Chapter XII

, _infra_). But it was also well known to the Orphics (see Abel’s _Orphica_, Frag. 227, etc.), and the question repeats itself: Did the Orphics borrow the idea from the Persians, or the Mithraists from the Orphics?

Footnote 389:

Valentinus may have found this doctrine in Egypt, where as Maspero points out (_Ét. Égyptol._ I. p. 398) only the rich and noble were thought to enjoy the life beyond the grave.

Footnote 390:

Valentinus’ remark about the Cosmocrator being superior in knowledge to the Demiurge because he is a _spirit_ (see n. 1, p. 108 _supra_) much complicates the problem, and brings us pretty near to the Dualism of the Avesta. That all matter was in Valentinus’ opinion transitory appears from Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 13, where it is said that when all the seed scattered by Sophia in the world, _i.e._ the souls of the Pneumatici, is gathered in, the fire which is within the Cosmos shall blaze forth and after destroying all matter shall be extinguished with it.

Footnote 391:

Clem. Alex., _Strom._ Bk II. c. 8, quotes an epistle of Valentinus in which he speaks of the terror of the angels at the sight of man because of the things which he spoke: διὰ τὸν ἀοράτως ἐν αὐτῷ σπέρμα δεδωκότα τῆς ἄνωθεν οὐσίας, καὶ παρρησιαζόμενον “because of that within him which yielded a germ of the substance on high, and spoke freely.” So Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 10, p. 51, Harvey: Ἔλαθεν οὖν, ὡς φασί, τὸν Δημιουργὸν ὁ συγκατασπαρεὶς τῷ ἐμφυσήματι αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας πνευματικὸς ἀνθρώπων [ἄνθρωπος] ἀρρήτῳ [adj. δυνάμει καὶ] προνοίᾳ. “It escaped the Demiurge, therefore, as they say, that the man whom he had formed by his breath was at the same time made spiritual by Sophia with unspeakable power and foresight.” So that, as Irenaeus says a few lines later, man has his soul from the Demiurge, his body from Chaos, his fleshly part (τὸ σαρκικὸν) from matter, and his spiritual man from the Mother, Achamoth [_i.e._ חכמת “Wisdom”].

Footnote 392:

Clem. Alex. _Strom._ Bk IV. c. 13, quoting “a certain homily” (τις ὁμιλία) of Valentinus: Ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ἀθανατοί ἐστε, καὶ τέκνα ζωῆς ἐστε αἰωνίας καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἠθέλετε μερίσασθαι εἰς ἑαυτούς, ἵνα δαπανήσητε αὐτὸν καὶ ἀναλώσητε καὶ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ θάνατος ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ δι’ ὑμῶν. Ὅταν γὰρ τὸν μὲν κόσμον λύητε, ὑμεῖς δὲ καταλύησθε, κυριεύετε τῆς κτίσεως καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς ἁπάσης. “You were deathless from the beginning and the children of life everlasting, and you wish to share out death among you, in order that you may dissipate and destroy it and that death may die in and by you; for when you put an end to the world and are yourselves put an end to, you have rule over creation and all corruption.” So one of the documents of the _Pistis Sophia_ speaks of this world being finally consumed by the fire “which the perfect wield.” It was doubtless such predictions which gave colour to the charge of incendiarism made by the Roman authorities against the Christians generally. For the translation of the pneumatics to the Ogdoad see next note.

Footnote 393:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 31, p. 290, Cruice: Ἐὰν ἐξομοιωθῇ τοῖς ἄνω ἐν Ὀγδοάδι, ἀθάνατος ἐγένετο καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Ὀγδοάδα ἥτις ἐστί, φησίν, Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐπουράνιος· ἐὰν δὲ ἐξομοιωθῇ τῇ ὕλῃ, τουτέστι τοῖς πάθεσι τοῖς ὑλικοῖς, φθαρτή ἐστι καὶ ἀπώλετο. “If [the soul] be of the likeness of those on high in the Ogdoad, it is born deathless and goes to the Ogdoad which is, he says, the heavenly Jerusalem; but if it be of the likeness of matter, that is, if it belongs to the material passions, it is corruptible and is utterly destroyed.”

