1.
Sabian
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Sabian is a Canadian cymbal designer and manufacturer. It is one of the big four manufacturers of cymbals, along with Zildjian, Meinl, the company was founded in 1981 in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada, by Robert Zildjian, son of Avedis Zildjian III, the head of the Avedis Zildjian Company. Family tradition had it that the head of the company would pass the company down to the oldest son, after Avedis Zildjian III died in 1979, Armand became chairman of the board. This eventually led to a feud and a legal dispute between Robert and Armand that resulted in Robert leaving Zildjian to form the rival Sabian company. The companies continue to be rivals, and are both among the worlds most popular cymbal brands, the settlement gave Robert Zildjian the Canadian factory that had been producing the K. Zildjian line. As president of the Zildjian Company, Armand had insisted that the K name remain with his company, in the settlement, Robert agreed not to use the Zildjian name or to claim that his cymbals were the same. As of 2006, Sabians president is Andy Zildjian, the youngest in the family
2.
Sabaeans
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The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula. The kingdom of Saba has been identified with the land of Sheba. The view that the kingdom of Sheba was the ancient Semitic civilization of Saba in Southern Arabia is controversial. The Kingdom fell after a long but sporadic civil war between several Yemenite dynasties claiming kingship, resulting in the rise of the late Himyarite Kingdom. Sabaeans are mentioned in the books of Job, Joel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and in ayat 2,62,5,69. The origin of the Sabaean Kingdom is uncertain, the Sabaean kingdom was finally conquered by the Ḥimyarites in the late 3rd century and at that time the capital was Marib. It was located along the strip of desert called Sayhad by medieval Arab geographers, the Sabaean people were South Arabian people. The Sabaeans, like the other Yemenite kingdoms of the period, were involved in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially frankincense. They left behind inscriptions in the monumental Musnad alphabet, as well as numerous documents in the cursive Zabūr script. The Book of Job mentions the Sabaens for slaying his livestock, each of these temples had a characteristic geometric shape, a characteristic color, and an image made of one of the seven metals. They had two sects, star and idol worshippers, and the doctrine was similar to one that come from Hermes Trismegistus. The Sabaeans were mentioned in the Quran twice as قوم سبأ, the Quran mentions the kingdom of the Saba in the 34th Chapter. The Quranic narrative, from sura 27, has Suleiman getting reports from the Hoopoe bird about the kingdom of Saba, Suleiman sends a letter inviting her to submit fully to the One God, Allah, Lord of the Worlds according to the Islamic text. The Queen of Saba is unsure how to respond and asks her advisors for counsel and they reply by reminding her that they are of great toughness in a reference to their willingness to go to war should she choose to. She replies that she fears if they were to lose, Suleiman may behave as any other king would, entering a country, despoiling it and she decides to meet with Suleiman in order to find out more. Suleiman receives her response to him and asks if anyone can bring him her throne before she arrives. A jinn under the control of Suleiman proposed that he will bring it before Suleiman rises from his seat, One who had knowledge of the Book proposed to bring him the throne of Bilqis in the twinkling of an eye and accomplished that immediately. The queen arrives at his court, is shown her throne and asked and she replied, as though it were it
3.
Sabbateans
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Vast numbers of Jews in the Jewish diaspora accepted his claims, even after he became a Jewish apostate with his conversion to Islam in 1666. Sabbatai Zevis followers, both during his Messiahship and after his conversion to Islam, are known as Sabbateans and they can be grouped into three, Maaminim, Haberim, and Baale Milhamah. Part of the Sabbateans lived on well into the 20th century as Dönmeh. In Jewish history many Jews post Sabbatai Zvis apostasy, although horrified and they constituted the largest number of Sabbateans during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Another large group of Sabbateans succeeding the apostasy began to view Islam in a negative light. Polemics against Islam erupted directly after Zvis conversion, some of these attacks were considered part of a largely Anti-Sabbatean agenda. Accusations coming from Anti-Sabbateans revolved around the idea that Sabbatai Zvis conversion to Islam was rightfully an indicator of a claim of messianism. However, the remains that Zevi is the most famous Jew to have become a Muslim. Many within Zevis inner circle followed him into Islam, including his wife Sarah and most of his closest relatives, claims of ties between Sabbatean Kabbalah and Sufism go back to the days of Sabbatai Zevi. This is largely based on the contention that Zevis exile in the Balkans brought him into contact with several forms of unorthodox Sufism which existed in the region. The Dönme community of Salonika came to play a significant role in the Sufi life of the region and its members involved with a number of Sufi orders. However, confirmed direct ties between Sabbatai Zevi and any Sufi order are conjectural and hearsay, the often claimed connection between the movement and Bektashi Sufism relies merely on circumstantial evidence and coincidence rather than any concrete substantiation. During Zevis lifetime the Bektashi order had yet to attain popularity in the Balkans. Nevertheless, there were a number of other heterodox Sufi movements in the region in the century, including the Hamzevis, Melamis. Inside the Ottoman Empire, those followers of Zevi who had converted to Islam but who secretly continued Jewish observances, the Emden-Eybeschutz controversy arose concerning the amulets which Emden suspected Eybeschutz of issuing. It was alleged that these amulets recognized the claims of Sabbatai Zevi. Emden then accused Eybeschutz of heresy, Emden was known for his attacks directed against the adherents, or those he supposed to be adherents, of Sabbatai Zevi. In Emdens eyes, Eybeschutz was a convicted Sabbatean, the controversy lasted several years, continuing even after Eybeschutzs death
4.
