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    Ophites

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    Part ofa series on

    GnosticisHistory

    Early schools Syrian-EgypticMedieval schools ModschoolsMandaeism Manichaei

    Proto-Gnostics

    Philo Simon MagusCerinthus ValentinusBasilides

    Scriptures

    Gnostic Gospels NagHammadiCodex Tchacos AskewCodexBruce Codex Gnosticisand the New Testament

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    Gnosis JnanaEsoteric Christianity Theosophy

    Neoplatonism andGnosticism

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    ern

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    m

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    In addition, Eve is said to have believed the serpent, as if it had been God the Son (Eua

    quasi filio deo crediredat; 2.4). The name, Jesus, is not mentioned in the account.

    Epiphanius' account differs from that of Pseudo-Tertullian only in a few places.

    According to the former, the Ophites did not actually prefer the snake to Christ, but

    thought them identical (Pan. 37.1.2; 2.6; 6.5-6; 8.1).[2]

    Hippolytus

    A lost earlier treatise of Hippolytus appears to have contained a section on the Ophites,

    following that on theNicolaitans, with whom they were brought into connexion.

    Philasterhas mistakenly transposed this and two other sections, beginning his treatise

    on heresies with the Ophites, and making the Ophites, Cainites, and Sethians pre-

    Christian sects. The section of Hippolytus appears to have given a condensed account of

    the mythological story told by Irenaeus. In giving the name Ophite, however, he appears

    to have brought into greater prominence than Irenaeus the characteristics of the sect

    indicated by the word, their honour of the serpent, whom they even preferred to Christ,their venerating him because he taught our first parents the knowledge of good and evil,

    their use of the references to the brazen serpent in the Old and New Testament, and their

    introduction of the serpent into theirEucharistic celebration.

    Philosophumena

    Main articles:Naassenes,Peratae, andSethians

    The great difference between the earlier and the later treatise of Hippolytus is that theformer was a mere compilation, his account of the opinions of heresies being in the

    main derived from the lectures of Irenaeus; but at the time of writing the latter, he hadhimself read several heretical writings, of which he gives an extract in his treatise. In

    this book he makes a contemptuous mention of the Ophites in company with the

    Cainitesand Nochaitae (8:20) as heretics whose doctrines did not deserve the

    compliment of serious exposition or refutation.

    And it is strange that he does not seem to suspect that these heretics have any

    connection with those who form the subject of his fifth book. In that book he treats of

    sects which paid honour to the serpent, giving to the first of these sects the name

    Naassenes, a title which he knows is derived from the Hebrew name for serpent.

    Possibly Hippolytus restricted the name Ophites to the sect described by Irenaeus,

    which has very little in common with that which he calls Naassenes. This book containssections on several other Ophite systems, that of the Peratae, Sethians and of Justinus.

    Ophite teaching was, most likely, dying out in the days of Hippolytus; in the time of

    Epiphanius it was not absolutely extinct, but the notices in his work would lead us to

    think of it as but the eccentric doctrine of some stray heretic here and there, and not to

    have counted many adherents. In the 5th century Theodoret tells (Heresies 1:24) of

    having found serpent worship practised in his diocese by people whom he calls

    Marcionites, but whom we may believe to have been really Ophites.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites#cite_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaitanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philastriushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perataehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cainiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cainiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cainiteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perataehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucharisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philastriushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaitanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites#cite_note-1
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    Clement of Alexa

    Clement of Alexandria (c.1(Stromata 7:17) but gives nany reason to connect withwomen (Instructor2:13).

