Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/679

 GNOSTICISM

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GNOSTICISM

lish translation by G. R. S. Mead (London and Benares, 1902, three volumes). Specifically Jewish Gnosticism left no literature, but Gnostic speculations have an echo in several Jewish works, such as the Book of Enoch, the Zohar, the Talmudic treatise Chagiga XV. See Gfrorer, "Philo", Vol. I, and Karppe, "Etudes sur. or e. nat. d. Zohar" (Paris, 1901).

Refutation of Gnosticism. — From the first Gnos- ticism met with the most determined opposition from the Catholic Church. The last words of the aged St. Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy are usually taken as referring to Gnosticism, which is described as "pro- fane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called [avTi^^tni^ t^s ^pivbuivviiov 7t'wtrcws — the antitheses of so-called < Inosi.s] which some profess- ing have erred concerning the faith". Most probably St. Paul's use of the terms jderoma, the ceon of this world, the archon of the power of the air, in Ephesians and (jolossians, was suggested by the abuse of these terms by the Gnostics. Other allusions to Gnosti- cism in the New Testament are possible, but cannot be proven, such as Tit., iii, 9; I Tim., iv, 3; I John, iv, 1-3. The first anti-Gnostic writer was St. Justin Martyr (d. c. 165). His "Syntagma" C^ivTay/ia Kara ira(7(Sv tQi/ -/eyevrnxivuv alp4<T(uiv), long thought lost, is substantially contained in the "Libellus adv. omn. haeres", usually attached to Tertullian's " De Prsscrip- tione"; such at least is the thesis of J. Kunze (1894) which is largely accepted. Of St. Justin's anti-Gnos- tic treatise on the Resurrection (Ile/aJ ai-airTdirews) con- siderable fragments areextant in Methodius' "Dialogue on the Resurrection" and in St. John Damascene's " Sacra Parallela". St. Justin's "Compendium against Marcion ", quoted by St. Irena-us (IV, vi,'2; V, xxvi,2), is possibly identical with his "Sj'ntagma". Immedi- ately after St. Justin, Miltiades, a Christian philo.so- pher of Asia Minor, is mentioned by Tertullian and Hippolytus (Adv. Valent., v, and Eus., H. E., V., xxviii, 4) as having combated the Gnostics and espe- cially the Valentinians. His writings are lost. The- ophilus of Antioch (d. c. 185) wrote against the heresy of Hermogenes, and also an excellent treatise against Marcion (totA Mapxtui/os A670S. Eus., H. E., IV, xxiv). The book against Marcion is probably extant in the " Dialogus de recta in Deum fide" of Pseudo-Origen. For Agrippa Castor see Basilides. Hegesippus, a Palestinian, travelled by way of Corinth to Rome, where he arrived under .\nicetus (155-l(i6), to ascer- tain the sound and orthodox faith from Apostolic tradi- tion. He met many bishops on his way, who all taught the same faith and in Rome he made a list of the popes from Peter to Anicetus. In consequence he wrote five books of Memoirs('Tiro/i>'77jiaTa) " in a most simple style, giving the true tradition of Apostolic doctrine", becom- ing " a champion of the truth against the godless here- sies" (Eus., H. E., IV, vii sqq., xxi sqq.). Of this work only a few fragments remain, and these are his- torical rather than theological. Rhodon, a disciple of Tatian, Philip, Bishop of Gortyna in Crete, and a certain Modestus wrote against Marcion, but their writings are lost. Irensus (Adv. Ha>r., I, xv, 6) and Epiphanius (xxxiv, 11) quote a short poem against the Oriental Valentinians and the conjuror Marcus by "an aged" but unknown author; and Zachceus, Bishop of Cajsarea, is said to have written against the Valentinians and especially Ptolemy.

