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VALENTINUS and THE VALENTINIANS. I. Valentinus, the most prominent leader of the Gnostic movement
H. The authorities which we have to consider deal for the most part with Valentinianism in its fully developed form, and not with the original teaching of the master. Justin's Syntagma (v.s.), which treats of Valentinus, is unfortunately lost. Irenaeus in his section i. II, 13, has preserved what is obviously an older document, possibly from Justin, dealing with Valentinus's own teaching and that of two of his disciples. The sketch which he gives is the best guide for the original form of Valentinianism. For Valentinus himself we have also to consider the fragments of his writings pre-served by Clemens Alexandrinus. The best edition of and commentary on them is Hilgenfeld's Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums (pp. 293-307). Irenaeus in his treatise Adv. hoer. gives a detailed account of the two chief schools following Valentinus, the school of Ptolemaeus (i. iIo), and Marcus and the Marcosians (i. 1321). For his account of the Ptolemaeans, Irenaeus seems to have used various writings and expositions of the school, especially prominent being a collection of Scripture proofs which may have once had a separate literary existence (i. 1, 3; 3, 15 (6); 8, 24). To this work is appended in a somewhat disconnected fashion a commentary on the prologue to the fourth Gospel (i. 8, 5). Irenaeus himself twice prefaces his remarks by saying he is indebted to other authorities for his exposition (i. 2, 34; 7, 2-5). Section 6, 24, interrupts and disturbs the continuity, and section 5, 13, is a duplicate of 5, 4. We see how the account of Irenaeus is built up from small fragments. In his account o1 Marcus and the Marcosians the chapters on the sacraments (i. 13 and 20) seem originally to have formed part of the same whole. Very valuable too are the Excerpta ex Theodoto which are to be found in the works of Clemens Alexandrinus, and may be looked upon as a collection made by the author with a view to the eighth book of his Stromateis, which was never finished. Of these excerpts paragraphs 4, 5, 8-15, 17b20, 27, should be distinguished as Clemens's own observations; the remaining parts are extracted from Gnostic writings (cf. Zahn, Geschichte des Kanons, ii. pp. 269 seq.). Yet the Excerpts, as their contents show, are not homogeneous, and cannot have been borrowed from one writing. The question as to whether Clemens' method of quotations, which mentions sometimes Theodotus, some-times the Valentinians as his sources for these excerpts, is of any use as a guide to an estimate between these sources. must be left undecided. The most important sections are paragraphs 2968, in which an attempt is made at a continuous exposition of the system (though here again from various sources), and section 6986, which deals with the Gnostic doctrine of the sacraments and that of the liberation of the Heimarmene. The lost Syntagma of Hippolytus, which, as we know, is preserved in the works of Philastrius and the pseudo-Tertullian, seems to furnish us with valuable information as to the earlier doctrines of the sect, and in his second treatise against heretics, the so-called Philosophumena (6, 29 seq.). Hippolytus gives a homogeneous and continuous exposition of a later Valentinian system, possibly connected with the school of Ptolemaeus. Important, too, are Hippolytus' references to an Italic and an Anatolian branch of the Valentinian sect (6, 35). Tertullian gives at the beginning of his treatise against the Valentinians a few separate notices of the life and disciples of Valentinus, but his further argument is closely dependent upon Irenaeus' exposition of the Ptolemaean system, which he embellishes in his usual fashion with bitterly sarcastic comments. Epiphanius deals with Valentinus and his school in sections 3136 of his work. In cap. 31, 1-8, he gives an account of the Valentinians, which seems to be based on his own observation. Thus in 31, 5-6, we find yet another verbal extract from a Valentinian doctrinal work. For the rest he copies the text of Irenaeus word for word, which has the advantage of preserving for us Irenaeus' Greek phraseology, which we other-wise should only know in a Latin translation. In his section on Ptolemaeus, cap. 33, Epiphanius has preserved for us a valuable letter of Ptolemaeus to Flora, which is a document of the highest importance for the understanding of Gnosticism. IV. In the important section of Irenaeus (i. II) devoted to Valentinus, his teaching is definitely connected with the so-called " falsely reputed Gnostics." It will be useful, in trying to ascertain the teaching and view of life of Valentinus, to keep closely before us that of the " Gnostics " in the narrower sense of the word, as preserved in the expositions of Irenaeus (i. 29, 30) and Epiphanius (passim). The Gnostics were par excellence worshippers of the supreme Mother-goddess, the Milrjp, in whom we have no difficulty in recognizing the characteristics of the goddess of heaven of anterior Asia. This " Meter " is, in the system of these Gnostics, also at one time the stern, austere goddess, the Mother, who dwells in heaven, at other times the licentious goddess of love, the great courtesan (Prunikon), who, e.g. in