anoint
To rub with olive or scented oil as an act of consecration.
Aramaic
The first-century language spoken by Jesus and many of his disciples.
Apostle
One of the twelve disciples Jesus commissioned to teach the gospel.
Achamoth
The lower Sophia as opposed to the original (or higher) Sophia in Valentinian Gnosticism.
Aeon
Derived from the Latin aeon, meaning “forever,” an Aeon was an emanation of the Supreme Being much as the Judeo-Christian angel is a being of light. However, in Gnostic doctrine, the first being is an Aeon with its own inner being, Ennoea (Thought).
Adamas
Divine Adam and father of Seth in the Pleroma, not to be confused with Adam, the father of humanity.
androgynous
Being both male and female. Adam, the first human, was created as an androgynous being.
In Gnostic doctrine, many emanations (Aeons or attributes of God) are male-female.
apocalyptic
Pertaining to the biblical prophecy of the apocalypse or end-time. Revelatory prophecy of the destruction of the universe.
Apocrypha
Various religious literary works of questionable origin. Some people regard such works as inspired, but others reject them because of questionable authenticity or authorship.
Apologists
Early Christian writers who defended and explained Christianity.
archon
Ruler, notably an angel of the world of matter associated with the chief archon, the Demiurge.
Arimanios
The Pharisee's name in the Apocryphon of John.
Autogenes
One who is “self-begotten” or “self-generated.” In a number of Gnostic texts, Autogenes is an epithet for the Divine.
Barbelo
The first emanation of the Unknowable Father of All. In Sethian Gnostic writings, Barbelo is the Divine Mother. She is also referred to as the forethought of the Invisible Spirit.
Basilides
A teacher of Christianity who lived in the early part of the second century and whose school of Gnosticism was eclipsed by Valentinus.
Bridal Chamber
A mysterious Gnostic sacrament that might have involved a sacred sexual act or the mystical merging of male/female energies using esoteric knowledge and techniques such as meditation.
Coptic
One of the ancient Egyptian languages. Many Gnostic texts that survive from antiquity are translations from the ancient Greek into Coptic. The Egyptian Coptic Church still uses the language in its liturgy, although the language is considered extinct.
codex
The earliest form of a book, used by the Christians from the first century onward. A codex usually contained a stack of manuscript pages stitched together and placed inside of a leather cover and tied. The codex replaced scroll and wax tablets of earlier times.
creed
A formal declaration of the chief articles of Christian belief.
Demiurge
Creator god or supreme craftsman in the various creation stories, especially in Platonic philosophy and the Gnostic narrative of Genesis.
The Demiurge and lesser gods fashioned the material world out of chaos.
Docetists
Early Christians who believed that Christ only appeared to die on the cross. Some ancient Gnostics favored the belief that Jesus did not have a body and therefore neither suffered nor died.
Error
Error (female in gender) is personified in Valentinian Gnosticism as the opposite of Wisdom.
Essenes
A sect of first-century Palestinian Jews who practiced asceticism. The Dead Sea Scrolls, believed by experts to have been manuscripts of the Essenes, were discovered at Qumran, a village in which the sect members lived.
Eucharist
The ritualistic eating of blessed bread and wine in Christian worship. The Eucharist is also one of the five sacraments of Gnostic tradition.
Eve
In the book of Genesis, Eve is the first mother of human beings. Her name in the Septuagint is Zoe, the Greek word for “life.”
five seals
In Sethian Gnostic ritual, the five seals are associated with the sacrament of baptism. Possibly linked to the inner mystical ascent to the Divine or heavenly realms.
gnosis
Gnosis is the mystical revelation of all things sacred through experiential inner “knowing” as a path to enlightenment. Gnostics believed gnosis was necessary for their salvation.
heresiologists
Proto-orthodox Christian leaders who sought to stamp out heresy and unorthodox ideas as such ideas emerged and crept into Christian faith and teachings.
hylic
In Gnostic doctrine, hylic is the lowest level of human beings. The highest level was the pneumatic Gnostics, followed by the psychic Christians.
