Editing Ogdoad (Gnosticism) (section)

=== 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'').