Marcionite

Marcionite
/mahr"sheuh nuyt'/, n.
1. a member of a Gnostic ascetic sect that flourished from the 2nd to 7th century A.D. and that rejected the Old Testament and denied the incarnation of God in Christ.
adj.
2. of or pertaining to the Marcionites or their doctrines.
Also, Marcionist.
[1530-40; < LL Marcionita. See MARCION, -ITE1]

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▪ Gnostic sect
      any member of a Gnostic sect that flourished in the 2nd century AD. The name derives from Marcion of Asia Minor who, sometime after his arrival in Rome, fell under the influence of Cerdo, a Gnostic Christian, whose stormy relations with the Church of Rome were the consequence of his belief that the God of the Old Testament could be distinguished from the God of the New Testament—the one embodying justice, the other goodness. For accepting, developing, and propagating such ideas, Marcion was expelled from the church in 144 as a heretic, but the movement he headed became both widespread and powerful.

      The basis of Marcionite theology was that there were two cosmic gods. A vain and angry creator god who demanded and ruthlessly exacted justice had created the material world of which man, body and soul, was a part—a striking departure from the usual Gnostic thesis that only man's body is part of creation, that his soul is a spark from the true but unknown superior God, and that the world creator is a demonic power. The other god, according to Marcion, was completely ineffable and bore no intrinsic relation to the created universe at all. Out of sheer goodness, he had sent his son Jesus Christ to save man from the material world and bring him to a new home. One of Marcion's favourite texts with respect to Christ's mission was Letter of Paul to the Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us.” Christ's sacrifice was not in any sense a vicarious atonement for human sin but rather a legalistic act that cancelled the claim of the creator God upon men. In contrast to the typical Gnostic claim to a special revelatory gnosis, Marcion and his followers emphasized faith in the effect of Christ's act. They practiced stern asceticism to restrict contact with the creator's world while looking forward to eventual salvation in the realm of the extra-worldly God. They admitted women to the priesthood and bishopric. The Marcionites were considered the most dangerous of the Gnostics by the established church. When Polycarp (Polycarp, Saint) met Marcion at Rome he is said to have identified Marcion as “the firstborn of Satan.”

      Marcion is perhaps best known for his treatment of Scripture. Though he rejected the Old Testament as the work of the creator God, he did not deny its efficacy for those who did not believe in Christ. He rejected attempts to harmonize Jewish biblical traditions with Christian ones as impossible. He accepted as authentic all of the Pauline Letters and the Gospel According to Luke (after he had expurgated them of Judaizing elements). His treatment of Christian literature was significant, for it forced the early church to fix an approved canon of theologically acceptable texts out of the mass of available but unorganized material.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Marcionite — Mar cion*ite (m[aum]r sh[u^]n*[imac]t), n. (Eccl. Hist) A follower of Marcion, a Gnostic of the second century, who adopted the Oriental notion of the two conflicting principles, and imagined that between them there existed a third power, neither …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • marcionite — ● marcionite ou marcioniste adjectif et nom Relatif au marcionisme ; disciple de Marcion …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Marcionite — (n.) 1540, early Christian sect, named for Gnostic Marcion of Sinope (c.140), who denied any connection between the Old Testament and the New. They contrasted the barbaric and incompetent creator in the Old Testament, who favored bandits and… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Marcionite — noun see Marcionism …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • marcionite — 1. noun A follower of marcionism. 2. adjective Of or pertaining to marcionism …   Wiktionary

  • Marcionite — Mar|ci|o|ni|te, der; n, n [nach dem Sektengründer Marcion]: Anhänger einer bedeutenden (vom Alten Testament verworfenen) gnostischen Sekte (im 2. bis 4. Jh.) …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Marcionite — Mar|ci|o|ni|te [...ts...] der; n, n <nach dem Sektengründer Marcion u. zu 3↑...it> Anhänger einer bedeutenden gnostischen Sekte (2. 4. Jh.), die das Alte Testament verwarf …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • marcionite — mar·cion·ite …   English syllables

  • Marcionite — Mar•cion•ite [[t]ˈmɑr ʃəˌnaɪt[/t]] also Mar′cion•ist n. rel a member of a Gnostic sect of the 2nd and 3th centuries that rejected the Old Testament • Etymology: 1530–40; < LL Marciōn , s. ofMarciōMarcion (died c160), founder of the sect + ite… …   From formal English to slang

  • Marcionite — /ˈmaʃənaɪt/ (say mahshuhnuyt) noun 1. an adherent of an ascetic Christian sect founded by Marcion, c.85 – c.160, bishop of Sinope, who rejected the authority of most of the Old and New Testaments and found perfection only in Jesus Christ,… …  

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