THE GNOSTIC CHRISTIANS

Very little was known about the ways of life and the beliefs of the early Christian groups which existed prior to the establishment of the Roman Catholic Church as the ultimate doctrine of Christianity, until some Gnostic Scriptures and the Nag Hammadi codices were found. The Nag Hammadi codices consists of thirteen codices with over fifty texts, which was found recently in 1945. Prior to this astounding discovery, the only knowledge we had about the various Gnostic scriptures were their names mentioned in various works of the founders of the Church instructing people to destroy them, as they were a threat to the increasing power of the Roman doctrine. The Church Fathers were against any Christian group which had opinions and beliefs different from them.
Gnosticism is a religion that involves ‘Gnosis’ – meaning knowledge, and the act of Knowledge – that was increasing in popularity in Egypt, Mesopotamia and various place in Europe and Asia, during the early days of Christianity prior to the establishment of the orthodox Roman Church. The word ‘Gnosis’ in this context doesn’t signify bookish knowledge, but rather the knowledge of transcendence from within one’s self. Some Gnostic scholars prove that the tradition of ‘gnosis’ is mystically found within existing religions, even though some of them may appear to oppose Gnosticism. Aldous Huxley, in his book “The Perennial Philosophy”, states a kind of mystic gnosis reserved for an elite group, which is handed down through religious traditions, in spite of the perceived incompatibility with the doctrine of those traditions.
The Gnostics, were very much ‘Christians with a difference’ in their ideology, and believed in Jesus. Their ‘heretical’ Gospels don’t have anything blasphemous in the as the early Roman Church Fathers had accused. The Scriptures interestingly mystically reveal the true nature of God, and the life and teachings of Jesus the Messiah. Unlike mainstream Christian groups, the Gnostics did not blindly believe their scriptures; they knew that the Gospels consisted of mystical allegorical meanings.

TO BE CONTINUED....