One important concept to bear in mind is that the Gnostic Church IS first and foremost a Church, it has always been a Church, and has always functioned as a Church - albeit in varying ways. Valentinus (c.100 a.d. – c.161 a.d.) was a bishop within the church of Rome aside from running his Valentinian School. Marcion (c.85 a.d. – c.160 a.d.) had a fairly large Church which closely resembled the early Orthodox Church. The Cathars (most active in the 10th – 13th centuries) had a definite structure with ecclesiastical functions, offices and rites within the class of Perfecti.

An additionally important concept to bear in mind is that the Gnostic Church functions within the French Gnostic Tradition. From the time of the renaissance of the Gnostic Church circa 1890, our Church was re-shaped with particular ordination rituals, particular prayers and a particular eucharistic celebration as promulgated by Jules Doinel. As of 1902, new rituals had replaced the original ones of Doinel, but these were in keeping with the same Church model of prayers and traditional sacraments and rites. With Jean Bricaud, two other Churches were subsumed into ours - the Sainte Église du Christ (mistakenly called Eglise Johannite des Chrétiens Primitifs (the Templar Order and Johannine Church of Fabré-Palaprat)) & the Sanctuaire Intérieur du Carmel Elié of Vintras. Then, as of 1913, our Church came more into line with the structure and format of the Gallican Church whose Orthodox Apostolic Succession was received by our Church.

As a result, our Church tends to have an exoteric structure paralleling the more commonly known catholic and orthodox churches in structure and in practice. Where we differ is in our interpretation of religious texts, in our use of non-canonical, apocryphal and gnostic texts, and in several points of our doctrine which we have retained from the above-mentioned and other sources. The form of our Church will be, thus, familiar to all those who have encountered a sacramental church before; the content is often different, which can be evidenced by our Beliefs as well as some of the practices outside of the church, most notably mentioning our initiatory orders.

Our numbers have always been small, but we follow the basic Christian principle of "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20). Consequently, we often gather in people's homes or small rented facilities - the material world of grand temples has never been our primary focus. We perform the traditional sacraments one would see in any independent catholic or orthodox church, of course being influenced by our Tradition.