The following is a list of sects involved in

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people ...

Ancient

Proto-Gnosticism

Maghāriya Maghāriya were a minor Jewish sect that appeared in the first century BC, their special practice was the keeping of all their literature in caves in the surrounding hills in Palestine. The Maghāriya believed that God is too sublime to mingle wit ...

Thomasines The Thomasines were a Christian sect that originated in the first or the second century who especially revered the apostle Thomas and who originated the gospel of Thomas. The sect held esoteric, mystical, and ascetic ideas. They have been associat ...

Judean-Israelite Gnosticism

Elkesaites The Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which origi ...

Mandaeism Mandaeism (Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ ; Arabic: المندائيّة ), sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, S ...

* Samaritan Baptist sects

Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism

* Bardesanites *

Basilidians The Basilidians or Basilideans were a Gnostic sect founded by Basilides of Alexandria in the 2nd century. Basilides claimed to have been taught his doctrines by Glaucus, a disciple of St. Peter, though others stated he was a disciple of the Sim ...

Hermeticism Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (a legendary Hellenistic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth). These teachings are containe ...

* Satornilians *

Sethians The Sethians were one of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd and 3rd century CE, along with Valentinianism and Basilideanism. According to John D. Turner, it originated in the 2nd century CE as a fusion of two distinct Hellenistic ...

Valesians The Valesians were a Christian sect that advocated self-castration. The sect was founded by Valens (of Bacetha Metrocomia; not to be confused with the Roman Emperor of the same name), an Arabian philosopher who established the sect sometime in t ...

Valentianism Valentinianism was one of the major Gnostic Christian movements. Founded by Valentinus in the 2nd century AD, its influence spread widely, not just within Rome but also from Northwest Africa to Egypt through to Asia Minor and Syria in the East. ...

Heracleon Heracleon was a Gnostic who flourished about AD 175, probably in the south of Italy. He is described by Clement of Alexandria ('' Strom.'' iv. 9) as the most esteemed (δοκιμώτατος) of the school of Valentinus; and, according to Orige ...

ites ** Ptolemaeans

Persian Gnosticism

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...

** Al-Dayhuri's Sect ** Albanenses **

Astati The Astati were a Paulician sect in the 9th century, the followers of Sergius. They prevailed much under Emperor Nicephorus I, but later, under Michael I Rhangabes Michael I Rhangabe ( gr, Μιχαὴλ Ῥαγγαβέ; ''c''. 770 – 11 Janua ...

Audianism The Audians or Anthropomorphites were a sect of Christians in the fourth century in Syria and Scythia, named after their founder Audius (or Audaeus), who took literally the text of Genesis, i, 27 — that God created mankind in his own image. Beli ...

** Shinang's Sect

Unclassified Christian Gnosticism

Cerdonians The Cerdonians were a Gnostic sect founded by Cerdo, a Syrian, who came to Rome about 137, but concerning whose history little is known. They held that there are two first causes—the perfectly good and the perfectly evil. The latter is also the ...

Marcionism Marcionism was an early Christian dualistic belief system that originated with the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around the year 144. Marcion was an early Christian theologian, evangelist, and an important figure in early Christianity. ...

*** Apelliacos *** Lucianists *

Colorbasians In Christian Gnostic religious history, the Colarbasians (from Gk. Colarbasus, Hippol., Ps. Tert.; Colorbasus, Iren., Epiph., Theodoret, Philast. cod., Aug.; ''C. Bassus'' Philast. codd.) were a supposed sect of the 2nd century, deemed heretics, ...

* Dositheans (could be offshoot of

Simonianism The Simonians were a Gnostic sect of the 2nd century which regarded Simon Magus as its founder and traced its doctrines, known as Simonianism, back to him. The sect flourished in Syria, in various districts of Asia Minor and at Rome. In the 3rd ce ...

or proto-Gnostic) * Justinians *

Simonians The Simonians were a Gnostic sect of the 2nd century which regarded Simon Magus as its founder and traced its doctrines, known as Simonianism, back to him. The sect flourished in Syria, in various districts of Asia Minor and at Rome. In the 3rd ce ...

** Menandrians

Others

* Abelonians *

Agapetae In the first century of the Christian era, the Agapetae (from the Greek word ἀγαπηταί (''agapetai''), meaning 'beloved') were virgins who consecrated themselves to God with a vow of chastity and associated with laymen. This association late ...

* Alogians * Angelici * Antitactae *

Aquarii Aquarii is a name given to the Christians who substituted water for wine in the Eucharist. In Greek they were called ''Hydroparastatae'', or those who offer water. Theodosius I, in his edict of 382, classes them as a special sect with the Manichea ...

Archontics The Archontics, or Archontici, were a Gnostic sect that existed in Palestine, Syria and Armenia, who arose towards the mid 4th century CE. They were thus called from the Greek word , "principalities", or "rulers", by reason that they held the w ...

* Ascodroutes * Barbeliotae *

Borborites According to the ''Panarion'' of Epiphanius of Salamis (ch. 26), and Theodoret's ''Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium'', the Borborites or Borborians ( el, Βορβοριανοί; in Egypt, Phibionites; in other countries, Koddians, Barbelites, S ...

