The Inherent Heretic That Is Woman
Hussein
In this work I analyzed multiple different heresiological sources on Gnosticism throughout early Christianity including but not limited to Tertullian, Jerome, Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and of course Epiphanius. Without a doubt, whether or not these sources shed much actual light of the rituals and practices of various gnostic sects is up to debate – it’s quite possible that we will never know the actual ritual practices of many of these groups not only because heresiologists had an obvious tendency to flat out lie in their analyses of the practices of these sects but also because many of these sects probably didn’t believe that the rituals they partook (if any) were worth writing about. After all, many of these sects believed that they were above the ritualistic inclinations of other Christianities of their time. However, it is worth looking into the writings of not just the members of ancient Gnostic sects themselves but also of the heresiologists at the time for a variety of different reasons. These heresiologists set the very tone for not only how we perceived these now extinct sects of Christianity but also how our society has reacted to and often continues to react to gender-bending leaders who actively opposed the existing patriarchal hierarchal orders that continue to exist at so many different levels of our daily lives.
Of all the various heresiologists I read about for this piece, Epiphanius in particular stands out as being not only one of the most prolific writers on the subject of Gnosticism but also perhaps the most controversial. Epiphanius catalogued and wrote on many, many different gnostic sects and had the unfortunate experience early on of encountering a Libertinist sect in Egypt as discussed in Benko’s “Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites According to Epiphanius” and in Virginia Burrus’ “The Heretical Women as a Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome” . Burrus’ writes that as Epiphanius saw it in his youth with his encounter of this Libertinist sect in Egypt “They threaten to draw Epiphanius into a chaotic world in which neither marriage and procreation nor sexual chastity are valued,” (Burrus 242). His views/writings concerning all Gnostic sects therefore became an amalgam of actual facts concerning the beliefs and rituals of these sects, generalizations he made about them, and several unfounded accusations where he will quote lost texts or misquote rediscovered texts, often from Nag Hammadi. For example, as mentioned in Virginia Burrus’ work alongside Benko’s, Epiphanius gives a lengthy account of these heretics, in which their sexual practices dominate all their rituals. He reported that the gnostic Phibionites orgiastic “agape” consisted of consumed offerings of semen and menstrual blood; that unwelcome pregnancies are aborted and consumed; and that the men practice ritual masturbation and pray naked (Burrus 242).
Epiphanius makes sense of all these heresies by quoting the following passage from the Song of Solomon:
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and young women without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, a chosen one to her that bore her. The daughters saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. (Cant 6:8-9)
In this quote, the dove is representative of the one and only true church who is Christ’s bride (Burrus 240). The sixty queens and eighty concubines on the other hand are actually representative of heresies that of course he goes onto effeminize as being “serpent-followers” (Burrus 241). These serpentine sixty queens and eighty concubines of heresy of course cannot deceive God’s masculine reason so they turn to female ignorance to convince the masses to believe in their false God(s) and their distorted view on reality. Therefore, all heretics, whether women or men, are characterized by the ascendency of their feminine part (Burrus 241).
Heresy as Carol Christ rightly points as cited in Burrus’ work (Burrus 231) suggests women have rightly been attracted to so-called heretical movements in all periods of Christian history because those movements are often labeled heretical because they challenge the symbolism and patriarchal structure of the of the orthodox church. It can even be said that there is an inherent connection between heresy and women in Christianity. Heretical women time and time again are pictured as promiscuous, babbling nonsensical theological formulations by all these heresiologists (Burrus 232). Going even further though, in Anne McGuire’s essay entitled “Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions” in Ross Shepard Kraemer’s “Women and Christian Origins” these women could practically never stand on their own even in these heresiological accounts but always were almost always talked about in relation to other men (McGuire 261).
Another very interesting point is the tendency in the present day to equate the words ‘heresy’ with ‘minority’ and ‘fringe’, though that actually wasn’t always the case. Prior to the 2nd century, Jewish and Greek literature actually only use the term in a positive or neutral light and it only takes on a negative connotation with Christian writers such as Tertullian as mentioned in Brad Windon’s essay entitled “The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian’s Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian ‘Heresy’”. Tertullian himself as mentioned in this essay actually gives the etymology of the term “heresy” which means in Greek “choice”. This is very interesting give that from the 2nd century into the present still understands heresy to be an inherently bad thing but the ancients did not perceive it to always be the case. By equating heresies with fringe, we’ve come to think that these groups were not dominant at any point in time in the places which they began such as the Priscillianists in Iberia as discussed in Alberto Ferreiro’s “Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133, 4)*” though that might not have been the case.
