188. The words καὶ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον are omitted in some MSS and by Rufinus. They are found however in the very ancient Syriac version, and are doubtless genuine. Their omission is due to the homœoteleuton, as they are immediately preceded by καὶ περὶ ἀληθείας πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον.
189. A list of his works is given by Eusebius (H.E. iv. 27), who explains that there were many others which he had not seen. This list omits the work on the Paschal Feast, which is quoted in the Chronicon Paschale p. 13 (ed. Dind.), and the treatise on Piety, of which we know from Photius Bibl. 14.
190. Theodoret. Hær. Fab. iii. 2 ἀνὴρ ἀξιὲπαινος καὶ πρὸς τῇ γνώσει τῶν θείων καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν παιδείαν προσειληφώς. So too Jerome, Ep. 70 (I. p. 428, ed. Vallarsi), names him among those who were equally versed in sacred and profane literature.
191. Photius l.c., ἀξιόλογος δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ φράσει ἀξιολόγῳ κεχρημένος.
192. Euseb. H.E. iv. 21, Jerome l.c., Theodoret. l.c., Socr. H.E. iii. 7.
193. Iren. in Euseb. H.E. v. 24 ἡ διαφωνία τῆς νηστείας (the fast which preceded the Paschal festival) τὴν ὁμόνοιαν τῆς πίστεως συνίστησι.
194. Melito in Euseb. H.E. iv. 26 ἐπὶ Σερουιλλίου Παύλου ἀνθυπάτου τῆς Ἀσίας, ᾧ Σάγαρις καιρῷ ἐμαρτύρησεν, ἐγένετο ζήτησις πολλὴ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ περὶ τοῦ πάσχα ἐμπεσόντος κατὰ καιρὸν ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις, καὶ ἐγράφη ταῦτα (i.e. Melito’s own treatise on the Paschal festival).
195. Besides Melito (l.c.), Polycrates of Ephesus refers to him with respect; Euseb. H.E. v. 24, τὶ δὲ δεῖ λέγειν Σάγαριν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ μάρτυρα, ὅς ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ κεκοίμηται.
196. Labb. Conc. II. 57, 62, ed. Coleti; Cowper’s Syriac Miscellanies p. 11, 28. It is remarkable that after Papias all the early bishops of Hierapolis of whom any notice is preserved, have Roman names; Avircius Marcellus (?), Claudius Apollinaris, Flaccus, Lucius, Venantius.
197. Labb. Conc. II. 57, 62; Cowper’s Syriac Miscellanies pp. 11, 28, 34. He had also been present at the Synod of Ancyra held about A.D. 314 (see Galatians p. 34); ib. p. 41.
198. Labb. Conc. II. 236.
199. ib. 744.
200. Athanas. ad Episc. Ægypt. 8 (Op. I. p. 219), Hist. Arian. ad Mon. 74 (ib. p. 307).
201. Labb. Conc. II. 744.
202. Cowper’s Syriac Miscell. p. 39.
203. Labb. Conc. III. 1085, 1222, Mans. Conc. IV. 1367. The name of this bishop of Hierapolis is variously written, but Venantius seems to be the true orthography. For some unexplained reason, though present in person he signs by deputy. He had before subscribed the protest to Cyril against commencing the proceedings before the arrival of John of Antioch (Mans. Conc. V. 767), and perhaps his acquiescence in the decisions of the Council was not very hearty.
204. Labb. Conc. IV. 892, 925, 928, 1107, 1170, 1171, 1185. In the Acts of this heretical council, as occasionally in those of the Council of Chalcedon, Laodicea is surnamed Trimitaria (see above, p. 18, note 2). Following Le Quien (Or. Christ. I. p. 835), I have assumed the Stephanus who was present at the Latrocinium to have been bishop of the Phrygian Hierapolis, though I have not found any decisive indication which Hierapolis is meant. On the other hand the bishop of the Syrian Hierapolis at this time certainly bore the name Stephanus (Labb. Conc. IV. 727, 1506, [1550], 1644, 1836, V. 46); and the synod held under Stephanus A.D. 445, which Wiltsch (Geography and Statistics of the Church I. p. 170, Eng. Trans.) assigns to our Hierapolis, belongs to the Syrian city of the same name, as the connexion with Perrha shews: Labb. Conc. IV. 727, 1644.