Sabines
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The Sabines were an Italic tribe which lived in the central Apennines of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The above names, English, Latin, and Greek, are all exonyms, the Sabines divided into two populations just after the founding of Rome, which is described by Roman legend. The division, however it came about, is not legendary, the population closer to Rome transplanted itself to the new city and united with the pre-existing citizenry, beginning a new heritage that descended from the Sabines but was also Latinized. The second population remained a mountain tribal state, coming finally to war against Rome for its independence along with all the other Italic tribes, after losing, it became assimilated into the Roman Republic. There is little record of the Sabine language, however, there are some glosses by ancient commentators, there are also personal names in use on Latin inscriptions from Sabine country, but these are given in Latin form. Robert Seymour Conway, in his Italic Dialects, gives approximately 100 words which vary from being well attested as Sabine to being possibly of Sabine origin, in addition to these he cites place names derived from the Sabine, sometimes giving attempts at reconstructions of the Sabine form. Based on all the evidence, the Linguist List tentatively classifies Sabine as a member of the Umbrian Group of Italic languages of Indo-European family, latin-speakers called the Sabines original territory, straddling the modern regions of Lazio, Umbria, and Abruzzo, Sabinium. To this day, it bears the ancient tribes name in the Italian form of Sabina, within the modern region of Lazio, Sabina constitutes a sub-region, situated north-east of Rome, around Rieti. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians regarded the origins of indigenous Romans to be Greek, the Sabines, specifically, were first mentioned in Dionysiuss account for having captured by surprise the city of Lista, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines. Ancient historians were still debating the specific origins of the Sabines, zenodotus of Troezen claimed that the Sabines were originally Umbrians that changed their name after being driven from the Reatine territory by the Pelasgians. However, Porcius Cato argued that the Sabines were a populace named after Sabus, in another account mentioned in Dionysiuss work, a group of Lacedaemonians fled Sparta since they regarded the laws of Lycurgus as too severe. In Italy, they founded the Spartan colony of Foronia and some from that colony settled among the Sabines, according to the account, the Sabine habits of belligerence and frugality were known to have derived from the Spartans. Plutarch also states in the Life of Numa Pompilius, Sabines, legend says that the Romans abducted Sabine women to populate the newly built Rome. The resultant war ended only by the women throwing themselves and their children between the armies of their fathers and their husbands, the Rape of the Sabine Women became a common motif in art, the women ending the war is a less frequent but still reappearing motif. According to Livy, after the conflict, the Sabine and Roman states merged, three new centuries of Equites were introduced at Rome, including one named Tatienses, after the Sabine king. A variation of the story is recounted in the book of Jasher. Tradition suggests that the population of the early Roman kingdom was the result of a union of Sabines, some of the gentes of the Roman republic were proud of their Sabine heritage, such as the Claudia gens, assuming Sabinus as a cognomen or agnomen. Ancient peoples of Italy Hostus Hostilius Ovid, Fasti Ovid, Ars Amatoria Livy, Ab urbe condita Cicero, De Republica Plutarch, Parallel Lives Juvenal, Satires Donaldson, John William
5.
Mandaeism
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Mandaeism or Mandaeanism, Arabic, مندائية Mandāʼīyah) is a gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Noah, Shem, Aram, and especially John the Baptist, the Aramaic manda means knowledge, as does Greek gnosis. According to most scholars, Mandaeaism originated sometime in the first three centuries AD, with the Mandaen people migrating from the Southern Levant to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE and they are Semites and speak a dialect of Eastern Aramaic known as Mandaic. There is a theory that they may be related to the Nabateans who were pre-Islamic pagan Arabs whose territory extended into southern Iraq, there are thought to be between 60,000 and 70,000 Mandaeans worldwide. Until the 2003 Iraq war, almost all of them lived in Iraq, by 2007, the population of Mandaeans in Iraq had fallen to approximately 5,000. The Mandaeans have remained separate and intensely private, and British cultural anthropologist Lady E. S. Drower. An Anglican vicar, Rev. Peter Owen-Jones, included a segment on a Mandaean group in Sydney, Australia, in his BBC series. The term Mandaeism comes from Classical Mandaic Mandaiia and appears in Neo-Mandaic as Mandeyānā, on the basis of cognates in other Aramaic dialects, Semiticists such as Mark Lidzbarski and Rudolf Macuch have translated the term manda, from which Mandaiia derives, as knowledge. This etymology suggests that the Mandaeans may well be the only sect surviving from late Antiquity to identify themselves explicitly as Gnostics, other scholars derive the term mandaiia from Mandā d-Heyyi or from the word mandi, which is the cultic hut in which many Mandaean ceremonies are performed. This last term is possibly to be derived from Pahlavi m’nd mānd, within the Middle East, but outside of their community, the Mandaeans are more commonly known as the Ṣubba. The term Ṣubba is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, in Islam, the term Sabians is used as a blanket term for adherents of a number of religions, including that of the Mandaeans, in reference to the Sabians of the Quran. Occasionally, Mandaeans are called Christians of Saint John, based upon reports made by members of the Discalced Carmelite mission in Basra during the 16th century. A mandī is a place of worship for followers of Mandaeism, a mandī must be built beside a river in order to perform maṣbattah because water is an essential element in the Mandaeic faith. Modern mandīs sometimes have a bath inside a building instead, the evidence about Mandaean history has been almost entirely confined to some of the Mandaean religious literature. While some scholars, as well as the Mandeans themselves, believe that Mandaeism formed in pre-Christian times, arab sources of early Quranic times make some references to Sabians. They are counted among the Ahl al-Kitāb, and several hadith feature them, the Sabians believed they belong to the prophet Noah, similarly, the Mandaeans claim direct descent from Noah. The earliest account we have about the Mandaeans is that of the Assyrian writer Theodore Bar Konai, in the Fihrist of Arabic scholar Al-Nadim, the Mogtasilah are counted among the followers of El-Hasaih. Called a sect of Sabians, they are located in southern Mesopotamia, Mogtasilah may thus have been Al-Nadims term for the Mandaeans, but they may just as well have been a related group which does not exist anymore today
6.
Gnosticism
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Gnosticism is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, originating in Jewish milieus in the first and second century CE. This Divine spark could be liberated by gnosis of this Divine spark, the Gnostic ideas and systems flourished in Mediterranean in the second century CE, in conjunction with and influenced by the early Christian movements and Middle Platonism. In the Persian Empire Gnosticism spread as far as China with Manicheism, a major question in scholarly research is the qualification of Gnosticism, based on the study of its texts, as either an interreligious phenomenon or as an independent religion. The word Gnosticism is a construction, from the Greek word gnosis. Gnosis refers to knowledge based on experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with the divine, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this knowledge of the divine. It is a knowing, comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus. With gnosis comes a fuller insight, and gives an understanding of the deeper meanings of doctrines, scriptures. The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts is learned or intellectual, platos use of learned is fairly typical of Classical texts. By the Hellenistic period, it began to also be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries, the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria speaks of the learned Christian in complimentary terms. The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus, some scholars consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean intellectual, whereas his mention of the intellectual sect is a specific designation. The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos by St. Irenaeus to describe the school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis the heresy called Learned, the Syrian-Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad. From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons, the Demiurg, one of those Aeons, creates the physical world. Divine elements fall into the realm, and are locked within human beings. This divine element returns to the realm when Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine element within is obtained. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the radical dualist systems of Manicheanism to the dualism of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other, in qualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of monism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner, Gnostics tended toward asceticism, especially in their sexual and dietary practice
7.
