ARCONTICS (from Greek ἀρχων "archon, ruler"). — A Gnostic sect of the 3rd and 4th centuries, deriving its name from the strange doctrine its adherents professed concerning the ἀρχοντες or rulers of the seven lower heavens, beneath the highest one, presided over by the "luminous mother" (μήτηρ ἡ φωτεινή), who is in perpetual conflict with Sabaoth, ruler of the seventh heaven, the God of the Jews and father of the devil.
Human souls descending from the highest heaven are detained by the archons, who derive from them the sustenance essential to their existence. To return to the bosom of the celestial mother, man must attain gnosis, avoid Baptism, and escape the baleful influence of Sabaoth. The Arcontics rejected and condemned the sacraments of the Church, since they were administered in the name of the God of the Jews; they denied the resurrection of the body and admitted numerous other alleged revelations drawn from various apocryphal sources, among which deserve mention the Little and Great Symphony, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Books of Seth and of his seven sons, designated by the name Ἀλλογενεῖς ("aliens"). Some practiced the pouring of oil and water over the heads of the dead in order to render them invisible to the powers of evil and thus facilitate their return to the "luminous mother."
Though not entirely free from gravely immoral practices, they nevertheless ostentatiously led an austere and penitential life. Affinities with them were shared by the Ophites, Sethians, Docetae, and Marcionites.
The sect of the Arcontics, first described by St. Epiphanius and briefly noted by St. Augustine, Theodore, and St. John Damascene, had only a very limited historical importance, and its diffusion was almost exclusively confined to Armenia and Palestine. It was propagated in the latter region by a false monk named Peter, who, simulating a devout life of seclusion and fasting, succeeded in winning many adherents, especially among the simple and uneducated. Before the death of Constantine the Great (337), he recruited among his followers a certain Eutactus, who in turn introduced the sect into Armenia.