ORIGIN: Gnostic Christian (Eastern Mediterranean)
TYPE: Primordial Creator Gods
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 100 CE to Circa 400 CE and probably persisting later.
SYNONYMS: Eksousiai (authorities, Greek)
CENTER(S) OF CULT: undefined cells within the area of early Christian influence.
ART REFERENCES: none.
LITERARY SOURCES: Nag Hammadi codices
INFORMATION:
The Archons are the primordial celestial rulers of the cosmos. The Gnostic cosmogony argues that the God of Israel was not the original or sole creator but was a product of other older tyrannical forces who were eventually defeated in the conflict of light and dark. The Archons are the original creators of mortal man, though in the form in which they contrived him, he did not possess a soul. The main literary texts include the Hypostasis of the Archons, and the treatise on The Origin of the World, both forming part of the Nag Hammadi collection written down during the third or fourth century CE and probably owing much to Greek philosophy. The material was banned under the censorship of the early Christian fathers.