    Origen

    Reconstruction of Ophite DMatter, 1826, Vol. III, Plat

    Origen (c.185254) is led taccusation ofCelsus that thCreator as an accursed divithe serpent who introducedOrigen replies that CelsusChristians the Ophites, whJesus, nor own him to have

    anyone into their assemblyhas not here been misinfor

    ndria

    50-c.215) incidentally mentions Cainites ando explanation of their tenets. Nor do we supthis sect his reprobation of the use of serpent

    iagram fromHistoire critique du GnosticismI, D.

    speak of the Ophites (Contra Celsum 5:28)e Christians counted seven heavens, and spoity, inasmuch as he was worthy of execratiothe first human beings to the knowledge ofad mixed up matters, and had confounded wso far from being Christians would not hear

    been so much as a wise and virtuous man, n

    until he had cursed Jesus. It may be doubteded about a sect of which he intimates that h

    Ophites,ose that there isornaments by

    e; Jacques

    by ane of the

    n for cursingood and evil.ith thethe name ofr would admit

    whether Origenknows but

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    little. According to all other authorities the Ophites claimed to be Christians. Elsewhere

    Origen classes the Ophites as heretics of the graver sort with the followers ofMarcion,

    Valentinus, Basilides, and Apelles (Commentary on Matthew 3:852). The identity of the

    nomenclature proves that for Origen, these Ophites of Origen are a branch of the

    unnamed sect described by Irenaeus, and therefore justifies our application of the name

    Ophite to that sect.[original research?]

    Hebdomad

    The names of the seven princes of the Hebdomad, as given by Origen, agree completely

    with the list of Irenaeus.[citation needed] Origen also gives the names of the seven demons.

    Irenaeus only gives the name of their chief, but that one is enough to establish a more

    than accidental coincidence, since it is a name we should not have expected to find as

    the name of a demon, namely, Michael. The name Prunikos is also found in the report

    of Origen. Origen gives what must have been one of the valuable secrets of this sect,

    viz. the formula to be addressed by an ascending soul to each of the princes of the

    hebdomad in order to propitiate him to grant a passage through his dominions. Perhapsthe secret would have been more jealously guarded if it were not that in addition to the

    use of the formula, it seems to hare been necessary to produce at each gate a certain

    symbol. These would only be in the possession of the initiated, and we may imagine

    that they were buried with them. He gives the formulae in the inverse order; i.e. first the

    formula to be used by a soul which has passed through the highest heaven and desires to

    enter the Ogdoad; next the formula to be used in order to gain admission to the highest

    heaven, and so on.

    Diagrams

    Main article: Ophite Diagrams

    Origen also gives a description of an Ophite diagram, which Celsus likewise had metwith, consisting of an outer circle, named Leviathan, denoting the soul of all things,

    with ten internal circles, variously coloured, the diagram containing also the figures and

    names of the seven demons. Many have attempted to reproduce the figure from Origen's

    description, but in truth Origen has not given us particulars enough to enable us to make

    a restoration with confidence, or even to enable us to understand what was intended to

    be represented. Origen names Euphrates as the introducer of the doctrine of the sect

    which he describes, and the sect may have been that branch of the Ophites who are

    called Peratae.

    Epiphanius

    They have a snake, which they keep in a certain chest--the cista mystica--and which at

    the hour of their mysteries they bring forth from its cave. They heap loaves upon the

    table and summon the serpent. Since the cave is open it comes out. It is a cunning beast

    and, knowing their foolish ways, it crawls up on the table and rolls in the loaves; this

    they say is the perfect sacrifice. Wherefore, as I have been told, they not only break the

    bread in which the snake has rolled and administer it to those present, but each one

    kisses the snake on the mouth, for the snake has been tamed by a spell, or has beenmade gentle for their fraud by some other diabolical method. And they fall down before

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    it and call this the Eucharisthrough it, as they say, theytheir mysteries.

    Panarion 1:37[3]

    Irenaeus

    Agnolo Bronzino,Il serpenPalazzo Vecchio

    Irenaeus (died c.202) givesOphites.