205. Labb. Conc. IV. 853, 862, 1195, 1204, 1241, 1312, 1337, 1383, 1392, 1444, 1445, 1463, 1480, 1481, 1496, 1501, 1505, 1716, 1732, 1736, 1744, 1746, 1751.
206. The bishops of both sees are addressed by the Emperor Leo in his letter respecting the Council of Chalcedon: but their replies are not preserved. Nunechius is still bishop of Laodicea; but Hierapolis has again changed hands, and Philippus has succeeded Abercius (Labb. Conc. IV. 1836 sq.). Nunechius of Laodicea was one of those who signed the decree against simony at the Council of Constantinople (A.D. 459): Conc. V. 50.
207. See for instance the tergiversation of Theodorus of Laodicea and Ignatius of Hierapolis in the matter of Photius and the 8th General Council.
208. This council cannot have been held earlier than the year 344, as the 7th canon makes mention of the Photinians, and Photinus did not attract notice before that year: see Hefele, Conciliengesch. I. p. 722 sq. In the ancient lists of Councils it stands after that of Antioch (A.D. 341), and before that of Constantinople (A.D. 381). Dr Westcott (History of the Canon, p. 400) is inclined to place it about A.D. 363, and this is the time very generally adopted.
Here however a difficulty presents itself, which has not been noticed hitherto. In the Syriac MS Brit. Mus. Add. 14,528, are lists of the bishops present at the earlier councils, including Laodicea (see Wright’s Catalogue of the Syriac MSS in the British Museum, DCCCVI, p. 1030 sq.). These lists have been published by Cowper (Syriac Miscell. p. 42 sq., Analecta Nicæna p. 36), who however has transposed the lists of Antioch and Laodicea, so that he ascribes to the Antiochian Synod the names which really belong to the Laodicean. This is determined (as I am informed by Prof. Wright) by the position of the lists.
The Laodicean list then, which seems to be imperfect, contains twenty names; and, when examined, it yields these results. (1) At least three-fourths of the names can be identified with bishops who sat at Nicæa, and probably the exceptions would be fewer, if in some cases they had not been obscured by transcription into Syriac and by the errors of copyists. (2) When identified, they are found to belong in almost every instance to Cœlesyria, Phœnicia, Palestine, Cilicia, and Isauria, whereas apparently not one comes from Phrygia, Lydia, or the other western districts of Asia Minor.
Supposing that this is a genuine Laodicean list, we are led by the first result to place it as near in time as possible to the Council of Nicæa; and by the second to question whether after all the Syrian Laodicea may not have been meant instead of the Phrygian. On the other hand tradition is unanimous in placing this synod in the Phrygian town, and in this very Syriac MS the heading of the canons begins ‘Of the Synod of Laodicea of Phrygia.’ On the whole it appears probable that this supposed list of bishops who met at Laodicea belongs to some other Council. The Laodicean Synod seems to have been, as Dr Westcott describes it (l.c.), ‘A small gathering of clergy from parts of Lydia and Phrygia.’
In a large mosaic in the Church at Bethlehem, in which all the more important Councils are represented, we find the following inscription; [Ἡ] ἁγία σύνοδος ἡ ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῆς Φρυγίας των κὲ ἐπισκόπων γέγονεν διὰ Μοντανὸν κὲ [τ]ὰ[ς] λοιπὰς ἑρέσεις· τού[τους] ὡς αἱρετικοὺς καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῆς ἀλεθείας ἡ ἁγία σύνοδος ἀνεθεμάτισεν (Ciampini de Sacr. Ædif. a Constant. constr. p. 156; comp. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 8953). From its position we might infer that the synod to which this inscription refers was supposed to have taken place before the Council of Nicæa; and if so, it may have been one of those Asiatic synods held against Montanism at the end of the second or beginning of the third century. But, inasmuch as no record of any such synod is preserved elsewhere, we must probably refer it to the well-known Council of Laodicea in the fourth century. In this case however the description is not very correct, for though Montanism is incidentally condemned in the eighth canon, yet this condemnation was not the main object of the council and occupies a very subordinate place. The Bethlehem mosaics were completed A.D. 1169: see Boeckh C. I. 8736.
