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"Ophite" and Peratic Christians
Litwa, Matthew
Litwa, Matthew
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Abstract
Heresiographers accused some early Christians of worshiping a snake, symbol of the devil. To be sure, a certain bronze snake was associated with Christ on the basis of Jesus’s statement in John 3:14-15: “Just as Moses exalted the snake in the desert
(Num. 21:6-9), so the Child of the Human must be exalted, so that all who believe in him can have eternal life.” Most ancient Christians recognized that in this verse Jesus spoke of himself as the Child of the Human, and thus as analogous to the salvific
snake. An early Christian group who developed this interpretation was later called “Ophite” after the Greek ophis, or snake. Yet the idea of them worshiping the snake in itself must be challenged as heresiological distortion. My aim in this chapter is to introduce these “Ophites,” mainly by combining information from two heresiological reports (Irenaeus and the Refutator) on two groups with significant ideological and exegetical overlap. Irenaeus referred to the group as “others,” by which he meant “other gnostics” (keeping in mind that for Irenaeus, “gnostic” became a global term for “heretic”).1 The Refutator reported on people he called “Peratai,” sometimes called “Peratics.” Another main source, namely Origen of Alexandria, will be used to discuss Ophite ritual and their picture of the cosmos.
Keywords
Heresiography, theology, Christianity, church history, Jesus Christ
Date
2022
Type
Book chapter
Journal
Book
Found Christianities : Remaking the World of the Second Century CE
Volume
Issue
Page Range
99
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
Faculty of Theology and Philosophy
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All rights reserved
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Controlled
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Copyright © M. David Litwa, 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.