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When discussing theology, I've come to realize that not only is personal study of doctrine a necessary component to faith, but it is something that shouldn't be kept to oneself. I want to share my journey, both past and ongoing, into the realm of theology. Through this, I hope that you will gain insight into the Christian faith as a whole. Before reading anything else, I suggest you read the introduction and definitions (found in the pages tabs above) so you may better understand where I am coming from in everything I write. Because many of my posts are on heresies, there is also a page above with a family tree of heresies and links to all the posts I have so far on the topic.

02 December, 2013

Heresy of the Week: Elcesaitism

Some heresies are very distinct.  Others borrow from all different branches of heresy and muddle them together.  This weeks heresy is one of the latter.
Elcesaitism (also known as Elchasaitism, Elkasitism, or Elkesaitism—the spelling depends upon who you are reading) was an early church Jewish-Christian heresy closely related to Ebionitism. From the little that was written about Elcesaites that survived, it appears they, too, believed in a Monophysitism-style angelology, claiming that the Son of God was a giant angel and His sister was the Holy Ghost, another giant angel. They believe, in a somewhat Gnosticism twist, that they had a special Gospel that fell out of the sky just for them and they reject many portions of the Bible, particularly the writings of the Apostles. There have also been connections made between this sect and Mandaeism.

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