Greek. Means knowledge, mostly used when speaking of esoteric matters. The term has a connotation of experiential, lived or revealed knowledge as opposed to information acquired second hand, from books for example.

This is also the title of Boris Mouravieff's three book series on the inner tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy, frequently cited in this glossary.

Gnosticism refers to a group of spiritual movements of the early Christian era, later judged heretical. There was a revival of Gnosticism between the 11th and 13th centuries, starting in Bulgaria with the Bogomiles and continuing in Southern France with the Cathars, also known as Albigensians.

See Gnosticism.