** Coddians (also called Koddians) ** Levitics (also called Levitici) **

Phibionites According to the ''Panarion'' of Epiphanius of Salamis (ch. 26), and Theodoret's ''Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium'', the Borborites or Borborians ( el, Βορβοριανοί; in Egypt, Phibionites; in other countries, Koddians, Barbelites, S ...

Stratiotici The Stratiotici were a gnostic sect, a subgroup of the Borborites. Little else is known about them besides what the Church Fathers wrote on them. Description The sect were a sub-group of the Borborians, R. Bruce Elder - of which the ''Coddians'' ...

Cainites The Cainites, or Cainians (Greek: Καϊνοί ''Kainoi'', Καϊανοί ''Kaianoi''),The name is variously written; Καϊνοί (Hippol. ''Ref''. viii. 20; Theodoret, ''Haer. Fab''. i. 15); Caini (Praedest. ''Cod''.); Καϊανισταί (Cle ...

Carpocratians Carpocrates of Alexandria was the founder of an early Gnostic sect from the first half of the 2nd century. As with many Gnostic sects, one knows of the Carpocratians only through the writings of the Church Fathers, principally Irenaeus of Lyons ...

* Cerinthians **

Adamites The Adamites, or Adamians, were adherents of an Early Christian group in North Africa in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries. They wore no clothing during their religious services. There were later reports of similar sects in Central Europe during ...

(also called Adamians) ** Marcellianas * Cleobians *

Docetae In the history of Christianity, docetism (from the grc-koi, δοκεῖν/δόκησις ''dokeĩn'' "to seem", ''dókēsis'' "apparition, phantom") is the heterodox doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, an ...

Elcesaites The Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which origina ...

Encratites The Encratites ("self-controlled") were an ascetic 2nd-century sect of Christians who forbade marriage and counselled abstinence from meat. Eusebius says that Tatian was the author of this heresy. It has been supposed that it was these Gnostic Enc ...

Apotactics The Apotactics or Apotactites (from the Greek ''apotassomai'', to renounce) were adherents of a Christian heresy which sprang up in the third century and spread through the western and southern parts of Asia Minor (present Anatolia, Asian Turkey). ...

(also called Apostolics) **

Severians The Severians or Severyans or Siverians ( be, Севяране; bg, Севери; russian: Северяне; uk, Сiверяни, translit=Siveriany) were a tribe or tribal confederation of early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the mi ...

Marcosians The Marcosians were a Gnostic sect founded by Marcus, active in Lyon, France and southern Europe from the second to the 4th century. Women held special status in the Marcosian communities; they were regarded as prophetesses and participated in a ...

Messalians The Euchites or Messalians were a Christian sect from Mesopotamia that spread to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and Thrace. The name 'Messalian' comes from the Syriac , ''mṣallyānā'', meaning 'one who prays'. The Greek translation is , ''euchi ...

Nicolaism Nicolaism (also Nicholaism, Nicolaitism, Nicolationism, or Nicolaitanism) was an early Christian sect mentioned twice in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. The adherents were called Nicolaitans, Nicolaitanes, or Nicolaites. They were c ...

Ophites The Ophites, also called Ophians (Greek Ὀφιανοί ''Ophianoi'', from ὄφις ''ophis'' "snake"), were a Christian Gnostic sect depicted by Hippolytus of Rome (170–235) in a lost work, the ''Syntagma'' ("arrangement"). It is now thought t ...

Naassenes The Naassenes (Greek ''Naasseni,'' possibly from Hebrew נָחָשׁ ''naḥaš'', snake) were a Christian Gnostic sect known only through the writings of Hippolytus of Rome. The Naassenes claimed to have been taught their doctrines by Mariamne, ...

Perates The Perates or Peratae ( el, Περατής, "to pass through"; πέρας, "to penetrate") were a Gnostic sect from the 2nd century AD. The ''Philosophumena'' of Hippolytus is our only real source of information on their origin and beliefs. The ...

Priscillianism Priscillianism was a Christian sect developed in the Iberian Peninsula under the Roman Empire in the 4th century by Priscillian. It is derived from the Gnostic doctrines taught by Marcus, an Egyptian from Memphis. Priscillianism was later conside ...

* Quintillians, Montanist sect that may have come under Gnostic influence * Secundians * Seleucians

Middle Ages

Athinganoi The ''Athinganoi'' ( grc, Ἀθίγγανοι, singular ''Athinganos'', , Atsinganoi), were a Manichean sect regarded as Judaizing heretics who lived in Phrygia and Lycaonia but were neither Hebrews nor Gentiles. They kept the Sabbath, but were not ...

* Bagnolians *

Bogomils Bogomilism ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar P ...

Bosnian Church The Bosnian Church ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Crkva bosanska, Црква Босанска) was a Christian church in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that was independent of and considered heretical by both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox ...

Cathars Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Fol ...

Black Brotherhood The Black Brotherhood was an urban society (or militia) established in Toulouse in 1211 in response to the White Brotherhood led by the bishop Folquet de Marselha. The Blacks opposed the Albigensian Crusade and supported the Count of Toulouse, Ray ...

