Gnosticism: Awakenings
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Previously: “A New World” (1), “A World of Pure Imagination” (2), “Gnosticism: Origins” (3), Gnosticism: Inversions (4), “Gnosticism: Convergences” (5)
April Deconick (The Gnostic New Age) describes gnosticism as an “emergent structure” of the religious imagination defined by a particular constellation of attributes: “mystical practices, a transgressive esotericism and hermeneutics, a belief in an innate spiritual nature, a quest orientation, and an inclusive metaphysics”. In the preceding essay, I discussed the convergent emergence of gnostic spirituality in both the West and the East (esoteric Buddhism and Hinduism). Here, I’d like review some of the ways in which the gnostic spirit has awakened in different socio-cultural contexts in the West since its first eruption some 2000 years ago. I will move relatively quickly through each awakening, offering a general summary of the relevant history and spiritual philosophy while also highlighting some of the more amusing or lurid details.
Menocchio
Jacques Lacarriere calls gnosticism, “a profoundly original thought, a mutant thought.” This is an apt description—like a genetic mutation, the gnostic anomaly arises randomly and spontaneously and may spread throughout a population or be snuffed out before it has a chance to go viral. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the figure of Menocchio (1532–1599), a self-educated Italian peasant burned at the stake for his mutant thoughts.
Menocchio (born Domenico Scandella) lived most of his life in Montereale, except for two years when he was banished from the town for brawling. He had learned to read and read a number of contemporary works on religion and history. From these, he developed his religious views that departed substantially from Catholic orthodoxy of the time.
He was first tried for heresy in 1583, and abjured his statements in 1584, but spent another 20 months in prison in Concordia. Released in 1586, he claimed to have reformed. He remained under house arrest and had to wear a sign of a burning cross on his garments as a visible sign of his crimes. In 1598, he was arrested again as a lapsed heretic, having continued to propagate his beliefs. In 1599, he was declared a heresiarch and was executed by burning.
Like his gnostics, Menocchio believed in an innate spiritual nature common to all and rejected religious authority and literalist interpretations of biblical events.
During his trial, he argued that the only sin was to harm one’s neighbour and that to blaspheme caused no harm to anyone but the blasphemer. He further said that Jesus was born of man and Mary was not a virgin, that the pope had no power given to him from God but simply exemplified the qualities of a good man, and that Christ had not died to “redeem humanity.”
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In additional criticisms of the Church, Menocchio declared that he rejected all the sacraments, including baptism, as human inventions, and mere “merchandise,” instruments of exploitation and oppression in the hands of the clergy. He stated, “I believe that the law and commandments of the Church are all a matter of business, and they make their living from this”. Regarding baptism, he stated, “I believe that as soon as we are born we are baptized, because God who has blessed all things, has baptized us; but this other baptism is an invention, and priests begin to consume souls even before they are born and continue to devour them even after their death.”
Regarding confirmation, he stated, “I believe it is a business, an invention of men, all of whom have the Holy Spirit; they seek to know and they know nothing”. Regarding marriage, he stated, “God did not establish it, men did. Formerly a man and a woman would exchange vows, and this sufficed; later these human inventions followed.”
With a violent outburst against his judges and their doctrinal arrogance, he proclaimed, “You priests and monks, you too want to know more than God, and you are like the devil, and you want to become gods on earth, and know as much as God, following in the footsteps of the devil. In fact, the more one thinks he knows, the less he knows.”
Regarding the priesthood, he stated, “I believe the spirit of God dwells in all of us... and I also believe that anyone who has studied can become a priest without being ordained, because it is all a business.” Menocchio went on to say, “And it seems to me that under our law, the pope, cardinals, and bishops are so great and rich that everything belongs to the church and to the priests, and they oppress the poor, who, if they work two rented fields, these will be fields that belong to the Church, to some bishop or cardinal.”
On 28 April, he began by denouncing the way the rich tyrannized the poor in the courts by using such an incomprehensible language as Latin (see Law Latin): “I think speaking Latin is a betrayal of the poor because in lawsuits the poor do not know what is being said and are crushed; and if they want to say four words they need a lawyer.”
He further criticized the Church and Court proceedings by stating, “God has given the Holy Spirit to all, to Christians, to heretics, to Turks, and to Jews; and he considers them all dear, and they are all saved in the same manner.”
Frankism
While there are some aspects of Frankism which are highly idiosyncratic (e.g. its cult of personality and militant nature), many of its attributes are nearly identical to those of ancient gnosticism (highlighted below).
