Quotes About Gnostics

peculiarly interesting sect of gnostics is called the Ophites, or serpent worshippers. The demiurge (so they hold), on recognising the danger that might result from the emancipation of man

The early Christians practised healing the sick by the laying on of hands and by praying; so did the Therapeutæ and other Gnostics; yet faith-cure and Christian science are not countenanced by the churches to-

It seems to me that the only true Christians were the Gnostics, who believe in self-knowledge, i.e. becoming Christ themselves, reaching the Christ within, the light is the truth. Turn on the light. All the better to see you with, my dear.

One Corinthians 15, one of Paul's longest sustained discussions and the climax of the whole letter, is about the creator God remaking the creation—not abandoning it, as Platonists of all sorts, including the gnostics, would have wanted.

The Gnostics (also called Manichees) postulated that there were two gods -- the Christian God of goodness and light, and an evil anti-God of darkness. This theory proved an easy explanation of why there was evil in the world. It was rejected by Catholic Christianity in favor of the monotheistic view that there was one God who created only goodness. Evil was sin, a rebellious falling-away from God, a perversion of His goodness. This was the foundation of the evolving Christian concept of Satan.

As the ancient Gnostics patiently explained almost two thousand years ago, there is no greater trap than to believe one has arrived at "the completion of all completions"—when in reality one hasn't even arrived yet at the very first mystery of existence behind which all the other mysteries after mysteries lie. Then even liberation traps us in its net, thanks to the elegance and grace and speed with which we are caught by what we're sure has set us free.