Abraxas was an ancient religious movement prominent during the first few centuries of the common era that was associated with Gnosticism and which affected Judaism, Christianity, and contemporaneous paganism. Its central teaching was that this world is the creation of an evil deity who traps human spirits in the physical realm; our true home is the absolute spirit (the pleroma), to which we should seek to return by rejecting the pleasures of the flesh.
Two distinct types of entities, aeons and archons, are associated with Gnosticism. The aeons are higher spiritual beings who reside in the pleroma. The archons are created by the evil demiurge (a subordinate deity and creator of the material world); they are the rulers who govern this world and act as guardians, preventing the sparks of light (i.e., the divine essence of individual human beings) from returning to the pleroma.
Abraxas appears to have originally referred to the Great Unknown, out of which the aeons and the pleroma itself emerged. In later Cabalistic thought, however, Abraxas became the designation of the chief aeon. Some ancient writers portrayed Abraxas as a demon or archon who ruled other archons. Abraxas was also associated with magic and is said to be the source of the familiar term abracadabra.
Two distinct types of entities, aeons and archons, are associated with Gnosticism. The aeons are higher spiritual beings who reside in the pleroma. The archons are created by the evil demiurge (a subordinate deity and creator of the material world); they are the rulers who govern this world and act as guardians, preventing the sparks of light (i.e., the divine essence of individual human beings) from returning to the pleroma.
Abraxas appears to have originally referred to the Great Unknown, out of which the aeons and the pleroma itself emerged. In later Cabalistic thought, however, Abraxas became the designation of the chief aeon. Some ancient writers portrayed Abraxas as a demon or archon who ruled other archons. Abraxas was also associated with magic and is said to be the source of the familiar term abracadabra.
Sources:
Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. 1967. Reprint.
New York: Free Press, 1971.
Robinson, James M. The Nag Hammadi Library. 1977. Reprint. New York: Harper
& Row, 1981.
Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. 1967. Reprint.
New York: Free Press, 1971.
Robinson, James M. The Nag Hammadi Library. 1977. Reprint. New York: Harper
& Row, 1981.
From The Book of : ANGELS A to Z | Second Edition
By : Evelyn Dorothy Oliver and James R. Lewis
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