Frankism is a Sabbatean religious movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, created in Podolia, named after its founder, Jacob Frank. Frank completely rejected Jewish norms, preaching to his followers that they were obligated to transgress moral boundaries. At its height Frankism claimed perhaps 50,000 followers, primarily Jews living in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe
Frankists believe in Sabbatai Zevi, one of the most famous of all self-proclaimed messiahs in Jewish history. He believed in transgressing Jewish commandments in order to elevate the “divine sparks” constrained by them, and he himself actually performed actions that violated traditional Jewish prohibitions, such as eating foods forbidden by kashrut, the Jewish dietary laws, practicing ritual incest, and celebrating prescribed fast days as feast days. He eventually opted to convert to Islam rather than face execution for claiming to be the messiah. Especially after Zevi’s death, a number of branches of Sabbateanism evolved that disagreed among themselves over which aspects of traditional Judaism should be preserved and which should be discarded.
Jacob Frank claimed to be a reincarnation of Sabbatai Zevi and followed and extended his practice of transgression. Father-daughter incest was commonly practised by his followers, and orgies featured prominently in ritual. Frank claimed that “all laws and teachings will fall”, and following antinomianism, asserted that the most important obligation of mankind was the transgression of every boundary.
The Sabbatean leader Jacob Frank stood at thelead of Frankism. He regarded his followers as soldiers, and all were members of a company for the purpose of building a Frankist army, which was to secure Frank’s rule over a Frankist country. There were four company locations, in Ivanie, Częstochowa, Brno and Offenbach am Main. Members were required to wear plate armor, shields and helmets and train hard.
His teachings were not intended for the ears of all Frankists, but only for his personally selected, small circle of so-called "Brothers and Sisters", of whom he demanded blind obedience. Frank tried to maintain absolute control over at least this circle, taking advantage of their tendency to believe in demons and magic. Within the circle of “Brothers and Sisters”, Frank spoke directly only to the Brothers; according to his teachings nothing could be done with women alone, since women had brought death into the world.
The most important Frankist text is the Księga Słów Pańskich (Book of the Words of the Lord). This is written in Polish in extremely simple, almost folk language and consists of short sayings (some fewer than ten words), interpretations and parables, visions and dreams; longer speculations about the elements of the doctrine; various episodes from Frank's life, the Frankist “company” and contemporary rulers; and fairy-tale stories up to 1100 words long. To support them, there are mainly quotations from the Torah and the Zohar as well as popular stories from the surrounding culture, which were quoted verbatim or paraphrased, or adapted to his own doctrine.
Frank’s “Brothers” compiled the work between 1755 and 1791 in the form of a Zbiór (collection) of materials developed in numerous meetings over the years. The last known complete manuscript (Words of the Lord §§ 1–2192) was destroyed, along with numerous other Frankist sources, during the destruction of Warsaw in World War II.
In Frankism, Frank is the third messianic incarnation of the Sephira Tiferet after Sabbatai Zevi and Baruchiah Russo, and also the reborn forefather Jacob. But he is nonetheless only a helper. The actual guide in Frankism is the Virgin, the incarnation of the Shekhinah and the female Messiah. Frankists are supposed to follow her bravely like soldiers through all horrors. The path is symbolized by the letter “V”, which also represents Jacob’s ladder. The seeker must first climb down into the abyss to reach the deepest level of humiliation and then climb back up to “life”. According to Frankist doctrine, the patriarchs and Moses had already tried to follow the path, but had failed, as had Zevi.
Frank proclaims that the Frankists’ descent down the “V” ladder into the deepest humiliation is reflected in society’s hatred and exclusion of them, which result from Frankism’s consistent implementation of the idea that all laws and teachings of the world are only laws of the “Three Evil World Rulers”, and therefore do not need to be observed. In the best case such laws and teachings need only be kept in pretense; religions and teachings of the world can be worn like an empty shell and then discarded at whim, because the true Torah is yet to be revealed. The Mosaic Law with its Ten Commandments should be despised, as it is part of the old Torah.
The last stage of the mystical path in Frankism is the stage of Da'as, cosmic cognizance. In the Zohar as well as in Frankism, Da’as (also Da’at or Da’ath) is used to describe the mystical place where all ten Sephiroth are united. It is understood as a “concealed knowledge” that creates a harmonizing union between the two Sephiroth Chokmah (male principle) and Binah (female principle) and results from the fusion of cosmic forces. It is thus possible to reach Da’as through sexual intercourse. With the help of sexual rites, Jacob Frank wished to reach Da’as on earth, the last step of his Jacob’s ladder.
The gnostics (particularly the Valentinians) also commonly used the language of sex and marriage when speaking of gnosis a.k.a. Da’as.
Prepare yourself, as a bride awaiting her spouse, that you may become what I am and I what you are. Establish in your bridal chamber the seed of light. Receive from me the bridegroom, and grasp him and be grasped by him. (Marcus)
Heresy of the Free Spirit
One of the most extended and widespread eruptions of gnostic spirituality was the Heresy of the Free Spirit.
