IV.

Rites

Some Gnostic sects rejected all sacraments; others observed baptism and the Eucharist, interpreting them as signs of the awakening of gnosis. Other Gnostic rites were intended to facilitate the ascent of the divine element of the human soul to the spiritual realm. Hymns and magic formulas were recited to help achieve a vision of God; other formulas were recited at death to ward off the demons who might capture the ascending spirit and imprison it again in a body. In the Valentinian sect (followers of Valentinus, a Gnostic teacher of the early 2nd century ad), a special rite, called the bridal chamber, celebrated the reunion of the lost spirit with its heavenly counterpart.