Footnote 394:

ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος translated in the A.V. by “natural man” evidently means in the Valentinian sense those who are _animated_ or have had breathed into them the _breath_ of life merely. It has nothing to do with soul as we understand the term.

Footnote 395:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 225.

Footnote 396:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 36, pp. 297, 298, Cruice: Ἔδει οὖν διορθωμένων τῶν ἄνω κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀκολουθίαν καὶ τὰ ἐνθάδε τυχεῖν διωρθώσεως. “Wherefore when things on high had been put straight, it had to be according to the law of sequences that those here below should be put straight also.”

Footnote 397:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ p. 297, Cruice: ἐδιδάχθη γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας ὁ Δημιουργός, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτὸς Θεὸς μόνος ὡς ἐνόμιζε, καὶ πλὴν αὐτοῦ ἕτερος (οὐκ) ἔστιν· ἀλλ’ ἔγνω διδαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς Σοφίας τὸν κρείττονα· κατηχήθη γὰρ ὑπ’ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐμυήθη καὶ ἐδιδάχθη τὸ μέγα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τῶν Αἰώνων μυστήριον, καὶ ἐξεῖπεν αὐτὸ οὐδενί, κ.τ.λ. “For the Demiurge had been taught by Sophia that he was not the only God and that beside him there was none other, as he had thought; but through Sophia’s teaching he knew better. For he had been instructed and initiated by Sophia, and had been taught the great mystery of the Father and of the Aeons, and had declared it to none”—in support of which the statement in Exodus (vi. 2, 3) about being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but “by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them” is quoted. The identification by Valentinus of the Demiurge with the God of the Jews is therefore complete.

Footnote 398:

σφάλματα “stumblings,” Hippolytus, _loc. cit._

Footnote 399:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk vi. c. 35, p. 295, Cruice. I have taken what seems on comparison to be the original form of Valentinus’ teaching. In the same chapter, Hippolytus tells us that his followers were divided on the question of the composition of the body of Jesus—the Italic School led by Heracleon and Ptolemy averring that it was psychic and that at His baptism only the πνεῦμα came upon Him as a dove, while the Oriental School of Axionicus and Bardesanes maintained that it was pneumatic from the first. Cf. n. 2, p. 116 _infra_.

Footnote 400:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 226. The _Excerpta Theodoti_, on which he relies, says (fr. 78): Μέχρι τοῦ βαπτίσματος οὖν ἡ εἱμαρμένη, φασίν, ἀληθής· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔτι ἀληθεύουσιν οἱ ἀστρολόγοι. Ἔστι δὲ οὐ τὸ λουτρὸν μόνον τὸ ἐλευθεροῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ γνῶσις τίνες ἦμεν, τί γεγόναμεν, ποῦ ἦμεν, ἢ ποῦ ἐνεβλήθημεν, ποῦ σπεύδομεν, πόθεν λυτρούμεθα, τί γέννησις τί ἀναγέννησις. “Until baptism then, they say the destiny [he is talking of that which is foretold by the stars] holds good; but thereafter the astrologers’ predictions are no longer unerring. For the [baptismal] font not only sets us free, but is also the _Gnosis_ which teaches us what we are, why we have come into being, where we are, or whither we have been cast up, whither we are hastening, from what we have been redeemed, why there is birth, and why re-birth.” For baptism was to the Valentinian initiation, and a mystagogue of Eleusis would have expressed himself no differently.

Footnote 401:

Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 13, pp. 60-62, Harvey; Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 226, and _Excerpta Theodoti_ there quoted.

