Stratiotici

The Stratiotici were a group of persons that formed into a sect on the basis of mutual agreement of having possession of a provision of the true view of divine truth.

Description

The sect were a sub-group of the Borborians,[1] of which the Coddians, Stratiotici and the Phibiomites had together a family connection to Gnostics.[2][3] The name deriving from stratos which in the Greek language meant army,[4][1] or soldierly ( soldiers of (Walker 1983) ) as a translation from the Latin.[5] The names attributed to sects were possibly only those given by their enemies. Little is known of the sect as rituals were practised in secrecy, scriptures were unwritten by the practitioners, resulting on the necessary reliance of accounts of their practice in the writings of the holy church fathers.[6]

They serve up lavish helpings of meat and wine, even if they are poor. Then, when they have had their drinking-party and so to speak filled their veins to satiety, they give them-selves over to passion.... The husband withdraws from his wife, and says {to her}: 'Rise up, make love with the brother.'... When they have had intercourse out of the passion of fornication, then, holding up their own blasphemy before heaven, the woman and the man take the man's emission [semen] into their own hands, and stand there looking up toward heaven.And while they have uncleanliness in their hands they pray... (Statement of the practise of Stratiotici made by a Church Father in text by Robert K. Moffett )[7]

Insight

The sect and other self defining gnostics were the subject of criticism by the Church Fathers, these finding evidence of heresy and blasphemy caused by a corruption of the truth of Christian doctrine. This the fathers may have attributed to the former weight of their ancestral sin or the result of persons with unclean spirits.

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References
  1. R. Bruce Elder - Body of vision: representations of the body in recent film and poetry. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press (1997). Retrieved 21 October 2011.ISBN 0889202761
  2. review by Dr. Joseph S. Maresca of The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics: An Introduction to the Gnostic Coptic Manuscripts Discovered at Chenoboskion by Jean Doresse New York : MJF Books, 1986. Retrieved 2011-October-21 ISBN 1-56731-227-6
  3. Kurt Rudolph - GNOSIS: The Nature and History of Gnosticism - 412 pages , Continuum International Publishing Group, 1 Jun 1998 quoting Epiphanius of Salamis - ©T & T Clark Ltd 1983 Retrieved 2012-01-14 ISBN 0-567-08640-2
  4. Douglas Harper - Behindthename.com Retrieved 21 October 2011
  5. University of Notre Dame - Vita, Dulcedo, Spes - archive - stratioticus] & archive - soldierly (English to Latin)] RETRIEVED 2012-01-14
  6. p.158 of Gnosticism - Its History and Influence - Benjamin Walker 1983 THE AQUARIAN PRESS RETRIEVED 2012-01-14 ISBN 0-85030-355-9
  7. Statement of the practise of Stratiotici made by a Church Father from a text entitled Tantric Sex by Robert K. Moffett, Berkeley Medallion Books, 1974; pp. 63–4.The Arcane Archive Retrieved 2911-10-21 see also - Agape feast
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