Who Were the Gnostics?

The quest for Gnosis existed in the ancient esoteric schools of Egypt, Greece, and India, in the mystical civilizations of the Aztecs and Incas, among the Buddhists, Zen monks, and Sufis, each with their own legends, symbols, artworks, architecture, and sciences like astronomy and medicine—all containing an amazing wealth of spiritual knowledge.

Historically, however, the Gnostics are most commonly referred to as a group of people who emerged around the time of Christ. According to the second century doctrine of Valentius, Gnosis appeared one hundred years before Christ among the Hellenistic Jews in Syria-Palestine and Alexandrian Egypt. Others believe that Gnosis began to appear in the spiritual community of the Essenes, who lived in the desert of Egypt shortly before the time of Christ and are renowned for the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Jesus and the apostles taught and practiced Gnosis, although most people until now have thought that their teachings were Christian (according to the traditional understanding of Christianity). It has only been through the ground-breaking discovery of some ancient texts in Egypt known as the Nag Hammadi Library that new light has been shed on Jesus, his teachings, and the Gnostics themselves.

The Nag Hammadi Library texts are Gnostic in their content and are thought to have been written around 50-100 A.D. They contain sayings of Jesus never seen before and which have radically changed the way he is perceived.