The Priscillianists were never accused of the same kind of accusations as were the Phibionites but were still accused of being the spiritually-corrupt Nicolaitans (who might have not even identified as being actual Gnostic Christians) by Jerome in his Letter 133 to Ctesiphon in 415 CE. However, prior to that, Jerome wrote of the Priscillianists decades earlier and though their rituals were unlikely to have changed much in between those decades – though their numbers did grow significantly during those years in Iberia, Lusitania, and Gaul – Jerome took a rather ambiguous stance towards the group (Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian, 310). It’s possible that the group might have formed a majority in some communities in an around modern-day France and Spain and only when they became a more noticeable threat to the established patriarchal hierarchical order of their time did Jerome begin accusing them of heresy. Furthermore, though two councils in the area (The First Council of Toledo in 400 CE and the Council of Zargoza in 380 CE) denounced certain practices of the group – particularly that of men and women gathering together in private houses who weren’t related to one another by blood or marriage – the councils hardly ever bothered to actually speak out against the sect in particular either times.
Women and so-called effeminate men as mentioned by Jonathan Cahana in “Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism” time and time again by virtue of their very existence were considered heretics by heresiologists such as those previously mentioned. Their very nature it was thought went against “the natural order of things” and was something they “chose” to be. When these non-masculine figures sought to oppose, disestablish or subvert the hierarchical orders which by sought to exclude them from all realms of public life, they were quickly branded as the “other” by these supposed orthodox Christian heresiologists. It is important that we continue to study these movements both from the perspectives of members of ancient Gnostic communities themselves alongside their opponents so that we may obtain a better understanding of how the systems of power we all are a part of have formed and continue to wield significant influence on how we lead our lives into the present.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Virginia Burrus, "The Heretical Woman as Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome." Harvard Theological Review 84 (1991): 229-248.
This very interesting article by Burrus starts off by explaining the relationship between heresiological sources and heretical females. Burrus writes that “For the heresiological sources are not only written from the point of view of a self-identified orthodoxy, but are also written by men who utilize the figure of the heretical female as a vehicle for the negative expression of their own orthodox male self-identity.” (230) Specialists also have tended to agree there is an inherent connection between women and heresy. (230)
This article goes onto to talk about Alexander’s effeminization of the Arian heresy, who brought “lawsuits through the accusations of disorderly little women whom they have deceived, and they disparage Christianity when the younger women among them run around dishonorably in every public place.” It is women’s public behavior here that is inappropriate and dishonorable, though the women themselves were virgins and ascetics (234). Alexander goes onto describe the Arian movement “as the younger sister of previous heresies and the daughter of the devil” (236). Arius is also compared to a prostitute that sings and dances seductively by Alexander (236). Like Eve, Arius though is also a victim; unable to control his own destiny, he is easily manipulated by the devil (237).
Next was the effeminization of heresies such as the Origenism by Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus (367-403). He catalogued the heresies in his “Panarion” also known as “Medicine Chest” (374-376). Snakes and wild beasts constitute Epiphanius’ dominant image for heresies in the intro passages to his work.
In the final example, Jerome’s letter to Eustochium written in Rome in 384 is analyzed in which he develops a detailed portrait of the effeminate male and the promiscuous false virgin (243). He also contends in a letter to Ctesiphon that historically women have been involved in the promulgation of all heretical movements (243).
2. James Goehring, "Libertine or Liberated: Women in the So-called Libertine Gnostic Communities." [In Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism]
Goehring writes of the roles of libertine gnostic women and how they were distorted by heresiologists’ accounts of them and the troubles they faced in the communities which they lived in as a result of breaching their customs. Goehring writes not only about the ancient Gnostic communities and the roles women took up in them but also of the pre-Christian Bacchic religion alongside the Cathars and Freethinkers. Heresiologists can be said to be more than just angry individuals who are willing to falsely accuse so-called heretical Christian sects of ghastly crimes such as cannibalism but really are more of a culmination of societal outrage against those who question and flaunt sexual norms. Goehring too also writes of Epiphanius’ presentation of the Phibionite gnostic sect.