209. The canons of this Council, 59 in number, will be found in Labb. Conc. I. 1530 sq., ed. Coleti. The last of these forbids the reading of any but ‘the Canonical books of the New and Old Testament.’ To this is often appended (sometimes as a 60th canon) a list of the Canonical books; but Dr Westcott has shown that this list is a later addition and does not belong to the original decrees of the council (Canon p. 400 sq.).
210. By the Quinisextine Council (A.D. 692) in the East (Labb. Conc. VII. 1345), and by the Synod of Aix-la-Chapelle (A.D. 789) in the West (Conc. IX. 10 sq.).
211. Theodoret about a century after the Laodicean Council, commenting on Col. ii. 18, states that this disease (τὸ πάθος) which St Paul denounces ‘long remained in Phrygia and Pisidia.’ ‘For this reason also,’ he adds, ‘a synod convened in Laodicea of Phrygia forbad by a decree the offering prayer to angels; and even to the present time oratories of the holy Michael may be seen among them and their neighbours.’ See also below p. 71, note 219. A curious inscription, found in the theatre at Miletus (Boeckh C. I. 2895), illustrates this tendency. It is an inscription in seven columns, each having a different planetary symbol, and a different permutation of the vowels with the same invocation αγιε . φυλατον . την . πολιν . μιληϲιων . και . πανταϲ . τουϲ . κατοικουνταϲ, while at the common base is written αρχαγγελοι . φυλαϲϲεται . η . πολιϲ . μιληϲιων . και . παντεϲ . οι . κατ... Boeckh writes, ‘Etsi hic titulus Gnosticorum et Basilidianorum commentis prorsus congruus est, tamen potuit ab ethnicis Milesiis scriptus esse; quare nolui eum inter Christianos rejicere, quum præsertim publicæ Milesiorum superstitionis documentum insigne sit.’ The idea of the seven hάγιοι, combined in the one αρχάγγελος, seems certainly to point to Jewish, if not Christian, influences: Rev. i. 4, iii. 1, iv. 5, v. 6.
212. Though there is no direct mention of ‘magic’ in the letter to the Colossians, yet it was a characteristic tendency of this part of Asia: Acts xix. 19, 2 Tim. iii. 8, 13. See the note on Gal. v. 20. The term μαθηματικοὶ is used in this decree in its ordinary sense of astrologers, soothsayers.
213. A Play on the double sense of φυλακτήριον (1) a safeguard or amulet, (2) a guard-house.
214. A list of the bishoprics belonging to this province at the time of the Council of Chalcedon is given, Labb. Conc. IV. 1501, 1716.
215. Conc. IV. 1716, 1744.
216. At the 5th and 6th General Councils (A.D. 553 and A.D. 680) Hierapolis is styled a metropolis (Labb. Conc. VI. 220, VII. 1068, 1097, 1117); and in the latter case it is designated metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana, though this same designation is still given to Laodicea. Synnada retains its position as metropolis of Phrygia Salutaris.
