RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ophir Ophites
OPHITES.
Name and Classification (§1).
The Naassenian Hymn (§ 2).
Cosmic Views (§3).
Man, Revelation, and Redemption (§ 4).
The Mysteries (J 5).
Ophites (Ophians) is the accepted designation, in the literature of ecclesiastical history, of a group of Gnostic sects (see Gnosticism). A common characteristic of these sects, however, i. Name can not be determined. Mention of and Clas- the serpent, from which they derive sification. their name, does not occur in the doctrine of some of them; nor, where it does occur, has it the same relative prominence. Ophites, then, is a mere collective term for those Gnostic sects that do not attach themselves to some head of a school particularly, or to persons endowed with special prophetic or philosophical gifts. Individual men did indeed emerge from that great stream of the syncretistic movement, which, in so far as it also attracted Christianity in its Gnostic guises, came to be of danger to the Christian congregations. Such men were Satornilus, Basilides, Valentinus, who developed independent philosophic views and established schools. But alongside of these courses the broad main stream of all those sectarian developments which flourished on the tradition deposited in pseudepigraphic literature, in turn variously transformed the same. It is these sects that we term Ophites. In the nature of the case, they are generally more entangled in pagan superstition, and acquire more of the character of mystery associations than of philosophic schools. Yet even in this regard it is not possible to draw a sharp line of distinction between them and the other sects. It is customary to separate the sects according to their cosmologies and cosmogonies; as a second differentiating mark may be named the mysteries. It is not known, however, how much disagreement was allowed or what agreement was required on these points between members of the same sect as necessitated by its unity. Furthermore, if the defective knowledge and the still more defective reports of the Church Fathers be taken into account, the conclusion follows that definite lines can not be drawn between the individual sects. In view of this, the separate sects are to be enumerated and their common theology briefly summarized. (1) The so-called Gnostici Barbelo of Iremeus {Har., i. 29; Eng. transl. in ANF, i. 353-354), whose source exists in the Apocryphum Johannis, a Coptic translation not yet published. (2) The Ophites of Irenaeus (Hcer., i. 30; Eng. transl. ut sup., pp. 354-358, cf. Epiphanius, Hcer., xxxvii.). (3) The closely allied Ophians of Origen, who were known by Celsus. Origen declares the sect in his time to have become practically extinct. Celsus and Origen were acquainted with the graphic representation of the world by this sect, the so-called " Diagram of the Ophites." (4) The Naasseni, described by Hippolytus. For the Naassenian Hymn, see below, § 2. (5) The Peratffi, described by Hippolytus. Euphrates, a teacher of this sect, surnamed by Origen (according to Hippolytus) Peraticus. (6) Justin the Gnostic (q.v.). (7) The Sethites, de-
scribed by Hippolytus. (8) Another sect, styled Sethites, is described in Epiphanius, Hcer., xxxix. (9) A branch of this sect were the Archontics of Epiphanius, Hcer., xl. They were represented in Palestine by Peter, an anchorite, and his disciple Eutactus transplanted them to Armenia. These men were contemporaries of Epiphanius. (10) Identical, perhaps, with (9) above, are the Gnostic opponents of Plotinus (Porphyry, Vita Plotini, xvi.). (11) The Severians, of Epiphanius, Hcer., xlv. (12) Closely allied with the foregoing were the sects which produced the Pistis-Sophia and the first of the Coptic-Gnostic works issued by Schmidt. (13) The Cainites of Irenaus (Hcer., i. 31; Eng. transl. in ANF, i. 358) and Epiphanius, Hcer., xxxviii.
(14) The Nicolaitans, opposed in Rev. ii. at Ephesus, Pergamos, and Thyatira. They are mentioned by Irenaeus {Hcer., i. 26; Eng. transl. in ANF, i. 352) and Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, iii. 4).
(15) Antitactes. (16) Prodicians: this and the lastnamed were antinomian sects mentioned only by Clement (Stromata, iii. 4). (17) The faction described in Epiphanius, Hcer., xxvi., under the various designations of Gnostics, Phibionites, Barbelites, Borborians, Stratiotics, Coddians. Epiphanius encountered them in Egypt during his youth, and effected their expulsion from a certain town.
Undoubtedly, the most ancient document of Ophitic Gnosticism is the Naassenian Hymn. It expresses most simply and forcibly the 2. The fundamental ideas not only of the Naassenian Ophites, but also of Gnostics gener- Hymn. ally. The following is Harnack's paraphrase (SB A, 1902, pp. 542 sqq.) :
" The generating principle of the universe, the first in order, was ' reason ' ; but the second principle was the firstborn's emitted ' chaos ' ; and the third principle was received by the soul, which descends from both. Therefore, fashioned like a trembling deer, the soul wrests herself free from the grip of death (strengthening itself by such exertions). Now she wins the mastery and sees the light; now plunged into wo, she weeps; again, in the depths of evil, the unhappy one becomes ensnared in a maze. Then spake Jesus: ' Behold, O Father ! this being, pursued by ills, roams astray upon earth, far from thy breath. It seeks to escape bitter chaos, and knows not whither to find escape. Therefore, send me, O Father, with the seals in my hand will I descend : all eons will I traverse, all mysteries reveal, and show the forms of the gods. I will deliver the secret of the holy way, and call it Gnosis.' "
Here, then, reason and chaos, the intelligent and the material world, stand opposed; and between them is the human soul, belonging to both spheres, yet striving toward the higher and the spiritual. The soul is unable to ascend by its own power; therefore, a heavenly being, concordant with the will of the supreme principle, descends into the human world and redeems the soul by showing it the way through the spheres which sunder it from the world divine. These primary conceptions are then variously amplified among the several sects. It is not mere thirst for knowledge that impels the Gnostics to speculate on these matters, but essentially a concern of salvation; because the Gnostic's salvation depends on the possession of the Gnosis respecting these things.
Like Gnosis at large, the Ophites teach the existence of a Supreme Being, standing infinitely _ high above the visible world; qualified as purely spiritual,
Ophites Optatua