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Basilides
Basilides (Greek: Βασιλείδης) was an early Christian Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt who, according to Clement of Alexandria, was active between 117–161 AD, and claimed to have inherited his teachings from the apostle Saint Matthias. He was a pupil of either the Simonian teacher Menander, or a disciple of Peter called Glaucias. He is believed to have written over two dozen books of commentary on the Christian Gospel (now all lost) entitled Exegetica, making him one of the earliest Gospel commentators.
The followers of Basilides, the Basilideans, formed a movement that persisted for at least two centuries after him – Epiphanius of Salamis, at the end of the 4th century, recognized a persistent Basilidian presence over the Nile Delta in Egypt. It is probable, however, that the school melded into the mainstream of Gnosticism by the latter half of the 2nd century.
The two main sources for the mythological and philosophical system of Basilides are from the writings of Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome. However, these two sources starkly contradict one another. The consensus of historians previously favored the account of Hippolytus as more authentic, but the matter has become more contested in recent years, and some even consider both accounts as unreliable.
According to Irenaeus, Basilides believed that the ungendered Father was the first principle. From the Father came a total of five emanations: the (1) Nous (Intellect) originated from the Father, the (2) Logos (Word) emanated from the Nous, (3) Phronesis (Prudence) emanated from the Logos, (4) Phronesis Sophia (Wisdom) emanated from Phronesis, and (5) Dynamis (Power) emanated from Phronesis Sophia. Clement of Alexandria specifies that Basilides believed in a primal Ogdoad, or eight primordial deities. This octet of beings is composed by "Justice" and its offspring "Peace" (which in the cosmology of Basilides are not mere human virtues). A second source confirming the belief in an Ogdoad by Basilides is the Testimony of Truth from the Nag Hammadi library. Basilides may have received the idea of an Ogdoad from a Jewish gnostic work in Alexandria.
Irenaeus reports that Basilides believed that Sophia and Dynamis created a group of angels, and these angels were responsible for the creation of the first heaven. Emanations of the first angels then created the second heaven. Emanations from the second angels created the third heaven, and so on, until 365 heavens were created. This, for Basilides, also explains why the number of days in a (solar) year was set at 365 (to reflect the number of heavens). This system of creator-angels creating a series of heavens in accordance with the number of days in a calendrical year is found in several other cosmologies, like that of Saturninus of Antioch, the Epistle of Eugnostos, and the long version of the Apocryphon of John. The world as it is known to humans corresponds to the final heaven, and was created by the final angelic emanation. The chief of this final set of emanations (also known as the Archon) is, in the view of Basilides, the God of the Jews, so called because he favors the Jewish people.
Basilides and his followers largely accepted the biography of Jesus found in the canonical Gospels. One possible deviation, however, is claimed by Irenaeus: that Jesus was substituted on the cross with Simon of Cyrene during the walk to Golgotha. Simon was commissioned to carry the cross of Jesus during this walk, but at some point, their physical features were swapped. Simon was then crucified, while Jesus stood by, laughing and ridiculing them. However, M. David Litwa has argued that Irenaeus has confused the views of Basilides with those of others, such as the views found in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. Irenaeus elsewhere reports that the Basilidean view was that the body of Jesus suffered on the cross, which is also confirmed by Clement of Alexandria's Stromata (4.12.83.1). The image of Jesus in the initial report of Irenaeus also does not fit well with the character of Jesus in Basilides' canonical sources (including him laughing while an innocent man is crucified in his place) and matches more with the attempts of other heresiologists, like Tertullian, to paint their opponents as rejecting the salvific death of Jesus.
Like other gnostics, Basilides taught that salvation comes through knowledge and not faith. This knowledge, or gnosis, was considered esoteric, a revelation to human beings by the divine being, Jesus Christ. Faith played no part in salvation. Indeed, Basilides believed faith was merely "an assent of the soul to any of the things which do not excite sensation, because they are not present". He also believed faith was a matter of "nature," not of conscious choice, so that men would "discover doctrines without demonstration by an intellective apprehension". Basilides also appears to have accumulated forms of dignity in accordance with ones' faith.
Because Basilides believed faith was a matter of nature, doubtlessly he pushed election so far as to sever a portion of mankind from the rest, as alone entitled by Divine decree to receive a higher enlightenment. In this sense it must have been that he called "the elect a stranger to the world, as being by nature supermundane".