From this time forward Hierapolis seems always to hold metropolitan rank. But no notice is preserved of the circumstances under which the change was made. In the Notitiæ it generally occurs twice—first as a suffragan see of Phrygia Salutaris, and secondly as metropolis of another Phrygia Pacatiana (distinct from that which has Laodicea for its metropolis): Hieroclis Synecdemus et Notitiæ (ed. Parthey) Not. 1, pp. 56, 57, 69, 73; Not. 3, pp. 114, 124; Not. 7, pp. 152, 161; Not. 8, pp. 164, 176, 180; Not. 9, pp. 193, 197; Not. 10, pp. 212, 220. In this latter position it is placed quite out of the proper geographical order, thus showing that its metropolitan jurisdiction was created comparatively late. The number of dioceses in the province is generally given as 9; Nilus ib. p. 301. The name of the province is variously corrupted from Πακατιανῆς, e.g. Καππατιανῆς, Καππαδοκίας. Unless the ecclesiastical position of Hierapolis was altogether anomalous, as a province within a province, its double mention in the Notitiæ must be explained by a confusion of its earlier and later status.
217. See Mionnet IV. p. 269, Leake Numism. Hellen. p. 45.
218. Joannes Curopalata p. 686 (ed. Bonn.) φήμη ... τοὺς Τούρκους ἀπαγγέλλουσα τὴν ἐν Χώναις πολιτείαν καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν περιβόητον ἐν θαύμασι καὶ ἀναθήμασι τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου ναὸν καταλαβεῖν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ ... καὶ τὸ δὴ σχετλιώτερον, μηδὲ τὰς τοῦ χάσματος σήραγγας ἐν ᾧπερ οἱ παραρρέοντες ποταμοὶ ἐκεῖσε χωνευόμενοι διὰ τῆς τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου παλαιᾶς ἐπιδημίας καὶ θεοσημίας ὡς διὰ πρανοῦς ἀστατοῦν τὸ ῥεῦμα καὶ λιὰν εὐδρομοῦν ἔχουσι, τοὺς καταπεφευγότας διατηρῆσαι, κ.τ.λ. The ‘worship of angels’ is curiously connected with the physical features of the country in the legend to which Curopalata refers. The people were in imminent danger from a sudden inundation of the Lycus, when the archangel Michael appeared and opened a chasm in the earth through which the waters flowed away harmlessly: Hartley’s Researches in Greece p. 53. See another legend, or another version of the legend, in which the archangel interposes, in Laborde p. 103.
It was the birth-place of Nicetas Choniates, one of the most important of the Byzantine historians, who thus speaks of it (de Manuel vi. 2, p. 230, ed. Bonn.); Φρυγίαν τε καὶ Λαοδίκειαν διελθὼν ἀφικνεῖται ἐς Χώνας, πόλιν εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην, πάλαι τὰς Κολασσάς, τὲν ἐμοῦ τοῦ συγγραφέως πατρίδα, καὶ τὸν ἀρχαγγελικὸν ναὸν εἰσιὼν μεγέθει μέγιστον καὶ κάλλει κάλλιστον ὄντα καὶ θαυμασίας χειρὸς ἅπαντα ἔργον κ.τ.λ., where a corrupt reading Παλασσὰς for Κολασσὰς has misled some. It will be remembered that the words πόλιν εὐδαίμονα καὶ μεγάλην are borrowed from Xenophon’s description of Colossæ (Anab. i. 2. 6): see above, p. 15, note 52.
He again alludes to his native place, de Isaac. ii. 2, pp. 52, 3 τοὺς Λαοδικεῖς δὲ Φρύγας μυριαχῶς ἐκάκωσεν, ὥσπερ καὶ τοὺς τῶν Χωνῶν τῶν ἐμῶν οἰκήτορας, and Urbs Capta 16, p. 842, τὸ δὲ ἤν ἐμοῦ τοῦ συγγραφέως Νικήτα πατρὶς αἱ Χῶναι καὶ ἡ ἀγχιτέρμων ταύτῃ Φρυγικὴ Λαοδίκεια.
219. Thus Hamilton (I. p. 514) reports that an earthquake which occurred at Denizli about a hundred years ago caused the inhabitants to remove their residences to a different locality, where they have remained ever since. Earthquakes have been largely instrumental in changing the sites of cities situated within the range of their influence.
