. He separated them from the Darkness of Matter and gave them a Law—to love one another—and a Commandment—to harm each other not. The Lord of All Earth—according to the treatise's logic, the Human, created by the Demiurge (probably referring to Christ)—divided Matter into Two Earths: the Earth of Life, Light, and Rest, and the Earth of Death, Darkness, and Labor—and gave them the Commandment: "Follow My word, and I will give you Eternal Life." However, it is possible that all this pertains only to the archetypes of creation, as the text later speaks of the Earth of Air and the Powers dwelling above the Living Water, within which are the Zones of Sophia, Pistis Sophia, the Pre-Existing Living Jesus, and so forth.

All of this can be summarized by the view of the Gnostic Cerinthus, who taught that the world was not created by the First God, but by a power far removed from this supreme beginning and ignorant of the most high God.

From this, we can draw the initial conclusion about the differences between Gnosticism and Christianity. We see that the Primordial Father is the originator only of the heavenly spiritual world, the Pleroma, and has no relation to the creation of the earthly world and humanity, which through the intermediary of an imperfect being, the Demiurge, a lesser deity, or even angels led by the Jewish God, was poorly managed and contested for power. Consequently, Christ came into the world to destroy the Jewish God and free humanity from the dominion of the world-maker. Thus, in Gnosticism, there is not only a distinction but also an opposition between the God of the Jewish prophets and the Father God and Jesus Christ. The negative view of the Biblical God is well expressed in the "Testimony of Truth" with the example of Adam's persecution. After the author recounts how God envied Adam and did not want him to taste from the tree of knowledge, and then decided to expel him so he would not taste from the tree of life, he asks, "If he showed himself to be a malevolent envious being, what kind of God is this?"

This was particularly articulated by Cerdo and Marcion. Cerdo argued that the God of the prophets is not the Father of Jesus Christ, because the former was known while the latter was unknown. Moreover, one was just, while the other was a good God. Marcion went further, declaring the God of the prophets as the author of evil. According to him, Jesus came from the Father who is higher than the God—Creator of the world—and came to Judea to destroy the works of this God. Consequently, Marcion taught that nature itself is evil, as matter is the evil created by the unjust Demiurge. Birth is evil, and one should abstain from marriage and from using all that is created by the Demiurge. Such views on abstinence from all created things, including food and procreation, which originated with Marcion, gained considerable popularity among the Gnostics, notably with Julius Cassianus, as Clement attests. Cassian expressed the position of Gnostic asceticism: "Those attached to earthly values are born and give birth. Our homeland is in heaven, from which we expect a savior." This World, as stated in the "Interpretation of Knowledge," is from Beasts, and itself is a Beast.

The warning against being engrossed in earthly life also appears in the "True Teaching." We dwell in this world like fish. The adversary, wishing to catch us like a fisherman, places before our eyes bait—a multitude of food belonging to this world. But this is food of death: love of money, pride, arrogance, envy—baits on which the devil catches us. The soul that understands the fleeting nature of sweet passions withdraws from them, despises this life, and gains knowledge of its light. It walks, shedding this world.

In "Pistis Sophia," as with Marcion, there are also evil forces and a call to renounce the world and all material things as unclean. Jesus instructs his disciples that they will face the threats of the Archons of the world, the sufferings of the world, and the persecutions of the Archons of the Higher Realm. He himself battles against them, turning the paths of the Archons of the Aeons, the Archons of Geymarhene, and the Spheres for the salvation of all souls. According to the author of the "Testimony of Truth," the Son of Man (Christ) also opposed the rulers of darkness. He descended into and resurrected the dead; he destroyed their deeds among people, healing the lame, the blind, the mute, and those possessed by demons.

Jesus calls humanity to renounce the world and all material things within it. Otherwise, those who buy and sell in the world, eat and drink from its substance, live amidst its concerns and connections, gather other substances to their own, will be questioned about their purity. In the "First Book of Ieue," salvation is proposed from the Archon of the Zone and his endless persecutions. In the "Second Book of Ieue," the enemy of the Kingdom of Heaven named Tarixas is identified, the Third Force of the Archon: his visage is that of a wild boar, and another visage is that of a lion. An example of the struggle between the forces of evil and good is provided in the "Untitled Treatise (On the Origin of the World)." The Archon Ialdabaoth, envious of his son Sabaoth, around whom sit Jesus Christ and the Virgin of the Holy Spirit, created Death. As an androgynous being, she bore seven children: Envy, Anger, Weeping, and so forth. On the other hand, Zoe (Life), who was with Sabaoth, created seven good powers: Blessedness, Joy, Truth, and others.

The Gnostic positions mentioned are known to contradict Christian orthodoxy, as evidenced by Irenaeus’s critique. To illustrate, Irenaeus challenges several Gnostic claims. He argues against the idea that the world was created by angels or any other world-maker, as if angels were more active than God. The multitude and variety of creatures cannot be mere images of uniform aeons within the Pleroma. It is more plausible that the Word originated from Man, not Man from the Word. Moreover, Irenaeus meticulously demonstrates that the Gnostics borrowed their ideas from pagan philosophers, thus diverging from Christianity. For instance, the Valentinian concept of things as images of the higher world reflects the views of Democritus and Plato, merely altering names. Similarly, what Mark claimed as his invention was, in reality, a restatement of the Pythagorean tetrad as the origin and source of all things.

As we seek to highlight the historiographical aspect of philosophical history, it is notable that Irenaeus, as a historian of philosophy, does not simply recount Gnostic doctrines but critiques them from an orthodox perspective and traces their philosophical roots. This approach also sheds light on his understanding of ancient philosophy.

