SETHIANI. — Name of a Gnostic sect which, identifying Seth (v.) or the Sethites, placed the patriarch Seth at the centre 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]), knew of this group, and so did Epiphanius, Panarion 30, 1,2 (ed. K. Holl, I [CB. 25] p. 72, 3-5), who mentions II. Serapion of Thmuis distinguishes the s. from the Marcionites and Valentinians (Adversus Manichaeos, ed. K. Casey [Cambridge 1931], p. 30; V. also Didymus, Epist. Iud.; PG 39, 1813 C). The name of the sect probably derives not from the use of writings attributed to the patriarch, but from the belief that its members belonged to the spiritual offspring of Seth. This idea is based on an interpretation of the sons of Seth as the “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 (the identification of Seth and Christ). Perhaps the origin of the speculation of the s. should be sought in Mesopotamia, where it is found even later among the Audiani (v.). The s. are one of the most ancient currents of gnosis; at times they conceal themselves under the generic name of Gnostics, at times under other names (Archontics). The Gnostic Library discovered at Nag Hammadi, in Egypt, comes from the milieu of the s. For the doctrines of the s., see Hippolytus, Refut., V, 19-22, and Epiphanius, Haeres., 39 (cf. Ps.-Tertullian, Adv. omnes haer., 2; Philastrius, Haeres., 3).