Revelation
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In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired, for instance, Orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from Yahweh on biblical Mount Sinai. Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel. In Hinduism, some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya, not human compositions, and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti, what is heard. The 15,000 handwritten pages produced by the mystic Maria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations from Jesus, aleister Crowley stated that The Book of the Law had been revealed to him through a higher being that called itself Aiwass. A revelation communicated by a supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision, direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity, or physical marks such as stigmata, have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego, the Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by the recipient. In the Abrahamic religions, the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself, his will, in secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy, and other divine things. Revelation from a supernatural source plays an important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Revelation may be defined as the communication of truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature. George Joyce draws a distinction between revelation and inspiration, with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, beginning about the mid-17th century, the development of rationalism, materialism and atheism, the concept of supernatural revelation itself faced skepticism. In The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine develops the theology of deism, rejecting the possibility of miracles, Thomas Aquinas believed in two types of individual revelation from God, general revelation and special revelation. In general revelation, God reveals himself through his creation, such that at least some truths about God can be learned by the study of nature, physics, cosmology. Special revelation is the knowledge of God and spiritual matters which can be discovered through supernatural means, such as scripture or miracles, direct revelation refers to communication from God to someone in particular. Though one may deduce the existence of God and some of Gods attributes through general revelation, Aquinas believed that special revelation is equivalent to the revelation of God in Jesus. The major theological components of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings of the church, special revelation and natural revelation are complementary rather than contradictory in nature. Continuous revelation is a term for the position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity. In the 20th century, religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in and of itself, Revelation is a human response that records how we respond to God
8.
Divine illumination
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According to divine illumination, the process of human thought needs to be aided by divine grace. It is the oldest and most influential alternative to naturalism in the theory of mind and it was an important feature of ancient Greek philosophy, Neoplatonism, medieval philosophy, and the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy. Socrates says in The Apology that he had a divine or spiritual sign that began when he was a child and it was a voice that turned him away from something he was about to do, although it never encouraged him to do anything. Apuleius later suggested the voice was of a demon and that Socrates deserved this help as he was the most perfect of human beings. You will light my lamp, Lord and You hear nothing true from me which you have not first told me, according to Augustine, God does not give us certain information, but rather gives us insight into the truth of the information we received for ourselves. If we both see that what you say is true, and we see that what I say is true, then where do we see that. Not I in you, nor you in me, but both of us in that unalterable truth that is above our minds, augustines theory was defended by Christian philosophers of the later Middle Ages, particularly Franciscans such as Bonaventura and Matthew of Aquasparta. According to Bonaventura, Things have existence in the mind, in their own nature, Aquinas also denied that there is a special continuing divine influence on human thought. People have sufficient capacity for thought on their own, without needing new illumination added onto their natural illumination, the theory was defended by Henry of Ghent. Henry argued against Aquinas that Aristotles theory of abstraction is not enough to explain how we can acquire knowledge of the truth. A thing has two exemplars against which it can be compared, the first is a created exemplar which exists in the soul. The second is an exemplar which exists outside the soul, but no comparison to a created exemplar can give us infallible truth. Since the dignity of man requires that we can acquire such truth, Henrys defence of divine illumination was strongly criticised by the Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus, who argued that Henrys version of the theory led to scepticism
9.
Bodhi
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Bodhi in Buddhism is the understanding possessed by a Buddha regarding the true nature of things. It is traditionally translated into English with the enlightenment, although its literal meaning is closer to awakening. The verbal root budh means to awaken, Bodhi is presented in the Nikayas as knowledge of the causal mechanism by which beings incarnate into material form and experience suffering. Although its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism, Bodhi is an abstract noun formed from the verbal root *budh- corresponding to the verbs bujjhati and bodhati or budhyate. The feminine Sanskrit noun of *budh- is buddhi, the soteriological goal of Indian religions is liberation or moksha. Liberation is simultaneously freedom from suffering and the round of existences. According to the Buddha the path to liberation is one of progressively coming out of delusion and this path is therefore regarded as a path of awakening. Progressing along the path towards Nirvana one gains insight into the nature of things. A Buddha is one who has attained liberation and an understanding of the mechanism by means of which sentient beings come into existence. This mechanism is called pratitya samutpada or dependent origination, the knowledge or understanding of this is called bodhi. In the suttapitaka, the Buddhist canon as preserved in the Theravada-tradition, in the Vanapattha Sutta the Buddha describes life in the jungle, and the attainment of awakening. The monk has. attained the unattained supreme security from bondage, awakening is also described as synonymous with Nirvana, the extinction of the passions whereby suffering is ended and no more rebirths take place. The insight arises that this liberation is certain, Knowledge arose in me, and insight, my freedom is certain, this is my last birth, now there is no rebirth. So awakening is insight into karma and rebirth, insight into the Four Noble Truths, the extinction of the passions whereby Nirvana is reached, the Buddhist tradition gives a wide variety of descriptions of the Buddhist Path to liberation. Tradition describes the Buddhas awakening, and the descriptions of the path given in the Sutta Pitaka, by following this path Buddhahood can be attained. Following this path dissolves the ten fetters and terminates volitional actions that bind a human being to the wheel of samsara, the Theravada-tradition follows the Path to purification described by Buddhaghosa in his Visuddhimagga. It features four progressive stages culminating in full enlightenment, the four stages are Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anagami and Arahat. Three types of buddha are recognized, Arhat, those who reach Nirvana by following the teachings of the Buddha, the term bodhi acquired a variety of meanings and connotations during the development of Buddhist thoughts in the various schools
10.
Simon Magus
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Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, in Latin Simon Magus, is a religious figure whose confrontation with Peter is recorded in Acts 8, 9–24. Accounts of Simon by writers of the second century exist, but are not considered verifiable, according to Acts, Simon was a Samaritan magus or religious figure of the 1st century AD and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip the Evangelist. The sin of simony, or paying for position and influence in the church, is named after Simon, the Apostolic Constitutions also accuses him of lawlessness. According to Recognitions, Simons parents were named Antonius and Rachel, surviving traditions about Simon appear in orthodox texts, such as those of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius, where he is often regarded as the source of all heresies. Justin wrote that all the Samaritans in his time were adherents of a certain Simon of Gitta. According to Josephus, Gitta was settled by the tribe of Dan, Irenaeus held him as being one of the founders of Gnosticism and the sect of the Simonians. Hippolytus quotes from a work he attributes to Simon or his followers the Simonians, Apophasis Megale, Simon was later crucified, possibly even flayed. In apocryphal works including the Acts of Peter, Pseudo-Clementines, the different sources for information on Simon contain quite different pictures of him, so much so that it has been questioned whether they all refer to the same person. And to him they had regard, because that of time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, some scholars have considered the two to be identical, although this is not generally accepted, as the Simon of Josephus is a Jew rather than a Samaritan. Justin and Irenaeus are the first to recount the myth of Simon and Helen, Epiphanius of Salamis also makes Simon speak in the first person in several places in his Panarion, and the Implication is that he is quoting from a version of it, though perhaps not verbatim. In the beginning God had his first thought, his Ennoia, which was female, the First Thought then descended into the lower regions and created the angels. But the angels rebelled against her out of jealousy and created the world as her prison, thereafter, she was reincarnated many times, each time being shamed. Her many reincarnations included Helen of Troy, among others, and she finally was reincarnated as Helen, God then descended in the form of Simon Magus, to rescue his Ennoia, and to confer salvation upon men through knowledge of himself. And on her account, he says, did I come down, for works were not just by nature, but only by convention, in accordance with the enactments of the world-creating angels, who by precepts of this kind sought to bring men into slavery
11.
