The Cainites or Cainians (Ancient Greek: Καϊνοί, Kainoi, and Καϊανοί, Kaianoi) [1] were a fictitious heresy allegedly venerating Cain and celebrating him for his sins, described by Irenaeus.

Cainite, member of a Gnostic sect mentioned by Irenaeus and other early Christian writers as flourishing in the 2nd century ad, probably in the eastern area of the Roman Empire. The Christian theologian Origen declared that the Cainites had “entirely abandoned Jesus.” Their reinterpretation of Old

Cainites, a name used for (I) the descendants of Cain, (2) a sect of Gnostics and Antinomians. Read more from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Cainites, on the contrary, cared for none of these things; they flung off the restraints of religion; they were the secularists and materialists of the antediluvian world. Whether there was an unseen kingdom, and a King to rule over it; whether there was such a thing as truth, or such a thing as righteousness, or even such a Being as God ...

A Gnostic sect of the second century was called Cainites or Caianites. They regarded all characters held up to reprobation in the Old Testament as worthy of veneration , as having suffered at the hands of the cruel God of the Jews ; hence Cain , as the first man cursed by Hysteraa, the Demiurg , claimed their special admiration.

Cainites, a sect of Gnostics that sprung up about the year 130 and is classed with the Ophites (q. v) or Serpentinians. They held that Sophia (Wisdom) found means to preserve in every age in this world, which the Demiurge had created, a race bearing within them a spiritual nature similar to her own, and intent upon opposing the tyranny of the ...

Cainites — The Cainites, or Cainians, were a Gnostic and Antinomian sect who were known to worship Cain as the first victim of the Demiurge Jehovah, the Old Testament God, who was identified by many groups of gnostics as evil. They venerated Cain, on the… …

A Gnostic Sect of the second century was called Cainites or Caianites. They regarded all characters held up to reprobation in the Old Testament as worthy of veneration, as having suffered at the hands of the cruel God of the Jews ; hence Cain, as the first man cursed by Hysteraa, the Demiurg, claimed their special admiration.

The two races of mankind that existed during the Ante-diluvian civilization were the Cainites and Sethites. The Cainites represented the unsaved seed of Satan (Gen.3:15; 4:14-26; Rom.5:12; 2 Pet.2:5).

If we can rely on this title, for which Epiphanius alone is responsible, the school of the Cainites is consequently post-Pauline. But the strangest and, from one point of view, the most interesting development of their theory, was the view they took of Judas.