Made in Arabia

This is an extremely interesting and well-written e-book delineating the system of Monoimus the Arabian, a 2nd century Christian Gnostic. It's not clear whether “Arabian” is an ethnic designation, or simply means that he lived in the Roman province known as Arabia. Unfortunately, Monoimus' teachings are only known from anti-Gnostic polemics, most notably those of Hippolytus.

Judging by Luis Varady's description, Monoimus' system was different on some crucial points from “standard” Gnosticism (or what is considered such). He was closer to Platonism and Neo-Platonism, for instance by claiming that the Demiurge was good rather than evil. He also identified the Demiurge with the Son of God and the Logos, making him at least nominally closer to orthodox Christianity. On other points, Monoimus sounds strikingly similar to certain Hindu speculations, such as the idea that God “hides himself from himself” in creation. The entire system sounds panentheist. It also incorporates sacred geometry, number mysticism and weird speculations about the properties of the Hebrew alphabet.

As already indicated, the main difference between Monoimus and many other Gnostics was the Arabian's conviction that the world and its creator-deity are fundamentally good. The “fall” seems to be voluntary, with God creating the world in order to perfect himself. First, creation is sent into exile and hence gets entangled in matter and multiplicity. At the end of the process, creation returns to its source, but in a perfected manner different from its original form. In a way, God evolves through creation to a higher form of himself. Varady compares this, correctly in my opinion, to Hegel's scheme of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. I always suspected that Hegel got his idea from mystics or Gnostics, but made it “horizontal” and “historical” rather than “vertical”. As for Jesus, he is one of many teachers who perfectly incarnates the divine and imparts Gnosis on his hearers. In contrast to the Docetists, Monoimus seems to suggest that Jesus was a true man, but like other Gnostics, he saw redemption in the form of mystical knowledge, rather than as a atoning death for sin.

I found “Oneness – An Early System of Gnosis” extremely interesting. Some of Monoimus' speculations are similar to my own, while others are strikingly different. As for the author of this e-book, he seems to be a mysterious personage with no other Internet presence than these short e-books. However, at one point he claims to believe in the Perennial Tradition, which could indicate an affinity with Traditionalism. Or it might not, since other traditions (!) also claim the perennial mantle…