Simonians
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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 districts of Asia Minor. In the 3rd century remnants of it existed, which survived until the 4th century. Justin Martyr wrote in his Apology that the sect of the Simonians appeared to have been formidable, as he speaks four times of their founder, Simon. The Simonians are mentioned by Hegesippus, their doctrines are quoted and opposed in connection with Simon Magus by Irenaeus, by the Philosophumena, origen also mentions that some of the sect were called Heleniani. According to John D. Turner, the Simonians originated as a local Jewish cult in the first century CE and this early cult was syncretistic, but not Gnostic. In the second century Simon was transformed into a Gnostic saviour, influence of Greek philosophy resulted in a Gnostic monistic theogony. According to Magris, Samaritan Baptist sects were an offshoot of John the Baptist, One offshoot was in turn headed by Dositheus, Simon Magus, and Menander. It was in this milieu that the idea emerged that the world was created by ignorant angels and their baptismal ritual removed the consequences of sin, and lead to a regeneration by which natural death, which was caused by these angels, was overcome. The Samaritan leaders were viewed as the embodiment of Gods power, spirit, or wisdom, and as the redeemer and revealer of true knowledge. Dositheus, a Samaritan who died from starvation, is said to have originally been the Standing One, or leader, of John the Baptists sect, origen, who was ordained priest in AD231, speaks of Dositheus, and also mentions Simon Magus. As late as the beginning of the 7th century, Eulogius of Alexandria opposed Dositheans, like Simon, Menander, who was a pupil and, after Simons death, his most important successor, also proclaimed himself to be the one sent of God, the Messias. In the same way he taught the creation of the world by angels who were sent by the Ennoia and he asserted that men received immortality and the resurrection by his baptism and practiced magical arts. The sect named after him, the Menandrians, continued to exist for a length of time. Carpocrates practised in the tradition of Basildes, and his own follower, Marcellina, in the Philosophumena of Hippolytus, Simons doctrine is recorded according to his reputed work, The Great Declaration, as it existed in the 2nd century. As Hippolytus himself in more than one place out, it is an earlier form of the Valentinian doctrine. The whole book is a mixture of Hellenism and Hebraism, in which the method of allegory is applied to Homer. Starting from the assertion of Moses that God is a devouring fire and this first principle he denominated a Boundless Power, and he declared it to dwell in the sons of men, beings born of flesh and blood
12.
Basilideans
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The Basilidians or Basilideans were a Gnostic sect founded by Basilides of Alexandria in the 2nd century. Basilides claimed to have taught his doctrines by Glaucus, a disciple of St. Peter. The sect had three grades – material, intellectual and spiritual – and possessed two allegorical statues, male and female, the sects doctrines were often similar to those of the Ophites and later Jewish Kabbalism. Basilidianism survived until the end of the 4th century as Epiphanius knew of Basilidians living in the Nile Delta and it was however almost exclusively limited to Egypt, though according to Sulpicius Severus it seems to have found an entrance into Spain through a certain Mark from Memphis. St. Jerome states that the Priscillianists were infected with it, the descriptions of the Basilidian system given by our chief informants, Irenaeus and Hippolytus, are so strongly divergent that they seem to many quite irreconcilable. According to Hippolytus, Basilides was apparently a pantheistic evolutionist, and according to Irenaeus, a dualist, historians such as Philip Shaff have the opinion that Irenaeus described a form of Basilidianism which was not the original, but a later corruption of the system. The fundamental theme of the Basilidian system is the question concerning the origin of evil and their whole system, says Clement, is a confusion of the Panspermia with the Phylokrinesis and the return of things thus confused to their own places. According to Hippolytus, Basilides asserted the beginning of all things to have been pure nothing and he uses every device of language to express absolute nonentity. Nothing then being in existence, not-being God willed to make a world out of not-being things. This not-being world was only a single seed containing within itself all the seed-mass of the world, within this seed-mass were three parts, or sonships, and were consubstantial with the not-being God. This was the one origin of all future growths, these future growths did not use pre-existing matter, the first part of the seed-mass burst through and ascended to the not-being God. The second part of the seed-mass to burst forth could not mount up of itself, but it took to itself as a wing of the Holy Spirit, each bearing up the other with mutual benefit. But when it came near the place of the first part of the seed-mass, there the Holy Spirit remained, as a firmament dividing things above the world from the world itself below. From the third part of the seed-mass burst forth into being the Great Archon, the head of the world and he too ascended until he reached the firmament which he supposed to be the upward end of all things. There he made to himself and begat out of the things below a son far better and wiser than himself, then he became wiser and every way better than all other cosmical things except the seed-mass left below. Smitten with wonder at his sons beauty, he set him at his right hand and this is what they call the Ogdoad, where the Great Archon is sitting. Then all the heavenly or ethereal creation, as far down as the moon, was made by the Great Archon and this region is called the Hebdomad. On the other hand, all events occurred according to the plan of the not-being God
13.