Credentes Credentes or ''Believers'', were the ordinary followers of what became known as the Catharism, Cathar or Albigensian movement, a heretical sect which flourished in western Europe during the 11th, 12th and 13th Centuries. Credentes constituted the ...

Pasagians The Pasagians, also spelled Passagians or Pasagini, were a religious sect which appeared in Lombardy in the late 12th or early 13th century and possibly appearing much earlier in the East. The ''Summa contra haereticos'', ascribed to Praepositinus ...

Pataria The ''pataria'' was an eleventh-century movement focused on the city of Milan in northern Italy, which aimed to reform the clergy and ecclesiastic government within the city and its ecclesiastical province, in support of papal sanctions against si ...

* Novgorodians - the owners of the

Novgorod Codex The Novgorod Codex (russian: Новгородский кодекс) is the oldest book of the Rus’, unearthed on July 13, 2000 in Novgorod. It is a palimpsest consisting of three bound wooden tablets containing four pages filled with wax, on w ...

; it is likely that the owners of the codex were dualistic like the Bogomils *

Paulicianism Paulicianism (Classical Armenian: Պաւղիկեաններ, ; grc, Παυλικιανοί, "The followers of Paul"; Arab sources: ''Baylakānī'', ''al Bayāliqa'' )Nersessian, Vrej (1998). The Tondrakian Movement: Religious Movements in the ...

(However the dualism of Paulicianism is not certain) *

Picards The Taborites ( cs, Táborité, cs, singular Táborita), known by their enemies as the Picards, were a faction within the Hussite movement in the medieval Lands of the Bohemian Crown. Although most of the Taborites were of rural origin, they ...

( Neo-Adamites) *

Tondrakians Tondrakians ( hy, Թոնդրակեաններ) were members of an anti-feudal, heretical Christian sect that flourished in medieval Armenia between the early 9th century and 11th century and centered on the district of Tondrak, north of Lake Van ...

Modern era

Neo-Gnostic

Anthroposophy Anthroposophy is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers ...

* The Church of St Mary & St John *

Ecclesia Gnostica Ecclesia Gnostica (Latin: The Church of Gnosis) is an open sacramental neo-Gnostic church in Los Angeles. It has ordained clergy and conducts regular sacramental services, including two weekly Masses (Celebration of the Holy Eucharist), as we ...

Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), or the Gnostic Catholic Church, is a Gnostic church organization. It is the ecclesiastical arm of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), an international fraternal initiatory organization devoted to promulgating ...

* Ecclesia Gnostica Mysteriorum *

Ecclesia Pistis Sophia Ecclesia Pistis Sophia, or the Sophian Fellowship, is a Gnostic church organization based in the United States. Etymology The name '' Ecclesia Pistis Sophia'' literally means "Community of Faith-Wisdom." History Although members claim that it d ...

* Eglise Gnostique *

Gnostic Society The Gnostic Society is an organization founded in Los Angeles in 1928, and incorporated in 1939, by John Morgan Pryse (1863-1952) and his brother James Morgan Pryse (1859-1942) for studies of Gnosticism. Stephan A. Hoeller, author and lecturer a ...

Holy Order of Mans History In 1961 the Holy Order of MANS was organized initially as the non-sectarian Science of Man Church in San Francisco by Earl Wilbur Blighton. Classes and meetings on the Ancient Mystery Teachings were held by Blighton on a regular monthly b ...

(Quasi-Gnostic) *

Johannite Church The Johannite Church (Full title: ''l'Église Johannite des Chrétiens Primitifs, “''The Johannite Church of Primitive Christians”), is a Gnostic Christian denomination founded by the French priest Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat in 1804."The G ...

Liberal Catholic Union Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...

Martinism Martinism is a form of Christian mysticism and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration'. As a mystical traditio ...

Muckers Muckers ( German: ''Muckern'', i.e. canting bigots, hypocrites) is the nickname given to the followers of the teaching of Johann Heinrich Schönherr (1770–1826) and Johann Wilhelm Ebel (1784–1861). The word originates in the Middle German wo ...

Neo-Luciferian Church The Neo-Luciferian Church is a Gnostic Luciferian organisation with roots in Western esotericism, Thelema, and magic. History The Neo-Luciferian Church began in 2005 as a collaboration between Danish occultist Bjarne Salling Pedersen and the ...

* Order of the Nazorean Essenes (influenced by Gnosticism)Se
Essenes.com
for more information *

Rosicrucianism Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

Samael Aun Weor Samael Aun Weor ( he, סמאל און ואור; March 6, 1917 – December 24, 1977), born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, was a spiritual teacher and author of over sixty books of esoteric spirituality. He taught and formed groups under the ...

Society of Novus Spiritus Sylvia Celeste Browne (''née'' Shoemaker; October 19, 1936 – November 20, 2013) was an American author who claimed to be a medium with psychic abilities. She appeared regularly on television and radio, including on ''The Montel William ...

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...

*Angelici Christian Church

Footnotes

References

* Blunt, John Henry. Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Thought. Rivingtons. 1874. {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Gnostic Sects Gnosticism