220. At the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) Nunechius of Laodicea subscribes ‘for the absent bishops under him,’ among whom is mentioned Ἐπιφανίου πόλεως Κολασσῶν (Labb. Conc. IV. 1501, ed. Coleti; comp. ib. 1745). At the Quinisextine Council (A.D. 692) occurs the signature of Κοσμᾶς ἐπίσκοπος πόλεως Κολασσαῆς (sic) Πακατιανῆς (Conc. VII. 1408). At the 2nd Council of Nicæa (A.D. 787) the name of the see is in a transition state; the bishop Theodosius (or Dositheus) signs himself sometimes Χωνῶν ἤτοι Κολασσῶν, sometimes Χωνῶν simply (Conc. VIII. 689, 796, 988, 1200, 1222, 1357, 1378, 1432, 1523, 1533, in many of which passages the word Χωνῶν is grossly corrupted). At later Councils the see is called Χῶναι; and this is the name which it bears in the Notitiæ (pp. 97, 127, 199, 222, 303, ed. Parthey).
221. For the remains of Christian churches at Laodicea see Fellows Asia Minor p. 282, Pococke p. 74. A description of the three fine churches at Hierapolis is given in Fergusson’s Illustrated Handbook of Architecture II. p. 967 sq.; comp. Texier Asie Mineure I. p. 143.
222. Col. ii. 16, 17, 21 sq.
223. ii. 11.
224. ii. 4, 8, 18, 23.
225. The Colossian heresy has been made the subject of special dissertations by Schneckenburger Beiträge zur Einleitung ins N. T. (Stuttgart 1832), and Ueber das Alter der jüdischen Proselyten-Taufe, nebst einer Beilage über die Irrlehrer zu Colossä (Berlin 1828); by Osiander Ueber die Colossischen Irrlehrer (Tübinger Zeitschrift for 1834, III. p. 96 sq.); and by Rheinwald De Pseudodoctoribus Colossensibus (Bonn 1834). But more valuable contributions to the subject will often be found in introductions to the commentaries on the epistle. Those of Bleek, Davies, Meyer, Olshausen, Steiger, and De Wette may be mentioned. Among other works which may be consulted are Baur Der Apostel Paulus p. 417 sq.; Boehmer Isagoge in Epistolam ad Colossenses, Berlin 1829, p. 56 sq., p. 277 sq.; Burton Inquiry into the Heresies of the Apostolic Age, Lectures IV, V; Ewald Die Sendschreiben des Apostels Paulus p. 462 sq.; Hilgenfeld Der Gnosticismus u. das Neue Testament in the Zeitschr. f. Wissensch. Theol. XIII. p. 233 sq.; R. A. Lipsius in Schenkels Bibel-Lexikon, s.v. Gnosis; Mayerhoff Der Brief an die Colosser p. 107 sq.; Neander Planting of the Christian Church I. p. 319 sq. (Eng. Trans.); De Pressensé Trois Premiers Siècles II. p. 194 sq.; Storr Opuscula II. p. 149 sq.; Thiersch Die Kirche im Apostolischen Zeitalter p. 146 sq. Of all the accounts of these Colossian false teachers, I have found none more satisfactory than that of Neander, whose opinions are followed in the main by the most sober of later writers.
In the investigation which follows I have assumed that the Colossian false teachers were Christians in some sense. The views maintained by some earlier critics, who regarded them as (1) Jews, or (2) Greek philosophers, or (3) Chaldean magi, have found no favour and do not need serious consideration. See Meyer’s introduction for an enumeration of such views. A refutation of them will be found in Bleek’s Vorlesungen p. 12 sq.
