According to Gnosticism, a heretical form of Christianity that emerged in the centuries following the death of Jesus Christ, God did not create the world. They ascribe different divine origins to existence. Instead, the world was created by a misshapen and evil being called the Demiurge, and because he was imperfect and malevolent, so is the world that he created.
He also created a group of supernatural beings called the Archons to help him run his new world. Together, they created human beings, placing a divine spark embodied by God in each. They then trapped them in their evil, material realm. According to Gnostic beliefs, the teachings of Christ aim to show men how to reach enlightenment, escape the evil material universe, and join with the divine.
While the Gnostic archons are sometimes considered the equivalent of the fallen angels of Christianity, they are different types of spiritual beings because they were not created by the true God.
Who Are the Gnostic Archons?
According to Gnostic texts, the Gnostic Archons were hideous beings with hermaphrodite bodies and the heads of beasts. This defiance of the natural order in the composition of their bodies suggests that they are chaotic beings that could not have been created by God.
Their number varies. While most Gnostic texts refer to seven archons, the Hebdomad, as the rulers of reality, in some traditions, there are five, or 12, or a chief archon called Abraxas who rules over 365 archons. Gnostics believed that the Hebdomad created existence, but they are also incompetent, often making mistakes. So, while they stand between humanity and salvation, they can be overcome by the truly dedicated.
The Gnostics often identified the archons with pagan gods worshipped in other religions to make sense of their religion within a predominantly pagan world (at the time). Each of the seven archons of the Hebdomad was also associated with one of the seven planets known at the time and linked to Astrology. They also correspond to the days of the week that govern life in the material world.
While there is no consistent list of archons, below are profiles of some of the archons that are consistently identified.
Yaldabaoth
Yaldabaoth, also known as Saklas (fool) and Samael (blind), was the archon of fornication and was associated with the planet Saturn. He was considered the chief of the other archons and had the face of a lion and the body of a serpent. Yaldabaoth may be the Demiurge himself who created the other archons. He is known for his arrogance and said, “I am God, and there is no other God beside me.” This archon is principally responsible for keeping souls trapped in the material world.
Yaldabaoth is also described as a kind of ruler of Hell, and as residing in Chaos with 49 demons, where he tortures wicked souls in boiling rivers of pitch. He was also responsible for denying man divine knowledge by trying to prevent him from eating the fruit of knowledge. Saturn, as the furthest planet known in ancient times, is associated with time, limitations, and death.
Yao
Yao is described as one of the sons of Yaldabaoth and is associated with the planet Jupiter. He appears as a serpent with seven heads and wings and has an idiotic face. Yao is often associated with rulership, authority, and law and is seen as a figure of judgment. Rather than being a positive thing, he enforces the corrupt laws that keep mankind imprisoned.
Sabaoth
Sabaoth, another son of Yaldabaoth, is associated with the planet Mars in Gnostic myth. His name appears in the Old Testament in reference to the divine army and is often interpreted as “forces of chaos.”
Fittingly for a god of war, Saboath dethroned his father with the help of Sophia, who created the Demiurge. He is sometimes interpreted as a good archon who takes on the form of the god of Israel. But he is also a negative figure responsible for strife, chaos, and war within the world.
He is the one who threw Yaldabaoth into the cosmic prison of Tartarus, making him the ruler of Hell. His envy of his son took on its own form, and he became Death. Other evils emerge from Death, including envy, wrath, weeping, roaring, loud shouting, sobbing, and grief. In many ways, Saboath parallels the Greek god Zeus.
Adonaios
Adonaios is associated with the Sun and represents power and authority. This archon is often associated with the Greek god Adonis, linking him with beauty and desire, and the cyclical nature of life and death. He has the face of a monkey.
Astaphaios
Astaphaios is associated with Venus and is considered the “star bringer,” which is logical for an association with the morning star. He had the face of a hyena. Astaphaois is associated with “base” knowledge and the lowest form of wisdom, including desire, sensuality, and attraction. He keeps souls imprisoned by creating attachments to the pleasures of the material world.
Elaios
Elaios is associated with the planet Mercury, which links him with communication, intellect, and trickery. He uses deception and illusion to prevent souls from seeing the spiritual truth.
Horaios
Horaios is associated with the Moon, which is astrologically connected with cycles of time, emotions, and the subconscious. He underscores the ever-changing nature of the material world, which makes it challenging for souls to become grounded and grow in a progressive way. Horaios manipulates the psychological and emotional states of souls.
The Archons in Gnosis (The Soul’s Ascent)
In the Gnostic religion, when someone tried to gain salvation, or gnosis, his or her spirit ascended up through the celestial spheres toward Heaven. This happened both in life during ecstatic moments of enlightenment and after death. As the spirit ascends through each sphere, the archon that presides over that sphere detains the human soul and asks it a series of questions. If they cannot answer the questions, they have not yet fully realized gnosis. The archon will prevent them from ascending higher.
The Story of Saint Anthony
Saint Anthony was a Christian monk living in Egypt in the 4th century CE. He went into the Egyptian desert to live as an aesthetic, during which time he was faced with many demonic temptations. The gnostics suggest that these were posed by the archons.
