Editing Ogdoad (Gnosticism) (section)

== 7 + 1 System ==

=== Seven heavens ===
[[Image:Ptolemaicsystem-small.png|300px|right|thumb|Geocentric [[celestial spheres]]; Peter Apian's ''Cosmographia'' (Antwerp, 1539)]]

All the early Gnostics of whose opinions [[Irenaeus]] gives an account, in a section ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I/Chapter XXIII.|i. 23 sqq.]]) probably derived from an earlier writer, agree in the doctrine that the world was made by the instrumentality of [[Archon (Gnosticism)|archon]]s (angels). The brief account given of the teaching of the first two in the list, [[Simon Magus|Simon]] and Menander, does not state whether or not they defined the number of these archons; but it is expressly told of the third, [[Saturninus of Antioch|Saturninus]] ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I/Chapter XXIV.|ch. 24]]), that he counted them as seven. At the end of the first book of Irenaeus is a section to all appearance derived from a source different from that just referred to. He here ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I/Chapter XXIX.|c. 29]]) relates the opinions of heretics to whom he himself gives no title, but whom his copyist [[Theodoret]] (''Haer. Fab.'' i. 14) calls [[Ophites]]. The Ophite teaching may be used to illustrate that of Saturninus, his connexion with that school being closer than with any other. It would have been natural to think that the number of seven archons was suggested to Saturninus by astronomical considerations; and this supposition is verified by the statement in the later chapter ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I/Chapter XXX.|c. 30]]) that the holy Hebdomas are the seven stars called planets. In fact, the sphere of the seven stars, [[Saturn]], [[Jupiter]], [[Mars]], the [[Sun]], [[Venus]], [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], and the [[Moon]], were supposed to be presided over, each by a different archon. Their names are differently given; Irenaeus (c. 30) giving them, [[Demiurge|Ialdabaoth]], the chief, Iao, Sabaoth, Adonaeus, Eloaeus, Oreus, and [[Astanphaeus|Astaphaeus]]. With this closely agrees [[Origen]], who, writing of the Ophites (''[[Contra Celsum|Adv. Cels.]]'' [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Origen/Origen Against Celsus/Book VI/Chapter XXXI|vi. 31]], [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Origen/Origen Against Celsus/Book VI/Chapter XXXII|32]]), gives the names Ialdabaoth, Iao, Sabaoth, Adonaeus, Astaphaeus, Eloaeus, Horaeus. Epiphanius (''[[Panarion|Haer.]]'' 26, p.&nbsp;91), relating the opinions of what was clearly a branch of the same school, places in the highest heaven Ialdabaoth or, according to others, Sabaoth; in the next, Elilaeus according to one version, Ialdabaoth according to the other; in the next Adonaeus and Eloaeus; beneath these Dades, Seth, and Saclas; lowest of all Iao. It was thought that each of the Jewish prophets was sent by a different one of these seven archons, whose special glory that prophet was to declare. Thus ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I/Chapter XXX.|Irenaeus, i. 30, p. 109]]) the first archon sent [[Moses]], [[Joshua]], [[Amos (prophet)|Amos]], and [[Habakkuk]]; the second [[Samuel]], [[Nathan (prophet)|Nathan]], [[Jonah]], and [[Micah (prophet)|Micah]]; the third [[Elijah]], [[Joel (prophet)|Joel]], and [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|Zechariah]]; the fourth [[Isaiah]], [[Ezekiel]], [[Jeremiah]], and [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]]; the fifth [[Book of Tobit]] and [[Haggai]]; the sixth [[Micah]] (''qu.'' [[Malachi]]?) and [[Nahum]]; the seventh [[Ezra]] and [[Zephaniah]].