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Basilides
Basilides (Greek: Βασιλείδης) was an early Christian Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt who, according to Clement of Alexandria, was active between 117–161 AD, and claimed to have inherited his teachings from the apostle Saint Matthias. He was a pupil of either the Simonian teacher Menander, or a disciple of Peter called Glaucias. He is believed to have written over two dozen books of commentary on the Christian Gospel (now all lost) entitled Exegetica, making him one of the earliest Gospel commentators.
The followers of Basilides, the Basilideans, formed a movement that persisted for at least two centuries after him – Epiphanius of Salamis, at the end of the 4th century, recognized a persistent Basilidian presence over the Nile Delta in Egypt. It is probable, however, that the school melded into the mainstream of Gnosticism by the latter half of the 2nd century.
The two main sources for the mythological and philosophical system of Basilides are from the writings of Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome. However, these two sources starkly contradict one another. The consensus of historians previously favored the account of Hippolytus as more authentic, but the matter has become more contested in recent years, and some even consider both accounts as unreliable.
According to Irenaeus, Basilides believed that the ungendered Father was the first principle. From the Father came a total of five emanations: the (1) Nous (Intellect) originated from the Father, the (2) Logos (Word) emanated from the Nous, (3) Phronesis (Prudence) emanated from the Logos, (4) Phronesis Sophia (Wisdom) emanated from Phronesis, and (5) Dynamis (Power) emanated from Phronesis Sophia. Clement of Alexandria specifies that Basilides believed in a primal Ogdoad, or eight primordial deities. This octet of beings is composed by "Justice" and its offspring "Peace" (which in the cosmology of Basilides are not mere human virtues). A second source confirming the belief in an Ogdoad by Basilides is the Testimony of Truth from the Nag Hammadi library. Basilides may have received the idea of an Ogdoad from a Jewish gnostic work in Alexandria.
Irenaeus reports that Basilides believed that Sophia and Dynamis created a group of angels, and these angels were responsible for the creation of the first heaven. Emanations of the first angels then created the second heaven. Emanations from the second angels created the third heaven, and so on, until 365 heavens were created. This, for Basilides, also explains why the number of days in a (solar) year was set at 365 (to reflect the number of heavens). This system of creator-angels creating a series of heavens in accordance with the number of days in a calendrical year is found in several other cosmologies, like that of Saturninus of Antioch, the Epistle of Eugnostos, and the long version of the Apocryphon of John. The world as it is known to humans corresponds to the final heaven, and was created by the final angelic emanation. The chief of this final set of emanations (also known as the Archon) is, in the view of Basilides, the God of the Jews, so called because he favors the Jewish people.
Basilides and his followers largely accepted the biography of Jesus found in the canonical Gospels. One possible deviation, however, is claimed by Irenaeus: that Jesus was substituted on the cross with Simon of Cyrene during the walk to Golgotha. Simon was commissioned to carry the cross of Jesus during this walk, but at some point, their physical features were swapped. Simon was then crucified, while Jesus stood by, laughing and ridiculing them. However, M. David Litwa has argued that Irenaeus has confused the views of Basilides with those of others, such as the views found in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. Irenaeus elsewhere reports that the Basilidean view was that the body of Jesus suffered on the cross, which is also confirmed by Clement of Alexandria's Stromata (4.12.83.1). The image of Jesus in the initial report of Irenaeus also does not fit well with the character of Jesus in Basilides' canonical sources (including him laughing while an innocent man is crucified in his place) and matches more with the attempts of other heresiologists, like Tertullian, to paint their opponents as rejecting the salvific death of Jesus.
Like other gnostics, Basilides taught that salvation comes through knowledge and not faith. This knowledge, or gnosis, was considered esoteric, a revelation to human beings by the divine being, Jesus Christ. Faith played no part in salvation. Indeed, Basilides believed faith was merely "an assent of the soul to any of the things which do not excite sensation, because they are not present". He also believed faith was a matter of "nature," not of conscious choice, so that men would "discover doctrines without demonstration by an intellective apprehension". Basilides also appears to have accumulated forms of dignity in accordance with ones' faith.
Because Basilides believed faith was a matter of nature, doubtlessly he pushed election so far as to sever a portion of mankind from the rest, as alone entitled by Divine decree to receive a higher enlightenment. In this sense it must have been that he called "the elect a stranger to the world, as being by nature supermundane".