Abraxas

The Almighty Avatar of God (Art by Charles W. King)

**Abraxas** is one of God's avatars in Creation. His name means a lot of things, "the honorable and hallowed word", "the uncreated Father", "the beautiful, the glorious Savior". This name indicates power, that is, the unlimited power of the Creator to be able to do whatever he wants and to literally be able to accomplish anything.

## Overview

Abraxas was once the main god of the Basilides religion, worshiped as the ruler of Heaven and the "Great Archon". He helps maintain Heaven's borders, making sure something like the War in Heaven never happens again. Abraxas is the avatar of God who appeared to Abraham with Gabriel and Raphael to announce Sarah's pregnancy and the destruction of the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and was the "angel" who fought with Jacob.

## Appearance

Abraxas appears as a somewhat humanoid chimeric creature, with the body of a Roman warrior, the head of a chicken, and his legs replaced with snakes. In his hands he holds a shield and a weapon identified as a whip, a sword, or a sceptre. His human form is always described as that of a man. He appears covered by a large cloak that covers his all body, including his face.

In the first century after Christ, Abraxas had been reduced to a simple weak, senile and feeble man, barely having the strength to even speak.

## Personality

He proved to be someone serious and patient, but very friendly. When he visited Abraham, he calmly waited for the Father of Faith to prepare a meal for him and his accompanying angels, Raphael and Gabriel.

He showed himself very merciful, as when he warned Abraham that he would destroy the two cities of sin, Sodom and Gomorrah, but he would save if there were at least 50 righteous in the cities, but after much insistence by Abraham, he said he would save the city if there were 10 fair people, Unfortunately, there weren't even half of 10, so he, as he promised, destroyed the two cities, minus Lot and his two daughters.

## Powers and Abilities

Abraxas is equal to that of others avatars of God in power, having a great arsenal of abilities. Although Abraxas ironically means "God Almighty", Abraxas has a limit in strength. Despite this, he is still incredibly powerful.

## History

### BCE

The Abraxas, like the other avatars of God, like Nebro and Yaldabaoth, was created when a stray shot by Khaos hit God and blasted a piece of him. Instead of recovering all the fallen pieces, God decided to transform some of them into new beings, so as not to destroy Creation with his power.

In the 17th century BC, God spoke to Abraham and promised him a great nation, to appear to Abraham he sent Abraxas as his messenger, and Gabriel and Raphael accompanied him on this mission. He promises to bless Abraham and Sarah with a baby, who would turn out to be Isaac. Afterwards, he destroys the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (with God's permission) and saves the family of a man named Lot, but his wife ends up dying while watching the cities being destroyed and turned into a pillar of salt.

Several years later, he fights Isaac's son and Abraham's grandson, Jacob. And after a night of persistence, he finally blesses Jacob. After that event, its whereabouts are unknown.

### CE

At some point in the first century of the common era, Abraxas was visited by a young Jesus Christ, who found Abraxas now an extremely old, senile and weak man, who appeared to be in his last days of life, having difficulty even speaking without letting out a heavy, long cough. He was living in an inn, something a little scary and also strange, seeing what was once an almighty God now reduced to a weakened old man. It is believed that like a Shrapnel of God, Abraxas was rusting and aging after thousands of years, and could finally become part of the Creator again.

Abraxas blessed the then 14-year-old little Jesus, telling Him to be a blessing and take on the role that he and the other pieces of God like Elohim, Yaldabaoth had played for 4,000 years. After that, Abraxas disintegrated due to extreme old age in the arms of the boy Jesus, who with tears upon seeing the death of his "brother", was filled with motivation to follow his path, now also carrying the will of the Almighty.

## Myths and Legends

Abraxas was a mystical word of the Basilidians, an ancient Gnostic religion considered a heresy by the greater Christian movement at the time. While not confirmed to be a god or a spirit of any kind, sources such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus state plainly that the Basilidians considered Abraxas to be their god or "Great Archon, though they were both Christian and considered the system of Basilides a "heresy", so they could have easily lied.

The etymology of the word "Abraxas" (originally "Abrasax" or "Αβρασαξ") is highly contested, though one of the earliest and most likely answers is that it's the sum of the number 365 - the number of days in the year/how many body parts the Basilidians believed humans to have - according to the rules of isopsephy. Splitting up the number 365 into 7 parts and putting it through the rules (Α = 1, Β = 2, Ρ = 100, Α = 1, Σ = 200, Α = 1, Ξ = 60) would give us "ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ".

On the *Gods and Demons wiki*, Abraxas was given the Biblical name "El Shaddai" or "God Almighty" so that he could have more to do. El Shaddai, or just Shaddai, is a name of God in Judaism. El Shaddai is conventionally translated into English as God Almighty (Deus Omnipotens in Latin), but its original meaning is unclear. The name Shaddai appears 48 times in the Bible, seven times as "El Shaddai" (five times in Genesis, once in Exodus, and once in Ezekiel).

The name "Shaddai" often appears on the devices such as amulets or dedicatory plaques. More importantly, however, it is associated with the traditional Jewish customs which could be understood as apotropaic: male circumcision, mezuzah and tefillin. The connections of the first one with the name Shaddai are twofold.

While the translation of El as "god" in Ugarit/Canaanite language is straightforward, the literal meaning of Shaddai is the subject of debate. Some say it means "destroyer" or "to overpower." El Shaddai can convey several different semantic relations between the two words.

## Trivia

* Some people believe that Abraxas is female.