Gnosticism
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Gnosticism is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (gnosis) above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions.
Mandaean Beth Manda (Mashkhanna) in Nasiriyah, southern Iraq in 2016, a contemporary-style mandi
A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge; however, see Mithraic Zervan Akarana.
Mandaeans in prayer during baptism
Heresy
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Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
The Gospel triumphs over Heresia and the Serpent. Gustaf Vasa Church, Stockholm, Sweden, sculpture by Burchard Precht.
A statue in Vienna portraying Saint Ignatius of Loyola trampling on a heretic
The burning of the pantheistic Amalrician heretics in 1210, in the presence of King Philip II Augustus. In the background is the Gibbet of Montfaucon and, anachronistically, the Grosse Tour of the Temple. Illumination from the Grandes Chroniques de France, c. AD 1455–1460.
Former German Catholic friar Martin Luther was famously excommunicated as a heretic by Pope Leo X by his papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem in 1520. To this day, the papal decree has not been rescinded.