1. Definition and typology. Gnosis designates both an essentially non-Christian religion of redemption in late antiquity, represented in various associations, and the central concept of that religion, which appeared more or less at the same time as primitive Christianity and spread over Samaria, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Italy, North Africa, etc.. Gnosis soon came in contact with Christianity, and made use of its doctrines in strange exaggerations and distortions. This form of Gnosis, beside which …