3. Gerard Vallee, A Study in Anti-Gnostic Polemics: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius
Vallee writes in his introduction “Heresiology and Normative Christianity” on the reasons to study heresiology at all in the first place, the question of heretics and their “ominous relevance to our day” (3). He goes onto talk about how the scope of his study emerged and why he has decided to focus in on Irenaeus, Elenchos, Justin, and Epiphanius even though many primary sources from Nag Hammadi have been rediscovered which in theory would be more useful to people to wanting to learn more about Gnosticism in the times’ of the ancients than the writings of heresiologists from those times.
4. Stephen Benko, "The Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites According to Epiphanius." Vigiliae Christianae 21 (1967): 103-119.
In Benko’s work he closely examines the Phibionite sect in three different phases. In the first, he examines the literature Epiphanius provides us with and secondly describes their practices according to him. Lastly, he somehow attempts to recreate/uncover the basic principles of this sect based on Epiphanius’ writings. We find that Epiphanius’ actually misquotes the Gospel of Philip because the text actually written by members of the Phibionite sect survived into the modern day as was discovered in Nag Hammadi (107). Epiphanius’ goes onto write that husbands who were members of the sect would go on to tell their wives “Perform the agape with the brother” after they’ve eaten their meals with guests (109). They also engage in cannibalism of an unborn child and thereafter pray to God (110). Later though the author goes onto explain Epiphanius’ reasoning, for he had certain unfortunate experiences with the adherents of some libertinist sect in Egypt that morally shocked him.
5. Jennifer Knust, Abandoned to Lust.
In Knust’s final chapter “Illicit Sex, Wicked Desire, and the Demonized Heretic” Knust’s analyzes Irenaeus and Justin’s production of a true Christian identity to the exclusion of others. After all, “’they oponents’ – be they gentiles or slaves or barbarians or heretics – were universally said to devote themselves to sexual excess (160). To identify with Christianity as Knust writes it is to reject one’s sexual desires because to not reject them is to be a slave to one’s own sexual desires thereby simultaneously rejecting Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is necessary for such writers as Irenaeus and Justin to slander these “others” so that they can prove to the masses they what they speak of is the truth in Christ and the teachings of God.
6. Todd Penner and Caroline Vander Stichele, Mapping Gender in Ancient
In Brad Windon’s essay entitled “The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian’s Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian ‘Heresy’”, Windon argues that Tertullian and other early Christian writers use the symbol of the heretical woman whom serve as an example of ignorance and immorality (458). Windon contends that Tertullian views women as inherently more susceptible than “man” to heresy and better at spreading heresy by being seductive. Windon outlines what it means to be a heretic and what heresy really means as it applies to the construction of a so-called “legitimate” Christian identity as framed by Tertullian (461). For example, Windon cautions against equating orthodoxy with categories of “majority” and “true origin”. Tertullian himself gives the etymology of the term “heresy” itself, stating that the term is Greek in origin and means choice as in “the choice which a person employs when introducing or embracing heresy…” (466). The term only takes on a negative connotation in the 2nd century among Christians but not among Jewish or Greek literature. Thereafter the author analyzes the prophetess Philumene and her associate Apelles within Tertullian’s framework.
7. Alberto Ferreiro, Priscillian and Nicolaitism
In this text Ferreiro attempts to identify in the anti-Priscillian literature which writers were responsible for accusing Priscillian and his followers of sexual immorality. He then tries to identify whether Nicolaitism was ever attributed to Priscillianists alongside trying to distinguish between rumor based misinformation about sexual libertarianism as opposed to what was actually decreed officially in conciliar legislation (382). Ferreiro points out that there was an affinity of Nicolaitism with sexual immorality that preceded Jerome’s Letter 133 to Ctesiphon (415 C.E.). Ferreiro asserts that it’s highly unlikely that the Nicolaitans were “Gnostics” by the first century and the sect ceased to exist around the late 2nd century. By the 4th century the Priscillianists became the target of Nicolaitan accusations (384).
The first council that is thought to have addressed the practices of the Priscillianists is the Council of Zaragoza (380 CE). The Council of Zaragoza stipulated that women “should not be allowed to meet with men who have no direct family ties” (386) which is a broad correction of ascetic groups including the Priscillianists. Later on the First Council of Toledo (400 CE) dealt with the Priscillianism during its golden age though the council never addressed any alleged concerns over the illicit relationships between women and men. However, they do deal with the Priscillianist’s rejection of marriage and the Priscillianist practice of men and women coming together in private homes (387).
