Why were the Gnostic Gospels banned?

When Emperor Constantine came to power he granted the Christian Church state privileges and patronage, but this was only to apply to the Catholic-Orthodox branch of Christianity. While he ensured the return of any Church property to this branch of Christianity, he permitted the property of the Gnostic branch to remain expropriated. throughout the fourth century, the Gnostics were treated as heretics and persecuted, along with the pagans.

When Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 CE, ha added that this was Christianity "as preached by the bishops of Rome and Alexandria," thus outlawing the Arian Church and the Gnostics sects. The bishops led Christian mobs in burning all publications, some extremely ancient, that did not further the objectives of the official Church. So, not only were the pagan books burnt and destroyed, so also were the sacred texts of the Gnostics. Some Gnostic gospels and other texts were hidden to avoid destruction, including the library at Nag Hammadi in Egypt, where the extremely dry air has allowed the Gnostic gospels to be preserved up to their twentieth-century discovery.

The Gnostic gospels were banned and then almost destroyed out of intolerance, bigotry and prejudice.