BASILIDIANS, ancient heretics, the followers of Basilides, an Egyptian, who lived near the beginning of the second century. He was educated in the Gnostic school, over which Simon Magus presided, and agreed with his master in holding that Christ was a man in appearance, that his body was a phantom, and that he gave his form to Simon the Cyrenian, who was crucified in his stead. This heresiarch, as we learn from Eusebius, wrote twenty-four books upon the gospel, and forged several prophets, to two of which he gave the names Barcaba and Barcoph. A fragment of a Basilidian gospel is still extant. The Basilidians held much the same opinion with the Valentinians, another branch of the Gnostic family. They asserted that all the actions of men are necessary; that faith is a natural gift, to which men are forcibly determined; and that however irregular or vicious may be the lives of men, they are nevertheless sure to be saved. Ireneus and others assure us that they acted in perfect consistency with their principles, committing all manner of villanies and impurities, in confidence of their natural election. They had a particular hierarchy of divine persons, or Æons. Under the cabballistical name Abrazas, they are believed to have worshipped the supreme God, from whom, as a principle, all other things proceeded. There are still extant several gems inscribed with the word Abrazas, and which were probably used by the Basilidians as amulets against diseases and evil spirits.