CAINITI. – I. The stock of Cain (v.), of which Gen. 4:17–24 speaks. They are credited with the first material progress of humanity through the founding of a city (Caino), the raising of herds (Iabel), music (Iubal), and metalworking (Tubalcain).
For further details, see the individual names mentioned above. S. Mowinckel, considering this praise irreconcilable with the censure found in the other biblical sections, arbitrarily reconstructs a “Cainite document” which was subsequently incorporated into Genesis. Indeed, even in this passage there are episodes attesting to their low moral level, such as polygamy and murder (Lamech). St. Augustine (De civ. Dei, XV, 1) sees in the c. the first representatives of the earthly city opposed to the divine city; according to St. John Chrysostom (Hom. 22 in Genesim: PG 53, 187), they were the cause of the corruption of the Sethites (v.) and of the subsequent flood (v.).
II. Gnostic sect of the 2nd century. Its origin is connected with those libertines of apostolic times who, distorting the Pauline teaching on the abrogation of Jewish observances, sought to legalize immorality, transforming evangelical freedom into license and lust. This antinomian current subsequently entered the Gnostic movement, giving rise within it to numerous sects of theoreticians of immorality, among them that of the c. (cf. Irenaeus, Adv. haereses, I, 31, 1-2: PG 7, 704).
The basis of this system is an antithetical conception of the two Testaments, according to which the god of the Old Testament is regarded as an inferior being, the tyrant of the world of which he was the demiurge, and the enemy of the true God whose name is Sophia. It is therefore necessary to oppose him and glorify those whom he persecuted. The first among these is Cain, begotten by Eve through the agency of Sophia, whereas Abel belongs to the stock of the demiurge. He possessed the secret of true gnosis, which was transmitted through the centuries to all the wicked men of the Old Testament up to Judas. When God sent the Redeemer, the demiurge sought to prevent his salvific death, but Judas, the true son of God, nevertheless succeeded in bringing about his execution, thereby obtaining Redemption. Christ then, having descended into hell, freed all those condemned by the Old Testament, leaving there the followers of the creator. The purpose of this doctrine was eminently practical: under the pretext of destroying the works of the creator, it sought to legitimize lust by giving it the character of a religious duty. The c. rejected the Bible; in its place they used apocryphal books such as the Gospel of Judas and the Ascension of Paul.