someone who claimed to have special knowledge, particularly of a religious nature, such as passwords for getting into the heavens or for controlling angels
A person whose worldview embraces Gnosticism [CE], the thought and practice of various cults of late pre-Christian and early Christian centuries distinguished by the conviction that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through gnosis [passing down of knowledge, perhaps secret knowledge] The word gnostic derives from the Greek gnostikos, meaning "of knowledge " See the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance website for a good overview of Gnosticism with additional links The Gnostic Library Archives is a good source for gnostic scripture and documents
They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived from the Deity by successive emanations, which they called Eons
an advocate of gnosticism possessing intellectual or esoteric knowledge of spiritual things of or relating to Gnosticism; "Gnostic writings