First, while traveling through the desert, he came across a centaur, a half-man, half-horse creature. He asked it for directions, but it spoke in an unintelligible tongue to try to terrify Anthony and lead him astray. Ultimately, with patience, the creature pointed Anthony in the right direction and vanished.
Later, while Anthony was still traveling through the desert, he found a plate of silver coins. Considering he was in the middle of the desert, Anthony identified them as a demonic temptation, declared them as such, and the plate vanished. Later, the same happened with a plate of gold.
He eventually found his cave, but it was full of demons. They beat Anthony until it appeared that he was dead. His servant carried him out of the cave, and other hermits gathered to mourn his death, but he was miraculously revived. He then demanded that his servants take him back to the cave. When he arrived, he called out the demons, who appeared, prepared to rip Anthony apart, but a bright divine light appeared and drove them off. He correctly interpreted that this was God, and asked the lord why he had not come to his aid sooner. God responded that the battle was part of Anthony’s spiritual growth and journey.
Archons in Astrology
A belief in astrology was common in the ancient world, with the belief that the stars were connected to the gods and either shaped destiny or reflected the destiny set by the gods in their movements. In Gnosticism, the stars were not ruled by the gods, but by the malevolent Archons.
According to the Gnostic version of the creation myth in the Apocryphon of John, the Demiurge first created the four primary elements and arranged them in concentric spherical layers to make the world body, and then fitted this body into a pre-designed network of celestial spheres. He then made the fixed stars, planets, and the Earth. He then makes himself an aeon, or heaven, “burning with luminous fire,” which he fills up with the zodiacal bands, the planets, and the other stars. These are not just the familiar zodiacal bands from Greek and modern astrology, but also the decans and pentads from ancient Egyptian astrology.
The Demiurge then gave the 12 archons rule of their own aeon, which also gave them one of the zodiacal constellations.
These rulers are named:
| Iaoth | Leo |
| Hermas | Virgo |
| Galila | Libra |
| Iobel | Scorpio |
| Adonaios | Sagittarius |
| Sabaoth | Capricorn |
| Kainan-Kae | Aquarius |
| Adiressine | Pisces |
| Iobel | Aries |
| Hamoupiael | Taurus |
| Adonin | Gemini |
| Belias | Cancer |
These 12 signs were then divided into seven unequal fractions, and each assigned to an archon, making a total of 84 representing the stars rising and setting in the zodiac. He then allotted another three powers to each archon, creating 360 beings, each controlling a degree of the zodiac, corresponding to the days of the yearly cycle (at the time).
Next, he creates the seven planets within the zodiacal bands and places chief archons over each. He places five of the planets, excluding the Sun and Moon, to rule over the abyss or underworld as well.
The planetary rulers are named:
| Sun | Ioath |
| Mercury | Eloaios |
| Venus | Astaphaios |
| Mars | Iao |
| Jupiter | Adonaios |
| Saturn | Adoni/Sabbataios |
| Moon | Horaios |
Together, these archons rule fate, or the “realm of forgetfulness,” which creates the prison of the physical realm. They control fate to prevent man from undergoing Gnosis and escaping the evil material cosmos, permanently imprisoning their divine spark.
Archons in Alechemy
The archons found their way into modern alchemy. They have become personifications of the forces that seek to control, limit, or manipulate human consciousness and spiritual development.
Other modern interpretations of the Gnostic archons see them as archetypal forces within the human psyche that are obstacles to self-realization and growth, so personified vices. For example, they represent the inner voices of fear, shame, and self-doubt. They are also sometimes interpreted as external influences, such as social influences and cultural programming, that block people from embracing their true selves.
In some modern spiritual practices, practitioners “clear” archons and pass through the heavens to seek personal realization. In some versions of this paradigm, humans who pass through the levels of spiritual realization become Archons, but this is separate from traditional Gnosticism.
Sources: Gnostic Texts
Gnostic texts were written largely between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE by Christian, Jewish, and Hellenistic writers in response to ideas that were emerging out of the new Christian religion. While they draw on similar source material, they present a very different version of the true divine origins of the universe and the meaning of life.
Our knowledge of Gnosticism has expanded significantly over the last 50 years, thanks to the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of thirteen ancient books containing over fifty ancient texts, in Upper Egypt in 1945. The Nag Hammadi scriptures include many gnostic texts previously thought to be destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define “orthodoxy.”
While many Christians studied Gnostic texts and ideas at the time, when the Church created canon, they were declared heretical and as representing false religions.
Archons Gnosticism FAQs
Do the Archons appear in the Bible?
Yes, the term “archon” appears in the Bible, in the Greek New Testament, and in line with Gnostic beliefs, the archons represent malevolent figures, but human and divine. For example, the Roman leaders who crucified Jesus are referred to as archons (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). Elsewhere, Satan is referred to as “the archon of this world” (e.g., John 12:31), and evil angels are called “archons of this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12).
Who do Gnostics worship?
In the ancient world, the Gnostics believed in a higher, unknowable god called Monad – in some ways, he is the only god within a monotheistic paradigm. But in Gnostic systems, beneath him are the Demiruge, the Archons, and other spiritual beings who play an important role in the formation of the universe and the unfolding of destiny. The Demiurge is considered the creator of the world and is therefore sometimes considered the equivalent of Yahweh, the Jewish god. But his malevolent nature means that he is not deserving of worship.
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