DeConick A.D

271
THE PI OF POLITICS
then, what the Apostolic Catholics insist is the original intent of the author.
The heart of Gnostic interpretation is the transgression of meaning
that makes possible the impossible, which they see signaled in the ambiguities
of the text. The result is that the received truth of the text becomes
nonsensical, linking the world of meaning to the world of nonmeaning.
As Irenaeus remarks, they turn the king into a dog.
The Apostolic Catholic community had assumed that their way of
reading the scripture is the natural one. They had taken it for granted,
that their interpretation of the scripture reflects a straightforward, literal
meaning and that this reading was the author’s intent (Irenaeus, Against
the Heresies 1.9.4). Because of these assumptions, they had consequently
taken it for granted that this meaning is authoritative (Hippolytus, Refutation
6.52.1–2).
Naughtiness Behind Closed Doors
Apostolic Catholic leaders spend an inordinate amount of time describing
a wide variety of variant Gnostic rituals and identifying them as worthless
and crazy. For the Apostolic Catholics, Gnostic transgression of ritual
involves two crimes. First, their ritual practices are done in secret rather
than in public. The Apostolic Catholics suggest that the public face of the
Gnostic movements look very similar to that of the Apostolic Catholic
church. But behind closed doors, something else—something naughty—
is going on when the Gnostic leaders privately divulge their mysteries to
their followers during secret initiation ceremonies (Irenaeus, Against the
Heresies 3.15.2).
Their activities are compared to the Eleusinian mysteries and are described
as initiations conducted in private by a teacher and paid for by
the initiate (Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 1.4.3, 1.21.3–4; Hippolytus,
Refutation 1.pref.2–5). Irenaeus remarks that initiation among the Valentinians
is so costly that “people spend all they possess to learn about
the tears of Sophia” (Irenaeus, Against the Heresies 1.4.3). There is a long
initiation process before the initiate can enroll as a member of the group.
People are tested before the first secrets are revealed to them. According
to Hippolytus before the ceremonies begin, the Gnostic leaders bind
the person with an oath of secrecy, swearing them to never divulge the