The ethical-anthropological views of the Gnostics are centered on the doctrine of three types of people, derived from the aforementioned structure of human creation. The "Threefold Treatise" explains that humanity began in three essential types: spiritual, psychic (soul-like), and material, according to the Triadic Division of the Logos, which produced material, psychic, and spiritual humans. They became known only with the arrival of the Savior. The Spiritual Race, akin to Light from Light and Spirit from Spirit, became the body of their Lord. The Psychic Race, like Light from Fire, received instruction through the Voice. The Material Race, dark and hostile to the Lord, is destined for destruction, while the Psychic Race is in between, being both good and evil. These metaphysical foundations are also present in the "Untitled Treatise (On the Origin of the World)," where the three types of people are depicted as three Adams: the Spiritual Adam appeared on the first day of creation, the Psychic Adam on the sixth day, and the Earthly Adam, the "man of the law," on the eighth day. Furthermore, it is stated that these three types will persist until the end of the world, with the Spiritual Adam being immortal, the Psychic Adam living for a thousand years, and the Earthly Adam being destroyed.

Additionally, the "Concept of Our Great Power" mentions three Zones, including the Zone of Flesh, appearing in the Waters and embodied in Noah, the Psychic Zone, mingled with bodies and corrupting souls, and the upcoming third Zone, presumably spiritual, in which the Man who knows the Great Power, likely Jesus Christ, will appear and preach the coming Zone.

Gnostics considered Jews and pagans (Greeks) as earthly people, subject to destruction as the material cannot achieve immortality. The "Pistis Sophia" describes how the Archons' Liturgies gather purified substance and create souls for humans, animals, and other creatures, sending them into the world. The "True Teaching" elaborates that the spiritual soul, cast into the body, suffers and becomes allied with material desires. Thus, the soul loses its knowledge and becomes enslaved to materialism.

Gnostics categorized Christians who relied on deeds and simple faith for salvation as Psychic, lacking complete knowledge (gnosis). Clement mentions that Gnostics mock Christians as "psychic" because they do not accept new prophecies. Valentinus and Basilides taught that certain individuals came from above to overcome death, which was the work of the Creator of the earthly world. Such individuals transition from the corporeal to the spiritual, the physical to the angelic, from creation to the Pleroma, and from servitude to Sonship, as discussed in the "Valentinian Exposition" on baptism.

This notion of election also appears in the "Pistis Sophia," where Jesus tells his disciples that He and they are not of this world, for those in the world receive souls from the Archons of Aeons, while their souls belong to the Height. The "First Book of Ieue" mentions the Chosen Race guided by Hidden Mysteries, and the "Second Book of Ieue" promises to reveal all Mysteries to make disciples Sons of the Pleroma.

Gnostics believed salvation depended solely on inherent knowledge, not on good or evil deeds. Clement Alexandrinus notes that Valentinian followers see themselves as naturally saved through gnosis due to a higher nature within them. Knowledge and faith are viewed as spiritual and material, respectively. Basilides did not oppose faith to gnosis but saw it as an inherent predisposition that enables the attainment of knowledge through rational insight, bypassing proofs.

The Gnostic treatise "Threefold Protophonia" introduces the significant force of Protophonia, the Thought residing in light, through which gnosis reaches the soul. The "First Book of Ieue" suggests that hearing the Word of Gnosis transforms one from an earthly understanding to a Heavenly Man, saved from the Archon of the Zone. The "Apocalypse of Adam" describes how Adam recounts that Eve shared the Word of Gnosis with him when they were one Aeon, making them akin to angels and superior to the creator god, but they were separated by the Archon of Aeons. They became two Zones, lost gnosis, and learned earthly matters, serving the creator god in fear and servitude.

According to Gnostic belief, salvation pertains only to souls, as the body, made of earth, cannot partake in salvation and will be consumed by fire. Irenaeus criticizes this view, claiming it is foolish to deny the salvation and resurrection of the flesh. The Gnostic "Epistle to Reginus," subtitled "Treatise on Resurrection," describes a spiritual resurrection where the soul and body are transformed into the resurrected spiritual, with eternal light absorbing the darkness. However, the text ambiguously states that only the living parts of the body will be resurrected.

The "Stromata" of Clement, including a fragment from Epiphanius's "On Justice," reveal the social-philosophical views of the Gnostics. It portrays an early Christian social utopia advocating equality, reflecting a religious-naturalistic concept with elements of the opposition between nature and law. According to Epiphanius, God, like the sun, does not differentiate between rich and poor, commoners and rulers, fools and wise, men and women, free and slaves. God created everything equally, whereas human laws introduced distinctions and injustices.

Among the Nag Hammadi texts is "The Sayings of Sextus," containing 450 religious-ethical maxims. These maxims, though not necessarily representative of Gnostic views, include reflections such as "It is not the eye or hand that sins but the misuse of the hand and eye" and "Think about the good to do good."

In conclusion, Gnostic cosmology contrasts with orthodox Christian teachings. While Christians see the creator of the world as the God of the Old Testament, identified with the Father of Jesus Christ, Gnostics believe the world and humanity were created by a lower deity, distinct from the supreme God of the Pleroma. Unlike orthodoxy, which describes the creation of the world by a single God and His Word from nothing, Gnostics present a complex celestial world as a model for the earthly realm. Their teaching about the divine realm replaces the Old Testament for them, much as Christians used the Old Testament to find prefigurations of New Testament events.