Valentinianism
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Valentinianism is a Gnostic Christian movement that was founded by Valentinus in the second century AD. Valentinianism was one of the major Gnostic movements and its influence was extremely widespread, not just within Rome, but also from Northwest Africa to Egypt through to Asia Minor and Syria in the east. Later in the history it broke into two schools, an Eastern school and a Western school. Disciples of Valentinus continued to be active into the 4th century AD, Gnostics were condemned as heretics, and prominent Church fathers such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome wrote against Gnosticism. Most evidence for the Valentinian theory comes from its critics and detractors, most notably Irenaeus, Valentinus was born in approximately 100 AD and died in Alexandria in approximately AD180. According to Epiphanius of Salamis, a Christian scholar, he was born in Egypt, clement of Alexandria, another Christian scholar and teacher, reports that Valentinus was taught by Theudas, a disciple of the apostle Paul. It is reputed that he was an eloquent man who possessed a great deal of charisma and had an innate ability to attract people. He went to Rome some time between AD136 and 140, in the time of Pope Hyginus, and had risen to the peak of his career between AD150 and 155, during the time of Pius. Valentinus is said to have been a successful teacher, and for some time in the mid-2nd century he was even a prominent. At one point during his career he had hoped to attain the office of bishop. Most scholars also believe that Valentinus wrote the Gospel of Truth, notable Valentinians included Heracleon, Ptolemy, Florinus, Axionicus and Theodotus. The theology that Irenaeus attributed to Valentinus is extremely complicated and difficult to follow, according to Irenaeus, the Valentinians believed that at the beginning there was a Pleroma. Sophia’s weakness, curiosity and passion led to her fall from the Pleroma, Valentinians identified the God of the Old Testament as the Demiurge, the imperfect creator of the material world. Man, the highest being in this world, participates in both the spiritual and the material nature. The work of redemption consists in freeing the former from the latter, one needed to recognize the Father, the depth of all being, as the true source of divine power in order to achieve gnosis. Clement wrote that the Valentinians regarded Catholic Christians “as simple people to whom they attributed faith, through the excellent seed that is to be found in them, they are by nature redeemed, and their gnosis is as far removed from faith as the spiritual from the physical”. The superstructure of the system, the celestial world of Aeons, is here developed in the most complicated way. These Aeons belong to the ideal, noumenal, intelligible, or supersensible world, they are immaterial
14.
Marcion of Sinope
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Marcion of Sinope was an important leader in early Christianity. His theology rejected the deity described in the Hebrew Scriptures and in distinction affirmed the Father of Christ as the true God, the Church Fathers denounced Marcion, and he chose to separate himself from the proto-orthodox church. He published the earliest extant fixed collection of New Testament books, Epiphanius records in his Panarion that Marcion was born the son of a bishop in Pontus. His near-contemporaries Rhodo and Tertullian described him as a mariner and a ship-master, Marcion made a donation of 200,000 sesterces to the church in Rome. Conflicts with the church of Rome arose and he was eventually excommunicated, after his excommunication, he returned to Asia Minor, where he continued to lead his many church congregations and teach the Christian gospel in its Marcionite version. According to anti-Marcionite sources, Marcions teacher was the Simonian Cerdo, in 394, Epiphanius claimed that after beginnings as an ascetic, Marcion seduced a virgin and was accordingly excommunicated by his father, prompting him to leave his home town. This account has been doubted by scholars, who consider it malicious gossip. More recently, Bart D. Ehrman suggests that this seduction of a virgin was a metaphor for his corruption of the Christian Church, Marcion responded by developing a ditheistic system of belief around the year 144. In contrast to other leaders of the nascent Christian church, however, Marcion declared that Christianity was in complete discontinuity with Judaism, Marcion did not claim that the Jewish scriptures were false. Instead, Marcion asserted that they were to be read in a literal manner. Contrastingly, the god that Jesus professed is a different being. Marcion also produced his Antitheses contrasting the Demiurge of the Old Testament with the Heavenly Father of the New Testament, Marcion was the first to introduce an early Christian canon. The gospel used by Marcion does not contain elements relating to Jesus birth and childhood, although it does contain elements of Judaism. Marcion is sometimes described as a Gnostic philosopher, in some essential respects, Marcion proposed ideas which would have aligned well with Gnostic thought. Like the Gnostics, he argued that Jesus was essentially a divine spirit appearing to human beings in the shape of a human form, however, Marcionism conceptualizes God in a way which cannot be reconciled with broader Gnostic thought. For Gnostics, some human beings are born with a piece of Gods soul lodged within his/her spirit. God is thus connected to and part of his creation. Salvation lies in turning away from the world and embracing the God-like qualities within yourself
15.
Abrahamic religions
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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the phrase, Abrahamic religion, may mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a father in faith, there is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim, indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. Jewish tradition claims descent from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and it is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abrahams son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Báb, regarded by Baháís as a predecessor to Baháulláh, was a Sayyid, or a descendant of Muhammad. Tradition also holds that Baháulláh is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, while there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, there are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity, and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháí Faith not shared by Judaism. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob and it has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion—Christianity—with distinctive beliefs, Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be God the Son, one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches, dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones. Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Quran to be the authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices of a central. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam through the messenger to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two branches, each of which now have a number of denominations
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Druze
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The Druze are an esoteric ethnoreligious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as unitarians. Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of all Mandaeans and Mahra from Druze Mountain, the Druze faith is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn-Ali, al-Hakim, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Akhenaten. The Epistles of Wisdom is the text of the Druze faith. The Druze follow theophany, and believe in reincarnation or the transmigration of the soul, at the end of the cycle of rebirth, which is achieved through successive reincarnations, the soul is united with the Cosmic Mind. Although dwarfed by other, larger communities, the Druze community played an important role in shaping the history of the Levant, even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, Druze are not considered Muslims. Fatimid Caliph Ali az-Zahir, whose father al-Hakim is a key figure in the Druze faith, was harsh, causing the death of many Druze in Antioch, Aleppo. Persecution flared up during the rule of the Mamluks and Ottomans, most recently, Druze were targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Al-Qaeda in order to cleanse Syria and neighboring countries of non-Islamic influence. The Druze faith is one of the religious groups in the Levant. They are found primarily in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, with communities in Jordan. The oldest and most densely-populated Druze communities exist in Mount Lebanon, the Druze people reside primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. The Institute of Druze Studies estimates that forty to fifty percent of Druze live in Syria, thirty to forty percent in Lebanon, six to seven percent in Israel, about two percent of the Druze population are also scattered within other countries in the Middle East. Large communities of Druze also live outside the Middle East, in Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States and they use the Arabic language and follow a social pattern very similar to those of the other peoples of the Levant. The number of Druze people worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant, the name Druze is derived from the name of Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazī who was an early preacher. Although the Druze consider ad-Darazī a heretic, the name has been used to identify them, before becoming public, the movement was secretive and held closed meetings in what was known as Sessions of Wisdom. In 1016 ad-Darazi and his followers openly proclaimed their beliefs and called people to them, causing riots in Cairo against the Unitarian movement including Hamza bin Ali. This led to the suspension of the movement for one year, although the Druze religious books describe ad-Darazi as the insolent one and as the calf who is narrow-minded and hasty, the name Druze is still used for identification and for historical reasons. In 1018 ad-Darazi was assassinated for his teachings, some claim that he was executed by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Some authorities see in the name Druze a descriptive epithet, derived from Arabic dāresah, others have speculated that the word comes from the Persian word Darazo or from Shaykh Hussayn ad-Darazī, who was one of the early converts to the faith
17.