The Brethren of the Free Spirit were adherents of a loose set of beliefs deemed heretical by the Catholic Church but held (or at least believed to be held) by some Christians, especially in the Low Countries, Germany, France, Bohemia, and Northern Italy between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The movement was first identified in the late thirteenth century. It was not a single movement or school of thought, and it caused great unease among Church leaders at the time.
Fears over sets of beliefs similar to the Heresy of the Free Spirit have recurred at various points in Christian history. For example, fears over esotericism and antinomianism, such as were detected in the Heresy of the Free Spirit, were also detected in the early Church’s response to Gnosticism.
The set of beliefs ascribed to the Free Spirits is (again) nearly identical to that of the ancient gnostics.
The set of beliefs ascribed to the Free Spirits is first to be found in a text called the Compilatio de novo spiritu put together by Albert the Great in the 1270s, concerning a group of persons investigated in the Swabian Ries area of Germany. The themes which occur in these documents, and which would emerge again in subsequent investigations, included:
Autotheism - in other words, a belief that the perfected soul and God are indistinguishably one. This was often expressed through the language of indistinction or annihilation. This belief would be heretical because it would undermine the necessary distinction between created being and creator.
Denial of the necessity of Christ, the church and its sacraments for salvation – such that austerity and reliance on the Holy Spirit was believed to be sufficient for salvation. They believed that they could communicate directly with God and did not need the Catholic Church for intercession.
Use of the language of erotic union with Christ.
Antinomian statements (“Nothing is a sin except what is thought to be a sin”). Critics of the Free Spirit interpreted their beliefs to mean that they considered themselves to be incapable of sin and above the moral conduct of the Church. Verses such as Galatians 5:18 (“Those who are driven or led by the Spirit of God are no longer under the law”) were seen as foundational to such beliefs.
Anticlerical sentiment.
The Men of Understanding (Homines Intelligentiae), a Christian sect in the Low Countries of Europe in the late 14th and early 15th century, had a particularly radical set of beliefs (and a particularly radical leader).
The sect was doctrinally related to the earlier Brethren of the Free Spirit; they subscribed to a form of universal reconciliation which included demons, the idea that bodily sin could not defile the soul, and a mystical state of perfect illumination and union with God which exempted from all laws and guaranteed salvation. They also believed that prayer had no benefits and that there was no resurrection.
The sect was founded by Ægidius Cantor, a layman, and was led by Cantor and a Dutch Carmelite named William of Hildernissen…Both men reported visions; Cantor once, in a state of religious exaltation, ran nude through the streets of Brussels, declaring himself the saviour of mankind.
Khlysty
The Khlysts were an underground Spiritual Christian sect which emerged in Russia in the 17th century. Once more, we see all the hallmarks of gnosticism, including even the dubious accusations of sexual antinomianism that were also levied against the original gnostics.
The Khlysty renounced priesthood, holy books and veneration of the saints (excluding the Theotokos). They believed in the possibility of direct communication with the Holy Spirit and of its embodiment in living people. Each of their leaders was a “living god”, and each congregation (or “ark”) had its own “Christ” and “Mother of God”, appointed by the overall leader of the sect. Furthermore, they believed that the Holy Spirit could descend upon any one of them during the state of ecstasy which they attained during the ritual of radenie (“rejoicing”). This ritual, which formed the focus of their worship, took place on holy feast days. The congregation would gather during the evening at a prearranged location, such as a member’s house. They would remove their outer clothing, and enter the sacred space dressed only in an undershirt. After a period of singing or chanting the Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”), some of the worshippers would feel the Holy Spirit come upon them, and would begin dancing wildly, prophesying in unintelligible language. This would continue for half an hour or more, until the dancers collapsed with exhaustion. Finally, they would share a sacramental meal of nuts, bread, pastry and kvass.
The Khlysty practiced an extreme asceticism, in order to prepare themselves for the reception of the Holy Spirit into their bodies. They abstained from alcohol, and often fasted for days or weeks at a time. Although marriage was permitted for practical purposes, “because the help of a wife was indispensable for a peasant”, it was a sin to engage in sexual intercourse, even with one's own wife. Connected with this mortification of the flesh was the practice of self-flagellation which often accompanied the radenie rite.
