A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

90 A Source Book for Ancient Church Historyprovided with commentary in Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte desUrchristenthums, Leipsic, 1884.§ 21. The Earlier Gnostics: Gnosticism in General[077]Gnosticism is a generic name for a vast number of syncretisticreligious systems prevalent, especially in the East, both beforeand after the Christian era. For the most part the movement wasoutside of Christianity, and was already dying out when Christianityappeared. It derived its essential features from Persianand Babylonian sources and was markedly dualistic. As it spreadtoward the West, it adopted many Western elements, making useof Christian ideas and terms and Greek philosophical concepts.Modified by such new matter, it obtained a renewed lease oflife. In proportion as the various schools of Gnosticism becamemore influenced by Christian elements, they were more easilyconfused with Christianity, and accordingly more dangerousto it. Among such were the greater schools of Basilides andValentinus (see next section). The doctrines of Gnosticism wereheld by many who were nominally within the Church. Thetendency of the Gnostics and their adherents was to form littlecoteries and to keep much of their teaching secret from thosewho were attracted by their more popular tenets. The esotericelement seems to have been the so-called “systems” in which thefanciful and mythological element in Gnosticism appears. This,as being the most vulnerable part of the Gnostic teaching, wasattacked most bitterly by the opponents of heresy. There areno extant writings of the earlier Gnostics, Simon, Menander, orCerinthus. They are known only from Christian opponents.Sources for the history of Gnosticism: The leading sources arethe Church Fathers Irenæus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Clement ofAlexandria (all translated in ANF), Origen (in part only translatedin ANF), and Epiphanius. The accounts of these bitter enemiesmust necessarily be used with caution. They contain, however,