the Simonian system, takes the form of the prostitute Helena, in whose worship all kinds of obscene rites were celebrated. She dwells in the eighth or_ highestheaven, whence her name Ogdoas. Next to her stands the supreme and shadowy form of the unknown and nameless Father; below her in the seven lower heavens reign the seven planetary, world-creating angelic powers, headed by Jaldabaoth, who was later to be identified with the God of the Old Testament. The Gnostics are children of the supreme Mother; from her the heavenly seed, the divine spark, descended in some way to this lower world, and thus the children of heaven still exist in this gross material world, subject to the Heimarmene and in the power of hostile spirits and powers; and all their sacraments and mysteries, their formulae and symbols, must be part of her worship , in order to find the way upwards, back to the highest heaven, " where the Mother dwells." This idea that the Gnostics know themselves to be in a hostile and evil world reacted in the same direction upon the conception of the Mother of heaven. She became likewise a fallen goddess, who has sunk down into the material world and seeks to free herself from it, receiving her liberation at the hands of a heavenly Redeemer, exactly like the Gnostics. Various myths have contributed towards this; one of these is the widespread naive pagan
Sophia
celestial
Sophia
celestial
V. This primitive " Gnosticism " was very closely followed by Valentinus, who may have come to know these doctrines in Egypt. This can be seen from the fact that in Valentinianism the Mother-goddess always stands absolutely at the centre of the system. Irenaeus (i. 6, r) is very instructive on this point, characterizing the Gnostics as the pneumatici who have a perfect knowledge of God, and have been initiated into the mysteries of Achamoth. A mighty system is certainly erected here out of the modest elements of Gnosticism. (t) More especially, the superstructure of the celestial system, the celestial world of aeons, which exists above the fallen goddess, is here developed in the most complicated way. Valentinus has a system of thirty aeons, but we can with but little trouble recognize the simple system underlying this great superstructure. The quite shadowy plurality of ten and twelve aeons (the Dekas and the Dodekas) of the Valentinian system we may at once set aside as mere fantastical accretions. We have left only a group of eight celestial beings, the so-called Ogdoas, and of these eight figures four again are peculiar to the' Valentinian system, and are probably artificial interpolations. For instance, when for the third pair of aeons we find the Logos and Zoe, figures which occur only here, and perceive, moreover, that the place of this pair of aeons is not firmly established, but that in this Valentinian tradition they occur some-times before and sometimes after the fourth pair of aeons, the Anthropos and the Ekklesia, we cannot be far wrong in suspecting that here already we find Valentinus to have been influenced by the prologue of the fourth Gospel (we also find the probably Johan-nine names Monogenes and Parakletos in the series of aeons). (2) The first pair of aeons, Bythos and Sige, is likewise an original innovation of the Valentinian school, and clearly betrays a monistic tendency. According to Irenaeus's account of the " Gnostics " (i. 29), their theory was that Sophia casts herself into the primal sub-stratum of matter to be found outside the celestial world of aeons. In the Valentinian system, primal matter (Bythos), the original Chaos, is brought into connexion with the celestial world of aeons. And thus it is effected that matter is here not found originally and irretrievably separated from the higher celestial world, but that the latter originally exists for itself alone; the fall or disturbance is accomplished within the celestial world, and the material world first comes into existence through the fall. When we subtract from the Ogdoas the two pairs of aeons whose later introduction into the Valentinian system has been demonstrated, we are left actually with a double pair of aeons, the Father and Truth, the Anthropos and the Ekklesia. These strongly recall the Gnostic systems set forth in Irenaeus i. 29 and 30 (cf. i. 29, 3). And thus the Anthropos (man), a leading figure of primitive Gnosticism, now half-forgotten, moves back into the centre of the system and the direct vicinity of the fallen goddess. It is also clear why the Ekklesia appears together with the Anthropos. With the celestial Primal Manof whom the myth originally relates that he has sunk into matter and then raised him-self up from it againis associated the community of the faithful and the redeemed, who are to share the same fate with him. Similarly among the Gnostics of Irenaeus i. 29, 3, perfect Gnosis (and thus the whole body of Gnostics) is connected with the Anthropos. (3) The fallen goddess, mentioned above, occurs in the Valentinian system, as in the Gnostic systems described by Irenaeus, and in the older systems it is again the celestial aeon himself who falls, and whose fate outside the Pleroma is related (cf. the exposition in Irenaeus i. 11, Excerpta ex Theodoto,, 31 seq., and Hippolytus, Syntagma, in the pseudo-Tertullian). In the later