(Revelation 2:24), probably were the mysteries of the Nicolaitans, the Simonians, and other early Gnostics, who concealed their errors under deep abstruseness derived from wild speculations of Oriental philosophy, spoke of certain intelligences which created the world, but were in opposition to the Creator. They taught a profound knowledge of the nature of angels and their different degrees. They seem to have had secret books, written in an abstruse and mysterious style. (See GNOSTICS).