The Gnostic Myth

The Apocryphon of John - On the Origin of the World

The Hypostasis of the Archons - The Apocalypse of Adam

The Gospel of Truth - The Treatise on the Resurrection

The Apocalypse of Peter

The Tenets of Gnosticism

• The World:
  Metaphysical Dualism
  (influenced by Zoroaster? Plato?)

Two Fundamental Components of Reality

• Material World is Evil

• Spiritual World is Good

• At Odds with Each Other

• The Divine Realm:
  The Unknowable God and his Aeons

One True almighty God, totally spirit
    produced offspring, pairs of Aeons

• Aeon Sophia exceeded her bounds

• Tried to comprehend the All

• Fell from the divine realm

• Became terrified, angry, upset

• Negative Emotions personified

• Malformed offspring created the world

• Demiurge Ialdabaoth related to YHWH

  • Captured Sophia

  • Divided her into pieces

  • Trapped pieces in matter
        became Human Beings

• The Human Race:
  The Divine Spark
   

  • Humans are divine beings trapped in matter

  • Home is heaven, don't belong on earth

  • Only Gnostics will be liberated from matter
     

• Salvation:
  The Knowledge (Gnosis) that Liberates
   

  • Salvation depends on acquiring Gnosis

  • Evil World/Non-Gnostics to be destroyed
     

• Christ:
  The Divine Redeemer (2 options)
   

  • Docetic Christ - Not human, all spirit

  • Human Jesus - Righteous real human

    1. possessed by Christ spirit at his baptism

    2. left by Christ spirit at his crucifixion

    3. resurrected by Christ spirit
        

• The Church:
  The Body of the Elect

      3 categories of humans:
   

  • Gnostics have genuine knowledge, salvation

  • Other Christians have superficial knowledge;
        will experience less glorious salvation

  • All others to be destroyed with the evil world
     

• Ethics:
  The Ascetic Ideal
   

  • Gnostics highly ascetic

    • body, world are evil

    • No gluttony, drunkenness, sex

  • Proto-orthodox unjustly accused Gnostics of:

    • indecency

    • immorality

    • scandalous sex rituals

    • murder

    • cannibalism