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87-542: The Ophite Diagrams are ritual and esoteric diagrams used by the Ophite sect of Gnosticism , who revered the serpent from the Garden of Eden as a symbol of wisdom, which the malevolent Demiurge tried to hide from Adam and Eve . Celsus and his opponent Origen ( Contra Celsum , vi. §§ 24 - 38 ) both describe the diagrams, though not in the same way. Celsus describes them as ten separate circles, circumscribed by one circle,

174-455: 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

261-432: A certain occasion when Nicolas had been sharply reproved by the apostles as a jealous husband, and he repelled the charge by offering to allow his wife to become the wife of any other person. Clement also writes that Nicolas was in the habit of repeating a saying which is ascribed to the apostle Matthias , that it is our duty to fight against the flesh and to abuse (παραχρῆσθαι) it . His words were perversely interpreted by

348-448: A certain symbol. These would only be in the possession of the initiated, and we may imagine that they were buried with them. He gives the formulae in the inverse order; i.e. first the formula to be used by a soul which has passed through the highest heaven and desires to enter the Ogdoad; next the formula to be used in order to gain admission to the highest heaven, and so on. Origen also gives

435-505: A contemptuous mention of the Ophites in company with the Cainites and Nochaitae (8:20) as heretics whose doctrines did not deserve the compliment of serious exposition or refutation. And it is strange that he does not seem to suspect that these heretics have any connection with those who form the subject of his fifth book. In that book he treats of sects which paid honour to the serpent, giving to

522-422: A description of an Ophite diagram , which Celsus likewise had met with, consisting of an outer circle, named Leviathan , denoting the soul of all things, with ten internal circles, variously coloured, the diagram containing also the figures and names of the seven demons. Many have attempted to reproduce the figure from Origen's description, but in truth Origen has not given us particulars enough to enable us to make

609-418: A doctrine of indifference concerning eating meat sacrificed to idols is put forward along with a doctrine of licentious sex, but no mention of Nicolaitanes is made nor blame assigned to Nicolas. Among later critics, Cotelerius seems to lean towards the favourable view of the character of Nicolas in a note on Constit. Apost . vi. 8, after reciting the various authorities. Edward Burton was of opinion that

696-448: A list of heresies, beginning with Simon Magus and ending with Tatian , and adds in a kind of appendix a description of a variety of Gnostic sects deriving their origin, as Irenaeus maintains, from the heresy of Simon Magus ( Against Heresies 1:23 - 28 ). This chronology is not considered historically accurate by most modern authors. He details what has been identified by subsequent writers as an Ophite cosmogony . Creation began as

783-444: A restoration with confidence, or even to enable us to understand what was intended to be represented. Origen names Euphrates as the introducer of the doctrine of the sect which he describes, and the sect may have been that branch of the Ophites who are called Peratae . They have a snake, which they keep in a certain chest—the cista mystica —and which at the hour of their mysteries they bring forth from its cave. They heap loaves upon

870-406: A rhomboid. In the common field were the words ΣΟΦΙΑϹ ΦΥϹΙϹ ("the nature of wisdom"), above ΓΝΩϹΙϹ ("knowledge"), and below ΣΟΦΙΑ ("wisdom"); in the rhomboid was ΣΟΦΙΑϹ ΠΡΟΝΟΙΑ ("the providence of wisdom"). There were altogether seven circles, with the names of seven archons : The archons are perhaps identical with the seven generations of Yaldabaoth . They signify the corporeal world, which follows

957-453: A sect of which he intimates that he knows but little. According to all other authorities the Ophites claimed to be Christians. Elsewhere Origen classes the Ophites as heretics of the graver sort with the followers of Marcion , Valentinus , Basilides , and Apelles ( Commentary on Matthew 3:852). The identity of the nomenclature shows that for Origen, these Ophites of Origen are a branch of the unnamed sect described by Irenaeus. The names of

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1044-505: A section of the school who may be called Ophite in the proper sense of the word, some teaching that Sophia herself was the serpent, some glorifying Cain and other enemies of the God of the Old Testament. If we were to single out what we regard as the most characteristic feature of the scheme, it is the prominence given to the attribute of light as the property of the good Principle. This feature

1131-525: A series of emanations : The True and Holy Church: 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 . 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

