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Basílides

Index: Prólogo, Discusión, OC,Obras completas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974. 177. Una vindicación del falso Basílides, Discusión, OC,Obras completas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974. 213-16. Funes el memorioso, Artificios, Ficciones, OC,Obras completas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974. 468. Tres versiones de Judas, Artificios, Ficciones, OC,Obras completas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974. 514. Historia de los ecos de un nombre, Otras inquisiciones, OC,Obras completas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1974. 750. La biblioteca total, BS,Borges en Sur 1931-1980. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1999. 27. Cosmogonias, CS,El círculo secreto. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2003. 137. La cábala, SN,Siete noches. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1982. 136.
Type
N

Gnostic theologian, fl. c.130 A.D.

Fishburn and Hughes: "An early Gnostic from Alexandria who integrated Pythagorean and Cabbalistic principles and Oriental traditions with the Christian faith.
Three Versions of Judas: Basilides held that, according to Greek numeration, the sum of the numerical values of the letters composing the name Abraxas, his name for God, came to 365. Abraxas created 'Understanding' and this in turn created 'The Word'; by a successive hierarchical process the different orders of angels (365 in fact) were created. The lowest of these -to which the god of the Jews is included - created the world: an attempt by Basilides to resolve the problem of evil. To redeem creation from corruption, Abraxas sent his own son ('Understanding'), who became one with the man Jesus. Basilides rejected the doctrine of the resurrection, since the body was made of evil matter. His followers, therefore, unable to reconcile themselves to the resurrection of Jesus, were compelled to deny the physical aspects of the crucifixion. Some said that Jesus was only a phantom in the moment of death; others that Simon of Cyrene was crucified in his stead.

The Library of Babel: “A commentary on a commentary on the gnostic gospel of Basilides may refer to Borges’s essay “Basilides the False”." (23)