Alawites
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The Alawites, also known as Alawis, are part of a branch of Islam, Alawi Islam, centered in Syria, who follow the Twelver school of Shia Islam but with syncretistic elements. Alawites revere Ali, and the name Alawi means followers of Ali, the sect is believed to have been founded by Ibn Nusayr during the 9th century. Today, Alawites represent 11 percent of the Syrian population and are a significant minority in Turkey, there is also a population living in the village of Ghajar in the Golan Heights. They are often confused with the Alevis of Turkey, Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast which are also inhabited by Sunnis, Christians, and Ismailis. Alawites have historically kept their beliefs secret from outsiders and non-initiated Alawites, Arabic accounts of their beliefs tend to be partisan. However, since the early 2000s, Western scholarship on the Alawite religion has made significant advances, at the core of Alawite belief is a divine triad, comprising three aspects of the one God. These aspects or emanations appear cyclically in human form throughout history, the last emanations of the divine triad, according to Alawite belief, were as Ali, Muhammad and Salman the Persian. Alawites were historically persecuted for these beliefs by the Sunni Muslim rulers of the area, the establishment of the French Mandate of Syria marked a turning point in Alawi history. It gave the French the power to recruit Syrian civilians into their forces for an indefinite period and created exclusive areas for minorities. The Alawite State was later dismantled, but the Alawites continued to be a significant part of the Syrian army, since Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970, the government has been dominated by a political elite led by the Alawite Al-Assad family. During the Islamic uprising in Syria in the 1970s and 1980s the establishment came under pressure, even greater pressure has resulted from the Syrian Civil War. French occupying forces used the term Alaouites, a transliteration into French, in older sources, Alawis are often called Ansaris. According to Samuel Lyde, who lived among the Alawites during the mid-19th century, other sources indicate that Ansari is simply a Western error in the transliteration of Nosairi. However, the term Nusayri had fallen out of currency by the 1920s and they characterised the older name as an invention of the sects enemies, ostensibly favouring an emphasis on connection with mainstream Islam—particularly the Shia branch. As such, Nusayri is now regarded as antiquated, and has even come to have insulting. Recent research has shown that the Alawi appellation was used by the sects adherents since the 11th century, the following quote from Alkan illustrates this point, In actual fact, the name Alawī appears as early as in an 11 th-century Nuṣayrī tract. Moreover, the term Alawī was already used at the beginning of the 20th century, lastly, it is interesting to note that in the above-mentioned petitions of 1892 and 1909 the Nuṣayrīs called themselves the Arab Alawī people our ʿAlawī Nuṣayrī people or signed with Alawī people. This early self-designation is, in my opinion, of triple importance, the Alawites are distinct from the Alevi religious sect in Turkey, although the terms share a common etymology and pronunciation
18.
Persian people
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The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran. They share a cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the ancient Iranian population who entered modern-day Iran by the early 10th century BC. The English term Persian derives from Latin Persia, itself deriving from Greek Persís, in the Bible, it is referred to as Parás —sometimes Paras uMadai —within the books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya. Although Persis was originally one of the provinces of ancient Iran, varieties of this term were adopted through Greek sources, thus, in the Western world, the term Persian came to refer to all inhabitants of the country. 10th-century Iraqi historian Al-Masudi refers to Pahlavi, Dari and Azari as dialects of the Persian language, in 1333, medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta, referred to the people of Kabul as a specific sub-tribe of Persians. Lady Mary Sheil, in her observation of Iran during the Qajar era, describes Persians, Kurds and Leks to identify themselves as descendants of the ancient Persians. On March 21,1935, the king of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking the international community to use the term Iran. However, the term Persian is still used to designate the predominant population of the Iranian peoples living in the Iranian cultural continent. The earliest known written record attributed to the Persians is from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the inscription mentions Parsua as a tribal chiefdom in modern-day western Iran. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the Iranian population that, in the early 10th century BC. They were initially dominated by the Assyrians for much of the first three centuries after arriving in the region, however, they played a role in the downfall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes, another branch of population, founded the unified empire of Media as the regions dominant cultural and political power in c.625 BC. Meanwhile, the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids formed a state to the central Median power. In c.552 BC, the Achaemenids began a revolution which led to the conquest of the empire by Cyrus II in c.550 BC. They spread their influence to the rest of what is called the Iranian Plateau, at its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from parts of Eastern Europe in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenids developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence, including the creation of Pasargadae and its legacy and impact on the kingdom of Macedon was also notably huge, even for centuries after the withdrawal of the Persians from Europe following the Greco-Persian Wars. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, until the Parthian era, the Iranian identity had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value, however, it did not yet have a political import
19.
Manichaeism
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Manichaeism was a major religious movement that was founded by the Iranian prophet Mani in the Sasanian Empire. Manichaeism taught a dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light. Its beliefs were based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements, Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-Syriac speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world, Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire. It was briefly the main rival to Christianity in the competition to replace classical paganism, while most of Manichaeisms original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived. An adherent of Manichaeism is called, especially in older sources, Mani, an Arsacid Persian by birth, was born 216 AD in Mesopotamia, which was ruled by Persia, then within the Sassanid Empire province of Asuristan. According to the Cologne Mani-Codex, Manis parents were members of the Jewish Christian Gnostic sect known as the Elcesaites, Mani composed seven writings, six of which were written in Syriac Aramaic. The seventh, the Shabuhragan, was written by Mani in Middle Persian and presented by him to the contemporary King of Sassanid Persia, Shapur I, in the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. Although there is no proof Shapur I was a Manichaean, he tolerated the spread of Manichaeism, while Manichaeism was spreading, existing religions such as Zoroastrianism were still popular and Christianity was gaining social and political influence. Although having fewer adherents, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures, with the assistance of the Persian Empire, Mani began missionary expeditions. The date of his death is estimated at AD 276–277, Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the Religion of Light. Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was 12 and again when he was 24, with the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in a Jewish-Christian baptism sect, the Elcesaites, and was influenced by their writings as well. It taught him truths which he developed into a religion and his divine Twin or true Self brought Mani to self-realization. He claimed to be the Paraclete of the Truth, as promised in the New Testament, Manichaeisms views on Jesus are described by historians, Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities, Jesus the Luminous, Jesus the Messiah and Jesus patibilis. Jesus the Messiah was a historical being who was the prophet of the Jews, however, the Manichaeans believed he was wholly divine. He never experienced human birth as notions of physical conception and birth filled the Manichaeans with horror, since he was the light of the world, where was this light, they asked, when he was in the womb of the Virgin. Jesus the Messiah was truly born at his baptism as it was on occasion that the Father openly acknowledged his sonship
20.