Russian author Edvard Radzinsky has described a radenie ritual which he witnessed on the island of Chechen in 1964:
In white flaxen shirts worn over naked bodies they went down into the cellar of a peasant lodge. There in the dry cellar they lit candles. They started to sing something sacred in the half-light – as was later explained, a verse from the Easter canon: “Seeing, we are gladdened, for Christ has risen.” After that a little old man with joyful, light-coloured eyes – the local Christ – began to chant a Khlyst prayer in the flickering candlelight. And then with youthful energy he started to "rejoice", that is, to whirl wildly in place, crossing himself and continually whipping his body. The choir chanted prayers, their voices ever more savagely, ever more fervently and passionately praying, so that some of them were already screaming and sobbing. But at this point the old man stopped in his whirling and cried out wildly, “Brothers! Brothers! I feel it, the Holy Spirit! God is within me!” And he began to prophesy, shouting out incoherent sounds mixed into which were the words, “Oh, Spirit!” “Oh, God!” “Oh, Spirit Lord!” After that began the main communal rite of “rejoicing”, or general whirling and dancing.
Radzinsky says that they referred to the whirling dance as “spiritual beer”, on account of its intoxicating effect. He reports that after the dance had continued for some time, the worshippers fell to the floor: “And that was the end of it. But apparently only because I was present.” Radzinsky claims that in some arks, the Khlysts would at this point engage in “group sinning” — a frenzied sexual orgy, which they believed would purify them from the lusts of the flesh. Similarly, C. L. Sulzberger, in his book The Fall of Eagles, writes that the Khlysty’s “foremost idea was that salvation could be attained only by total repentance and that this became far more achievable for one who had truly transgressed. ‘Sin in order that you may obtain forgiveness,’ was the practical side of the Khlysty.”
Other scholars have dismissed these rumours. Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, referencing a study by Karl Konrad Grass, writes:
[The Khlysty] have been accused of ending their radenia or religious dances with wholesale debauchery, the lights being first put out. Grass examines the evidence very carefully and impartially, and rejects the story as calumny. The only thing that gives it colour is that often, when the ecstasies are over, the exhausted votaries drop down on the floor and sleep till dawn, the men on one side of the apartment, the women on the other. Their doing so, instead of going home at once, is a necessity dictated either by the climate or by fear of the Russian police, whose suspicions would be roused if they trooped home at such a late hour.
Historian Joseph T. Fuhrmann claims that “splinter groups” practiced ‘holy intercourse,’ but most khlysty were devout pentecostalists who condemned such behaviour.
The New Age
While the awakenings discussed above were not directly related to ancient gnosticism (and thus are compelling examples of gnosticism as an latent structure in the psycho-spiritual imagination), the aforementioned Deconick identifies four further awakenings that are in some way inspired by the original gnostics: the Balkan dualisms of the Paulicians, Bogomils, and Cathars; the flowering of Renaissance Platonism; the discovery of the discovery of the Bruce and Askew Codices, and their reception by Mead, Blavatsky, and Jung; and the discovery, translation, and reception of the Berlin, Nag Hammadi, and Tchacos Codices.
Deconick associates this last and most recent awakening (the Nag Hammadi library was discovered in 1945) with the New Age movements of the 1960s and 70s.
Ancient Gnostic and modern New Age movements cultivate a form of spirituality that is aggressively countercultural and highly critical of conventionally organized religion. They revel in exposing the errors of conventional religions, which they believe to be ineffective. They delight in upsetting the cart, in exposing the deceptions that they believe traditional institutions maintain to control the masses.
At the center of their transgression is their disapproval of “talk religion”, religion that tries to codify God or intellectualize spirituality. For ancient Gnostics and modern New Agers, the heart of religion is the subjective individual experience of meeting a transcendent or transpersonal reality that is the source of all existence. Religion is about the God experience, not God talk…
I think Deconick oversells how much the re-discovery of these libraries had to do with the rise of the New Age, but she is certainly correct in seeing this diffuse countercultural movement as an awakening brought forth by many of the same socio-cultural factors as the first eruption of the gnostic spirit.
Both Gnostic and New Age movements arose during historical periods of rapid breakdown in traditional institutions and structures. In antiquity, we had the brutal imperialism of Rome, which advanced the collapse of native cultures and created enmity toward the dominant political regime. Likewise, in the 1950s and 1960s the American romance with traditional politics and cultural structures disintegrated, leaving a vacuum in which countercultural movements could make headway.
It is equally true that both the past and the present feature increased interaction between native and nonnative cultures. This expansion in cultural knowledge, past and present, creates a pluralistic environment in which eclecticism and inclusiveness allow for innovation in the realms of spirituality and religion. The ancient Mediterranean world at the time of the Gnostics was undergoing a previously unknown level of internationalization, a result of the increased traffic of merchants, tourists, and new residents on Roman-built roads, along the Silk Road, and over the seas.
The search for truth gained more options in this rich international environment. The same can be said of the 1950s and 1960s, when there was an explosion of the Asian into America. There also was an explosion of space. With our race to the moon, the options for truth expanded to the point that they became alien.
So both eras, the first century CE and the twentieth century CE, were the right moments for counter-cultural religious movements to emerge and take hold.