Monad (Gnosticism)
The Monad in Gnosticism is an adaptation of concepts of the Monad in Greek philosophy to Christian gnostic belief systems.
Overview
The term monad comes from the Greek feminine noun monas (
In some gnostic systems, the Supreme Being is known as the Monad, the One, the Absolute, Aiōn Teleos (the Perfect Aeon, αἰών τέλεος), Bythos (Depth or Profundity, Βυθός), Proarchē (Before the Beginning, προαρχή), Hē Archē (The Beginning, ἡ ἀρχή), the Ineffable Parent, and/or the primal Father.
Prominent
According to Theodoret's book on heresies (Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium i.18), the Arab Christian Monoimus (c. 150–210) used the term Monad to mean the highest god that created lesser gods, or elements (similar to Aeons). In some versions of Christian gnosticism, especially those deriving from Valentinius, a lesser deity known as the Demiurge (see also Neoplatonism, Plotinus) had a role in the creation of the material world separate from the Monad. In these forms of gnosticism, the God of the Old Testament, YHWH, is often considered to have been the Demiurge, not the Monad,[3] or sometimes different passages are interpreted as referring to each.
Apocryphon of John, written c. 180, gives the following description:
The Monad is a monarchy with nothing above it. It is he who exists as God and Father of everything, the invisible One who is above everything, who exists as incorruption, which is in the pure light into which no eye can look. "He is the invisible Spirit, of whom it is not right to think of him as a god, or something similar. For he is more than a god, since there is nothing above him, for no one lords it over him. For he does not exist in something inferior to him, since everything exists in him. For it is he who establishes himself. He is eternal, since he does not need anything. For he is total perfection.[4]
Historical background
According to
For a long time, legend persisted that a young man by the name of
See also
References
- ^ Francis E. Peters Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon 1970 p. 42.
- ^ Louis P. Pojman, "Valentinus," in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed., ed. Robert Audi.
- ^ Louis P. Pojman, "gnosticism," in The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 3rd ed., ed. Robert Audi.
- ^ "The Apocryphon of John - Frederik Wisse - the Nag Hammadi Library".
- Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.
- ^ Mead, G.R.S. 1900. "Epiphanes, Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, pp. 232–235, available online by The Gnostic Society Library.