On the gerasene swine expelled by Sabaoth/Jesus

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Giuseppe
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On the gerasene swine expelled by Sabaoth/Jesus

Post by Giuseppe »

If Sabaoth was the name of the Demiurge in a Judaizing phase when the Demiurge was not more hated strongly and radically as in the previous Gnostic Myth but was still not euhemerized as the human messiah Jesus called Christ, then the gerasene episode was invented by "Mark" :

1) to euhemerize the fact that Sabaoth, as his name says, was made by Sophia as the Lord of the demons/hosts, i.e. Legion.

2) to euhemerize the fact that the demons, once they recognize the power of Sabaoth on them, are doomed to reign only for the short time Sabaoth will need to repent himself (the official act of conversion being his crucifixion). Hence the point of the "swine possessed by demons" that allegorizes in the same time the lasting negative influence of the swine and also their coming defeat (with the crucifixion of Sabaoth).

3) to attack the Gnostic myth of Sabaoth where the Demiurge himself was cast down in the Tartaros by Sophia. Now instead only the demons are cast down, and only as mere sign of a still future event.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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