8. Alberto Ferreiro, Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133, 4)*
In this work Ferreiro analyzes St. Jerome’s attitude towards Priscillianists and its remarkable shift between 393 CE and 415 CE. In Jerome’s De viris inlustribus in 393 CE Jerome took a rather ambiguous stance towards Priscillianists but later in 415 CE condemned it as a Gnostic-heresy in his letter to Ctesiphon (310). Jerome focused his attack on Priscillianist women, referencing a combination of Ephesians 4:14 and 2 Timothy 3: 6-7 in which an image of weak women led astray by false male teachers emerges. The women that Jerome paraded in the letter embodied all the characteristics and behavior unacceptable to the orthodox. Later on Jerome shifts his rhetoric and focuses on supposedly vulnerable men deceived by heretical women (311). Ferreiro then analyzed the ways in which Jerome compares and contrasts various different heresies both of the past and during the times in which he lived. Ferreiro created a list of heretical women and men with accompanying accusations so as to develop a grand critique of Pelagian and Priscillianist sects.
9. Jonathan Cahana, Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism
In Epiphanius’ Panarion, Epiphanius talks of the sexual debauchery of many of the so-called gnostic sects (regardless of whether or not these sects actually identify themselves as being ‘gnostic’). Epiphanius makes a specific note of the ‘Levite’ sect who “do not have sex with women, but with each other.” (27) Cahana cites Dworkin who explains that “sodomy is considered a ‘notorious crime against nature’ so heinous as to be ‘beyond the law itself, God’s or man’s’” (27). Furthermore, sodomites were considered to feminine in a world of unpolluted masculinity. Cahana goes onto to talk about the Naasenes who were a gnostic sect that antiheretical writers claimed believed that humans were masculine-feminine and that all humans should strive to reach the ungendered state of heavenly humans by not having male-female intercourse. Finally Cahana analyzes the potential queer sexual rituals of some gnostics as described in the “Gospel of Judas”, a gnostic text which has survived into the present day.
10. Anne McGuire’s essay entitled “Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions” in Ross Shepard Kraemer’s “Women and Christian Origins”
In this work Anne McGuire first address and analyzes how women were depicted in antiheretical sources such as Tertullian’s and Jerome’s works. She then goes on to analyze the gendered depiction of characters in mythic narratives from works found in the Nag Hammadi library and thereafter analyzes direct statements about gender in narrative and nonnarrative sources. Finally, McGuire takes care to analyze the more abstract references to maleness and femaleness in the sources previously mentioned. Of particular interest is that of the major gnostic female characters mentioned and elaborated on by antiheretical sources (including but not limited to Marcellina, Helena, Flora, and Philumena), only Marcellina is possibly thought not definitively leader in her own right (261). Other female characters are always talked about in relation to other male characters.
Bibliography
Benko, Stephen. "The Libertine Gnostic Sect Of The Phibionites According To Epiphanius." Vigiliae Christianae 21, no. 2 (1967): 103.
Burrus, Virginia. "The Heretical Woman as Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome." The Harvard Theological Review 84 (1991): 229-248. www.jstor.org/stable/1510018 (accessed November 29, 2013).
Cahana, Jonathan. "Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism." Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology 41 (2011): 24-35. https://www.academia.edu/396082/Gnostically_Queer_Gender_Trouble_in_Gnosticism (accessed December 7, 2013).
Ferreiro, Alberto. "Jerome's polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133 ,4)* ." Revue des Ãttudes Augustiniennes, 39 (1993): 309-322. http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2042/22991/AUGUST_1993_39_2_309.pdf (accessed December 6, 2013).
Ferreiro, Alberto. "Priscillian and Nicolaitism." Vigiliae Christianae 52, no. 4 (1998): 382-392. http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1584832 (accessed December 11, 2013).
King, Karen L., and James Goehring. "Libertine or Liberated: Women in the So-called Libertine Gnostic Communities." In Images of the feminine in Gnosticism, 330-344. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988.
Knust, Jennifer Wright. "Illicit Sex, Wicked Desire, and the Demonized Heretic." In Abandoned to lust sexual slander and ancient Christianity, 143-163. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Kraemer, Ross Shepard, Mary Rose Angelo, and Anne McGuire. "Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions." In Women & Christian origins, 257-270. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Penner, Todd C., Caroline Stichele, and Brad Windon. "The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian's Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian "Heresy"." In Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourses, 457-478. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Vallee, Gerard. A study in anti-Gnostic polemics: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius. Waterloo, Ont., Canada: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981.
