The Cenobites are extradimensional beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker, including the novella The Hellbound Heart and the eight Hellraiser films. They are also mentioned, in passing, in the novel Weaveworld. They are mentioned by Immacolata who calls them “The Surgeons from Beyond.” The term cenobite is an archaic word meaning simply "a member of a communal religious order".

Indeed, the original novel mentions the Cenobites as "Theologians of the Order of the Gash"; they are also referred to as Hierophants. They can reach Earth's reality only through a rupture in time and space (referred to as a "Schism") which is opened and closed using certain unearthly artifacts. The most common form for these artifacts is an innocuous-looking Chinese-style puzzle box called the Lament Configuration.

Clive Barker stated that his inspiration for the Cenobites was visits to S&M and fetish clubs in New York and Amsterdam.

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