false 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 03 18:49:07 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 12 07:00:32 -0700 2009
The focus of the book was on the power structure of the Orthodox church is what gave it the strength to last 2000 years, and Gnosticism had no way to survive a system such as the institution of rulers ordained by god. The Gnostics started out as real anarchists. They drew lots to figure out what role you would have at mass every time. One day you would be the bishop, and one day you would be the congregant, and it didn't even matter if you were baptized.

But they thought of themselves as Christians just like the Orthodox only better, so they started going to mass in big churches and they were eventually fully absorbed. The only other thing that made them interesting is that a lot of early Christians thought it was important to prove your faith by being tortured and killed by Romans to imitate Jesus' sacrifice, but the Gnostics didn't believe that Jesus' sacrifice was comparable, so they didn't generally confess Christianity when their lives were on the line.]]>