In this work I analyzed multiple different heresiological sources on Gnosticism throughout early Christianity including but not limited to Tertullian, Jerome, Justin, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and of course Epiphanius. Without a doubt, whether or not these sources shed much actual light of the rituals and practices of various gnostic sects is up to debate – it’s quite possible that we will never know the actual ritual practices of many of these groups not only because heresiologists had an obvious tendency to flat out lie in their analyses of the practices of these sects but also because many of these sects probably didn’t believe that the rituals they partook (if any) were worth writing about. After all, many of these sects believed that they were above the ritualistic inclinations of other Christianities of their time. However, it is worth looking into the writings of not just the members of ancient Gnostic sects themselves but also of the heresiologists at the time for a variety of different reasons. These heresiologists set the very tone for not only how we perceived these now extinct sects of Christianity but also how our society has reacted to and often continues to react to gender-bending leaders who actively opposed the existing patriarchal hierarchal orders that continue to exist at so many different levels of our daily lives.
Of all the various heresiologists I read about for this piece, Epiphanius in particular stands out as being not only one of the most prolific writers on the subject of Gnosticism but also perhaps the most controversial. Epiphanius catalogued and wrote on many, many different gnostic sects and had the unfortunate experience early on of encountering a Libertinist sect in Egypt as discussed in Benko’s “Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites According to Epiphanius” and in Virginia Burrus’ “The Heretical Women as a Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome” . Burrus’ writes that as Epiphanius saw it in his youth with his encounter of this Libertinist sect in Egypt “They threaten to draw Epiphanius into a chaotic world in which neither marriage and procreation nor sexual chastity are valued,” (Burrus 242). His views/writings concerning all Gnostic sects therefore became an amalgam of actual facts concerning the beliefs and rituals of these sects, generalizations he made about them, and several unfounded accusations where he will quote lost texts or misquote rediscovered texts, often from Nag Hammadi. For example, as mentioned in Virginia Burrus’ work alongside Benko’s, Epiphanius gives a lengthy account of these heretics, in which their sexual practices dominate all their rituals. He reported that the gnostic Phibionites orgiastic “agape” consisted of consumed offerings of semen and menstrual blood; that unwelcome pregnancies are aborted and consumed; and that the men practice ritual masturbation and pray naked (Burrus 242).
Epiphanius makes sense of all these heresies by quoting the following passage from the Song of Solomon:
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and young women without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, a chosen one to her that bore her. The daughters saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. (Cant 6:8-9)
In this quote, the dove is representative of the one and only true church who is Christ’s bride (Burrus 240). The sixty queens and eighty concubines on the other hand are actually representative of heresies that of course he goes onto effeminize as being “serpent-followers” (Burrus 241). These serpentine sixty queens and eighty concubines of heresy of course cannot deceive God’s masculine reason so they turn to female ignorance to convince the masses to believe in their false God(s) and their distorted view on reality. Therefore, all heretics, whether women or men, are characterized by the ascendency of their feminine part (Burrus 241).
Heresy as Carol Christ rightly points as cited in Burrus’ work (Burrus 231) suggests women have rightly been attracted to so-called heretical movements in all periods of Christian history because those movements are often labeled heretical because they challenge the symbolism and patriarchal structure of the of the orthodox church. It can even be said that there is an inherent connection between heresy and women in Christianity. Heretical women time and time again are pictured as promiscuous, babbling nonsensical theological formulations by all these heresiologists (Burrus 232). Going even further though, in Anne McGuire’s essay entitled “Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions” in Ross Shepard Kraemer’s “Women and Christian Origins” these women could practically never stand on their own even in these heresiological accounts but always were almost always talked about in relation to other men (McGuire 261).
Another very interesting point is the tendency in the present day to equate the words ‘heresy’ with ‘minority’ and ‘fringe’, though that actually wasn’t always the case. Prior to the 2nd century, Jewish and Greek literature actually only use the term in a positive or neutral light and it only takes on a negative connotation with Christian writers such as Tertullian as mentioned in Brad Windon’s essay entitled “The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian’s Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian ‘Heresy’”. Tertullian himself as mentioned in this essay actually gives the etymology of the term “heresy” which means in Greek “choice”. This is very interesting give that from the 2nd century into the present still understands heresy to be an inherently bad thing but the ancients did not perceive it to always be the case. By equating heresies with fringe, we’ve come to think that these groups were not dominant at any point in time in the places which they began such as the Priscillianists in Iberia as discussed in Alberto Ferreiro’s “Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133, 4)*” though that might not have been the case.
