Abelites

This article deals with the late antique sect, for the secret society of the Abelites of the modern age see Abel Order .

Abelites or Abelonites (also Abelians, Abelonians ) is the name of a late antique Christian sect of Gnostic origin in North Africa , which, following the alleged model of Abel , rejected marriage and adopted and raised one boy and one girl each. They had to commit to living like their foster parents later on. But they also inherited their foster parents. If one of the children died, it was immediately replaced by another of the same gender. Augustine remarks that they did not lack children. The knowledge about this sect comes from a mention as a heretic by Augustine of Hippo , at whose time the sect no longer existed.

Web links

• Entry in Herder's Conversations Lexicon , 1st edition 1854–1857
• Abelians . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 1 . Altenburg 1857, p. 23 ( zeno.org ).