1218-529: A spell, or has been made gentle for their fraud by some other diabolical method. And they fall down before it and call this the Eucharist, consummated by the beast rolling in the loaves. And through it, as they say, they send forth a hymn to the Father on high, thus concluding their mysteries. Ophite teaching was, most likely, dying out in the days of Hippolytus; in the time of Epiphanius it was not absolutely extinct, but

1305-684: A stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. The last Western Church Father was Isidore of Seville , who finished the Etymologies , in AD 636. In Book VIII titled "The Church and sects (De ecclesia et secta)" he wrote, "The Nicolaites (Nicolaita) are so called from Nicolaus, deacon of

1392-405: A while but in the end could not bear to control his incontinence.... But because he was ashamed of his defeat and suspected that he had been found out, he ventured to say, "Unless one copulates every day, he cannot have eternal life." Hippolytus agreed with Epiphanius in his unfavourable view of Nicolas. Jerome believes the account of Nicolas succumbing to heresy, at least to some extent. This

1479-425: 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

1566-448: Is also found in the report of Origen. Origen gives what must have been one of the valuable secrets of this sect, viz. the formula to be addressed by an ascending soul to each of the princes of the hebdomad in order to propitiate him to grant a passage through his dominions. Perhaps the secret would have been more jealously guarded if it were not that in addition to the use of the formula, it seems to have been necessary to produce at each gate

1653-527: Is any reason to connect with this sect his reprobation of the use of serpent ornaments by women ( Instructor 2:13). Origen (c. 185–254) is led to speak of the Ophites ( Contra Celsum 6:28 ) by an accusation of Celsus that the Christians counted seven heavens, and spoke of the Creator as an accursed divinity, inasmuch as he was worthy of execration for cursing the serpent who introduced the first human beings to

1740-545: Is confirmed by the absence of elements derived from Greek philosophic systems. If, for instance, we compare this system with that of Valentinus , we discover at once so much agreement in essential features as to assure us of the substantial identity of the foundation of the two systems; but the Valentinian system contains several things derived from Greek philosophy, whereas that which we have described can be explained from purely Oriental sources. We are entitled therefore to regard

1827-535: 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

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1914-452: Is evident from the hostility shown to the God of the Jews, who is represented as a mixture of arrogance and ignorance, waging war against idolatry from mere love of self-exaltation, yet constantly thwarted and overcome by the skill of superior knowledge. The feminine attributes ascribed to the Holy Spirit indicate that Greek was not the native language of the framer of this system, and this conclusion

2001-544: Is mentioned by Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses ( 1:30 ). Pseudo-Tertullian (probably the Latin translation of Hippolytus's lost Syntagma , written c. 220) is the earliest source to mention Ophites, and the first source to discuss the connection with serpents. He claims ( Haer . 2.1-4) that the Ophites taught that Christ did not exist in the flesh ( Christum autem non in substantia carnis fuisse ; 2.4); that they extolled

2088-582: Is so, when he brought his wife, whom he jealously loved, into the midst of the apostles, he was evidently renouncing his passion; and when he used the expression, 'to abuse the flesh,' he was inculcating self-control in the face of those pleasures that are eagerly pursued. For I suppose that, in accordance with the command of the Savior, he did not wish to serve two masters, pleasure and the Lord [Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13]. ...So much concerning those who then attempted to pervert

2175-401: Is still more striking in the derived system of Pistis Sophia , where the mention of light is of perpetual occurrence, and the dignity of every being is measured by the brilliancy of its light. In the section of Irenaeus immediately preceding that of which we have just given an account, there is a summary of a system which has been called Barbeliot, from its use of the name Barbelo to denote

2262-487: The Gospel of John was written to counter the teachings of Cerinthus , which he holds was influenced by the Nicolaitans. Later, Augustine of Hippo ascribed to them Cerinthian doctrines concerning the creation of the world (in his De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum , v). Victorinus of Pettau held that the error of the Nicolaitans was that they considered it necessary to exorcise things offered to idols before eating, and that there

2349-617: The antinomian heresy of 1 Corinthians 6 . One scholar who espouses this interpretation, John Henry Blunt , maintains that the comparison between the Nicolaitans and Balaam "proves that the fornication spoken of is not that crime under ordinary circumstances, but fornication connected with religious rites". Blunt points out that the Hebrews had a long history of preaching against or alternatively using cult prostitutes (Genesis 38:21–22; Deuteronomy 23:17–18; 1 Kings 14:24, 15:12, 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Ezekiel 16:16; Hosea 4:14). He also points out that

