>>103624081
Gnosticism is an early-church heresy which affirmed the problem of the fallen human condition, but instead claimed that the way to salvation was through the means of staining special knowledge and escaping the material world by ascending. This, however, is entirely contradictory to the gospel of Christ, and so most gnostics attempt to hijack the gospel and the teachings of Christ through false, gnostic gospels attributed to biblical characters (such as judas, thomas, mary, etc.).
This movement has no consistent teachings outside of twisting Jesus's role into that of a mere spiritual teacher or a lesser god or of the devil being misunderstood (hilariously stupid, but still blasphemous) as opposed to what He actually preached, which is His true Godhood.
The early church fathers easily debated this heresy as it failed to properly match up to the gospel and due to its weak internal structure. There is no reason to believe it to be true. Only reason why this heresy came back was due to the peotestant heresies of individual authority, which was akin to the gnostic beliefs of authority of interpretation.
Nonetheless, the Church of Christ is still standing in the Orthodox tradition.