ISIDORO GNOSTICO. - Son and disciple of Basilic.
He wrote the following books: On the Inborn Soul (Περὶ προφανῶς ψυχῆς; cf. Clemente Alessandrino, Strom., II, 20, 113); Ethics (Ἡθικὰ; ibid., III, 1, 2); Exegesis of the Prophet Parchor (Ἐξηγητικὰ τοῦ πρεσβυτοῦ Πάργου, ibid., VI, 6, 53). I. distinguished between the rational and the animal soul, the latter having developed in the migration of souls through the world of stones, plants, and animals. The rational soul must rule the lower soul. I. relied on traditions of Mattia (Clemente Alessandrino, VII, 108; Ippolito, Ref., VII, 20) and on the authority of the prophets Barkabba and Barkopli (identical with Parchor; V. EUGENIO, Hist. eccl., IV, 7, 7). Epifanio (Haer., 32, 3) knows of a work, Parenetica di I., which is perhaps identical with his Ethics. Remarkable is the prophecy of Cham, which I. cites and which is said to have been the source of the philosophy of Ferecide (Clemente Alessandrino, Strom., VI, 6, 53), just as Parchor was said to have been the source of the philosophy of Aristotle. This is perhaps an expression of Egyptian nationalism, affirming the dependence of Greek philosophy on supposed Egyptian authors (for other manifestations of Egyptian nationalism V. ultimamente G. Bardy, in Revue d'histoire ecclés., 45 [1950], p. 5 sg.).