2436-474: The world-soul , Leviathan , divided by a thick black line, Tartarus , together with a square, with words said at the gates of Paradise . Further to this, the Ophites are said by Celsus to add the sayings of prophets , and circles upon circles, with some things written within the two great cosmological circles representing God the Father, and God the Son. Origen maintains that there were two concentric circles, across

2523-511: The Bible (if taken at face value) condemns the false teachings, and the use of a name to describe a group "shows that there was a distinct heretical party which held the doctrine." The letters which Jesus dictates for the churches in Revelation 2 "show that these heretics had neither formally separated themselves from the church nor had been excommunicated." A common view holds that the Nicolaitans held

2610-647: The Deacon , one of the Seven Deacons , was the author of the heresy and the sect. The New Testament mentions the Nicolaites in the second chapter of the Book of Revelation . Yet this is to your credit [the church of Ephesus]: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I [Jesus] also hate. But I have a few things against you [the church of Pergamos]: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put

2697-406: 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

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2784-429: 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

2871-450: The Infancy. The place which the doctrine of a Trinity holds in this system is significant. Although, following Theodoret, we have given the name Ophite to the system described by Irenaeus, it will have been seen that the doctrine concerning the serpent forms a very subordinate part of the system. In the passage immediately following the chapter we have analysed, Irenaeus shows acquaintance with

2958-399: 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

3045-618: The Nicolaitans and Nicolas (in his Church History iii, 29), saying "At this time the so-called sect of the Nicolaitans made its appearance and lasted for a very short time. Mention is made of it in the Apocalypse of John. They boasted that the author of their sect was Nicolaus, one of the deacons who, with Stephen, were appointed by the apostles for the purpose of ministering to the poor." Eusebius repeats Clement's story about Nicolas and his wife and holds that those he decries as heretics are claiming his name for their sect because they misunderstand

3132-476: The Nicolaitans as authority for their immoral practices. Theodoret repeats the foregoing statement of Clement in his account of the sect, and charges the Nicolaitans with false dealing in borrowing the name of the deacon. Clement (in Stromata 3, 2) does condemn heretics whose views on sex he sees as licentious, but he does not associate them with Nicolas: Clement asks: Eusebius of Caesarea speaks directly about

3219-471: The Ophites, following that on the Nicolaitans , with whom they were brought into connection. Philaster has mistakenly (obviously) transposed this and two other sections, beginning his treatise on heresies with the Ophites, and making the Ophites, Cainites, and Sethians pre-Christian sects. The section of Hippolytus appears to have given a condensed account of the mythological story told by Irenaeus. In giving

3306-407: The Son ( Eua quasi filio deo crediredat ; 2.4). The name "Jesus" is not mentioned in the account. Epiphanius's account differs from that of Pseudo-Tertullian only in a few places. According to the former, the Ophites did not actually prefer the snake to Christ, but thought them identical ( Pan . 37.1.2; 2.6; 6.5-6; 8.1). This lost earlier treatise of Hippolytus appears to have contained a section on

3393-552: 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

3480-467: 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

3567-418: The church of Jerusalem, who, along with Stephen and the others, was ordained by Peter. He abandoned his wife because of her beauty, so that whoever wanted to might enjoy her; the practice turned into debauchery, with partners being exchanged in turn. Jesus condemns them in the book of Revelation, saying (2:6): "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaites." John Henry Blunt points out that

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3654-712: The command against ritual sex was part of the Mosaic law and it was licit for them, or that they went too far during Christian " love-feasts ". Blunt sees echoes of this behavior in the admonitions which Paul gives the Corinthians, though he does not name them as such. Blunt also believes that similar echoes can be found in the admonitions of Jude 4-16 (which invokes both "Balaam's error" and "love feasts") and 2 Peter 2:2-21 (which repeats much of Jude's statements, including invoking Balaam). The trend began early in Christianity of applying

3741-423: The context of his presentation of his wife to the apostles and are "imitating blindly and foolishly that which was done and said, [in order to] commit fornication without shame. But I understand that Nicolaus had to do with no other woman than her to whom he was married, and that, so far as his children are concerned, his daughters continued in a state of virginity until old age, and his son remained uncorrupt. If this