Footnote 402:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 35, pp. 295, 296, Cruice: Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς, ὁ καινὸς ἄνθρωπος, ἀπὸ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου [καὶ τοῦ Ὑψίστου], τουτέστι τῆς Σοφίας καὶ τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ, ἵνα τὴν μὲν πλάσιν καὶ κατασκευὴν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ὁ Δημιουργὸς καταρτίσῃ, τὴν δὲ οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα παράσχῃ τὸ Ἅγιον, καὶ γένηται Λόγος ἐπουράνιος ἀπὸ τῆς Ὀγδοάδος γεννηθεὶς διὰ Μαρίας. “But Jesus, the new man, [has come into being] by the Holy Spirit and by the Highest, that is by Sophia and the Demiurge, so that the Demiurge might put together the mould and constitution of His body and that the Holy Spirit might provide its substance; and that He might become the Heavenly Logos ... when born of Mary.” According to this, the body of Jesus was a “psychic” or animal one; yet Hippolytus says immediately afterwards (p. 296, Cruice), that it was on this that there was a division between the Italic and the Oriental Schools of Valentinians, the former with Heracleon and Ptolemy saying that the body of Jesus was an animal one, the Holy Spirit coming on Him as a dove at His baptism, while the Orientals with Axionicus and Bardesanes maintained that the body of the Saviour was pneumatic or spiritual, “the Holy Spirit or Sophia and the power of the Highest or Demiurgic art having come upon Mary, in order that what was given to Mary might be put into form.” Apparently Valentinus was willing to call the God of the Jews Ὕψιστος or “Highest,” which M. Cumont thinks was his name in Asia Minor.

Footnote 403:

With the exception of that of St John, since the part of the _Pistis Sophia_ which it is suggested is by Valentinus does not quote it. His followers, however, knew of it, as in the _Excerpta Theodoti_ the opening verse τὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος is quoted with the comments of οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Οὐαλεντίνου on it. Cf. Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 209, where the passage is given in n. 4.

Footnote 404:

Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 13, pp. 60-62, Harvey: Εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ λέγοντες... Ἔπαθε δὲ λοιπὸν κατ’ αὐτοὺς ὁ ψυχικὸς Χριστός, καὶ ὁ ἐκ τῆς οἰκονομίας κατεσκευασμένος μυστηριωδῶς, ἵν’ ἐπιδείξῃ [δι’] αὐτοῦ ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ ἄνω Χριστοῦ, ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐπεκταθέντος τῷ Σταυρῷ, καὶ μορφώσαντος τὴν Ἀχαμὼθ μόρφωσιν τὴν κατ’ οὐσίαν· πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα τύπους ἐκείνων εἶναι λέγουσι. “And there are some” (probably the Anatolic or Oriental School is meant) “who say.... And further the animal Christ, He who had been mysteriously formed by dispensation, suffered so that the Mother might show forth through Him the type of the Christ on high, of him who is extended by Stauros, and gave shape to Achamoth as regards substance: for they say that all things here are the types of others there.”

Footnote 405:

Tertullian, _adv. Valentinianos_, c. IV.

Footnote 406:

That is, not a martyr, but one who had suffered for the faith without losing his life.

Footnote 407:

Irenaeus, Bk III. c. 4, § 1, vol. II. p. 17, Harvey; Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ Bk IV. c. 11. Cf. Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 170.

Footnote 408:

Tertullian, _de Praescpt._ c. XXX. Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 175, objects to this.

Footnote 409:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 172, n. 1; _ibid._ p. 175.

Footnote 410:

Epiphanius, _Pan., Haer._ XXXI. c. 2.

Footnote 411:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 35, p. 296, Cruice.

Footnote 412:

Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 1, § 2, p. 13, Harvey.

Footnote 413:

See n. 2, p. 116 _supra_.

Footnote 414:

Irenaeus, _Prooem._ p. 4, Harvey.

Footnote 415:

Clem. Alex. _Strom._ Bk IV. c. 9.

Footnote 416:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 38, p. 302, Cruice. So Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 5, § 2, p. 101, Harvey. This appears to be hyperbole rather than dualism.

Footnote 417:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 189.

Footnote 418:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 35, p. 296, Cruice.

Footnote 419:

Albîrûnî, _Chronology of Ancient Nations_, ed. Sachau, 1879, pp. 27, 189.

Footnote 420:

De Faye, _Intro._ etc. p. 105, n. 1; Tertullian, _de Carne Christi_, c. XVI.