Valentinian systems, probably from Secundus onwards (see above), the figure appears in double guise. The higher Sophia still remains within the upper world after creating a disturbance, and after her expiation and repentance; but her premature offspring, Sophia Achamoth, is re-moved from the Pleroma, and becomes the heroine of the rest of the drama (we have dealt in the preceding section with the other conception of the fall of Sophia). (4) In the true Valentinian system the so-called Christos is the son of the fallen Aeon, who is thus conceived as an individual. Sophia, who in a frenzy of love had sought to draw near to the unattainable Bythos, brings forth, through her longing for that higher being, an aeon who is higher and purer than-herself, and at once rises into the celestial worlds. Among the Gnostics of Irenaeus we find a kindred conception, but with a slight difference. Here Christos and Sophia appear as brother and sister, Christos representing the higher and Sophia the lower element. In the enigmatic figure of Christoswe again find hidden the original conception of the Primal Man, who sinks down into matter but rises again. (In the later Valentinian systems this origin of the Christos is entirely obscured, and Christ, together with the Holy Spirit, becomes a later offspring of the celestial world of aeons; this may be looked upon as an approximation to the Christian dogma). (5) A figure entirely peculiar to Valentinian Gnosticism is that of Horos (the Limiter). The name is perhaps an echo of the Egyptian Horus. The peculiar task of Horos is to separate the fallen aeons from the upper world of aeons. At the same time he becomes (first, perhaps, in the later Valentinian systems) a kind of world-creative power, who in this capacity helps to construct an ordered world out of Sophia and her passions. He is also called, curiously enough, Stauros (cross), and we frequently meet with references to the figure of Stauros. But we must not be in too great a hurry to conjecture that this is a Christian figure. Speculations about the Stauros are older than Christianity, and a Platonic conception may have been at work here. Plato had already stated that the world-soul revealed itself in the form of the letter Chi (X) ; by which he meant that figure described in the heavens by the intersecting orbits of the sun and the planetary ecliptic. Since through this double orbit all the movements of the heavenly powers are determined, so all " becoming " and all life depend on it, and thus we can understand the statement that the world-soul appears in the form of an X,or a cross. Thecross can also stand for the wondrous aeon on whom depends the ordering and life of the world, and thus Horos-Stauros appears here as the first redeemer of Sophia from her passions, and as the orderer of the creation of the world which now begins. This explanation of Horos, moreover, is not a mere conjecture, but one branch of the Valentinian school, the Marcosians, have expressly so explained this figure (Irenaeus i. 17, I). Naturally, then, the figure of Horos-Stauros was often in later days assimilated to that of the Christian Redeemer. (6) Peculiarly Valentinian is the above-mentioned derivation of the material world from the passions of Sophia. Whether this already formed part of the original system of Valentinus is, indeed, questionable, but at any rate it plays a prominent part in the Valentinian school, and consequently appears with the most diverse variations in the account given by Irenaeus. By it is effected the comparative monism
(7) This derivation of the material world from the passions of the fallen Sophia is next affected by an older theory, which probably occupied an important place in the true Valentinian system. Ac-cording to this theory the son of Sophia, whom she forms on the model of the Christos who has disappeared in the Pleroma, becomes the Demiourgos, and this Demiourgos with his angels now appears as the real world-creative power. These two conceptions had now to be combined at all costs. And it is interesting to observe here what efforts were made to give the Demiourgos a better position. Ac-cording to the older conception, he was an imperfect, ignorant, half-evil and malicious offspring of his mother, who has already been deprived of any particle of light (Irenaeus i. 29, 30). In the Valentinian systems he appears as the fruit of Sophia's repentance and conversion. Even his name has been changed from that of the older Gnosticism. He is no longer called Jaldabaoth, but has been assigned the better name, drawn from the philosophy of Plato, of Demiourgos. We must not forget here that the Demiourgos of the Gnostic is known to have corresponded to the God of the Old Testament, who was the God of the Christian Church, and that we can thus lay our finger here on a compromise with the faith of the great Christian community. (8) With the doctrine of the creation of the world is connected the subject of the creation of man. We fortunately know, from a fragment preserved by Clemens, that Valentinus here preserved the old Gnostic myth practically unaltered in his system. According to it, the world-creating angelsnot one, but manycreate man, but the seed of the spirit comes into their creature without their knowledge, by the agency of a higher celestial aeon, and