Ophites

<p >The&nbsp;<b>Ophites</b>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<b>Ophians</b>&nbsp;(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek" >Greek</a>&nbsp;Ὀφιανοί&nbsp;<i>Ophianoi</i>, from ὄφις&nbsp;<i>ophis</i>&nbsp;"snake") were members of a Christian&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism" title="Gnosticism" >Gnostic</a>&nbsp;sect depicted by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolytus_of_Rome" title="Hippolytus of Rome" >Hippolytus of Rome</a>&nbsp;(170–235) in a lost work, the&nbsp;<i>Syntagma</i>&nbsp;("arrangement").

It is now thought that later accounts of these "Ophites" by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudo-Tertullian" title="Pseudo-Tertullian" >Pseudo-Tertullian</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philastrius" title="Philastrius" >Philastrius</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphanius_of_Salamis" title="Epiphanius of Salamis" >Epiphanius of Salamis</a>&nbsp;are all dependent on the lost&nbsp;<i>Syntagma</i>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolytus_of_Rome" title="Hippolytus of Rome" >Hippolytus</a>. It is possible that rather than an actual sectarian name Hippolytus may have invented "Ophite" as a generic term for what he considered heretical speculations concerning the serpent of Genesis or Moses.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophites#cite_note-1" >[1]</a></sup>

Apart from the sources directly dependent on Hippolytus (Pseudo-Tertullian, Philastrius and Epiphanius), Origen and Clement of Alexandria also mention the group. The group is mentioned by Irenaeus in&nbsp;<i>Against Heresies</i>&nbsp;(1:30).</p>

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