Sethians

SETHIANS. - Name of a Gnostic sect which, identifying itself with the lineage of Seth (v.) or Sethites, placed the patriarch Seth at the center of its speculation.

Origen, Fragm. in Epist. ad Titum, in the Apologia of Pamphilus (PG 14, 1303 D; in Mt. comm. [CB. 11 ser. 28, p. 51, 10]) knows this group, and Epiphanius too, Panarion 30, 1,2 (ed. K. Holl, I [CB. 25] p. 72, 3-5) mentions it. Serapion of Thmuis distinguishes the Sethians from the Marcionites and Valentinians (Adversus Manichaeos, ed. K. Casey [Cambridge 1931], p. 30; see also Didymus, Epist. Iud.; PG 39, 1813 C). The name of the sect probably does not derive from the use of writings attributed to the patriarch, but from the belief of belonging to the spiritual offspring of Seth. This idea is based on an interpretation of the sons of Seth as "sons of God" (Gen. 5, 3 and 6, 2). The speculation is probably of Jewish origin, and for this reason Jewish Gnosis was only slightly Christianized (identification of Seth and Christ). Perhaps the origin of the speculation of the Sethians should be sought in Mesopotamia, where it is found still later in the milieu of the Audians (v.). The Sethians are one of the most ancient currents of Gnosis; sometimes they hide under the generic name of Gnostics, sometimes under other names (Archontics). The Gnostic Library found at Nag Hammadi, in Egypt, comes from the milieu of the Sethians. On the doctrines of the Sethians see Hippolytus, Refut., V, 19-22 and Epiphanius, Haeres., 39 (cf. Ps. Tertullian, Adv. omnes haer., 2; Philaster, Haeres., 3).