228. Col. ii. 8–23. Hilgenfeld (Der Gnosticismus etc. p. 250 sq.) contends strenuously for the separation of the two elements. He argues that ‘these two tendencies are related to one another as fire and water, and nothing stands in the way of allowing the author after the first side-glance at the Gnostics to pass over with ver. 11 to the Judaizers, with whom Col. ii. 16 sq. is exclusively concerned.’ He supposes therefore that ii. 8–10 refers to ‘pure Gnostics,’ and ii. 16–23 to ‘pure Judaizers.’ To this it is sufficient to answer (1) That, if the two elements be so antagonistic, they managed nevertheless to reconcile their differences; for we find them united in several Judæo-Gnostic heresies in the first half of the second century, ξυνώμοσαν γάρ, ὄντες ἔχθιστοι τὸ πρίν, πῦρ καὶ θάλασσα, καὶ τὰ πίστ’ ἐδειξάτην; (2) That the two passages are directly connected together by τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου, which occurs in both vv. 8, 20; (3) That it is not a simple transition once for all from the Gnostic to the Judaic element, but the epistle passes to and fro several times from the one to the other; while no hint is given that two separate heresies are attacked, but on the contrary the sentences are connected in a logical sequence (e.g. ver. 9 ὅτι, 10 ὃς, 11 ἐν ᾧ, 12 ἐν ᾧ, 13 καὶ, 16 οὖν). I hope to make this point clear in my notes on the passage.
The hypothesis of more than one heresy is maintained also by Heinrichs (Koppe N. T. VII. Part 2, 1803). At an earlier date it seems to be favoured by Grotius (notes on ii. 16, 21); but his language is not very explicit. And earlier still Calvin in his argument to the epistle writes, ‘Putant aliqui duo fuisse hominum genera, qui abducere tentarent Colossenses ab evangelii puritate,’ but rejects this view as uncalled for.
The same question is raised with regard to the heretical teachers of the Pastoral Epistles, and should probably be answered in the same way.
229. The chief authorities for the history of Gnosticism are Neander Church History II. p. 1 sq.; Baur Die Christliche Gnosis (Tübingen, 1835); Matter Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme (2nd ed., Strasbourg and Paris, 1843); R. A. Lipsius Gnosticismus in Ersch u. Gruber s.v. (Leipzig, 1860); and for Gnostic art, King Gnostics and their Remains (London 1864).
230. See esp. Iren. i. 6. 1 sq., Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. p. 433 sq. (Potter). On the words τέλειοι, πνευματικοί, by which they designated the possessors of this higher gnosis, see the notes on Col. i. 28, and Phil. iii. 15.
231. See Neander l.c. p. 1 sq., from whom the epithet is borrowed.
232. The fathers speak of this as the main question about which the Gnostics busy themselves; Unde malum? πόθεν ἡ κακία; Tertull. de Præscr. 7, adv. Marc. I. 2, Eus. H.E. v. 27; passages quoted by Baur Christliche Gnosis p. 19. On the leading conceptions of Gnosticism see especially Neander, l.c. p. 9 sq.
233. On this point see Clem. Strom. iii. 5 (p. 529) εἰς δύο διελόντες πράγματα ἁπάσας τὰς αἱρέσεις ἀποκρινώμεθα αὐτοῖς· ἢ γάρ τοι ἀδιαφόρως ζῆν διδάσκουσιν, ἢ τὸ ὑπέρτονον ἄγουσαι ἐγκράτειαν διὰ δυσσεβείας καὶ φιλαπεχθημοσύνης καταγγέλλουσι, with the whole passage which follows. As examples of the one extreme may be instanced the Carpocratians and Cainites: of the other the Encratites.
234. See for instance the description of the Carpocratians in Iren. i. 25. 3 sq., ii. 32. 1 sq., Hippol. Hær. vii. 32, Epiphan. Hær. xxvii. 2 sq.; from which passages it appears that they justified their moral profligacy on the principle that the highest perfection consists in the most complete contempt of mundane things.
235. It will be seen from the description in the text, that Gnosticism (as I have defined it) presupposes only a belief in one God, the absolute Being, as against the vulgar polytheism. All its essential features, as a speculative system, may be explained from this simple element of belief, without any intervention of specially Christian or even Jewish doctrine. Christianity added two new elements to it; (1) the idea of Redemption, (2) the person of Christ. To explain the former, and to find a place for the latter, henceforth become prominent questions which press for solution; and Gnosticism in its several developments undergoes various modifications in the endeavour to solve them. Redemption must be set in some relation to the fundamental Gnostic conception of the antagonism between God and matter; and Christ must have some place found for Him in the fundamental Gnostic doctrine of emanations.