they are then terrified by the faculty of speech by which their creature rises above them, and try to destroy him. In the Valentinian system known to us this myth has practically lost its original freshness and colour, and can only be arrived at from allusions. On the other hand, the speculations of the Valentinians delight in accounts of the artificial and complicated putting together of the first man out of the various elements. And a specifically Valentinian idea is here added in that of the threefold nature of man, who is represented as at once spiritual, psychical and material. In accordance with this there also arise three classes of men, the pneumatici, the psychici and the hylici (van, matter). It is significant that Valentinus himself is credited with having written a treatise upon the three natures (Schwartz, Aporien, i. 292). Here we have another instance of the theological compromise of the Valentinians. All the other Gnostic systems recognize only a dual division, the children of light and the children of darkness. That the Valentinians should have placed the psychici between the pneumatici and hylici signifies a certain recognition of the Christian Church and its adherents. They are not numbered simply among the outcasts, but considered as an intermediate class, to whom is left the choice between the higher celestial nature and the lower and earthly. (9) At the centre of the whole Valentinian system naturally stands the idea of redemption, and so we find here developed particularly clearly the myth of the heavenly marriage already known from Irenaeus i. 30 to be Gnostic. Redemption is essentially accomplished through the union of the heavenly Soter
Soter
they produce between them 70 celestial sons (angels). (In the other accounts these angels no longer appear as the sons of the celestial pair, but as the heavenly attendants accompanied by whom the Soter approaches Sophia.) It is obvious from the number 70 that we have here a marriage between a celestial and divine pair. This marriage relation between the Soter and Sophia is expounded in quite a material way even in Irenaeus ill. 3, 4, where the Old Testament phrase irav &ppev Siava-yov o rpav is translated, " the Pan (the all, a name for the Soter), the masculinity which opens the mother's womb." This myth of the redeemer, as we shall see more fully below, and as inay be mentioned here, is of great significance for the practical piety of the Valentinian Gnostics. It is the chief idea of their pious practices mystically to repeat the experience of this celestial union of the Soter with Sophia. In this respect, consequently, the myth underwent yet wider development. Just as the Soter is the bridegroom of Sophia, so the heavenly angels, who some-times appear as the sons of the Soter and Sophia, sometimes as the escort of the Soter, are the males betrothed to the souls of the Gnostics, which are looked upon as feminine. Thus every Gnostic had his angel
(to) With this celestial Soter of the Valentinians and the redemption of Sophia through him is connected, in a way which is now not quite intelligible to us, the figure of Jesus of Nazareth and the historical redemption connected with his name. The Soter, the bridegroom of Sophia, and the earthly Jesus answer to each other as in some way identical. Here again we recognize the entirely artificial compromise between Gnosticism and Christianity. It is characteristic of this that in one passage in the account of Irenaeus it is directly stated that the redeemer came specially on account of the psychici, for the pneumatici (the Gnostics) already belong by nature to the celestial world, and no longer require any historical redemption, while the hylici have fallen beforehand into damnation, so that with the psychici only is there any question as to whether they will turn to redemption or damnation, and for them the historical redeemer is of efficacy (Irenaeus i. 6, 1). This assertion is in thorough agreement with the fundamental tendency of Gnostic piety; for the Gnostics individual redemption has actually been accomplished in the union between the Soter and Sophia, and is effected for the individual Gnostics in repeating the experience of this union. So that in effect they no longer require the historical redemption through Jesus. (II) Among the manifold confusion of opinions as to the nature and characteristics of the Redeemer Jesus of Nazareth, certain explanations stand out as characteristically Valentinian, especially those in which it is laid down that even the redeemer has a threefold nature; from his mother, Sophia, he derived his nature as a pneumaticos, in the world of the Demiourgos he was united with the Christos, and finally a wonderful bodily nature was formed for him from celestial elements, which was yet not of earthly material. As such he was miraculously born of the Virgin, as through a canal (Mt o's X vos). The compromises with the Catholic Church are here obvious. According to this theory Jesus, having an element of the psychical nature, can appear in virtue of this as the son of the Demiourgos, i.e. of the Old Testament God, and as the Redeemer of the psychici; and when we read of this miraculous bodily nature, which is not composed of earthly material, there is an obvious compromise between the fundamental heresy