The four Archangels

[Gnostic Blaze]

Salve!

This is my first post in the Gnostic dir, so hopefully I don't annoy anyone

I was wondering how the four Archangels are treated in Gnostic literature, most of what I have read so far seem to indicate that most angels serve the Demiurge. Yet in some others it is opposite and angels are a part of the Fullness. Is it that there are two Demiurges? One who bowed to the Christ as the Centurion, and the other who become the Satan? Do not angels have the heads of beasts? See why I am a little confused? Thanks!

The following quote from the Letter to Flora makes me believe there are two craftsman.
"For if the Law was not ordained by the perfect God himself, as we have already taught you, nor by the devil, a statement one cannot possibly make, the legislator must be some one other than these two. In fact, he is the demiurge and maker of this universe and everything in it; and because he is essentially different from these two and is between them, he is rightly given the name, intermediate."

Vale!
Blaze

 

[Gnostic Seeker]

Take this as the insight of a modern gnostic, but I don't believe in a literal demiurge, but rather wrong ideas about God generated by the carnal mind. I do think there are angels and archangels, but their state is not as ideal as the human state simply because good is their basic nature. They don't make choices and can't spiritually grow. The dualistic nature of human existence is ultimately what makes our liberation and ascension possible. In our actions we can harmonize the material and spiritual in ways other beings cannot. Just my two cents.

 

[ELoWolfe]

It depends on the individual tradition. The Valentinians did not have as negative a view of the Demiurge as that of earlier groups, believing him to be just (but "too" just). There was another mythology which states that the son of the Demiurge followed the Christ and rests between Christ and the Demiurge, essentially being an Aeonic Archon (Archonic Aeon?). He may be what you are referring to.

 

[Pleroma]

Is it that there are two Demiurges? One who bowed to the Christ as the Centurion, and the other who become the Satan? Do not angels have the heads of beasts? See why I am a little confused? Thanks!

The Jewish God was the Father of the devil. So there were not two Demiurges. The Jewish God was the Demiurge and he emanated the devil.

Who is hiding in the Gospel of John - April D. DeConick

 

[frangipani]

Who is hiding in the Gospel of John - April DeConick. I think it is wonderful that finally in our history Truth is coming to light, thanks to the recent finds in Gnostic Scripture and the work of people like April DeConick, Marvin Meyer and others. These works not only clearly explain the different interpretations of the Scriptures, but also help expose the deceit cunningly manipulating the scriptures that has for so many centuries deceived so many. Furthermore many of these works coming to light confirm that before us there were others who also had the knowledge and the Truth in their hearts. Even though we who have true Christianity (that is Gnosis) know in the depths of our hearts that our beliefs and convictions are indeed the Truth, these works validate that without question. Apart from the historical interest these works surprisingly don't teach us anything new about the Truth, this is what we have always known and as we've sought to understand ourselves and these deep beliefs have found ourselves in Christ and Him in us. Indeed like Him, we are in the world, but not of the world.