Seleucians
SELEUCIANS
Disciples of Seleucus, a philosopher of Galatia, who, about the year 380, adopted the sentiments of Hermogenes and those of Audaeus. He taught, with the Valentinians, that Jesus Christ assumed a body only in appearance. He also maintained that the world was not made by God, but was co-eternal with him; and that the soul was only an animated fire created by the angels; that Christ does not sit at the right hand of the Father in a human body, but that he lodged his body in the sun, according to Psa 19:4; and that the pleasures of beatitude consisted in corporeal delight.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Seleucians
A Gnostic sect said to have flourished in Galatia about the latter hall of the 3rd century. Their teaching, based on the crudest form of dualism, held that matter is coeternal with God, that evil is to be attributed to God as well as to matter, that the human spul is formed from earthly elements by angels. They did not practise baptism; by hell they understood the present world; resurrection was explained as merely the procreation of children. They interpreted Psalm 18:6 as meaning that Christ left His body in the sun. They were the source of other errors by disciples who called themselves Proclinianites or Hermeonites.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Seleucians
A Gnostic sect who are said to have flourished in Galatia. They derived their name from Seleucus, who with certain Hermias is said to have propounded and taught their peculiar heresies. According to Philastrus (Liber Dicersarum Hacreseon, LV) the teaching of these heresies was based on the crudest form of Dualism. While they maintained that God was incorporeal, they asserted that matter was coeternal with Him. They exceeded the usual dualistic tenets in attributing evil to God as well as to matter. In their system the souls of men were not created by God, but were formed from earthly components — fire and air — by angels. Christ, they said, did not sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven because (Psalm xviii, 6) “He hath set his tabernacle in the sun” must be interpreted to mean that Christ left His body in the sun. They did not practise baptism, basing their refusal to do so on the words of John the Baptist (Matthew 3:11): “He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire”. By hell they understood this present world, while Resurrection they explained as being merely the procreation over death with the expectation of a glorious immortality. The doctrines of Seleucus and his adherents were the source of another series of errors taught by some of their disciples who called themselves Prolinianites or Hermeonites. These latter rejected the dogmas of the Resurrection and Judgment. According to Philastrius they perverted large numbers. It must be said that a great deal of uncertainty exists regarding the history and real cause of the fact that the doctrines of the Seleucians so closely resembled those of Hermogenes, and because Hermogenes is not mentioned by Philastrius, conclude that these two were one and the same heresy. This assumption is plausible but there are vital differences between the teaching of Hermogenes and that of the Seleucians as, for example, on the subject of Christ as Creator which, together with the virgin birth, was admitted by Hermogenes. If any weight is to be attached to a method of chronology which seems rather arbitrary, the date assigned by Philastrius to the Seleucians, viz. After the reign of Decius, would exclude the supposition that he confounded them with the followers of Hermogenes.
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KETZER-WALCH, Historie (Leipzig, 1767), 1, 584 seq.; HILGENFELD, Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums (Leipzig, 1884).
PATRICK J. HEALY Transcribed by Maria Medina Dedicated to Magdalena Mulay Medina
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Seleucians
the followers of Seleucus, a philosopher of Galatia, who, about the year 380, adopted some of the notions of the Valentinians. He taught that Jesus Christ assumed a body only in appearance; that the world was not made by God, but was eternal; that the soul was only an animated fire created by angels; that Christ does not sit at the right hand of the Father in a human body, but that he lodged his body in the sun, according to Psa 19:4; and that all the pleasures of happiness consist in corporeal delight. Augustine says that the Seleucians rejected the use of water in baptism, under the pretense that this was not the baptism instituted by Christ, because John, comparing his baptism with that of Christ, says, I baptize you with water; but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. They deemed a baptism of fire more suitable to the spiritual nature of man than a baptism of water, since they taught that the soul was a portion of living fire. SEE HERMIANS.