Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/674

 GNOSTICISM

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GNOSTICISM

faced", \eovTO(iSri$) is the outermost, and therefore the chief ruler, and later on the Demiurge pur excel- lence. Jao ( laii, perhaps from in' Jahu, Jahveh, but possibly also from the magic cry iaili in the mysteries) is Jupiter. Sabaoth (niNaV the Old-Testament title — God of Hosts) was misunderstood; "of hosts" was thought a proper name, hence Jupiter Sabbas {Jahve Sabaoth) was Mars. Astaphaios (taken from magic tablets) was Venus. Adonalos ('jnx, Hebrew term for "the Lord", used of God; Adonis of the Syrians representing the Winter sun in the cosmic tragedy of Tammuz) was the Sun ; Ailoaios, or sometimes Ailoein (D'n^N Elohim, God), Mercury; Oraios ('f2pa?os-m' Jareah? or "IIN light?), the Moon. In the hellenized form of Gnosticism either all or some of these names are replaced by personified vices. Authadia (Ai)9d5r)s), or Audacity, is the obvious description of Jaldabaoth, the presumptuous Demiurge, who is lionfaced as the Archon Authadia. Of the Archons Kakia, Zelos, Phthonos, Errinnys, Epithymia, the last obviously represents Venus. The number seven is obtained by placing a proarchon or chief archon at the head. That these names are only a disguise for the Sancta Heb- domas is clear, for Sophia, the mother of them, retains the name of Ogdoas, Octonatio. Occasionally one meets with the Archon 'Ho-aXSaws, which is evidently the El Shaddai of the Bible ('It' Sn), and he is described as the Archon "number four" {apid/i^ rerdpTos) and must represent the Sun. In the system of the Gnos- tics mentioned by Epiphanius we find, as the Seven Archons, lao, Saklas, Seth, David, Eloiein, Elilaios, and Jaldabaoth (or no. 6 Jaldabaoth, no. 7 Sabaoth). Of these, Saklas is the chief demon of Manicha^ism; Elilaios is probably connected with En-lil, the Bel of Nippur, the ancient god of Babylonia. In this, as in several other systems, the traces of the planetary seven have become obscured, but hardly in any have they become totally effaced. What tended most to obliterate the sevenfold distinction was the identifica- tion of the God of the Jews, the Lawgiver, with Jalda- baoth and his designation as W'orld-creator, whereas formerly the seven planets together ruled the world. This confusion, however, was suggested by the very fact that at least five of the seven archons bore Old- Testament names for God — El Shaddai, Adonai, Elo- him, Jehovah, Sabaoth.

(e) Doctrine of the Primeval Man. — The specula- tions on Primeval Man (IIpuTdi'flpwTros, Adam) occupy a prominent place in several Gnostic systems. Accord- ing to the " Evangelium Maria;", the Father is Prot- anthropos ; Barbelo became Protanthropos. Accord- ing to Irena-us (I, xxix, 3) the ^on Autogenes emits the true and perfect Anthropos, also called Adamas; he has a helpmate, " Perfect Knowledge", and receives an irresistible force, so that all things rest in him. Others say (Irenanis, I, xxx) there is a blessed and incorruptible and endless light in the power of Bythos {BvBds) ; this is the Father of all things who is invoked as the First Man, who, with his Enncea, emits "the Son of Man", or Deuteranthropos. According to Valentinus, Adam was created in the name of An- thropos and overawes the demons by the fear of the pre-existent man (roC rpoivTos ivdpiJnrov). In the Val- entinian syzygies and in the Marcosian system we meet in the fourth (originally the third) place Anthropos and Ecclesia. In the Pistis Sophia the JEon Jeu is called the First Man, he is the overseer of the Light, messenger of the First Precept, and constitutes the forces of the Heimarmene. In the Books of the Jed this "flreat Man"is the King of the Light-treasure, he is enthroned above all things and is the goal of all .souls. According to the Naassenes, the Protanthropos is the first clement; the fundamental being before its differ- entiation into individuals. "The Son of Man" is the same being after it has been individualized into exist- ing things and thus sunk into matter. The Gnostic Anthropos, therefore, or 'ASa^uds, as it is sometimes

