The Stratiotici were a gnostic sect, a subgroup of the

Borborites According to the ''Panarion'' of Epiphanius of Salamis (ch. 26), and Theodoret's ''Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium'', the Borborites or Borborians (; in Egypt, Phibionites; in other countries, Koddians, Barbelites, Secundians, Socratites, Zac ...

. Little else is known about them besides what the Church Fathers wrote on them.

Description

The sect were a sub-group of the Borborians, R. Bruce Elder - of which the ''Coddians'', ''Stratiotici'' and the ''Phibiomites'' had together a family connection to Gnostics. The name deriving from ''stratos'' which in the Greek language meant ''army'', or ''soldierly'' ( ''soldiers'' of (Walker 1983) ) as a translation from the Latin. 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.''p.158 of ''Gnosticism - Its History and Influence'' - Benjamin Walker 198
THE AQUARIAN PRESS
RETRIEVED 2012-01-14

Insight

The sect and other self defining gnostics were the subject of criticism by the Church Fathers, these finding evidence of heresy and

blasphemy Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...

caused by a

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

of the truth of Christian doctrine. This the fathers may have attributed to the former weight of their

ancestral sin Ancestral sin, generational sin, or ancestral fault (; ; ), is the doctrine that teaches that individuals inherit the judgement for the sin of their ancestors. It exists primarily as a concept in Mediterranean religions (e.g. in Christian hamarti ...

or the result of persons with

unclean spirit In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek ''pneuma akatharton'' (πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον; plural ''pneumata akatharta'' (πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα)), which in its single occurrence i ...

References

{{Reflist Early Gnostic sects Gnostic religions and sects