The suppression of Gnosticism

The years immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ saw the development of multiple branches of Christianity based on different understandings of Christs teachings. Before the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD under the auspices of Constantine the Great, at which amongst many other things the Divinity of Christ was established there were a number of Christian movements which taught that Christ was only divine in the sense that we are all divine, being created by God and imbued with the divine spark of God through our creation and the passing of the breath of life which caused this event. These Christian sects are broadly referred to as being Gnostic in nature, from the Greek word Gnosis, directly translated as knowledge but meaning more specifically self-knowledge of ones personal connection to God. The principal behind them is broadly similar to the Islamic concept that education is crucial to faith because to understand and grow closer to God one most learn as much as possible about the World and ones place within it.



This set of ideas caused conflict within early Christian theologians because it conflicted with aspects of the Bible suggesting the God is ineffable, unknowable and remote, with us and at the same time apart from us. It was understood that if it were possible to come to know God through education, it was possible to essentially become God, something that was considered heretical by many none Gnostic sects. An excellent example of this follows the proceedings of the Council of Carthage in 397 AD at which Flavius Honorius the Bishop of Carthage through long debate with leading representative of Christian groups established the books that would form the scriptures of the Holy Bible, and perhaps just as importantly, the books that would not. Discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran have suggested a wealth of those books that were not included for example Gospels of Judas and Mary Magdalen amongst many others. There have been suggestions that these books were stored by a Judaeo-Christian sect called the essenes, and that the books were written at an essene camp at Qumran, although this is fiercely contested.



By defining the books to be included there was a deliberate ploy to suppress some interpretations of Christs teachings that fit more closely with Gnosticism than with, say Catholicism. This may at first seem highly controversial, and, as with most work on the Early church suffers from a lack of direct first hand evidence. However, coming closer to the present, mediaeval Europe found itself once again split by various Christian groups and once again, one in particular was much more akin to Gnosticism or faith based on knowledge than many competing branches. This Gnostic style branch was Rosicrucianism and the violent suppression that it faced is well documented. A similar fate awaited the Cathar religion popular in the Languedoc region of France in the 11^th to 13^th centuries. Some researchers have linked the Cathars and Rosicrucians to the Knights Templar, but this link is more tenuous. Whatever the truth, what is clear is that there has been a deliberate and concerted effort to remove any links to a personal knowledge of God through knowledge and education. The most likely reason for this is that in general Gnostic groups rely less on interpretation by a priest caste and therefore the church, and more on a personal relationship with God. Given that maintaining the power and mystique of the priest was one of the reasons for limiting access to the ability to learn Latin and therefore to be able to read the bible for oneself, this does not seem to be beyond the realms of possibility.