See Also: Bardesanes(encyclopedia)

Bardesanes (sh)




or Bardaisan

born July 11, 154, Edessa, Syria
died งใ 222, Edessa

Syrian Gnostic Christian and speculative thinker.

He converted to Christianity in 179 and became a missionary. He attacked the fatalism of the Greek philosophers and, showing the influence of Gnosticism, ascribed the creation of the world, the Devil, and evil to a hierarchy of gods rather than to the supreme God. His chief written work, The Dialogue of Destiny, is the oldest known example of Syriac literature. He is also remembered for his Syriac hymns.