Irenaeus
Proto-orthodox Christian leader who lived from A.D. 130 to 202. He served as Bishop of Lyons. Vigorously defending the Christian church against Gnosticism, he wrote a book titled Against All Heresies .
James the Just
The brother of Jesus and head of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. Assumed to have written the Secret Book of James.
Josephus
Jewish historian (circa A.D. 37 to 107) whose writings about Jews of the first century helped scholars from that time forward to understand and write about that period in antiquity.
John the Baptist
Jewish teacher and a messianic figure. He is accorded second position in Christianity, after Jesus. He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.
Logos
Word of God personified. Gnostics equated Logos or Word with the wisdom of God.
Mary of Magdala
Mary Magdalene, the pre-eminent female disciple of Jesus whom he “kissed often,” according to the Gospel of Philip. The Gnostics held her in high esteem, and she may have been the leader of an early Gnostic sect. The Catholic Church calls her “Apostle to the Apostles” and she is similarly referred to in the Greek Orthodox tradition.
Montanists
Followers of Montanus, a prophetic leader of a second-century charismatic movement. Montanus, who believed the Holy Spirit spoke through him, espoused an apocalyptic view that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent.
mystic
A person who seeks a personal relationship with the Divine through regular sessions of contemplation, meditation, prayer, fasting, and other ascetic practices.
Naassenes
Serpentine Gnostics whose cult name derives from the Hebrew word nahash, meaning “serpent.” To the Naassenes, the serpent symbolized wisdom.
Pistis
Faith; in the Gnostic tradition often used as Pistis Sophia or the embodiment of Faith Wisdom in Gnostic texts.
Pleroma
Fullness. Encompasses all the Aeons and Divine emanations and the realm of the transcendent god in which they are found.
pneumatic
In Gnostic belief, a pneumatic is a spiritual person. Pneumatic was also taken to mean “seed of Seth,” or a Gnostic. In Valentinian Gnosticism, pneumatic was the highest level of human, followed by psychic, and then hylic, the lowest.
pronoia
Forethought. See Barbelo.
Protennoia
First Thought (as opposed to Forethought/Barbelo). In Sethian doctrine, Protennoia is the First Thought personified as female from the Divine.
right
Right referred to the psychical people, according to the Valentinian tradition. The Valentinians also equated those of the left as material people.
rest
Derived from the Greek word anapausis , the word describes divine rest and repose. In Gnostic belief, people who attain gnosis rest in a blessed state of silence and peace.
Seth
Son of Adam and Eve. Seth, according to Genesis, was another seed of his mother Eve after her son Cain slew his brother. The Gnostics called themselves the spiritual seeds or offspring of Seth.
Simon Magus
A Samaritan religious teacher who lived during the Apostles' lifetimes. The heresiologists of the fledgling Christian church called him the founder of Gnosticism. Simon Magus is often associated with his “first thought,” a woman named Helena. The Acts of Peter and the Acts of the Apostles referred to him as a magician.
Sophia
Divine Wisdom personified. In Gnostic texts, Sophia brings forth the Demiurge who, with Aeons, creates the material universe and rules over it. She falls from grace, is redeemed, and is restored in Gnostic myth.
synoptic Gospels
Term for the first three gospels of the New Testament — Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These are so similar in content when placed side by side that scholars have suggested that they possibly relied on the same source material.
Tertullian
A powerful orthodox apologist and religious writer in the second and third centuries of the Christian Church. Tertullian knew both Latin and Greek, and many of his writings reveal the religious beliefs and disciplines of his time. He later left the traditional Christian church to join the Monatists and then left that cult to start his own group.
Valentinus
Popular poet, thinker, teacher, and founder of the Gnostic movement named after him. His Gnostic ideas and practices, placed upon the framework of emerging orthodox Christianity, had wide appeal and he gained a large following — so much so that the church saw his movement as its biggest internal threat.
Yaldabaoth
The name in Sethian Gnostic texts of the Demiurge or the creator of the physical universe. Yaldabaoth comes from the Aramaic, meaning “child of chaos.” Other names for the Demiurge are Sakla (“fool” in Aramaic) and Samael (“blind god” in Aramaic).