**CAINITES**
**I. The lineage of Cain**
The Cainites (v.) are the lineage of Cain mentioned in Gen. 4:17-24. To them is attributed the first material progress of humanity with the founding of a city (Cain), the raising of livestock (Jabal), music (Jubal), and metalworking (Tubal-cain).
For further details, see the individual names mentioned above. S. Mowinckel, considering such praise incompatible with the condemnation found in other biblical passages, arbitrarily reconstructs a "Cainite document" which he claims was later incorporated into Genesis. Indeed, even in this pericope there are episodes confirming their low moral standing, such as polygamy and murder (Lamech). St. Augustine (De civ. Dei, XV, 1) sees in the Cainites the first representatives of the earthly city opposed to the divine one, which, according to St. John Chrysostom (Hom. 23 in Genesim: PG 53, 187), were the cause of the corruption of the Sethites (v.) and the subsequent flood (v.).
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**II. A Gnostic sect of the 2nd century**
The Cainites were a Gnostic sect of the 2nd century. Their origin is linked to those antinomian groups of apostolic times who, distorting Paul’s teaching on the abrogation of Jewish observances, sought to legalize immorality by transforming evangelical freedom into license and lust. This antinomian current later penetrated Gnosticism, giving rise within it to numerous sects of advocates of immorality, including the Cainites (cf. Irenaeus, *Adversus haereses*, I, 31, 1-2: PG 7, 704).
The foundation of this system is an antithetical conception of the two Testaments, whereby the God of the Old Testament is regarded as an inferior being, the ruler of a world of which he is the demiurge and enemy of the true God, who is named Sophia. It is therefore necessary to oppose him and glorify those persecuted by him. The first among these is Cain, born of Eve through the agency of Sophia, while Abel belongs to the lineage of the demiurge. Cain possessed the secret of true gnosis, which was transmitted through the ages to all the kings of the Old Testament down to Judas. When God sent the Redeemer, the demiurge sought to prevent the salvific death, but Judas, the true son of God, succeeded in procuring it, thus achieving Redemption. Christ, having descended into hell, freed all the condemned of the Old Testament, leaving behind those who followed the creator. The practical aim of this doctrine was eminently immoral: under the pretext of destroying the works of the creator, they sought to legitimize lust by giving it the character of a religious duty. The Cainites rejected the Bible; in its place, they used apocryphal books such as the *Gospel of Judas* and the *Ascension of Paul*.
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