of Gnosticism, Docetism and the dogma of the Christian Church as to the true bodily nature of the Redeemer. Into this already complicated Christology is now introduced by an obscure combination, in the systems known to us, the idea that upon this Jesus, so constituted, yet another celestial nature, the Christos or the Soter, has descended at his baptism. This is the older and peculiar Gnostic conception of Irenaeus i. 30, which appears to have been introduced into Valentinianism at a late stage of its development. The express statement is Hippolytus 6, 35, that this doctrine was shared only by the Italic branch of the Valentinians, but disclaimed by the Anatolian branch, also bears on the point. (12) The close of the drama and the final accomplishment of the redemption is also depicted by the Valentinian writings in accordance with the old Gnosticism. A general ascent takes place, the Soter returns with the liberated Sophia into the Pleroma, and likewise the Gnostics with the angels with whom they are connected. But it is characteristic of the Valentinian system that the Demiourgos and the psychici who are connected with him also ascend to the eighth or highest heaven of Achamoth, while the remaining material world sinks into flames. VI. The first survey of these confused speculations, these myths gathered together and preserved from the ancient world, this marshalling together of the most varied traditions, and above all, these artificial attempts at compromise dictated by practical prudence, makes us inclined to doubt whether it was possible for any true piety to coexist with all this. Yet suchpiety existed, indeed we have here a set of regular mystics. It is not, indeed, a purely spiritual and mystical piety, but a mysticism much distorted and over-grown with sacramental additions and a mysterious cult. But all this is not without an inner value and an attractive atmosphere. Our information, it is true, is scant; most of it is to be found in the fragments of the letters and homilies of the master of the school preserved for us by Clemens. The central point of the piety of Valentinus seems to have been tha mystical contemplation of God; in a letter preserved in Clemens ii. 20, 114, he sets forth that the soul of man is like an inn, which is inhabited by many evil spirits. " But when the Father, who alone is good, looks down and around him, then the soul is hallowed and lies in full light, and so he who has such a heart as this is to be called happy, for he shall behold God." But this contemplation of God, as Valentinus, closely and deliberately following the doctrines of the Church, and with him the compiler of the Gospel of John declares, is accomplished through the revelation of the Son. This mystic and visionary also discusses the Psalm which is preserved in the Philosaphumena of Hippolytus (6, 37). With celestial enthusiasm Valentinus here surveys and depicts the heavenly world of aeons, and its connexion with the lower world.' Exalted joy of battle and a valiant courage breathe forth in the sermon in which Valentinus addresses the faithful (Clemens iv. 13, 91): " Ye are from the beginning immortal and children of eternal life, and desire to divide death amongst you like a prey, in order to destroy it and utterly to annihilate it, that thus death may die in you and through you, for if ye dissolve the world, and are not yourselves dissolved, then are ye lords over creation and over all that passes away." From Tertullian, de carne Christi cap. 17, 20, we learn that Valentinus composed psalms. We may conjecture that these psalms were similar in their kind to the beautiful odes of Solomon which have lately been discovered, though without suggesting that these particular psalms were specifically Gnostic or Valentinian. ' Cf. Goethe's Faust, I.: " Wie Himmelskrafte auf and niedersteigen Und sich die goldnen Eimer reichen." The chief sacrament of the Valentinians seems to have been that of the bridal chamber. We have stated above the relation of this sacrament with the Valentinian speculations. Just as the apostle Paul represented his Christianity as a living, dying and rising again with Christ, so the first concern of the pious Valentinian was the experience of the divine marriage feast of Sophia. As Sophia was united with the Soter, her bridegroom, so the faithful would experience a union with their angel
Besides this the Gnostics already practised baptism, using the same form in all essentials as that of the Christian Church. The name given to baptism, at least among certain bodies, was apolytrosis (liberation) ; the baptismal formulae have been mentioned above. Great importance attaches in the Gnostic sacramental speculations to invocation (of the name). The Gnostics are baptized in the mysterious name which also descended upon Jesus at his baptism. The angels of the Gnostics have also had to be baptized in this name, in order to bring about redemption for themselves and the souls belonging to them (excerpla ex Theodoto, 22). In this connexion we also find the formula X&rpmoev G.yatXuoiv (for the angelic redemption, Irenaeus i. 21, 3). In the baptismal formulae the sacred name of the Redeemer is mentioned over and over again. In one of the formulae occur the words: " I would enjoy thy name, Saviour of Truth." The concluding formula of the baptismal ceremony is: " Peace over all upon whom the Name rests " (Irenaeus i. 21, 3). This name pronounced at baptism over the faithful has above all the significance that the name will protect the soul in its ascent through the heavens, conduct it safely through all hostile powers to the lower heavens, and procure it access to Horos, who frightens back the lower souls by his magic word (exc. ex Theodoto, 22). And for this life also baptism, in consequence of the pronouncing of the protecting name over the baptized person, accomplishes his liberation from the lower daemonic powers. Before baptism the Heirmarmene is supreme, but after baptism the soul is free from her (exc. ex Theod. 