Gnosis (from the Greek word for knowledge, γνώσις) is the spiritual knowledge of a saint or enlightened human being akin to the word mysticism Μυστικισμός. It is described as the direct experiential knowledge of the supernatural or divine. This is not enlightenment understood in its general sense of insight or learning (which in Greek is διαφωτισις) but enlightenment that validates the existence of the supernatural.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines gnosis as, "A knowledge of spiritual mysteries." From the word gnosis is derived Gnostic and Gnosticism, the latter a modern construct referring to one of various eastern sectarians flourishing during the early Christian era, which claimed to have supernatural knowledge or more precisely taught religio-philosophical knowledge. The term being Koine Greek has, nonetheless, a much broader application than being exclusive to any sectarian group or groups. In Byzantine and Hellenic cultures gnosis is a special knowledge or insight of the supernatural, in some sense mature understanding or knowledge. It refers to the knowledge that comes from experience rather than from rational or reasoned thinking. Knowledge as in revelation and or intuitive knowledge (see gnosiology).