    Adversus Haereses (1:23-2list of heresies, beginningof appendix a description omaintains, from the heresyhistorically accurate by moemanations:

    The True and Holy Ch

    Bythos (Depth):o Father of Al

    Enn

    Of the beauty of the Holy Sthey generated from her a t

    excess of light with whichand while Christ her right-

    , consummated by the beast rolling in the losend forth a hymn to the Father on high, thu

    te di bronzo, from the chapel of Eleonora of

    a description of the origin of Gnostic heresie

    ) gives, in what seems intended for chronolith Simon Magus and ending with Tatian, a

    fa variety of Gnostic sects deriving their oriof Simon Magus. This chronology is not cont modern authors. (Couliano) Creation bega

    urch

    (the First Man):ia, the Son of Man (the Second Man):

    The Holy Spirit, the First Woman: Water Darkness The Abyss Chaos

    pirit, both First and Second Man became enaird male, an Incorruptible Light, called Chri

    he had been impregnated was more than sheand birth was borne upward with his mother

    ves. Ands concluding

    Toledo, Firenze,

    s including the

    gical order, ad adds in a kindin, as Irenaeusideredas a series of

    moured, andst. But the

    could contain,forming with

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    the First and Second Man the True and Holy Church, a drop of light fell on the left hand

    downwards into the world of matter, and was called Sophia (Wisdom) or Prunikos, an

    androgynous being.

    By this arrival the still waters were set in motion, all things rushing to embrace the

    Light, and Prunikos wantonly playing with the waters, assumed to herself a body,without the protection of which the light was in danger of being completely absorbed by

    matter. Yet when oppressed by the grossness of her surroundings, she strove to escape

    the waters and ascend to her mother, the body weighed her down, and she could do no

    more than arch herself above the waters, constituting thus the visible heaven. In process

    of time, however, by intensity of desire she was able to free herself from the

    encumbrance of the body, and leaving it behind to ascend to the region immediately

    above, called in the language of another sect the middle region.

    Meanwhile a son, Yaldabaoth, born to her from her contact with the waters, having in

    him a certain breath of the incorruptible light left him from his mother, by means of

    which he works, generates from the waters a son without any mother. And this son inlike manner another, until there were seven Archons in all, ruling the seven heavens; a

    Hebdomad which their mother completes into an Ogdoad.

    Yaldabaoth ("yalda bahut" = "son of chaos"), the Demiurge Iao Sabaoth Adonaios Elaios Astaphanos Horaios ("or" = "light")

    But it came to pass that these sons strove for mastery with their father Yaldabaoth,

    whereat he suffered great affliction, and casting his despairing gaze on the dregs of

    matter below, he, through them, consolidated his longing and obtained a son

    Ophiomorphus, the serpent-formedNous, whence come the spirit and soul, and all

    things of this lower world; but whence came also oblivion, wickedness, jealousy, envy,

    and death. Yaldabaoth, stretching himself over his upper heaven, had shut out from all

    below the knowledge that there was anything higher than himself, and having puffed up

    with pride at the sons whom he had begotten without help from his mother, he cried,

    I am Father and God, and above me there is none other.

    On this his mother, hearing him, cried out, (1:30, 6)

    Do not lie, Yaldabaoth, for above thee is the Father of All, the First Man, andthe Son of Man.

    When the heavenly powers marvelled at this voice, Yaldabaoth, to call off their

    attention, exclaimed," Let us make man after our image." Then the six powers formed a

    gigantic man, the mother Sophia having given assistance to the design, in order that bythis means she might recover the Light-fluid from Yaldabaoth. For the man whom the

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_%28Wisdom%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphroditehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_heavenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogdoadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaldabaothhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaothhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonaihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_%28deity%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noushttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_I/IRENAEUS/Against_Heresies:_Book_I/Chapter_XXX.http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_I/IRENAEUS/Against_Heresies:_Book_I/Chapter_XXX.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_%28deity%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonaihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabaothhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaldabaothhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogdoadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_heavenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermaphroditehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_%28Wisdom%29
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    six powers had formed, lay unable to raise itself, writhing like a worm until they

    brought it to their father, who breathed into it the breath of life, and so emptied himself

    of his power. But the man having now Thought and Conception (Nous and Enthymesis),

    forthwith gave thanks to the First Man, disregarding those who had made him.

