Gnosticscondemned
Who he was
- Knowledge proceeds from the principalities which form the world.
- Only one in a thousand is able to possess the true knowledge.
- Mysteries should be kept secret.
- Martyrdom is futile.
- Redemption affects only the souls, and not the body.
- Every action, even sins of lust, is a matter of perfect indifference.
- The Christian should not confess Christ the crucified but Jesus, who was sent by the Father.
- Pagan sacrifices are despised, but can be used as they are nothing.5
What he wrote
- He lived at the time of the Emperor Hadrian and Antonius Pius (120-145) and was a teacher at Alexandria.
- Besides biblical material he used secret traditions supposedly derived from St. Peter and St. Matthias, some Gnostic doctrines, and elements of Platonic and Stoic philosophy. - He wrote a gospel, of which we have only one fragment.
- He wrote a biblical commentary, the Exegetica, in twenty-four books; and some Odes.