The Priscillianists were never accused of the same kind of accusations as were the Phibionites but were still accused of being the spiritually-corrupt Nicolaitans (who might have not even identified as being actual Gnostic Christians) by Jerome in his Letter 133 to Ctesiphon in 415 CE. However, prior to that, Jerome wrote of the Priscillianists decades earlier and though their rituals were unlikely to have changed much in between those decades – though their numbers did grow significantly during those years in Iberia, Lusitania, and Gaul – Jerome took a rather ambiguous stance towards the group (Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian, 310). It’s possible that the group might have formed a majority in some communities in an around modern-day France and Spain and only when they became a more noticeable threat to the established patriarchal hierarchical order of their time did Jerome begin accusing them of heresy. Furthermore, though two councils in the area (The First Council of Toledo in 400 CE and the Council of Zargoza in 380 CE) denounced certain practices of the group – particularly that of men and women gathering together in private houses who weren’t related to one another by blood or marriage – the councils hardly ever bothered to actually speak out against the sect in particular either times.
Women and so-called effeminate men as mentioned by Jonathan Cahana in “Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism” time and time again by virtue of their very existence were considered heretics by heresiologists such as those previously mentioned. Their very nature it was thought went against “the natural order of things” and was something they “chose” to be. When these non-masculine figures sought to oppose, disestablish or subvert the hierarchical orders which by sought to exclude them from all realms of public life, they were quickly branded as the “other” by these supposed orthodox Christian heresiologists. It is important that we continue to study these movements both from the perspectives of members of ancient Gnostic communities themselves alongside their opponents so that we may obtain a better understanding of how the systems of power we all are a part of have formed and continue to wield significant influence on how we lead our lives into the present.
Annotated Bibliography
1. Virginia Burrus, "The Heretical Woman as Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome." Harvard Theological Review 84 (1991): 229-248.
This very interesting article by Burrus starts off by explaining the relationship between heresiological sources and heretical females. Burrus writes that “For the heresiological sources are not only written from the point of view of a self-identified orthodoxy, but are also written by men who utilize the figure of the heretical female as a vehicle for the negative expression of their own orthodox male self-identity.” (230) Specialists also have tended to agree there is an inherent connection between women and heresy. (230)
This article goes onto to talk about Alexander’s effeminization of the Arian heresy, who brought “lawsuits through the accusations of disorderly little women whom they have deceived, and they disparage Christianity when the younger women among them run around dishonorably in every public place.” It is women’s public behavior here that is inappropriate and dishonorable, though the women themselves were virgins and ascetics (234). Alexander goes onto describe the Arian movement “as the younger sister of previous heresies and the daughter of the devil” (236). Arius is also compared to a prostitute that sings and dances seductively by Alexander (236). Like Eve, Arius though is also a victim; unable to control his own destiny, he is easily manipulated by the devil (237).
Next was the effeminization of heresies such as the Origenism by Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus (367-403). He catalogued the heresies in his “Panarion” also known as “Medicine Chest” (374-376). Snakes and wild beasts constitute Epiphanius’ dominant image for heresies in the intro passages to his work.
In the final example, Jerome’s letter to Eustochium written in Rome in 384 is analyzed in which he develops a detailed portrait of the effeminate male and the promiscuous false virgin (243). He also contends in a letter to Ctesiphon that historically women have been involved in the promulgation of all heretical movements (243).
2. James Goehring, "Libertine or Liberated: Women in the So-called Libertine Gnostic Communities." [In Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism]
Goehring writes of the roles of libertine gnostic women and how they were distorted by heresiologists’ accounts of them and the troubles they faced in the communities which they lived in as a result of breaching their customs. Goehring writes not only about the ancient Gnostic communities and the roles women took up in them but also of the pre-Christian Bacchic religion alongside the Cathars and Freethinkers. Heresiologists can be said to be more than just angry individuals who are willing to falsely accuse so-called heretical Christian sects of ghastly crimes such as cannibalism but really are more of a culmination of societal outrage against those who question and flaunt sexual norms. Goehring too also writes of Epiphanius’ presentation of the Phibionite gnostic sect.
3. Gerard Vallee, A Study in Anti-Gnostic Polemics: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius
Vallee writes in his introduction “Heresiology and Normative Christianity” on the reasons to study heresiology at all in the first place, the question of heretics and their “ominous relevance to our day” (3). He goes onto talk about how the scope of his study emerged and why he has decided to focus in on Irenaeus, Elenchos, Justin, and Epiphanius even though many primary sources from Nag Hammadi have been rediscovered which in theory would be more useful to people to wanting to learn more about Gnosticism in the times’ of the ancients than the writings of heresiologists from those times.
