The roots of Gnosticism reach far into antiquity and, during much of its history , has faced such persecution as to destroy most records about it. Gnosticism transcends the boundaries of secular religion. Elements of it can be found among Quakers and Old Catholics, the Hebrew Kabbalah, Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Baha'i', in Greek philosophy, and even polynesian Huna. Kabbalistic Gnosticism (or a predecessor thereof) was probably brought to Palastine from Ur of the Chaldees by Abraham. Gnosticism even transcends the long-standing war between science and religion. In fact, it was Gnostic philosophers like Pythagoras, who were primarily responsible for developing the scientific method. On the other extreme, we can see Hebrew messianic movements (a constant process in Judaism) growing consistently out of Kabbalistic Gnosticism. There is no clear evidence indicating Christianity to be an exception to this rule. In fact, the earliest recorded scism in Christianity was between the Gnostics and Pistics. Several of the Gospels are clearly Gnostic in orientation, including the Gospels of John, Thomas, Philip, and Mary. Then, it was the Pistics who were the heretics, and they were often hated at that, because it was (and still is) Pistics who would burn Gnostic writings wherever they could find them.

In AD 38, the Church of Antioch was founded by James, Peter and Thomas in Antioch, Asia Minor.
In AD 64, Pistic Christianity began growing by leaps and bounds when Nero began throwing Christians to the lions in the arena. Roman courts offered Christians an out: they could denounce their religion and go free. The Pistics refused and died for it. The Gnostics were horrified. They were faced with a veritable Jonestown horror in their midst. Their friends and neighbors were commiting suicide by walking willingly into the mouths of lions.

While Gnostics respected honesty, they respected life more, and they knew that the man who would brandish a sword at them was not interested in honesty, but only in their obedience. They became hated and scorned by Pistics for refusing to die with them.

Better advertising could not have been bought. No faith, no commitment, could have been more impressive to the spectators. The arena made converts by the droves, and it was Pistic Christians that they sought out to learn more about this powerful religion.

In Ad 325, the Roman Catholic Church was created by a pagan emperor named Constantine. It was only superficially a Christian Church. The First Nicean Council was assembled to work out the details. While it was supposed to have been made up of Christian elders from five major Christian centers (Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch), it also included elders of all the major Pagan religions of Rome. Bishops from the cults of Mithras, Tammuz, Oannes (Dagon), Ceres, Janus, Bacchus, Apollo, Osiris, Jupiter, and Constantine's own religion: Sol Invictus, were invited. It was Constantine's wish that all of the Pagan religions, then at odds with each other, creating unneccesary conflicts, be unified into one "Catholic" church. "Catholic" means universal. The proceedings of that council were conducted by Constantine with an iron hand(1), and one of the positions which he insisted upon, and got, was to make Pistis a doctrine of the new church. Gnosticism could not be tolerated, because it encouraged its members to question authority. Pistis was thus politically expedient, because it forbade questioning.

The institution of the papacy was built on the doctrine of being the successors of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, and the first bishop. History, however, does not show Peter to have been in Rome, or to have ever been a bishop, anywhere(3). The first bishop of Rome was listed as Linus. "Peter of Rome" took the place of the Pet-Roma, the "Book of Stone" which played a major part in initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries. The statue of Jupiter (Jo-Peter) in Rome came to be worshipped as the image of Peter, with the claim that it always had been the image of Peter(4).

An effective unification of all of Rome's religions had to, not only include the major dieties of those religions, but it also had to place them in a position subordinate to the over-god, who was to pull them all together, and to grant him the higher authority. The names of the disciples, then, corresponded to the names of those dieties. Matthew was Mithras, Thomas - Tammuz, Mark - Mars, John - Oannes, Peter - Jupiter, Paul - Apollo. Even the Virgin Mary was a variation on older myths. The name "Jesus Christ" was actually a contraction on "Hesus" and "Christos".

The use of crosses, as symbols, was almost non-existent before. This was generally regarded as a violation of the second commandment, and the reminder of Christ's suffering was usually deemed inappropriate.

A vote was cast to decide whether women had souls. The women won by one vote. Among early Christians, however, it was the women, as much as the men, who had visions and were accepted for that ability.

The Church of Antioch left the council in disgust. As a consequence, it was persecuted as far away as Malabar, India.

The new church was virtually Christian in name only. Early Christians, and not Gnostics alone, were committed pacifists and anarchists. They refused to enter the military, or any kind of government work. After the Nicean Council, this changed, such that within 60 years almost every soldier and civil servant was a Catholic. The traditional Christian virtues of love, tolerance and forgiveness were quickly swept under the proverbial carpet.

Constantine never converted. On his deathbed, when he was too delirious to protest, "Saint" Eusebius entered his chambers, sprinkled holy water on him, and declared him baptised. Constantine, ruthless as he was, had put a stop to the persecution of Christians, but his successors began the persecution of Gnostics in earnest. Popes and Catholic emperors, alike, have shown, by its fruits, that this religion is, in fact, the utter depth of evil. Emperors Valens and Valentinian were such ruthless butchers as to make even Caligula look like a sweetheart. They were barely the beginning.

Information from http://www.the-gnosis-site.com/history.htm