Borborites
Sign in to saveAlso known as Phibionites
The Borborites or Borborians (; in Egypt, Phibionites; in other countries, Koddians, Barbelites, Secundians, Socratites, Zacchaeans, Stratiotics) were claimed to be a Christian Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans. The group is described in the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis (ch. 26), and Theodoret's Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, the only extant sources on them from antiquity.
~8 min read
Article
11 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Teachings
- Sacred texts
- Cosmology
- Sexual sacramentalism
- Historiography
- Background of Epiphanius
- Opinions of modern scholars on reliability
- In Mandaean texts
- References
- Bibliography
The Borborites or Borborians (; in Egypt, Phibionites; in other countries, Koddians, Barbelites, Secundians, Socratites, Zacchaeans, Stratiotics) were claimed to be a Christian Gnostic sect, said to be descended from the Nicolaitans. The group is described in the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis (ch. 26), and Theodoret's Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, the only extant sources on them from antiquity.
It is difficult to know for sure the practices of the group, as both Epiphanius and Theodoret were opponents of the group. According to Epiphanius, the sect were libertines who embraced pleasures of the earthly world.