    At this Yaldabaoth, being jealous, planned to despoil the man by means of a woman,and formed Eve, of whose beauty the six powers being enamoured generated sons from

    her, namely, the angels. Then Sophia devised by means of the serpent to seduce Eve and

    Adam to transgress the precept of Yaldabaoth; and Eve, accepting the advice of one

    who seemed a Son of God, persuaded Adam also to eat of the forbidden tree. And when

    they ate they gained knowledge of the power which is over all, and revoked from those

    who had made them. Thereupon Yaldabaoth cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise; but the

    mother had secretly emptied them of the Light-fluid in order that it might not share the

    curse or reproach. So they were cast down into this world, as was also the serpent who

    had been detected in working against his father. He brought the angels here under his

    power, and himself generated six sons, a counterpart of the Hebdomad of which his

    father was a member. These seven demons always oppose and thwart the human race onwhose account their father was cast down.

    Adam and Eve at first had light and clear and, as it were, spiritual bodies, which on their

    fall became dull and gross; and their spirits were also languid because they had lost all

    but the breath of this lower world which their maker had breathed into them; until

    Prunikos taking pity on them gave them back the sweet odour of the Light-fluid through

    which they woke to a knowledge of themselves and knew that they were naked. The

    story proceeds to give a version ofOld Testament history, in which Yaldabaoth is

    represented as making a series of efforts to obtain exclusive adoration for himself, and

    to avenge himself on those who refused to pay it, while he is counteracted by Prunikos,

    who strives to enlighten mankind as to the existence of higher powers more deserving

    of adoration. In particular the prophets who were each the organ of one of the

    Hebdomad, the glorification of whom was their main theme, were nevertheless inspired

    by Sophia to make fragmentary revelations about the First Man and about Christ above,

    whose descent also she caused to be predicted.

    Redemption

    And here we come to the version given ofNew Testament history in this system.

    Sophia, having no rest either in heaven or on earth, implored the assistance of her

    mother, the First Woman. She, moved with pity at her daughter's repentance, begged ofthe First Man that Christ should be sent down to her assistance. Sophia, apprized of the

    coming help, announced his advent by John, prepared the baptism of repentance, and by

    means of her son, Yaldabaoth, got ready a woman to receive the annunciation from

    Christ, in order that when he came there might be a pure and clean vessel to receive

    him, namely Jesus, who, being born of a virgin by divine power, was wiser, purer, and

    more righteous than any other man. Christ then descended through the seven heavens,

    taking the form of the sons of each as he came down, and depriving each of their rulers

    of his power. For wheresoever Christ came the Light-fluid rushed to him, and when he

    came into this world he first united himself with his sister Sophia, and they refreshed

    one another as bridegroom and bride, and the two united descended into Jesus(though

    never actually dwelling in his flesh), who thus became Jesus Christ. Then he began towork miracles, and to announce the unknown Father, and to declare himself manifestly

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    the son of the First Man. Then Yaldabaoth and the other princes of the Hebdomad,

    being angry, sought to have Jesus crucified, but Christ and Sophia did not share his

    passion, having withdrawn themselves into the incorruptible Aeon. But Christ did not

    forget Jesus, but sent a power which raised his body up, not indeed his choical body, for

    "flesh and blood cannot lay hold of the kingdom of God," but his animal and spiritual

    body. So it was that Jesus did no miracles, either before his baptism, when he was firstunited to Christ, or after his resurrection, when Christ had withdrawn himself from him.

    Jesus then remained on earth after his resurrection eighteen months, at first himself not

    understanding the whole truth, but enlightened by a revelation subsequently made him,

    which he taught to a chosen few of his disciples, and then was taken up to heaven.

    The story proceeds to tell that Christ, sitting on the right hand of the father Yaldabaoth,

    without his knowledge enriches himself with the souls of those who had known him,

    inflicting a corresponding loss on Yaldabaoth. For as righteous souls instead of

    returning to him are united to Christ, Yaldabaoth is less and less able to bestow any of

    the Light-fluid on souls afterwards entering this world, and can only breathe into them

    his own animal breath. The consummation of all things will take place when, bysuccessive anion of righteous souls with Christ, the last drop of the Light-fluid shall be

    recovered from this lower world.

