Archon (Gnosis)

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Archon ( Greek ἄρχων Archon , Ruling ', Coptic ARKHON , plural: Archon) is in the ancient Gnosis the term for lower, malicious spirits, although derived indirectly from God, but do not know him and did not act on his mind.

According to Gnostic theology, the deity is absolutely otherworldly. The nature of this god is alien to that of the universe. He did not create or rule the world; rather, his nature is in perfect contrast to hers. God is in his distant realm of light, while the cosmos is the realm of darkness.

The archons as a group in some Gnostic systems are collectively the creators and rulers of the universe. According to different teachings of other Gnostics only the leader of the archons, the Demiurge , accomplished the work of creation. All Gnostic interpretations of the world agree, however, that the cosmos was created as a huge prison and that people are trapped in it. According to the geocentric worldview of the time, the center of this bad world is the earth as the scene of human life. The earth is surrounded by cosmic spheres that enclose it like concentrically arranged bowls. These spheres are usually equated with the seven spheres to which, according to ancient astronomy, the five planets visible to the naked eye as well as the sun and moon are assigned. In this geocentric model, in which all celestial bodies orbit the earth, the sun and moon are considered planets. The eighth, outermost sphere is the fixed star sky. The seven planetary spheres are the seats of seven archons, who thus function as planetary gods. Her sphere of influence is the realm of "sevenness" (Hebdomas) and also includes the earth. According to some teachings that a Demiurge as archon leader accept, he lives in the fixed star sky. According to a variant advocated by the Gnostic Basileides , an archon is the ruler of the heaven of the fixed stars, while another, who is identified with the biblical God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob , controls the planetary spheres and is the creator of the earth. The archons bear Hebrew names for God from the Tanach such as Zebaot (Sabaoth) and Adonai . Thus these names, which were originally reserved in Judaism for the one God and creator of the world, became proper names of lower demonic powers in Gnosis. So they experienced a pejorative revaluation. According to this negative valuation of the process of creation and the creator or the creator, the leader of the archons, the demiurge, is often depicted with the distorted features of the god YHWH .

The structure of the cosmos, which is shown in the celestial spheres, serves the goal of separating people from the otherworldly God, preventing the knowledge of God and thus keeping the prisoners down as permanently as possible. The tyrannical world domination of the archons is referred to in Gnostic texts with the expression Heimarmene (fate). The Gnostics adopted the concept of fate from fatalistic Greek astrology, but they reinterpreted it in a negative sense. In contrast to the philosophical and astrological fatalists, who advocated the affirmation of the home poor and conscious, willing integration into the given world order, the Gnostics assessed the fate, which is directed by the malicious archons, as a dire fate. They called on people to leave the archons' sphere of influence, because they could escape captivity. According to the Gnostic doctrines of redemption, the human spirit ( Pneuma ) - the spiritual soul as the bearer of the individual personality - can escape prison if it has acquired the necessary knowledge, the Gnosis. When a person dies, his spiritual soul, the “inner man”, is released from the body, which is part of the archon creation. Then the spirit soul, if it has Gnostic knowledge, can ascend through the heavenly spheres, leave the universe and find the way to God. However, she has to escape the archons, each of whom guards his planetary sphere and tries to block the passage of the spirit soul in order to keep them in the cosmos.

A description of the role of the archons and the beginning and history of their world domination is offered by the Coptic writing Das Wesen der Archons or Die Hypostasis der Archons . Only a single copy has survived, which was discovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi manuscript discovery.

source

  • Ursula Ulrike Kaiser (ed.): The hypostasis of the archons (Nag Hammadi Codex II, 4). De Gruyter, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-11-019071-0 (critical edition with translation and commentary)

literature

  • Ingvild Sælid Gilhus: The Nature of the Archons. A Study in the Soteriology of a Gnostic Treatise from Nag Hammadi (CG II, 4). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1985, ISBN 3-447-02518-2
  • Fritz Graf : Archontes [II, Gnostic]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 1028 f.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Hans Jonas : Gnosis , Frankfurt / Leipzig 2008, p. 69.
  2. ^ Hans Jonas: Gnosis , Frankfurt / Leipzig 2008, pp. 69–71; Jaan Lahe: Gnosis and Judaism , Leiden 2012, p. 343.
  3. ↑ Hans Jonas: Gnosis , Frankfurt / Leipzig 2008, pp. 70–73, 204–206; Jaan Lahe: Gnosis and Judaism , Leiden 2012, pp. 343–346.
  4. ↑ A summary is provided by Ursula Ulrike Kaiser (ed.): Die Hypostase der Archonten (Nag-Hammadi-Codex II, 4) , Berlin 2006, pp. 9–13.