Monad (Gnosticism)

In many Gnostic systems (and heresiologies), God is known as the Monad, the One, The Absolute Aion teleos (The Perfect Æon), Bythos (Depth or Profundity, Βυθος), Proarche (Before the Beginning, προαρχη), and E Arche (The Beginning, η αρχη) and The ineffable parent. God is the high source of the pleroma, the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons.

Within certain variations of Gnosticism, especially those inspired by Monoimus, the Monad was the highest God which created lesser gods, or elements (similar to æons). It is important to note that in some versions of ancient Gnosticism, especially those deriving from Valentinius, a lesser deity known as the Demiurge had a role in the creation of the material world in addition to the role of the Monad. In these forms of gnosticism, the God of the Old Testament is often considered to have been the Demiurge, not the Monad, or sometimes different passages are interpreted as referring to each.

This Monad is the spiritual source of everything which emanates the pleroma, and could be contrasted to the darkness of pure matter.

Historical background

According to Hippolytus, this view was inspired by the Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence the Monad, which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point, begetting lines, etc. Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry condemned Gnosticism (see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism) for their treatment of the monad or one.

For a long time, legend persisted that a young man by the name of Epiphanes (gnostic) was the leader of the Monadic Gnosticism who died age 17. However, scholars think the legend may have come from misunderstanding of the Greek word eiphanes which may have been mistaken as a personal name if in text, when in fact the Greek means distinguished, as in a distinguished teacher.

See also

• The Absolute
• Gnosticism
• Monad — disambiguation and Greek etymology; Monad (symbol)