BARBELITI. - Also called Barbeliotae by Irenaeus and Theodoret, they were one of the principal Gnostic sects of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. They derive their name from the female aeon Barbelo or Barbero, a word of Hebrew origin, which most probably means "son of God." What the nature and prerogatives of this aeon were is difficult to determine. Perhaps it was meant to represent the female element, which, according to these Gnostics, is at the origin of all things. For the ineffable Father manifested himself to Barbelo, and so she became the mother of the living, who derive from her through successive pairs (or syzygies) of intermediate aeons. She also generated the light, which, perfected by the anointing of the creator spirit, is Christ. Barbelo also has the mission of liberating the divine element imprisoned in matter and in struggle with the lower aeons.
Whatever the doctrine of these heretics may have been, and it is transmitted to us in a somewhat different manner by St. Irenaeus and by St. Epiphanius, it is certain, however, that they were of an unnameable immorality: they abandoned themselves to the most unbridled excesses, admitting promiscuity of the sexes and sacrilegiously parodying the most august mysteries of Christianity. St. Epiphanius derives them from the Nicolaitans and Theodoret from the Valentinians.