4. Stephen Benko, "The Libertine Gnostic Sect of the Phibionites According to Epiphanius." Vigiliae Christianae 21 (1967): 103-119.
In Benko’s work he closely examines the Phibionite sect in three different phases. In the first, he examines the literature Epiphanius provides us with and secondly describes their practices according to him. Lastly, he somehow attempts to recreate/uncover the basic principles of this sect based on Epiphanius’ writings. We find that Epiphanius’ actually misquotes the Gospel of Philip because the text actually written by members of the Phibionite sect survived into the modern day as was discovered in Nag Hammadi (107). Epiphanius’ goes onto write that husbands who were members of the sect would go on to tell their wives “Perform the agape with the brother” after they’ve eaten their meals with guests (109). They also engage in cannibalism of an unborn child and thereafter pray to God (110). Later though the author goes onto explain Epiphanius’ reasoning, for he had certain unfortunate experiences with the adherents of some libertinist sect in Egypt that morally shocked him.
5. Jennifer Knust, Abandoned to Lust.
In Knust’s final chapter “Illicit Sex, Wicked Desire, and the Demonized Heretic” Knust’s analyzes Irenaeus and Justin’s production of a true Christian identity to the exclusion of others. After all, “’they oponents’ – be they gentiles or slaves or barbarians or heretics – were universally said to devote themselves to sexual excess (160). To identify with Christianity as Knust writes it is to reject one’s sexual desires because to not reject them is to be a slave to one’s own sexual desires thereby simultaneously rejecting Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is necessary for such writers as Irenaeus and Justin to slander these “others” so that they can prove to the masses they what they speak of is the truth in Christ and the teachings of God.
6. Todd Penner and Caroline Vander Stichele, Mapping Gender in Ancient
In Brad Windon’s essay entitled “The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian’s Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian ‘Heresy’”, Windon argues that Tertullian and other early Christian writers use the symbol of the heretical woman whom serve as an example of ignorance and immorality (458). Windon contends that Tertullian views women as inherently more susceptible than “man” to heresy and better at spreading heresy by being seductive. Windon outlines what it means to be a heretic and what heresy really means as it applies to the construction of a so-called “legitimate” Christian identity as framed by Tertullian (461). For example, Windon cautions against equating orthodoxy with categories of “majority” and “true origin”. Tertullian himself gives the etymology of the term “heresy” itself, stating that the term is Greek in origin and means choice as in “the choice which a person employs when introducing or embracing heresy…” (466). The term only takes on a negative connotation in the 2nd century among Christians but not among Jewish or Greek literature. Thereafter the author analyzes the prophetess Philumene and her associate Apelles within Tertullian’s framework.
7. Alberto Ferreiro, Priscillian and Nicolaitism
In this text Ferreiro attempts to identify in the anti-Priscillian literature which writers were responsible for accusing Priscillian and his followers of sexual immorality. He then tries to identify whether Nicolaitism was ever attributed to Priscillianists alongside trying to distinguish between rumor based misinformation about sexual libertarianism as opposed to what was actually decreed officially in conciliar legislation (382). Ferreiro points out that there was an affinity of Nicolaitism with sexual immorality that preceded Jerome’s Letter 133 to Ctesiphon (415 C.E.). Ferreiro asserts that it’s highly unlikely that the Nicolaitans were “Gnostics” by the first century and the sect ceased to exist around the late 2nd century. By the 4th century the Priscillianists became the target of Nicolaitan accusations (384).
The first council that is thought to have addressed the practices of the Priscillianists is the Council of Zaragoza (380 CE). The Council of Zaragoza stipulated that women “should not be allowed to meet with men who have no direct family ties” (386) which is a broad correction of ascetic groups including the Priscillianists. Later on the First Council of Toledo (400 CE) dealt with the Priscillianism during its golden age though the council never addressed any alleged concerns over the illicit relationships between women and men. However, they do deal with the Priscillianist’s rejection of marriage and the Priscillianist practice of men and women coming together in private homes (387).