    Significance

    The system here expounded evidently implies a considerable knowledge of the Old

    Testament on the part either of its inventor or expounder. It begins with "the spirit of

    God moving on the face of the waters," and it summarises the subsequent history, even

    mentioning the sacred writers by name. Yet that it is not the work of amicable to

    Judaism is evident from the hostility shown to the God of the Jews, who is represented

    as a mixture of arrogance and ignorance, waging war against idolatry from mere love of

    self-exaltation, yet constantly thwarted and overcome by the skill of superior

    knowledge. The feminine attributes ascribed to the Holy Spirit indicate that Greek was

    not the native language of the framer of this system, and this conclusion is confirmed by

    the absence of elements derived from Greek philosophic systems. If, for instance, we

    compare this system with that ofValentinus, we discover at once so much agreement in

    essential features as to assure us of the substantial identity of the foundation of the two

    systems; but the Valentinian system contains several things derived from Greek

    philosophy, whereas that which we have described can be explained from purely

    Oriental sources. We are entitled therefore to regard the latter as representing the more

    original form. The reporter of this system is clearly acquainted with theNew Testament,since he adopts a phrase from the Epistle to the Corinthians; he knows that Jesus

    habitually spoke of himself as Son of Man; and in denying that Jesus performed

    miracles before his baptism, he adopts the history as told in the Gospels in opposition to

    that told in apocryphal Gospels of the Infancy. The place which the doctrine of a Trinity

    holds in this system indicates that it proceeds from one who had received Christian

    instruction.

    Although, following Theodoret, we have given the name Ophite to the system described

    by Irenaeus, it will have been seen that not only does the doctrine concerning the

    serpent form a very subordinate part of the system, but also that the place it assigns the

    serpent is very different from that given it by those whom we count as properly to becalled Ophites.[original research?] For this name properly belongs to those who give the

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Corinthianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_apocryphahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament_apocryphahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Corinthianshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testamenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinianismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeon
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    serpent the place of honour in their system, but the present system agrees with Christian

    doctrine in making the serpent and his attendant demons the enemy and persecutor of

    the human race. In the passage immediately following the chapter we have analysed,

    Irenaeus shows acquaintance with a section of the school who may be called Ophite in

    the proper sense of the word, some teaching that Sophia herself was the serpent, some

    glorifying Cain and other enemies of the God of the Old Testament.[original research?]

    If we were to single out what we regard as the most characteristic feature of the scheme,

    it is the prominence given to the attribute of light as the property of the good Principle.

    This feature is still more striking in the derived system ofPistis Sophia, where the

    mention of light is of perpetual occurrence, and the dignity of every being is measured

    by the brilliancy of its light. It is natural to imagine a connexion with the system of

    Zoroaster, in which the history of the world is made to be a struggle between the

    kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. This suspicion is continued when we

    refer to what Plutarch tells of the system of Zoroaster (Isis and Osiris 47) for we there

    find other coincidences with our system, which can scarcely be accidental. In the

    Persian system, the opposing powers, Ormuzd and Ahriman, each generate six derivedbeings to aid in the contest, precisely in the same way that Yaldabaoth and

    Ophiomorphus have each the co-operation of six subordinate and derived beings. The

    story of Sophia stretching out her body so as to form the visible heavens has a parallel

    in a similar myth told about Ormuzd enlarging his bulk, and there is a likeness to Ophite

    doctrine in the account which Zoroaster gives of resurrection bodies, which are to be so

    clear and subtle as to cast no shadow. See also the Mithraic representations of seven

    heavens and an eighth region above them (Against Celsus 6:22).

    In the section of Irenaeus immediately preceding that of which we have just given an

    account, there is a summary of a system which has been called Barbeliot, from its use of

    the name Barbelo to denote the supreme female principle. It contains some of the

    essential features of the scheme just described, of which it seems to have been a

    development, principally characterized by a great wealth of nomenclature, and, with the

    exception of the name which has given a title to the system, all derived from the Greek

    language.