3828-450: The diameter of which were inscribed the words ΠΑΤΗΡ ("father") and ΥΙΟϹ ("son"); a smaller circle hung from the larger one, with the words ΑΓΑΠΗ ("love"). A wall divides the realm of light from the middle realm. Two other concentric circles, one light and one dark, represent light and shadow. Hanging from this double circle was a circle with the inscription ΖΩΗ ("life"), and this enclosed two other circles which intersected each other and formed

3915-444: 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

4002-473: The early Christians lived in a pagan culture where the worship of Aphrodite included hierodoule who engaged in ritual prostitution in her shrines and temples, and that the Dionysian Mysteries used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques to remove inhibitions and social constraints of believers to enter into an animalistic state of mind. Blunt holds that the Nicolaitans either believed that

4089-404: The eating of meat offered to idols and the unguarded renunciation of the faith in times of persecution were matters of indifference; and that he enjoined upon his followers, like Pythagoras, a silence of five years. ...Thus it came to pass that the malignant demon, making use of these ministers, on the one hand enslaved those that were so pitiably led astray by them to their own destruction, while on

4176-573: The first of these sects the name Naassenes , a title which he knows is derived from the Hebrew word for serpent ("Nahash"-נחש). Possibly Hippolytus restricted the name Ophites to the sect described by Irenaeus, which has very little in common with that which he calls Naassenes. This book contains sections on several other Ophite systems, that of the Peratae , Sethians and of Justinus. Irenaeus (died c. 202) gives, in what seems intended for chronological order,

4263-408: 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

4350-494: The holding of wives in common. Eusebius claimed that the sect was short-lived. Several Church Fathers derive the term Nicolaitans from Nicolaus (Νικόλαος) a native of Antioch and one of the first Seven Deacons mentioned in Acts 6:5 . The nature of the link between Nicolaus and Nicolaitans was questionable. Some scholars believe that it was another Nicolas, rather than Nicolas the Deacon himself becoming an apostate. Irenaeus

4437-399: The knowledge of good and evil. Origen replies that Celsus had mixed up matters, and had confounded the Christians with the Ophites, who so far from being Christians would not hear the name of Jesus, nor own him to have been so much as a wise and virtuous man, nor would admit anyone into their assembly until he had cursed Jesus. It may be doubted whether Origen has not here been misinformed about

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4524-613: The language of another sect the middle region. 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 ; a Hebdomad which their mother completes into an Ogdoad . 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

4611-427: The last drop of the Light-fluid shall be recovered from this lower world. The system here expounded evidently implies a considerable knowledge of the Old Testament on the part either of its inventor or expounder. It begins with "the spirit of God moving on the face of the waters," and it summarises the subsequent history, even mentioning the sacred writers by name. Yet that it is not the work of those amicable to Judaism

4698-571: The latter as representing the more original form. The reporter of this system is clearly acquainted with the New Testament , since he adopts a phrase from the Epistle to the Corinthians ; he knows that Jesus habitually spoke of himself as Son of Man; and in denying that Jesus performed miracles before his baptism, he adopts the history as told in the Gospels in opposition to that told in apocryphal Gospels of

4785-418: The lost Syntagma of Hippolytus. It is possible that, rather than an actual sectarian name, Hippolytus may have invented "Ophite" as a generic term for what he considered heretical speculations concerning the serpent of Genesis or Moses . Apart from the sources directly dependent on Hippolytus (Pseudo-Tertullian, Philastrius and Epiphanius), Origen and Clement of Alexandria also mention the group. The group

4872-484: The middle realm, and with which the dominion of Sophia ends. The Sefirot of Jewish Kabbalah may be in some way connected with this diagram (Myer, pp. 311-13). But the serpent as symbol is found likewise in connection with the mysteries of Egypt , Greece , Phoenicia , Syria , and even Babylonia and India . Ophites It is now thought that later accounts of these "Ophites" by Pseudo-Tertullian , Philastrius and Epiphanius of Salamis are all dependent on

4959-400: The name Balaam, as meaning either lord of the people , or he destroyed the people ; and that, as the same effect was produced by their doctrines as by those of Balaam, that the people were led to commit fornication and to join in idolatrous worship, they might be called Balaamites or Nicolaitanes—that is, corrupters of the people. But to this it may be replied, (a) that it is far-fetched, and

