Cainite

[ key-nahyt ]

noun

1. a member of a Gnostic sect that exalted Cain and regarded the God of the Old Testament as responsible for evil.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Cainite¹

< Medieval Latin Cainīta ( cain, -ite ¹; compare Late Latin Caiānus with same sense)

Example Sentences

Farther, it is to be inferred from notices in the fourth chapter of Genesis, that before the deluge there was both a nomadic and a settled population, and that the principal seat of the Cainite, or more debased yet energetic branch of the human family, was to the eastward of the site of Eden.

From Project Gutenberg

Perhaps he was a sort of a Cainite, saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

From Project Gutenberg

In the meantime the holy men bewailed his wretched lot, as if he had been slain by the Cainite hypocrites.

From Project Gutenberg

And as there were continual animosities between the Cainite church and the Church of Adam—for the Cainites could not brook their being treated as outside of the true communion—my opinion is, that Lamech killed some eminent man and some distinguished youth of the generation of the righteous, just as Cain, his father, had killed Abel.

From Project Gutenberg

The Cainite church always excuses that tyranny which it exercises over the godly, as Christ says: "Whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God," Jn 16, 2.

From Project Gutenberg