Chinese people
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The Han Chinese, Han people or simply Han are an ethnic group native to East Asia. They constitute approximately 92% of the population of China, 95% of Taiwan, 76% of Singapore, 23% of Malaysia, Han Chinese are the worlds largest ethnic group with over 1.3 billion people. Similarly, the Chinese language also came to be named the Han language ever since, in the Oxford Dictionary, the Han are defined as The dominant ethnic group in China. In the Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, the Han are called the dominant population in China, as well as in Taiwan, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the Han are the Chinese peoples especially as distinguished from non-Chinese elements in the population. The name Hanzhong, in turn, was derived from the Han River, which flows through the regions plains. The river, in turn, derives its name from such as Tianhan, Yinhan, Xinghan or Yunhan, all ancient Chinese poetic nicknames for the Milky Way. This gave rise to a commonly used nowadays by overseas Chinese for ethnic identity – Huaren. The term is used in conversation and is also an element in the Cantonese word for Chinatown. The vast majority of Han Chinese – over 1.2 billion of them – live in areas under the jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China, where they constitute about 92% of its population. Han Chinese also constitute the majority in both of the administrative regions of the PRC—about 95% and 96% of the population of Hong Kong and Macau. There are over 22 million Han Chinese in Taiwan, they began migrating from the coastal provinces of mainland China to Taiwan during the 13th to 17th century. At first, these migrants chose to settle in locations that bore a resemblance to the areas they had left behind in mainland China, hoklo immigrants from Quanzhou settled in coastal regions, and those from Zhangzhou tended to gather on inland plains, while the Hakka inhabited hilly areas. Clashes between these groups over land, water, and cultural differences led to the relocation of some communities, of about 40 million overseas Chinese worldwide, nearly 30 million live in Southeast Asia. They are collectively called Nanyang Chinese, according to a population genetic study, Singapore is the country with the biggest proportion of Hans in Southeast Asia. Up until the past few decades, overseas Han communities originated predominantly from areas in southern China, christmas Island has a Chinese majority at 70%, large Chinese populations also live in Malaysia and Thailand. Prior to the 1965 split, Malaysia and Singapore used to have the largest overseas Chinese population in the world and this position has since been taken by Thailand. The prehistory of the Han ethnic group is closely intertwined with both records and mythology. Han Chinese trace their ancestry from a confederation of late neolithic/early bronze-age agricultural tribes that lived along the Guanzhong, the Yellow Emperor is traditionally credited to have united with the neighbouring Shennong tribes after defeating their leader, Flame Emperor, at the Battle of Banquan
21.
Chinese Manichaeism
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Chinese Manichaeism is the form of Manichaeism transmitted and practiced in China. Manichaeism was introduced into China in the Tang dynasty, through Central Asian communities and it never rose to prominence, and was officially banned and persecuted through the suppression of non-Chinese religions started by the Emperor Wuzong of Tang. Since its introduction, Manichaeism was deeply sinicised in its style, after the Tang, Manichaeism survived among the population and had a profound influence on the tradition of the Chinese folk religious sects integrating with the Maitreyan beliefs. In modern China, Manichaean groups are active in southern provinces, especially in Quanzhou and around the Caoan. There is a Chinese Manichaean Council with representatives in Tibet and Beijing, Chinese Manichaeism identifies as a teaching with the purpose of awakening, and it is a monotheism worshipping the universal God. Creation is the Living Spirit of God, of whom there have been many manifestations in human form, Chinese salvationist religions Chinese Buddhism Religion in China Wearring, Andrew. Manichaean Studies in the 21st Century, through a Glass Darkly, Reflections on the Sacred
22.
Nag Hammadi library
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The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Twelve leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a jar were found by a local farmer named Muhammed al-Samman. D. The discovery of these texts significantly influenced modern scholarship into early Christianity, the contents of the codices were written in the Coptic language. The best-known of these works is probably the Gospel of Thomas, subsequently, a 1st or 2nd century date of composition circa 80 AD or earlier has been proposed for the lost Greek originals of the Gospel of Thomas. The buried manuscripts date from the 3rd and 4th centuries, the Nag Hammadi codices are currently housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt. The story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 has been described as as exciting as the contents of the find itself, neither originally reported the find, as they sought to make money from the manuscripts by selling them individually at intervals. The brothers mother burned several of the manuscripts, worried, apparently, as a result, what came to be known as the Nag Hammadi library appeared only gradually, and its significance went unacknowledged until some time after its initial discovery. In 1946, the brothers became involved in a feud, and his brother-in-law in October that year sold a codex to the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. The resident Coptologist and religious historian Jean Doresse, realizing the significance of the artifact, after the revolution in 1952, these texts were handed to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and declared national property. Pahor Labib, the director of the Coptic Museum at that time, was keen to keep manuscripts in their country of origin. Meanwhile, a single codex had been sold in Cairo to a Belgian antique dealer. After an attempt was made to sell the codex in both New York City and Paris, it was acquired by the Carl Gustav Jung Institute in Zurich in 1951, through the mediation of Gilles Quispel. It was intended as a present to the famous psychologist, for this reason. The papyri were finally together in Cairo, of the 1945 find, eleven complete books. The first edition of a text found at Nag Hammadi was from the Jung Codex, a translation of which appeared in Cairo in 1956. Due to the political circumstances in Egypt, individual tracts followed from the Cairo. This state of affairs did not change until 1966, with the holding of the Messina Congress in Italy, at this conference, intended to allow scholars to arrive at a group consensus concerning the definition of gnosticism, James M. A facsimile edition in twelve volumes was published between 1972 and 1977, with subsequent additions in 1979 and 1984 from the publisher E. J, brill in Leiden, entitled, The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices
23.
