Archon

[Mr Cheese]

Archon: “Ruler.” Refers to the creators and governing forces in the material world. The Demiurge and his angels (aeons). From a form of governing known in Alexandria. Like the term ‘Allogenes,’ archons are used to explain pleromic entities in versions of the Gnostic explanations for creation, however they may be seen as evil forces. ”A Gnostic ruler, sometimes equivalent with the Demiurge. Archons are synonymous with ”princes of the world,” in the ”Gospel of John.” ”Basilides calls Archons, the heads of the spirit realms.”(”Gnostics,” CWF Hegal) (See also; Gaffney, p. 240.) Archons are the prototype for Jung’s allegory to ”archetypes.” (See; Hoeller. See also; ”Hidden Wisdom,” Smoley, Kinney, Penguin, 1999, Ch. 2.)</SPAN>

An archon, sometimes translated as a “power,” is a spiritual entity
or force that serves the demiurge, the creator of the physical
world. To be really crude about it you could say they are bad
angels, but it is a lot more complicated than that.. just consider
them the forces that define and limit physical existence.


One of the Nag Hammadi texts is called the “Hypostasis of the
Archons,” and has a mythological discussion of their nature.
You know how in Christian mythology there are some beings
called “archangels?” That is borrowed from this same greek word,
meaning “ruler..” so an arch-angel is an angel that is really
powerful and rules over the others, whereas in Gnosticism the
archons are the “rulers of this world,” the princes of the world
that Christ referred to, for example, in the story of Christ being
tempted in the desert. The tempter shows him the world and promises
to give him the “principalities of the world” if he will bow down in
homage…and we would interpret those principalities as the realms
of the archons, so to speak.


The thing I should caution you against is thinking that they
are “demons” or something like that… there are no demons or devils
per se in Gnosticism, because ultimately there is no metaphysical
category of “evil,” just various forms of imperfection. The
demiurge is in some way the full realization of imperfection, just
as God is of perfection. The demiurge personifies and draws within
himself the ultimate manifestations of physical form, limitation,
physical space, time, as well as the dimensions of space-time, as
well as natural laws and natural processes that govern the physical
world — including the law that everything that lives must die.

 

[gnostic]

Archon was originally used to define the chief magistrate of a polis (city-state), during the Archaic and Classical periods. The archon may or may not command an army, and its depend on which polis you're talking about, eg. Athens.

This is before the Gnostic usage of the term, archon.

 

[justin]

I was not aware of this, Gnostic! Thank you.

 

[gnostic]

I was not aware of this, Gnostic! Thank you.

You're welcome.

I agreed with the Mr Cheese's OP that the archon can be translated into "ruler", but it could also be "power".

I just want people to be aware that the archons weren't originally used to describe spiritual beings; that originally, archon was as a political, judicial or military office in Greek governments, sort of like the Roman Republican chief magistrate (and military officer) consul or praetor.

Many of the words, such as names and titles found in the Gnostic texts, originated from Greek terms, eg. archon, aeon (age), sophia (wisdom), demuirge (creator or artisan), pleroma (fullness) etc.

Anyway, Mr Cheese's description of the (Gnostic) archons, is more or less spot on.