8. Alberto Ferreiro, Jerome’s polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133, 4)*
In this work Ferreiro analyzes St. Jerome’s attitude towards Priscillianists and its remarkable shift between 393 CE and 415 CE. In Jerome’s De viris inlustribus in 393 CE Jerome took a rather ambiguous stance towards Priscillianists but later in 415 CE condemned it as a Gnostic-heresy in his letter to Ctesiphon (310). Jerome focused his attack on Priscillianist women, referencing a combination of Ephesians 4:14 and 2 Timothy 3: 6-7 in which an image of weak women led astray by false male teachers emerges. The women that Jerome paraded in the letter embodied all the characteristics and behavior unacceptable to the orthodox. Later on Jerome shifts his rhetoric and focuses on supposedly vulnerable men deceived by heretical women (311). Ferreiro then analyzed the ways in which Jerome compares and contrasts various different heresies both of the past and during the times in which he lived. Ferreiro created a list of heretical women and men with accompanying accusations so as to develop a grand critique of Pelagian and Priscillianist sects.
9. Jonathan Cahana, Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism
In Epiphanius’ Panarion, Epiphanius talks of the sexual debauchery of many of the so-called gnostic sects (regardless of whether or not these sects actually identify themselves as being ‘gnostic’). Epiphanius makes a specific note of the ‘Levite’ sect who “do not have sex with women, but with each other.” (27) Cahana cites Dworkin who explains that “sodomy is considered a ‘notorious crime against nature’ so heinous as to be ‘beyond the law itself, God’s or man’s’” (27). Furthermore, sodomites were considered to feminine in a world of unpolluted masculinity. Cahana goes onto to talk about the Naasenes who were a gnostic sect that antiheretical writers claimed believed that humans were masculine-feminine and that all humans should strive to reach the ungendered state of heavenly humans by not having male-female intercourse. Finally Cahana analyzes the potential queer sexual rituals of some gnostics as described in the “Gospel of Judas”, a gnostic text which has survived into the present day.
10. Anne McGuire’s essay entitled “Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions” in Ross Shepard Kraemer’s “Women and Christian Origins”
In this work Anne McGuire first address and analyzes how women were depicted in antiheretical sources such as Tertullian’s and Jerome’s works. She then goes on to analyze the gendered depiction of characters in mythic narratives from works found in the Nag Hammadi library and thereafter analyzes direct statements about gender in narrative and nonnarrative sources. Finally, McGuire takes care to analyze the more abstract references to maleness and femaleness in the sources previously mentioned. Of particular interest is that of the major gnostic female characters mentioned and elaborated on by antiheretical sources (including but not limited to Marcellina, Helena, Flora, and Philumena), only Marcellina is possibly thought not definitively leader in her own right (261). Other female characters are always talked about in relation to other male characters.
Bibliography
Benko, Stephen. "The Libertine Gnostic Sect Of The Phibionites According To Epiphanius." Vigiliae Christianae 21, no. 2 (1967): 103.
Burrus, Virginia. "The Heretical Woman as Symbol in Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome." The Harvard Theological Review 84 (1991): 229-248. www.jstor.org/stable/1510018 (accessed November 29, 2013).
Cahana, Jonathan. "Gnostically Queer: Gender Trouble in Gnosticism." Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology 41 (2011): 24-35. https://www.academia.edu/396082/Gnostically_Queer_Gender_Trouble_in_Gnosticism (accessed December 7, 2013).
Ferreiro, Alberto. "Jerome's polemic against Priscillian in his Letterio Ctesiphon (133 ,4)* ." Revue des Ãttudes Augustiniennes, 39 (1993): 309-322. http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2042/22991/AUGUST_1993_39_2_309.pdf (accessed December 6, 2013).
Ferreiro, Alberto. "Priscillian and Nicolaitism." Vigiliae Christianae 52, no. 4 (1998): 382-392. http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/1584832 (accessed December 11, 2013).
King, Karen L., and James Goehring. "Libertine or Liberated: Women in the So-called Libertine Gnostic Communities." In Images of the feminine in Gnosticism, 330-344. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988.
Knust, Jennifer Wright. "Illicit Sex, Wicked Desire, and the Demonized Heretic." In Abandoned to lust sexual slander and ancient Christianity, 143-163. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Kraemer, Ross Shepard, Mary Rose Angelo, and Anne McGuire. "Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions." In Women & Christian origins, 257-270. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Penner, Todd C., Caroline Stichele, and Brad Windon. "The Seduction of Weak Men: Tertullian's Rhetorical Construction of Gender and Ancient Christian "Heresy"." In Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourses, 457-478. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
Vallee, Gerard. A study in anti-Gnostic polemics: Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius. Waterloo, Ont., Canada: Published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981.