Codex
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A codex is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written contents. The book is bound by stacking the pages and fixing one edge. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, the alternative to paged codex format for a long document is the continuous scroll. Examples of folded codices include the Maya codices, sometimes people use the term for a book-style format, including modern printed books but excluding folded books. The Romans developed the form from wooden writing tablets, the codexs gradual replacement of the scroll—the dominant book form in the ancient world—has been called the most important advance in book making before the invention of printing. The codex transformed the shape of the book itself, and offered a form that lasted for centuries, the spread of the codex is often associated with the rise of Christianity, which adopted the format for use with the Bible early on. In fact, any combination of codices and scrolls with papyrus and parchment is technically feasible, the codex began to replace the scroll almost as soon as it was invented. In Egypt, by the century, the codex outnumbered the scroll by ten to one based on surviving examples. By the sixth century, the scroll had almost vanished as a medium for literature, technically, even modern paperbacks are codices, but publishers and scholars reserve the term for manuscript books produced from Late antiquity until the Middle Ages. The scholarly study of manuscripts from the point of view of the bookbinding craft is called codicology. The study of ancient documents in general is called paleography, the Romans used precursors made of reusable wax-covered tablets of wood for taking notes and other informal writings. Two ancient polyptychs, a pentatych and octotych, excavated at Herculaneum used a connecting system that presages later sewing on of thongs or cords. Julius Caesar may have been the first Roman to reduce scrolls to pages in the form of a note-book. At the turn of the 1st century AD, a kind of folded parchment notebook called pugillares membranei in Latin became commonly used for writing in the Roman Empire, theodore Cressy Skeat theorized that this form of notebook was invented in Rome and then spread rapidly to the Near East. Codices are described in works by the Classical Latin poet. He wrote a series of five couplets meant to accompany gifts of literature that Romans exchanged during the festival of Saturnalia. ”Early codices of parchment or papyrus appear to have widely used as personal notebooks. The parchment notebook pages were commonly washed or scraped for re-use and consequently, writings in a codex were often considered informal, as early as the early 2nd century, there is evidence that a codex—usually of papyrus—was the preferred format among Christians. In the library of the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum, however, in the Nag Hammadi library, hidden about AD390, all texts are codices
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Codex Tchacos
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The Codex Tchacos is important, because it contains the first known surviving copy of the Gospel of Judas, a text that was rejected as heresy by the early Christian church and lost for 1700 years. The Gospel of Judas was mentioned and summarized by the Church Father Irenaeus of Lyons in his work Against Heresies and this would make the Gospel of Judas older than the codex. The codex was rediscovered near El Minya, Egypt during the 1970s, one stored it in a safe deposit box and another actually froze the documents, causing a unique and difficult kind of decay that makes the papyrus appear sandblasted. She named it in honor of her father, Dimaratos Tchacos, According to National Geographics website, fragments purported to be from the codex may also be part of an Ohio antiquities dealers estate. In April 2006, a translation of the text, with extensive footnotes, was released by the National Geographic Society. A special issue of the magazine was devoted to the Gospel of Judas. The team also hopes to look at the cartonnage in order to find clues about who made the codex, most notably, she points out that the first National Geographic translation omitted a not, reversing the meaning of the text. In an opinion piece in the New York Times, she wrote, According to the National Geographic translation, but it’s clear from the transcription that the scholars altered the Coptic original, which eliminated a negative from the original sentence. In fact, the states that Judas will not ascend to the holy generation. The importance of the Codex Tchacos is not in doubt, but work has begun in understanding its true influence. Bethge, Codex Tchacos, Texte und Analysen, frequently Asked Questions, from National Geographic. Gospel of Judas April D. DeConick, Gospel Truth, the New York Times, December 1,2007
25.
Merkabah mysticism
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For the modern Israeli main battle tank see Merkava. Merkabah/Merkavah mysticism is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c, a major text in this tradition is the Maaseh Merkabah. The noun merkabah thing to ride in, cart is derived from the consonantal root r-k-b with the meaning to ride. However, when left untranslated, in English the Hebrew term merkabah relates to the throne-chariot of God in prophetic visions. It is most closely associated with the vision in Ezekiel chapter 1 of the vehicle driven by four hayyot, each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox. According to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, his vision consists of a made of many heavenly beings driven by the Likeness of a Man. The base structure of the chariot is composed of four beings and these beings are called the living creatures. The bodies of the creatures are like that of a human being, the faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces, each Hayyot angel also has four wings. Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and this creates a sort of box of wings that forms the perimeter of the chariot. With the remaining two wings, each angel covers its own body, below, but not attached to, the feet of the Hayyot angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. These wheel angels, which are described as a wheel inside of a wheel, are called Ophanim אופנים and these wheels are not directly under the chariot but are nearby and along its perimeter. The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side, the Likeness of a Man sits on a throne made of sapphire. The Bible later makes mention of a type of angel found in the Merkabah called Seraphim angels. These angels appear like flashes of fire continuously ascending and descending and these Seraphim angels power the movement of the chariot. In the hierarchy of angels, Seraphim are the highest, that is, closest to God, followed by the Hayyot. The chariot is in a constant state of motion, and the energy behind this movement runs according to this hierarchy, the movement of the Ophanim is controlled by the Living creatures, or Hayyot, while the movement of the Hayyot is controlled by the Seraphim. The movement of all the angels of the chariot is controlled by the Likeness of a Man on the Throne
26.
Apocalyptic literature
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Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. Apocalypse is a Greek word meaning revelation, an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known, as a genre, apocalyptic literature details the authors visions of the end times as revealed by an angel or other heavenly messenger. The apocalyptic literature of Judaism and Christianity embraces a considerable period, Apocalyptic elements can be detected in the prophetical books of Joel and Zechariah, while Isaiah chapters 24–27 and 33 present well-developed apocalypses. The Book of Daniel offers a fully matured and classic example of genre of literature. The non-fulfillment of prophecies served to popularize the methods of apocalyptic in comparison with the non-fulfillment of the advent of the Messianic kingdom. Some believe that the Messianic kingdom was not necessarily predicted to occur at the end of the seventy years of the Babylonian exile, but at some unspecified time in the future. The only thing for certain that was predicted is the return of the Jews to their land, thus, the fulfillment of the Messianic kingdom remained in the future for the Jews. This period was approximately 70 years, as prophesied by Jeremiah, the Book of Enoch, however, was not considered inspired Scripture by the Jews, so that any failed prophecy in it is of no consequence to the Jewish faith. The Greek empire of the East was overthrown by Rome, the fourth and last empire was declared to be Roman by the Apocalypse of Baruch chapters 36–40 and 4 Ezra 10, 60–12,35. Again, these two books were not considered inspired Scripture by the Jews, and thus were not authoritative on matters of prophecy, thus, it might be interpreted that Daniel was saying that Rome would be the last world power before the kingdom of God. Such ideas as those of the day of Yahweh and the new heavens, thus the inner development of Jewish apocalyptic was conditioned by the historical experiences of the nation. But the prophecies found in Jewish scriptures, which have not changed over time, another source of apocalyptic thought was primitive mythological and cosmological traditions, in which the eye of the seer could see the secrets of the future. Thus the six days of the creation, followed by a seventh of rest, were regarded as at once a history of the past. The object of literature in general was to square the righteousness of God with the suffering condition of His righteous servants on earth. Early Old Testament prophecy taught the need of personal and national righteousness, later prophecy incorporated an idea of future vindication of present evils, often including the idea of an afterlife. Apocalyptic prophets sketched in outline the history of the world and mankind, the origin of evil and its course, and the final consummation of all things. The righteous as a nation should yet possess the earth, either via an eternal Messianic kingdom on earth, or else in temporary blessedness here and eternal blessedness hereafter. Neither the prophets nor the authors are without conflict between their messages, however, and there are significant similarities between prophecy and apocalyptic writings