5046-451: The name Ophite, however, he appears to have brought into greater prominence than Irenaeus the characteristics of the sect indicated by the word, their honour of the serpent, whom they even preferred to Christ, their venerating him because he taught our first parents the knowledge of good and evil, their use of the references to the brazen serpent in the Old and New Testament, and their introduction of

5133-474: The name of our religion, brought to the depth of ruin such of the believers as they could win over, and at the same time, by means of the deeds which they practiced, turned away from the path which leads to the word of salvation those who were ignorant of the faith." He traces heresy from the biblical figure of Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-29) through Menander to both Saturnius of Antioch and Basilides of Alexandria. Following Irenaeus, Eusebius says "Basilides, under

5220-473: The notices in his work would lead us to think of it as but the eccentric doctrine of some stray heretic here and there, and not to have counted many adherents. In the 5th century Theodoret tells ( Heresies 1:24) of having found serpent worship practised in his diocese by people whom he calls Marcionites , but whom we may believe to have been really Ophites. Of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic texts that mention

5307-601: The opinion that Nicolas became a heresiarch (in Refutation of All Heresies vii. 24). In other writings of the early church this connection is disputed and the Nicolaitans are said to be "falsely so called" (ψευδώνυμοι). Clement of Alexandria put forward a defense of Nicolas (in Stromata ii. 20, iii. 4) which Eusebius accepts and repeats (in Historia Ecclesiastica iii. 29). The description of Nicolas as celibate

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5394-496: The origin of the term Nicolaitans is uncertain, and that, "though Nicolas the deacon has been mentioned as their founder, the evidence is extremely slight which would convict that person himself of any immoralities." Tillemont was possibly influenced by the fact that no honour is paid to the memory of Nicolas by any branch of the church. He allows more weight to the testimony against him, and peremptorily rejects Cassian's statement (to which Neander adheres) that some other Nicolas

5481-444: 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

5568-454: The other hand he furnished to the unbelieving heathen abundant opportunities for slandering the divine word, inasmuch as the reputation of these men brought infamy upon the whole race of Christians. In this way, therefore, it came to pass that there was spread abroad in regard to us among the unbelievers of that age, the infamous and most absurd suspicion that we practiced unlawful commerce with mothers and sisters, and enjoyed impious feasts." Here

5655-545: The pretext of unspeakable mysteries, invented monstrous fables, and carried the fictions of his impious heresy quite beyond bounds." He reports that Christian author Agrippa Castor "While exposing his mysteries he says that Basilides wrote twenty-four books upon the Gospel, and that he invented prophets for himself named Barcabbas and Barcoph, and others that had no existence, and that he gave them barbarous names in order to amaze those who marvel at such things; that he taught also that

5742-408: The serpent and preferred it to Christ ( serpentem magnificant in tantum, ut ilium etiam ipsi Christo praeferant ; 2.1); and that Christ imitated ( imitor ) Moses' serpent's sacred power (Num 21:6-9) saying, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up (John 3:14)" ( Haer . 2:1). In addition, Eve is said to have believed the serpent, as if it had been God

5829-424: The serpent into their Eucharistic celebration. The great difference between the earlier and the later treatise of Hippolytus is that the former was a mere compilation, his account of the opinions of heresies being in the main derived from the lectures of Irenaeus; but at the time of writing the latter, he had himself read several heretical writings, of which he gives an extract in his treatise. In this book he makes

5916-498: 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

6003-648: The serpent, three appear related to early church accounts of the Ophites. These texts are Hypostasis of the Archons , On the Origin of the World , and the Apocryphon of John . Our Lady of Endor Coven , a cult established in 1948, was strongly influenced by the teachings of the ancient Ophites, as given in the above sources. Nicolaitans Nicolaism (also called Nicholaism , Nicolaitism , Nicolationism or Nicolaitanism )

6090-405: The seven princes of the Hebdomad, as given by Origen, agree completely with the list of Irenaeus ( Contra Celsum 6:31 ). Origen also gives the names of the seven demons. Irenaeus only gives the name of their chief, but that one is enough to establish a more than accidental coincidence, since it is a name we should not have expected to find as the name of a demon, namely, Michael . The name Prunikos

6177-477: 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

6264-425: 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

6351-547: The supreme female principle. It contains some of the essential features of the scheme just described, of which it seems to have been a development, principally characterized by a great wealth of nomenclature, and, with the exception of the name which has given a title to the system, all derived from the Greek language . Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) incidentally mentions Cainites and Ophites, ( Stromata 7:17) but gives no explanation of their tenets. Nor do we suppose that there

