78o EPILOGUE
ascension to the interior sun in Plotinos (205-70), there is an outstanding ex-
ample of early Christian ascension in the super-luminous gloom and ray of
blackness of the Syrian Pseudo-Dionysios (6th c.?). The first a philosopher, the
second a church theologian, each used a different lexicon to translate the phe-
nomenon, but the experience of the ecstatic and of mystical ascension, whether
among gnostics, Jews, Christians, or Muslims (and most of the rest of the world,
including the shamans of most continents) is a universal commonplace.
ZOROASTRIANISM, A PRECURSOR OF
GNOSTICISMAmong these diverse sources of gnosticism, Iranian Zoroastrianism (Maz-
daism) had a paramount influence in eastern gnosticism. While it did not di-
rectly reach the earlier Syrian-Egyptian gnostics, Zoroastrian structure and
notions of salvation profoundly affected third-century Mani and Manichaeism.
Led by Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian good spirits (ahuras) contend against
dark evil spirits (daevas or divs), led by Ahriman, for the fate of the human
soul. The people of light are pitted against the people of darkness. When
Mazda (meaning "wise") wins, the soul ascends to the realm of light. Particu-
larly during the sixth-century BCE Babylonian captivity, when Jews were in a
region where Zoroastrianism was practiced, this dualistic religion also af-
fected Judaism. There is obviously a coincidence of idea and word in the Es-
senes of The Manual of Discipline, with their sons of light warring against the
sons of darkness. The Iranian dualism coincides with the essential character of
the gnostic speculation, which emerges as a system of antinomies.GNOSTICS AS DANGEROUS HERETICS
The majority of gnostics saw themselves as the enlightened Christians, at least
in the first periods of their growth. By the end of the second century of the
common era, while traditional Christianity was becoming a powerful inde-
pendent religion, the gnostics were converting and spreading in great numbers
and across many borders of Asia, Africa, and Europe. To convert traditional
Christians to their intelligence, the gnostic philosophers developed an allegor-
ical exegesis of the gospels to prove that Christian gospel revealed gnostic
truths. They produced the first theological Christian literature, and in the sec-
ond century their writings were apparently significantly more extensive than