97). With baptism was also connected the anointing with oil, and hence we can also understand the death sacrament occurring among the Valentinians consisting in an anointing with a mixture of oil and water (Irenaeus i. 21, 4). This death sacrament has naturally the express object of assuring the soul the way to the highest heaven " so that the soul may be intangible and invisible to the higher mights and powers " (Irenaeus, loc. cit.). In this connexion we also find a few formulae which are entrusted to the faithful, so that their souls may pronounce them on their journey upwards. One of these formulae runs: " I am a son of the Father, the Father who was before the whole worldI came to see everything, that which is strange and that which is my own; and deep down there is nothing strange, but only that which belongs to Achamoth. For she is the feminine aeon, and she has made all things. I draw my sex from that which was before the world, and take back to it the property from which I came " (Irenaeus i. 21, 5). Another formula is appended, in which there is a distinction in the invocation between the higher and lower Sophia. Another prayer of the same style is to be found in Irenaeus i. 13, and it is expressly stated that after prayer is pronounced the Mother throws the Homeric helm:t (cf. the Tarnkappe) over the faithful soul, and so makes him invisible to the mights and powers which surround and attack him. On the other hand, we see how here and there a reaction took place against the absurdity of this sacramental superstition. Thus Irenaeus (i. 2I, 4) tells us of certain Gnostics who would admit no external holy practices as efficacious: " The completed apolytrosis is the actual knowledge of the inexpressible majesty (of God), for through ignorance arose all faultiness and suffering, and through knowledge will be removed all the conditions which arose from ignorance; and therefore knowledge (gnosis) is the perfecting of the inner man." A pure piety, rising above mere sacramentalism, breathes in the words of the Gnostics preserved in excerpta ex Theodoto, 78, 2: " But not baptism alone sets us free, but knowledge (gnosis) : who we were, what we have become, where we were, whither we have sunk, whither we hasten, whence we are redeemed, what is birth and what rebirth." Catholic Church. Valentinus's own life indicates that he for a long time sought to remain within the official Church, and had at first no idea of founding a community of his own. Many compromises in his theories point the same way. The Johannine tendencies of his doctrine of the aeons (Logos, Zoe, Aletheia, Parakletos) ; the attempt to modify the sharp
These Gnostics, as in the case of most of the other Gnostic sects, possessed their own peculiar holy writings and books, but they also made a great use in their own circle of the canon of the Christian Church, especially the canon of the New Testament andthough with a few reservationsof the Old Testament. Irenaeus in his account of the Ptolemaean sects has used a source which contained a detailed scriptural ex-position of the Valentinian doctrines based on the New Testament. We can evenand this is of great interest
And yet this reconciliation of Gnosticism was a fruitless and henceforward a purposeless undertaking. Oriental dualism and wildly intemperate Oriental mythology had grown into so radical and essential a part of Gnosticism that they could not be separated from it to make way for a purer and more spiritual view of religion. And at a time when the prevailing tendency of Christianity was a struggle out of the darkness of Oriental mythology and eschatology into clearness, and an effort towards union with the lucid simplicity of the Hellenic spirit, these Gnostics, for all their efforts, and even the most noble of them, had come too late. They are not the men of a forward movement
See Bibliography to article GNOSTICISM. Also A. Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, vol. i. (4th ed,, 1909) ; W. Bousset, Haupiprobleme der Gnosis (1907). See also Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyklopadie des klassischen Altertums, s.v. Gnosticismus, Gnostiker. More particularly devoted to Valentinianism are: G. Heinrici, Die Valentinianische Gnosis and die heiligen Schriften (1871) ; E. Schwartz, " Aporien int 4 Evangelium " in Nachrichien der Gott. Gesellsch. der Wissensch. (1908), ii. 12741; A. Harnack, Brief des Ptolemaeus an die Flora, Sitaungsber. der Berl. Akademie (1909). (W. Bo.) End of Article: VALENTINUS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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