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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAR-BEC |
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BASILIDES , one of the most conspicuous exponents of Gnosticism, was living at Alexandria probably as early as the first decades of the and century. It is true that Eusebius, in his Chronicle, dates
views that he taught the transmigration of souls (Origen in Ep. ad Rom. lib. v.; Opp. de la Rue iv. 549; cf. Clemens, Excerpta ex. Theodoto, 28). Isidorus set up celibacy , though ina modified form, as the ideal of the perfect (Clemens, Strom. iii. 1 1, &c.). Clemens accuses Basilides of a deification of the Devil (Matey roy &48okov), and regards as his two dogmas that of the Devil and that ofthe transmigration of souls (Strom. iv. 12 85: cf. v. rr. 75). It is remarkable too that Isidorus held the existence of two souls ii man, a good and a bad (Clemens, Strom. ii. 20 113); with which may be compared the teaching of Mani about the two souls, which it is impossible to follow F,, Ch. Baur in excluding,) and also the teaching of the Pistis Sophia
original
as to the origin of evil (Haer. xxiv. 6). Now, of this sharply-defined dualism there is scarcely a trace in the system described by the Fathers of the Church. It is there-fore only with caution that we can use them to supplement our knowledge of the true Basilides. The doctrine described by them that from the supreme God (the innatus pater) had emanated 365 heavens with their spirits, answers originally to the astronomical conception of the heavens with their 365 daily aspects (Irenaeus i. 24. 7; Trecentorum autem sexaginta quinque caelorum locales positiones distribuunt similiter ut mathematici). When, therefore, the supreme God is called by the name A$paozaE or A,paEas, which contains the numerical value 365 , it is worthy of remark that the name of the Persian god Mithras (MeiOpas) also was known in antiquity to contain this numerical value (Jerome in Amos 3; Opp. Vallarsi VI. i. 257). Speculations about the Perso-Hellenistic Mithras appear to have been transferred to the Gnostic Abraxas. Further, if the Pater innatus be surrounded by a series of (from five to seven) Hypostases (according to Irenaeus i. 24. 3; Nous, Aoyor, cl)povriais, Eocia, Ail papas ; according to Clemens, Strom. iv. 25 164, ALKawauvf and Eipityi may perhaps be added), we are reminded of the Ameshas-spentas which surround Ahura-Mazda. Finally, in the system of Basilides, the (seven ?) powers from whom this world originates are accepted as the lowest emanations of the supreme God. This conception which is repeated in nearly every Gnostic system, of (seven) world-creating angels, is a specifically oriental speculation. The seven powers which create and rule the world are without doubt the seven planetary deities of the later Babylonian religion. If, in the Gnostic systems, these become daemonic or semi-daemonic forces, this points to the fact that a stronger monotheistic religion (the Iranian) had gained the upper hand over the Babylonian, and had degraded its gods to daemons. The syncretism of the Babylonian and the Persian religion was also the nursing-ground of Gnosticism. When, then, Basilides identified the highest angel
late
the Jews.2 It is at this point that the idea of salvation is introduced into the system. The confusion in the world has meanwhile risen to such a pitch that the supreme God sends his Nous, who is also called Christ, into the world (Irenaeus i. 24. 4). According to Clemens, the Saviour is termed vve0ga &axoeouevov (Strom. ii: 8 36) or &euavos (Excerpta ex Theodoto; 16). It is im- The materials are in Baur, Das manichaische Religionssystem (1831), p. 162, &c. 2 Whether the myth of the creation of the first man by the angels, which recurs in many Gnostic systems, found a place also in the system of Basilides, cannot be determined with any certainty. Philastrius, however, says: hominem autem ab angelis factum asserit, while according to Epiphanus xxiv. 2, men are created by the God of the Jews.possible certainly to determine how Basilides conceived the relation of this Saviour to Jesus of Nazareth. Basilides himself (Strom. iv. 12 83) knows of an earthly Jesus and denies the principle of his.sinlessness (see above). According to the account given by Irenaeus, the Saviour is said to have appeared only as a phantasm; according to the Excerpta ex Theodoto, 17, the Diakonos descended upon Jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove, for which reason the followers of Basilides celebrated the day of the baptism of Jesus, the day of the briaveia as a high festival (Clemens, Strom. i. 21 18). The various attempts at combination probably point to the fact that the purely mythical figure of a god-saviour (Heros) was connected first by Basilides with Jesus of Nazareth. As to what the conception of Basilides was of the completion of the process of redemption, the available sources tell us next to nothing. According to an allusion in Clemens, Strom. ii. 8 36, with the mission of the Saviour begins the great separation of the sexes, the fulfilment and the restoration of all things. This agrees with the beginning of the speculation of Basilides. Salvation consists in this, that that which was combined for evil is once more separated. Among the later followers of Basilides, actual magic played a determining part. They hand down the names of the rulers of the several heavens as a weighty secret . This was a result of the belief, that whoever knew the names of these rulers would after death pass through all the heavens to the supreme God. In accordance with this, Christ also, in the opinion of these followers of Basilides, was in the possession of a mystic name (CaulacauJes. xxviii. to) by the power of which he had descended through all the heavens to earth, and had then again ascended to the Father. Redemption, accordingly, could be conceived as simply the revelation of mystic names. In this connexion' the name Abraxas and the Abraxas gems must be remembered. Whether Basilides himself had already given this magic tendency to Gnosticism cannot be decided. Basilides, then, represents that form of Gnosticism that is closest to Persian dualism in its final form. His doctrine is most closely related to that of Satornil (Saturninus). From most of the other Gnostic sects, with the exception perhaps of the Jewish-Christian Gnosticism, he is distinguished by the fact that with him the figure of the fallen female god ( Sophia
Accounts of the teaching of Basilides are to be found in all the more complete works on Gnosticism (see bibliography to the article GNOSTICISM). The original
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