    Nag Hammadi texts

    Of theNag Hammadi gnostic texts that mention the serpent, three appear related to

    early church accounts of the Ophites. These texts areHypostasis of the Archons, On the

    Origin of the World, and theApocryphon of John.[4]

    See also

    The Ophite Diagrams TheNaassenes (from Hebrewna'asch = snake) Nehushtan The Sethians The Mandaeans The Perates The Borborites The Worship of the Serpent

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormuzdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahrimanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraichttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_IV/Origen/Origen_Against_Celsus/Book_VI/Chapter_XXIIhttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_IV/Origen/Origen_Against_Celsus/Book_VI/Chapter_XXIIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbelohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypostasis_of_the_Archonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_the_Worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_the_Worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocryphon_of_Johnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophite_Diagramshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehushtanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethian_%28gnostic%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeanismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borboriteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worship_of_the_Serpenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Worship_of_the_Serpenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borboriteshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandaeanismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sethian_%28gnostic%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehushtanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naasseneshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophite_Diagramshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites#cite_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocryphon_of_Johnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_the_Worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_the_Worldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypostasis_of_the_Archonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbelohttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_IV/Origen/Origen_Against_Celsus/Book_VI/Chapter_XXIIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahrimanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ormuzdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_researchhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain
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    Snake worship Serpent seed

    References

    Notes

    1. ^ Colloque internationaPaul-Hubert Poirier - 2the catalogue that discufor heretical snake spec

    2. ^ Painchaud, Louis; FuManichaica: mlanges

    3. ^ Campbell and Abadie4. ^ Colloque internationa

    Paul-Hubert Poirier - 2Hammadi texts that spe

    accounts. These texts ar

    Bibliography

    Joseph Campbell,Press, Princeton, N

    Francis Legge,ForA.D. (1914), reprintYork, 1964. LC Cat

    Couliano, Ioan P.,Francisco, Californi

    External links

    The Ophite DiagraEmanations and an

    Against HeresiesSources

    This article incorSalmon, George (18Dictionary of ChrisLondon: John Murrhttp://books.google.

    This article incordomain: Chisholm,ed.). Cambridge Un

    This article incorewish Encyclopedi

    Retrieved from "http://en.w

    l "L'vangile selon Thomas et les textes de ... " p43207 "In fact, because the Pseudo-Tertullian Ophite entses serpents, Hippolytus may well have used "Ophitelations in his Syntagma."k, Wolf-Peter; Poirier, Paul-Hubert (2006). Coptica -fferts Wolf-Peter Funk. p. 804.

    , p. 296.l "L'vangile selon Thomas et les textes de ... " p45007 The Nag Hammadi Library and Related Texts - "k of the serpent three are clearly related to heresiolo

    e Hyp. Arch., Orig. World, and Ap. John. They also h

    . J. Abadie, The Mythic Image (1981), Princw Jersey.runners and Rivals of Christianity, From 33

    ed in two volumes bound as one, Universityalog 64-24125.he Tree of Gnosis (1991), HarperSanFrancisa.

    s, briefly by the christian Origen and Paganels reveal Persian influence.

    orates text from a publication now in thepu

    87). "Ophites". In Smith, William; Wace, Hian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctriy. pp. 8088.

    com/books?id=e3DYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PAporates text from a publication now in thepu

    ugh, ed. (1911). "Ophites".Encyclopdiaiversity Press.porates text from a publication now in thepua. 19011906.

    ikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ophites&old

    ouis Painchaud,y is the only one in" as a generic term

    Gnostica -

    ouis Painchaud,f the Nagists' Ophite

    ave literary.."

    eton University

    B.C. to 330

    ooks, New

    o, San

    Celsus.

    lic domain:

    nry.Aes. Volume IV.

    0.blicritannica (11th

    blic domain:

    id=495411305"

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