called, is a cosmogonic element, pure mind as distinct from matter, mind conceived hypostatically as ema- nating from God and not yet darkened by contact with matter. This mind is considered as the reason of humanity, or humanity itself, as a personified idea, a category without corporeality, the human reason con- ceived as the World-Soul. This speculation about the Anthropos is completely developed in Manichseism, where, in fact, it is the basis of the whole system. God, in danger of the power of darkness, creates with the help of the Spirit, the five worlds, the twelve ele- ments, and the Eternal Man, and makes him combat the darkness. But this Man is somehow overcome by evil and swallowed up by darkness. The present vmiverse is in throes to deliver the captive Man from the powers of darkness. In the Clementine Homilies the cosmogonic Anthropos is strangely mixed up with the historical figure of the first man, Adam. Adam " was the true prophet, running through all ages, and hastening to rest"; "the Christ, who was from the be- ginning and is always, who was ever present to every generation, in a hidden manner indeed, yet ever pres- ent". In fact Adam was, to use Modernist language, the Godhead immanent in the world and ever manifest- ing itself to the inner consciousness of the elect. The same idea, somewhat modified, occurs in Hermetic literature, especially the " Poimandres". It is elabor- ated by Philo, who makes an ingenious distinction be- tween the human beingcreated first "after God's image and likeness" and the historic figures of Adam and Eve created afterwards. Adam tot' ekAra is: "Idea, Genus, Character, belonging to the world of Under- standing, without body, neither male nor female; he is the Beginning, the Name of God, the Logos, immortal, incorruptible" (De opif. mund., 134-l-!8; De conf. ling., 1-lG). These ideas, in Talmudism, Philonism, Gnosticism, and Trismegistic literature, all come from one source, the late Mazdea' development of the Gayomarthians, or worshipper of the Super-Man.

(f) The Barbelo. — This Gnosiic figure, appearing in a number of systems, the Nicolaites, the " Gnostics" of Epiphanius, the Sethians, the sj'stem of the "Evangel- ium Maria;" and that in Iren., I, xxix, 2 sq., remains to a certain extent an enigma. The name /3ap/37jXii, Pap^rfKuiO, ^apBims has not;been explained with cer- tainty. In any case she represents the supreme female principle, is in fact the highest Godhead in its female aspect. Barbelo has most of the functions of the &VU Xo(j>la as described above. So prominent was her place amongst some Gnostics that some schools were designated as Barbeliota», Barbelo worshippers or Bar- belognostics. She is probably none other than the Light^Maiden of the Pistis Sophia, the evyar-np toC 0wt4s or simply the Maiden, trapehoi. In Epiphanius (Ha-r., xxvi, 1) and Philastrius (Hser., xxxiii) Par- thenos (Barbelos) seems identical with Noria, who plays a great role as wife either of Noe or of Seth. The suggestion, that Noria is myj, " Maiden", Trapdivo^, Istar, Athena, Wisdom, Sophia, or Achamoth, seems worthy of consideration.

RiTKS. — We are not so well informed about the practical and ritual side of Gnosticism as we are about its doctrinal and theoretical side. However, St. Irena;us's account of the Marcosians, Hippolytus's account of the Elcesaites, the liturgical portions of the " Acta Thoniie", some passages in the Pseudo-Clemen- tines, and above all Coptic Gnostic and Mandican literature give us at least some insight into their litiu-- gical practices.

(a) Bapti.tm. — All Gnostic sects possessed this rite in some way ; in Mandaeism daily baptism is one of the great practices of the system. The formulce used by Christian Gnostics seem to have varied widely from that enjoined by Christ. The Marcosians said : " In [eU] the name of the unknown Father of all, in [eh] the Truth, the Mother of all, in him, who came down on Jesus [els rbv KaTf\dbvTa eh 'litaovv]". The Elcesaites