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To: MatD
Disappeared?" Is that what they call it when the Emporer Constantine slaughtered them all?

You have a very poor grasp of church history, my friend. The Gnostics had pretty much vanished long before Constantine's reign. The Apostle's Creed was the church creed written to ferret out Gnostics, and it was in use by the early 2nd Century.

It was the Arian heresy that Constantine called the Council of Nicea to settle. The result was that Arianism got a small setback by the adoption of the Nicene Creed, but Constantine himself was baptized on his deathbed by an Arian. His son, Constans, was an Arian, as well.

So quit reading "The Da Vinci Code" as history - it will just embarass you in the end.

Constantine didn't slaughter any Gnostics,as they were long dead. And he only banished the leading Arian bishop for two years.
29 posted on 04/13/2006 9:05:40 AM PDT by horse_doc
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To: horse_doc

The Albigensians in the south of France during the Middle Ages were gnostics. Gnosticism has survived even to this day, if you count all Christians who believe that they have "special knowledge" that departs from the canonical scriptures. That gnostic vice is the same vice that resulted in Adam's fall. "Eat of this tree and ye shall be as gods!" Orthodox Christianity has never been about special knowledge.


45 posted on 04/13/2006 9:52:10 AM PDT by maro
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To: horse_doc
You have a very poor grasp of church history, my friend. The Gnostics had pretty much vanished long before Constantine's reign.

Wow. Speaking of poor grasp ...

The sects of Valentinus and Basilides were extremely popular until the 4th century.
Marcionites plagued the Church well past the 5th century.
In the west, the Manichean school lasted into the 5th century (St. Augustine was a member for 10 years before he accepted the orthodoxy in 382). It was still active in Persia and Tibet until the 17th century.
A resurgence of Manicheanism spawned the Paulicians of Anatolia and the Cathars of France in the 9th century.

It was the suppression of the Cathars (Albigensian Crusade 1147-1229) that led to the creation of the Dominican Order. After the war the Inquisition was established to root out any remaining heretics. Which it infamously did until the last Cathar was executed in 1321.

The Apostle's Creed was the church creed written to ferret out Gnostics, and it was in use by the early 2nd Century.

Marcionites, and late 2nd Century (Confession of St. Irenaeus 180CE).

82 posted on 04/13/2006 2:06:28 PM PDT by dread78645 (Evolution. A dying theory since 1859.)
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