Beyond all comparison most important is the great anti-Gnostic work of St. Irenoeus, 'EXe7xos kcI avarpoTTT] T^s -^ivStjvinov ffuKTeui, usually called "Ad versus Haereses". It consists of five books, evidentl} not written at one time ; the first three books about a. d. 180, the last two about a dozen years later. The greater part of the first book has come down to us in the origi- nal Greek, the rest in a very ancient and anxiously close Latin translation, and some fragments in Syriac. St. Irenaeus knew the Gnostics from personal inter- course and from their own writings and gives minute

descriptions of their systems, especially of the Valen- tinians and Barbelo-Gnostics. A good test of how St. Irenaeus employed his Gnostic sources can be made by comparing the newly found " Evangelimn Mariie" with Adv. Ha-r., I, xxix. Numerous attempts to dis- credit Irenaeus as a witness have proved failures (see Iren.eus, Saint). Besides his great work, Iremcus wrote an open letter to the Roman priest Florinus, who thought of joining the Valentinians; and when the unfortunate priest had apostatized, and had become a Gnostic, Irenieus wrote on his account a treatise "On the Ogdoad", and also a letter to Pope Victor, begging him to use his authority against him. Only a few passages of these writings are extant. Eusebius (H. E., iV, xxiii, 4) mentions a letter of Dionysius of Corinth (c. 170) to the Nicomedians, in which he attacks the heresy of Marcion. The letter is not. extant. Clement of .Alexandria (d. c. 215) only indirectly com- bated Gnosticism by defending the true Christian Gnosis, especially in "Pa^dagogos", Bk. I, "Stroma- teis", Bk. II, III, V, and in the so-called eighth book or " E.xcerpta ex Theodoto". Origen devoted no work exculsively to the refutation of Gnosticism but his four books "On First Principles" {Hepl apxiSx), written about the year 230, and preserved to us only in some Greek fragments and a free Latin translation by Ru- finus, is practically a refutation of Gnostic dualism, Docetism, and Emanationism. About the year 300 an unknown Syrian author, sometimes erroneously identified with Origen, and often called by the literary pseudonj-m Adamantius, or"TheManof Steel", wrote a long dialogue of which the title is lost, but which is usually designated by the words, "De recta in Deum fide". This dialogue, usually divided into five books, contains discussions with representatives of two sects of Marcionism.of Valentinianism, and of Bardesanism. The writer plagiarizes extensively from Theophilus of Antioch and Methodius of Olympus, especially the hatter's anti-Gnostic dialogue "On Free Will" (Hepi rov avTi^ovaiov).

The greatest anti-Gnostic controversialist of the early Christian Church is Tertullian (li. 1(10), who practically devoted his life to combating this dreadful sum of all heresies. We need liut mention the titles of his anti-Gnostic works: "De Pra^scriptione ha-reti- corum " ; " Ad versus Marcionem " ; a book " Ad versus Valentinianos"; "Scorpiace"; " De Carne Christi"; " De Resurrectione Carnis"; and finally "Adversus Praxeam". A storehouse of information rather than a refutation is the great work of Hippolytus, written some time after a. d. 234, once called "Philosophou- mena" and ascribed to Origen, but since the discovery of Books IV-X, in 1842, known by the name of its true author and its true title, "Refutation of All Heresies" (Kara Trao-w;' alp(iT(oiv e\iyxos). The publica- tion of the Athos Codex by E. Miller (Oxford, 1S51) revolutionized the study of Gnosticism and rendered works published previous to that date antiquated and almost worthless. To students of Gnosticism this work is as indispensable as that of St. Irenaeus. There is an English translation by J. Macinahon in "The Ante-Nicene Library" (Edmburgh, 1868). Hippol- ytus tried to prove that all Gnosticism was derived from heathen philosophy; his speculations may be disregarded, but, as he was in possession of a great number of Gnostic writings from which he quotes, his information is priceless. As he wrote nearly fifty years after St. Irenoeus, whose disciple he had been, he describes a later development of Gnosis than the Bishop of Lyons. Besides his greater work, Hippoly- tus wrote, many years previously (before 217), a small compendium against all heresies, giving a list of the same, thirty-two in number, from Dositheus to Noe- tus; also a treatise against Marcion.

As, from the beginning of the fourth century, Gnos- ticism was in rapid decline, there was less need of champions of orthodoxy, hence there is a long interval