>>19780364>Gnosticism is a perennial themeI know. Before the emergence of Christian Gnosticism, there were Gnostic currents within Judaism and influences from Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophies. Pre-Christian Gnostic thought can be found in several religious and philosophical traditions, such as Egyptian Hermeticism, Persian Zoroastrianism, Greek Stoicism, and the Jewish mystical tradition. Furthermore, Christian Gnosticism was also influenced by heterodox Judeo-Christian currents, such as Ebionism and Docetism. These traditions featured Gnostic elements, such as the belief in the existence of a superior transcendental deity, the idea that matter was intrinsically evil, and the emphasis on the importance of spiritual knowledge for salvation.
Gnosticism was strongly ascetic. And this asceticism influenced Christianity in a remarkable way. Pagans and Zororastrians are much less ascetic and some religions (Zoroaster, for example) prohibit fasting and penance. And note that there was a great diversity in Hellenistic thought: from the strong asceticism of the Stoics, through the Orphic, Dionysian and Eleusinian mysteries and arriving at Bacchanalia. The Roman Vestals were married to the State, so to speak.
>I'm confused. What about the feuds of Paul and Simon? Didn't Simon start floating around and Paul chastised him, asking "God" to take Flight from him, making him fall and break his leg? Surely you're not saying Paul and Simon magus are the same person. Maybe I'm reading this incorrectly.Peter was never in Rome, he didn't even live in the 1st century AD. This is headcanon of the Church Fathers, who are copying the story from Toledot Yeshu where Jesus is overthrown by Judas in heaven. It was Paul/Simon Magus who was in Rome LARPing as Peter, name which in other languages means hierophant/high priest, or Magi, as Saul/Simon was called.
