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 and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

Ancient

Proto-Gnosticism

* Maghāriya *

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 associ ...

Judean-Israelite Gnosticism

* Elkesaites *

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 ...

* 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 * Valesians * Valentianism ** Heracleonites ** 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 **

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 **

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 Christian ...

*** Apelliacos *** Lucianists * Colorbasians * Dositheans (could be offshoot of Simonianism 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 * 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 Manich ...

* Archontics * 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, ...

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

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 * Cerinthians ** Adamites (also called Adamians) ** Marcellianas * Cleobians * Docetae * Elcesaites *

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 (also called Apostolics) ** Severians *

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 *

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 co ...

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

Middle Ages

* Athinganoi * 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 *

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. F ...

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, Ra ...

** Credentes **

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 * 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

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. Follower ...

* 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 promulgatin ...

* 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 * Holy Order of Mans (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 ...

* Liberal Catholic Union * Martinism * Muckers * Neo-Luciferian Church * Order of the Nazorean Essenes (influenced by Gnosticism)Se
Essenes.com
for more information * Rosicrucianism * Samael Aun Weor *

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 *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