=== Eighth sphere ===
[[File:Oresme Spheres (detail).jpg|thumb|300px|right|The planetary spheres were thought to be planes of existence in between the Earth and the heavenly regions]]

The ancient astronomy taught that above the seven planetary spheres was an eighth, the sphere of the fixed stars ([[Clement of Alexandria|Clem. Alex.]] ''Strom''. [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book IV./Chapter XXIII.|iv. 25]], xxv. p.&nbsp;636: see also his quotation, [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book V/Chapter XI.|v. 11]], p.&nbsp;692, of a mention of the fifth heaven in apocryphal writings ascribed to [[Zephaniah]]). In the eighth sphere, these Gnostics taught, dwelt the mother to whom all these archons owed their origin, [[Wisdom in Gnosticism|Sophia]] or Prunikos according to the version of Irenaeus, [[Barbelo]] according to that of Epiphanius. In the language of these sects the word hebdomad not only denotes the seven archons, but is also a name of place, denoting the heavenly regions over which the seven archons presided; while Ogdoad denotes the supercelestial regions which lay above their control.

Again, beside the higher hebdomad of the seven archons, the Ophite system told of a lower hebdomad. After the serpent in punishment for having taught [[Adam and Eve|the first parents]] to transgress the commands of Ialdabaoth was cast down into this lower world, he begat himself six sons, who with himself form a hebdomad, the counterpart of that of which his father Ialdabaoth is chief. These are the seven [[demons]], the scene of whose activity is this lower earth, not the heavens; and who delight in injuring the human race on whose account their father had been cast down. Origen ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Origen/Origen Against Celsus/Book VI/Chapter XXX|''Adv. Cels.'' 30]]) gives their names and forms from an [[Ophite Diagrams|Ophite diagram]]; [[Michael (archangel)|Michael]] in form as a lion, [[Suriel]] as an ox, [[Raphael (archangel)|Raphael]] as a dragon, [[Gabriel]] as an eagle, Thauthabaoth as a bear, Erataoth as a dog, Onoel or Thartharaoth as an ass.

It does not appear that the Oriental philosophy, or the earliest Gnostic systems, recognised any place higher than the eighth sphere; and it is here that according to the account of Epiphanius (''Haer.'' 26, p.&nbsp;91) dwelt Barbelo the mother of all. But Grecian philosophy came to teach that above the sensible world there lay a still higher, and Clem. Alex. ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book IV./Chapter XXIII.|iv. 25]]) speaks of the eighth sphere as lying nearest ''to noeto kosmo''. Accordingly, those Gnostic systems which are tinctured by Grecian philosophy, while leaving untouched the doctrine of seven or eight material heavens, develop in various ways the theory of the region above them. In the system of [[Basilides]], as reported by [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume V/Hippolytus/The Refutation of All Heresies/Book VII/Part 21|vii. 20 sqq.]]), Ogdoad and Hebdomad are merely names of place. In that system the universe is divided into the Kosmos and the hypercosmical region. At the highest point of the Kosmos presides the great archon, ruling over the Ogdoad, or ethereal region, which is described as reaching down to the moon. Beneath the Ogdoad is the Hebdomad presided over by its own archon. In one place (p.&nbsp;238) the names Ogdoad and Hebdomad seem to be given to the archons themselves. In any case the names shew marks of having been derived from a previous system, for the system of Basilides itself gives no account of the numbers seven or eight; and the number of heavens is not limited to seven, as many as 365 being counted. In ''[[Pistis Sophia]]'', the doctrine of the higher regions receives such enormous development that the seven planetary spheres are thought of as contemptibly low; and Ialdabaoth, once their ruler, in this book sinks to a demon.

The word Hebdomad occurs also in the Clementine ''[[Clementine literature|Homilies]]'', but its use there is quite unconnected with the teaching hitherto described. The mystery of the Hebdomad there unfolded ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily XVII/Chapter 10|''Hom.'' xvii. 10]]) is an independent exposition of the six days' work of creation, and the seventh day's rest; illustrated by the six directions, into which infinite space extends, viz. up, down, right, left, backward, forward, together with the central point considered as making a seventh.

The mysteries of the number seven are treated of by Clem. Alex. ([[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book VI/Chapter XVI.|''Strom.'' vi. 16]]), and in the source whence he borrowed ([[Philo]], ''de Op. Mund.'' and ''Leg. Allegor''., where the theme is enlarged on, ''khairei he physis hebdomadi'').