"Согласно доктрине василидиан (одной из гностических сект — последователей Василида, Сирия, II век), Абраксас — верховный глава небес и эонов, как бы совмещающий в своём лице их полноту. В системе Василида сумма числовых значений входящих в слово "Абраксас" семи греческих букв (1 + + 2 + 100 + 1 + 60 + 1 + 200) даёт 365 — число дней в году ("целокупность мирового времени"), а также число небес ("целокупность мирового пространства") и соответствующих небесам эонов ("целокупность духовного мира"). "Космический" характер семёрки как общего числа букв подчеркивает придававшийся имени Абраксаса смысл некоего исчерпания моментов бытия, окончательной суммарности" (2).

Отцы церкви боролись с ересью гневными отповедями и едкими насмешками. Святой Епифаний язвительно замечал, что ересиархи пытаются "действовать на воображение неопытных ужасными именованиями варварским составлением сих наименований", — он имел в виду и звание Абраксаса.

Имя Абраксаса и его иконографический образ (существо с головой петуха, телом человека и змеями вместо ног; в руках — меч и щит), известный по изображениям на геммах-амулетах, имели распространение и за пределами христианского гностицизма, в культово-магическом обиходе позднеантичного синкретического язычества (2).

Во II веке христианская церковь победила ереси, но в средние века Абраксас снова стал довольно известен: его изображение как талисман было принято алхимиками, которые носили на груди медальоны с человеко-петухозмеем.

"Afterwards broke out the heretic Basilides. He affirms that there is a supreme Deity, by name Abraxas, by whom was created Mind, which in Greek he calls Nous; that thence sprang the Word; that of Him issued Providence, Virtue, and Wisdom; that out of these subsequently were made Principalities, powers, and Angels; that there ensued infinite issues and processions of angels; that by these angels 365 heavens were formed, and the world, in honor of Abraxas, whose name, if computed, has in itself this number. Now, among the last of the angels, those who made this world, he places the God of the Jews latest, that is, the God of the Law and of the Prophets, whom he denies to be a God, but affirms to be an angel. To him, he says, was allotted the seed of Abraham, and accordingly he it was who transferred the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan; affirming him to be turbulent above the other angels, and accordingly given to the frequent arousing of seditions and wars, yes, and the shedding of human blood. Christ, moreover, he affirms to have been sent, not by this maker of the world, but by the above-named Abraxas; and to have come in a phantasm, and been destitute of the substance of flesh: that it was not He who suffered among the Jews, but that Simon was crucified in His stead: whence, again, there must be no believing on him who was crucified, lest one confess to having believed on Simon. Martyrdoms, he says, are not to be endured. The resurrection of the flesh he strenuously impugns, affirming that salvation has not been promised to bodies."

Tertullian

"Abraxas represented the 365 Aeons or emanations from the First Cause, and as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phoebus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon. In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield."

E. A. Wallis Budge

Abrasax is invoked in the The Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica:

"IO IO IO IAO SABAO KURIE ABRASAX KURIE MEITHRAS KURIE PHALLE. IO PAN, IO PAN PAN IO ISCHUROS, IO ATHANATOS IO ABROTOS IO IAO. KAIRE PHALLE KAIRE PAMPHAGE KAIRE PANGENETOR. HAGIOS, HAGIOS, HAGIOS IAO."

Aleister Crowley

В литературе XX века ("Семь проповедей к мёртвым" К.Г.Юнга, "Демиан" Г.Гессе) к символу Абраксаса обращались для выражения идеи высшего единства добрых и злых потенций человеческой души.

"Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible."

Carl Jung, "The Seven Sermons to the Dead" (Карл Юнг, "Семь проповедей к мёртвым")

В рассказе Томаса Мура "Утопия", одноименный рассказу остров однажды упоминается под названием "Абраксас".

Упоминание бога Абраксаса встречается в следующем отрывке рассказа Германа Гессе "Демиан":

"The bird is struggling out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must first destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The name of the God is called Abraxas."

Hermann Hesse, "Demian" (Герман Гессе, "Демиан")

Abraxas is this way connected to the Sun saturn split, where the sun/divine cosmic egg represents the Holy father and Abraxas breaking out of the egg shell denotes saturn, rebellion against the Godhood.

The Abraxas passage in Demian is later adapted in the anime version of Chiho Saito's comic "Revolutionary Girl Utena" in a verse that is recited by Ohtori Academy Student Council members before meetings:

"If the chick cannot break the shell if its egg, it will die without being born. We are the chick; the world is our egg. If we cannot break the world's shell, we will die without being born. Smash the world's shell - for the revolution of the world."

The name of the song that typically plays during this sequence is "Legend: That God's Name is Abraxas".

In Hugo Pratt's story "Favola di Venezia — Sirat Al-Bunduqiyyah" ("Fable of Venice"), Corto Maltese encounters several Abraxas in Venice.

Abraxas (played by Walter Phelan) appears as a demon in the second season premier of the hit tv series "Charmed"; the episode is entitled "Witch Trials."

В книге "Гарри Поттер и принц-полукровка" упоминается, что дед Драго Малфоя также носит имя Абраксас.

Abraxas is a fictional cosmic entity from Marvel Comics that was introduced in "Galactus: The Devourer".