This section is from "The American Cyclopaedia", by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana. Also available from Amazon: The New American Cyclopędia. 16 volumes complete..
Agyniani, Or Agynii (Gr. a, without, and
woman), a sect so called from their rejection of marriage. They flourished about the close of the 7th century, belonging to the later representatives of the Gnostic idea that the creator of the material world was an evil being, and that therefore the true Christian life consists in a renunciation and mortification of all the physical appetites and passions.
 
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