A school founded by Ammonius Saccas in the third century BCE, and which is considered by Helena P. BLAVATSKY as the precursor or prototype of the modern Theosophical Society (TS). Its aim was “to reconcile all religions, sects and nations under a common system of ethics, based on eternal verities.” Eclectic Theosophy, according to Blavatsky, had three divisions:

(1) Belief in one absolute, incomprehensible and supreme Deity, or infinite essence, which is the root of all nature, and of all that is, visible and invisible. (2) Belief in man’s eternal immortal nature, because, being a radiation of the Universal Soul, it is of an identical essence with it. (3) Theurgy, or “divine work,” or producing a work of gods; from theoi, “gods,” and ergein, “to work.” (Key to Theosophy, Sec. 1, fn.)

Ammonius and his followers called themselves Philalethians, or lovers of truth. They were also called “Analogists” by others due to their way of interpreting sacred legends by analogy or symbolism.

The Eclectic Theosophical system taught by Ammonius was not the first of its kind. It was given out, according to Diogenes Laertius, even earlier by the Egyptian seer and hierophant Pot-Amun during the early Ptolemaic dynasties.

V.H.C.

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