If it be urged that there is no authority for the name ‘Gnostic’ as applied to these pre-Christian theosophists, I am not concerned to prove the contrary, as my main position is not affected thereby. The term ‘Gnostic’ is here used, only because no other is so convenient, or so appropriate. See note 239, p. 81.
236. This question will require closer investigation when I come to discuss the genuineness of the Epistle to the Colossians. Meanwhile I content myself with referring to Baur Christliche Gnosis p. 29 sq. and Lipsius Gnosticismus p. 230 sq. Both these writers concede, and indeed insist upon, the non-Christian basis of Gnosticism, at least so far as I have maintained it in the text. Thus for instance Baur says (p. 52), ‘Though Christian gnosis is the completion of gnosis, yet the Christian element in gnosis is not so essential as that gnosis cannot still be gnosis even without this element. But just as we can abstract it from the Christian element, so can we also go still further and regard even the Jewish as not strictly an essential element of gnosis.’ In another work (Die drei ersten Jahrhunderte, p. 167, 1st ed.) he expresses himself still more strongly to the same effect, but the expressions are modified in the second edition.
237. We may perhaps gather from the notices which are preserved that, though the substantive γνῶσις was used with more or less precision even before contact with Christianity to designate the superior illumination of these opinions, the adjective γνωστικοί was not distinctly applied to those who maintained them till somewhat later. Still it is possible that pre-Christian Gnostics already so designated themselves. Hippolytus speaks of the Naassenes or Ophites as giving themselves this name; Hær. v. 6 μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐπεκάλεσαν ἑαυτοὺς γνωστικοὺς, φάσκοντες μόνοι τὰ βάθη γινώσκειν; comp. §§ 8, 11. His language seems to imply (though it is not explicit) that they were the first to adopt the name. The Ophites were plainly among the earliest Gnostic sects, as the heathen element is still predominant in their teaching, and their Christianity seems to have been a later graft on their pagan theosophy; but at what stage in their development they adopted the name γνωστικοί does not appear. Irenæus (Hær. i. 25. 6) speaks of the name as affected especially by the Carpocratians. For the use of the substantive γνῶσις see 1 Cor. viii. 1, xiii. 2, 8, 1 Tim. vi. 20, and the note on Col. ii. 3: comp. Rev. ii. 24 ὄιτινες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὰ βαθέα τοῦ Σατανᾶ, ὡς λέγουσιν (as explained by the passage already quoted from Hippol. Hær. v. 6; see Galatians, p. 298, note 3).
238. The name Epicureans seems to be applied to them even in the Talmud; see Eisenmenger’s Entdecktes Judenthum i. pp. 95, 694 sq.; comp. Keim Geschichte Jesu von Nazara i. p. 281.
239. For the Pharisees see Vit. 2 παραπλήσιός ἐστι τῇ παρ’ Ἕλλησι Στωϊκῇ λεγομένῃ: for the Essenes, Ant. xv. 10. 4 διαίτῃ χρώμενον τῇ παρ’ Ἕλλησιν ὑπὸ Πυθαγόρου καταδεδειγμένῃ.
