The Mysteries of Gnosticism
Ancient Gnosticism: teachers of a profound wisdom & Path of gnosis
Ancient Gnosticism encompasses a wide array of mystical, occult, and early Christian systems of quite diverse spiritual belief systems, cosmology, and doctrines dating back to the pre-Christian era and the Pagan Mystery Schools. Remarkably, a couple of Gnostic traditions still exist today, having survived into the 21st century and thriving in select regions against all odds. Most Gnostic traditions were utterly destroyed; their temples dismantled, and nearly all of their recorded works burned by fervent mobs of Christian zealots. Theodosius II, one of the last Western Emperors of Ancient Rome, issued decrees around 387 AD that effectively outlawed all forms of Gnosticism, Mithraism, and other non-Christian (Pagan) forms of worship. This reclassification as illegal empowered fanatical Christians to root out non-believers, demolish temples, and even commit acts resembling mass murder or Gnostic genocide. Almost all traces of these once vibrant spiritual belief systems were obliterated over the following centuries. Many history scholars today chronologically place the onset of the Dark Ages at 415 AD, marked by the brutal killing of Hypatia, a prominent Alexandrian Gnostic scholar, by a fanatical mob incited by Peter the Mad and her rival Bishop Cyril of Alexandria. This event heralded the long Dark Ages during which the Gnostics and initiates of mystery schools were relentlessly hunted down and executed. Much of their unique esoteric knowledge perished with them, though not all. Some initiates managed to escape, carrying the secret flame of occult knowledge into the Far East, where it lay hidden and guarded by adepts for 15 centuries.