Ophites definition of Ophites in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Ophites (ō`fīts) [Gr.,=believers in the serpent], group of Gnostic sects notorious for extreme cultism and inverted morality. Certain of these sects were known as Naasseni. Almost all that is known of Ophitism has been gleaned from St. Irenaeus, Origen, and other writers opposed to Gnosticism Gnosticism , dualistic religious and philosophical movement of the late Hellenistic and early Christian eras. The term designates a wide assortment of sects, numerous by the 2d cent. A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. . The Ophites carried to extremes the teaching of Marcion Marcion , c.85–c.160, early Christian bishop, founder of the Marcionites, one of the first great Christian heresies to rival Catholic Christianity. He was born in Sinope. He taught in Asia Minor, then went (c.135) to Rome, where he perfected his theory.
..... Click the link for more information. that an essential hostility exists between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The Ophites held that the Old Testament villains were actually heroes and revered Cain, the Sodomites, and the Egyptians. Specially worshiped was the serpent, as the creature in Eden that tried to give Adam and Eve the knowledge withheld from them by Jehovah. Much of the serpent worship and the occult ritualism was probably symbolic of certain esoteric knowledge. The Ophites acknowledged Jesus as the savior, but rejected the importance of the crucifixion; Christ came to reveal gnosis (knowledge), not to die for people's sins. One Ophitic hymn, the Hymn of the Naasenes, survives.

Bibliography

See E. Buonaiuti, Gnostic Fragments (1924); R. M. Grant, Gnosticism and Early Christianity (1959, rev. ed. 1966).

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No references found	But supernatural , in most instances, intangible which has been from the beginning; to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the worlds; which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil;--did not fall down and worship it like them; but its idea It is not probable that this monomania in him took its instant rise at the precise time of his bodily dismemberment. Part III: Herman Melville's "; or The Whale" by Melville, Herman; Searls, Damion / The Review of Contemporary Fiction It should be noted, however, that a third-century Greek poet (pseudonym Orpheus) referred to ophites as a vocal stone in which 'dwells a soul, round, roughly black, hard; all over its circumference run sinews, similar to wrinkles. Ammonite fossil portrayed on an ancient Greek countermarked coin by McMenamin, Mark A.S. / Antiquity	Ophelia Opheliidae Ophiacodonta Ophicalcite Ophicleide Ophidiidae Ophidion ophidiophobia Ophiocanopidae Ophiocistia Ophiocistioidea Ophioglossaceae Ophioglossales Ophioglossidae Ophioglossum Ophiolite ophiolitic eclogite Ophiomorus Ophiomyxidae Ophiomyxina Ophion Ophiopluteus Ophir Ophisops ophite Ophites ophitic Ophitic Texture Ophiucus Ophiurida Ophiuroidea Ophrah ophryon Ophryoscolecidae ophthalmectomy Ophthalmia ophthalmia neonatorum ophthalmia nodosa ophthalmic Ophthalmic Reaction ophthalmodynamometer Ophthalmodynamometry ophthalmological ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ophthalmomalacia ophthalmometer Ophthalmoplegia ophthalmorrhexis ophthalmoscope Ophthalmoscopy	Ophiomyxidae Ophiomyxina Ophion Ophioneus Ophionyssus Ophionyssus natricis ophiophagous Ophiophagus Ophiophagus hannah ophiopluteus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi Ophiostoma novo-ulmi Ophiostoma ulmi Ophiostoma ulmi Ophir Ophir Ophir Ophir Elementary School District Ophir Forex Trading Ophis Ophisaurus Ophisaurus apodus Ophism Ophisops Ophisthocomus Ophisthocomus Ophisthocomus hoazin Ophisthocomus hoazin ophite ophite Ophites ophitic ophitic Ophitic Texture Ophiuchi Ophiuchus Ophiuchus Ophiuchus (constellation) Ophiuchus constellation Ophiucus Ophiucus Ophiura Ophiuran Ophiurid Ophiurida Ophiurida Ophiurioid Ophiurioidea ophiuroid ophiuroid Ophiuroidea Ophiuroidea ophiuroids ophiuroids OPHL OPHM OPHMS OPHN OPHO Ophodni Brod Ophone

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But supernatural , in most instances, intangible which has been from the beginning; to whose dominion even the modern Christians ascribe one-half of the worlds; which the ancient Ophites of the east reverenced in their statue devil;--did not fall down and worship it like them; but its idea It is not probable that this monomania in him took its instant rise at the precise time of his bodily dismemberment.

Part III: Herman Melville's "; or The Whale" by Melville, Herman; Searls, Damion / The Review of Contemporary Fiction

It should be noted, however, that a third-century Greek poet (pseudonym Orpheus) referred to ophites as a vocal stone in which 'dwells a soul, round, roughly black, hard; all over its circumference run sinews, similar to wrinkles.

Ammonite fossil portrayed on an ancient Greek countermarked coin by McMenamin, Mark A.S. / Antiquity