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Christian Heresies: Gnosticism
Figure 1.--The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo is a basilica church in Ravenna, Italy, a jewel of what can be seen as the first medieval art. It was erected by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great to be his palace chapel (early 6th century ). The Ostrogohs adopted Arian/Gnostic Christinity. (Arius (c256–336 AD was a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt anf the most important Gnostic theologian.) The Germans seem to have prferred the more humanm vision of Jesus. The Ostrigoths were defeated by Justiand revived Byzantine forces. The Church was reconsecrated (561) nd renamed 'Sanctus Martinus in Coelo Aureo' (Saint Martin in Golden Heaven). The church was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, an opponent of Arianism. Pope Gregory the Great ordered that the mosaics in the church be blackened, as their golden glory distracted worshipers from their prayers. The basilica was renamed a decind time when relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe because of the threat posed by frequent raids of Adriatic pirates (856). Some mosaics were destroyed because they were so overtly Arian. The mosasic here on the bapistry dome survived could not be more Arian. We see Jesus being baptized. Notice what can be described as a rather whimpy, hardly very majectic Jesus. Click on the image to see the entire dome.
Gnostic Christinaity or Aranism was the most serious challenge to orthodox catholcism until Martin Luther and thd Protestant Reformatiuin (16h century). The most obvious expression of Gnosticm, was the rejctiomn of the Holy Trinity and the demotion of Jesus to a ldsser form of God. Historians use the term Catahrists or Cathari to described a large number of widely defused sects and were related to Gnostic Christianity. The term Gnosticism is derived from Greek meaning 'having knowledge'. It is a amalgem of diverse religious ideas which appeared in the Judeo-Christian community (late-1st century AD). We see Gnostic ideas being expressed in both Jewish and early Christian thinking. [Magris. pp. 3515-16.] The basic thrust was to emphasise personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) over the orthodox teachings and traditions and the authority of established Jewish and eraly Christian leaders. Unlike orthodox Christianity, there was never an establish gnostic church to establish a unified theology. Not was there ever a state with the means enforce or protect Gnostic doctrine. Gnostics tended to view material existence and a focus on possessions and wealth as flawed, even evil. Gnostic cosmogony came to see a sharpndistinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity, often associated with the Jewish Yahweh of the Old Testament who was depicted as creating the material universe. The core of Gnosticism was that the principal path to salvation was direct knowledge of God in the form of mystical or esoteric insight. As a result, the few surviving Gnostic texts do not emphasize sin and repentance like orthodox Christian theology, but rather deal with illusion and enlightenment. [Pagels, p. xx.] Gnosticism flourished within the early Christian Church until the eraly Christian Fathers denounced them as heresy (2nd century). [Layton] These ideas, however, persisted within fringe Christian groups until supressed by force during the medieval era. Standard Christian thinking denies there is actually Christian Gnosticism. Church theologians contend that Christianity and Gnosticism are mutually exclusive systems of belief. They asert that Gnosticism contradict what it means to be a Christian. While Gnostics may claim to be Christian, they are in fact non-Christian becuse the relegate Chrrist to a lesser level than God the fther. Gnosticism was the most dangerous heresy that threatened the early Christian church (1st-3rd centuries). This was before the Church acquired the force of the Roman state to enforce compliance with approved religious doctrine. Gnosticism was strongly influed by pagan philosophers, especially Plato. The Church had two main issues with the Gnostics which eventually resulted with the use of force to supress thaem. First was the dualism depicted between spirit and matter. Gnostics came to see that matter meaning possessions were inherently evil and spirit is good. This was not the view of the Church and the establishment which came to adopt Christiuanity. Second, the Church objected to Gnostic idea of possessing an elevated knowledge or 'higher truth' which was only known to a select few. They claimed to possess a greater knowledge, and not from the Bible. Their knowledge was acquired on more elevated, mystical level f existence. This of course was a direct challenge to the Church fathers and priesthood teaching orthodox theology. Interestingly, the medieval Church was not all that amxious to having the faithful actuall read the Bible which is why they opposed tranlation apprioved Latin Vulgate into the vernacular national languages so most individuals could read it. This would become a major tennent of the Reformation. Our knowledge of the Gnostics was limited by the successful destruction of most of their writings. The fairly recent discovery of Gnostic texts like the 'Gospel of Thomas' has copened up a fuller understanding of the Gnostics. [Layton] One of the acts of religious ntolerance was the supresson of the Cathars in France--the mos important Gnostic group (13th century).
Sources
Layton, Bentley. "Prolegomena to the study of ancient Gnosticism" in The Social World of the First Christians (1995). Layton has develed into the fairly recent dicovery of Gmostic texts like the 'Gospel of Thomas'.
Magris, Aldo. "Gnosticism: Gnosticism from its origins to the Middle Ages (further considerations)" in Lindsay Jones, (ed.), MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religion (MacMillan: 2005).
Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels (New York: Random House, 1989). .