6438-420: The table and summon the serpent. Since the cave is open it comes out. It is a cunning beast and, knowing their foolish ways, it crawls up on the table and rolls in the loaves; this they say is the perfect sacrifice. Wherefore, as I have been told, they not only break the bread in which the snake has rolled and administer it to those present, but each one kisses the snake on the mouth, for the snake has been tamed by

6525-589: The term "Nicolaitans" to describe other antinomian groups with no attachment to the historical Nicolaitans. Tertullian in his Prescription Against Heretics , 33, is such an example: "John, however, in the Apocalypse is charged to chastise those 'who eat things sacrificed to idols,' and 'who commit sexual immorality.' There are even now another sort of Nicolaitans. Theirs is called the Gaian heresy ." Irenaeus in Adversus Haereses III. xi. 1; I. xxvi. 3 holds that

6612-448: The truth, but in less time than it has taken to tell it became entirely extinct." Eusebius (in his Church History , iv, 7) held that as Satan was shut off from using persecution against Christians "he devised all sorts of plans, and employed other methods in his conflict with the church, using base and deceitful men as instruments for the ruin of souls and as ministers of destruction. Instigated by him, impostors and deceivers, assuming

6699-499: 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

6786-512: The word to mean "lay conquerors" or "conquerors of the lay people". The name Balaam is perhaps capable of being interpreted as a Hebrew equivalent of the Greek Nicolas. Some commentators think that John alludes to this in Revelation 2:14; and C. Vitringa argues forcibly in support of this opinion. However, Albert Barnes notes: Vitringa supposes that the word is derived from νικος, victory, and λαος, people, and that thus it corresponds with

6873-510: The works of the Nicolaites, which I also hate"; and the church in Pergamos is rebuked: "So thou hast also some [worshiping in their midst] who hold the teaching of the Nicolaites". In the original Greek , they are called, in genitive, Νικολαϊτῶν ( Nikolaïtōn ). Several of the early Church Fathers mentioned this group, including Irenaeus , Tertullian , Clement of Alexandria , Hippolytus , Epiphanius , and Theodoret , stating that Nicolas

6960-402: Was also the opinion of the unknown Christian author (writing around 435) of Praedestinatus (in i. 4.), as well as other writers in the 4th century. This view of Nicolas is irreconcilable with the traditional account of his character given by Clement of Alexandria, an earlier writer than Epiphanius. He states that Nicolas led a chaste life and brought up his children in purity. He describes

7047-401: Was an early Christian sect mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament . The adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or Nicolaites. They were considered heretical by the mainstream early Christian Church. According to Revelation 2:6 and 15, they were known in the cities of Ephesus and Pergamum . In this chapter, the church at Ephesus is endorsed for "[hating]

7134-574: Was no sin of fornication after seven days had passed. "But the works of the Nicolaitanes in that time were false and troublesome men, who, as ministers under the name of Nicolas, had made for themselves an heresy, to the effect that whatever had been offered to idols might be exorcised and eaten, and that whoever had committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day." Bede states that Nicolas allowed other men to marry his wife. Thomas Aquinas believed that Nicolas supported either polygamy or

7221-469: Was of the opinion that Nicolas was their founder. The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Hippolytus of Rome shared

7308-585: 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,

7395-400: 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

7482-568: Was the founder of the sect. Tillemont concludes that, if not the actual founder, he was so unfortunate as to give occasion to the formation of the sect by his indiscreet speaking. Grotius ' view is given in a note on Revelation 2:6 and is substantially the same as that of Tillemont. Other scholars think that the group's name was not based upon an individual's name, but as a compound descriptive word. Nico- means "victory" in Greek, and laos means "people" or, more specifically, "the laity". Hence they take

7569-624: Was used by 16th century Protestant apologists to argue against the practice of mandatory clerical celibacy by suggesting it originated within Nicolaism first before spreading into Christianity. Epiphanius relates some details of the life of Nicolas the deacon, and describes him as gradually sinking into the grossest impurity, and becoming the originator of the Nicolaitans and other libertine Gnostic sects: [Nicolas] had an attractive wife, and had refrained from intercourse as though in imitation of those whom he saw to be devoted to God. He endured this for

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