 The Mandaeans are an ancient Gnostic sect that have survived to this day and are found today in Iraq.Their namesake owes to their following John the Baptist and in that country, they have about five thousand followers.A number of ecclesiastical bodies that think of themselves as Gnostic have set up or re-founded since World War II, including the Ecclesia Gnostica, Apostolic Johannite Church, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, the Gnostic Church of France, the Thomasine Church, the Alexandrian Gnostic Church, the North American College of Gnostic Bishops, and the Universal Gnosticism of Samael Aun Weor.