240. The really important contemporary sources of information respecting the Essenes are Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2–13, Ant. xiii. 5. 9, xviii. 1. 5, Vit. 2 (with notices of individual Essenes Bell. Jud. i. 3. 5, ii. 7. 3, ii. 20. 4, iii. 2. 1, Ant. xiii. 11. 2, xv. 10. 4, 5); and Philo, Quod omnis probus liber § 12 sq. (II. p. 457 sq.), Apol. pro Jud. (II. p. 632 sq., a fragment quoted by Eusebius Præp. Evang. viii. 11 ). The account of the Therapeutes by the latter writer, de Vita Contemplativa (II. p. 471 sq.), must also be consulted, as describing a closely allied sect. To these should be added the short notice of Pliny, N.H. v. 15. 17, as expressing the views of a Roman writer. His account, we may conjecture, was taken from Alexander Polyhistor, a contemporary of Sulla, whom he mentions in his prefatory elenchus as one of his authorities for this 5th book, and who wrote a work On the Jews (Clem. Alex. Strom. i. 21, p. 396, Euseb. Præp. Ev. ix. 17). Significant mention of the Essenes is found also in the Christian Hegesippus (Euseb. H.E. iv. 22) and in the heathen Dion Chrysostom (Synesius Dion 3, p. 39). Epiphanius (Hær. pp. 28 sq., 40 sq.) discusses two separate sects, which he calls Essenes and Ossæans respectively. These are doubtless different names of the same persons. His account is, as usual, confused and inaccurate, but has a certain value. All other authorities are secondary. Hippolytus, Hær. ix. 18–28, follows Josephus (Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2 sq.) almost exclusively. Porphyry also (de Abstinentia, iv. II sq.) copies this same passage of Josephus, with a few unimportant exceptions probably taken from a lost work by the same author, πρὸς τοὺς Ἑλληνας, which he mentions by name. Eusebius (Præp. Evang. viii. II sq., ix. 3) contents himself with quoting Philo and Porphyry. Solinus (Polyh. xxxv. 9 sq.) merely abstracts Pliny. Talmudical and Rabbinical passages, supposed to contain references to the Essenes, are collected by Frankel in the articles mentioned in a later paragraph; but the allusions are most uncertain (see the appendix to this chapter). The authorities for the history of the Essenes are the subject of an article by W. Clemens in the Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. 1869, p. 328 sq.
The attack on the genuineness of Philo’s treatise De Vita Contemplativa made by Grätz (III. p. 463 sq.) has been met by Zeller (Philosophie, III. ii. p. 255 sq.), whose refutation is complete. The attack of the same writer (III. p. 464) on the genuineness of the treatise Quod omnis probus liber> Zeller considers too frivolous to need refuting (ib. p. 235). A refutation will be found in the above-mentioned article of W. Clemens (p. 340 sq.).
Of modern writings relating to the Essenes the following may be especially mentioned; Bellermann Ueber Essäer u. Therapeuten, Berlin 1821; Gfrörer Philo II. p. 299 sq.; Dähne Ersch u. Gruber’s Encyklopädie s.v.; Frankel Zeitschrift für die religiösen Interessen des Judenthums 1846 p. 441 sq., Monatschrift für Geschichte u. Wissenschaft des Judenthums 1853 p. 30 sq., 61 sq.; BöttgerUeber den Orden der Essäer, Dresden 1849; Ewald Geschichte des Volkes Israel IV. p. 420 sq., VII. p. 153 sq.; Ritschl Entstehung der Altkatholischen Kirche p. 179 sq. (ed. 2, 1857), and Theologische Jahrbücher 1855, p. 315 sq.; Jost Geschichte des Judenthums I. p. 207 sq.; Graetz Geschichte der Juden III. p. 79 sq., 463 sq. (ed. 2, 1863); Hilgenfeld Jüdische Apocalyptik p. 245 sq., and Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. X. p. 97 sq., XI. p. 343 sq., XIV. p. 30 sq.; Westcott Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible s.v.; Ginsburg The Essenes, London 1864, and in Kitto’s Cyclopædia s.v.; Derenbourg L’Histoire et la Géographie de la Palestine p. 166 sq., 460 sq.; Keim Geschichte Jesu von Nazara I. p. 282 sq.; Hausrath Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte I. p. 133 sq.; Lipsius Schenkel’s Bibel Lexikon s.v.; Herzfeld Geschichte des Volkes Israel II. 368 sq., 388 sq., 509 sq. (ed. 2, 1863); Zeller Philosophie der Griechen III. 2. p. 234 sq. (ed. 2, 1868); Langen Judenthum in Palästina p. 190 sq.; Löwy Kritisch-talmudisches Lexicon s.v. (Wien 1863); Weiss Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Tradition p. 120 sq. (Wien).