Footnote 421:

See Hort, Bardaisan, in _Dict. Christian Biog._

Footnote 422:

Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ Bk IV. c. 30, says that Bar Daisan was first a Valentinian and afterwards recanted, “but did not entirely wipe away the filth of his old heresy.”

Footnote 423:

Rather a suspect name for a hymn writer.

Footnote 424:

Ephrem Syrus’ own date is given as 370 A.D., in _Dict. Christian Biog._ _s.h.n._

Footnote 425:

See n. 3, p. 117 _supra_.

Footnote 426:

Irenaeus, Bk I. c. 5, § 1, p. 98, Harvey.

Footnote 427:

See n. 2, p. 118 _supra_.

Footnote 428:

This may have been due either to their Egyptian extraction, or to the necessity of putting the matter in a way that would be intelligible to their Egyptian disciples. Cf. Naville, _Old Egyptian Faith_, 1909, where he says that the Egyptian way of expressing abstract ideas is by metaphors. Their ancestors, the Egyptians of the early Dynasties, when they wanted to describe how gods of both sexes came forth from one single male deity, did so by means of a very coarse image. See Budge, Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu, _Archaeologia_, vol. LII. (1890), pp. 440, 441. Cf. same author, _Hieratic Papyri in B.M._

Footnote 429:

Courdaveaux, _R.H.R._ Jan.-Fev. 1892, p. 293 and n. 7. Mgr Duchesne, _op. cit._ pp. 244, 245, agrees that Clement looked upon the Son as a creature only. Nor does there seem much difference between Valentinus’ view of the relation between the Demiurge and the Unknown Father, and Clement’s remarks about the Son whom he calls timeless and unbegotten and says that it is from Him that we must learn the “remote cause the Father of the Universe”: _Strom._ Bk VII. c. 1. Cf. Justin Martyr, _c. Trypho._ c. 56.

Footnote 430:

_R.H.R._ Jan.-Fev. 1891, p. 27. Tertullian’s own heresy was of course Montanism. Harnack, _Hist. of Dogma_, Eng. ed., II. pp. 257, 258, says indeed that Hippolytus’ own views of the Trinity coincide with those of Valentinus and are a relic of polytheism.

Footnote 431:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 29, pp. 280, 281, Cruice.

Footnote 432:

2 John iv. 16. So Ἀγάπη “Love” is made the summit of the universe in the Ophite Diagram. See Chap. VIII _supra_.

Footnote 433:

Neander, _Ch. Hist._ vol. II. p. 90.

Footnote 434:

Heracleon, quoted by Origen in _Commentaries on St John_, Bk X. c. 19.

Footnote 435:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk VI. c. 36, pp. 297, 298, Cruice.

Footnote 436:

_Ibid._ _loc. cit._ p. 298, Cruice.

Footnote 437:

Clem. Alex. _Strom._ Bk II. c. 20.

Footnote 438:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ p. 230; Neander, _Ch. Hist._ vol. II. p. 94.

Footnote 439:

Neander, _op. et loc. cit._ p. 150 and note, says Clement of Alexandria declares that while Marcion wished to found a Church, the other Gnostics endeavoured to found schools (διατριβαί) only. Clem. Alex. _Strom._ Bk VII. c. 15, seems to be the passage referred to; but in the present state of the text it may be doubted whether it will bear the construction Neander puts upon it.

Footnote 440:

Irenaeus, Bk I. Prooem. p. 4, Harvey.

Footnote 441:

Cf. Renan, _L’Église Chrétienne_, p. 165. The manner in which the Valentinians tried to make converts to their doctrines within the Church is described by Irenaeus, Bk III. c. 15, § 2, pp. 78, 80, Harvey, and Tertullian, _adv. Valentinianos_, c. 1.

Footnote 442:

Renan, _L’Église Chrétienne_, pp. 152, 153, for references.

Footnote 443:

Tertullian, _de Pudicitia_, and Pseudo Cyprian, _de Glor. Martyr._ _passim_.

Footnote 444:

See Chap. VII, n. 1, p. 8 _supra_.

Footnote 445:

Tertullian, _Scorpiace_, c. 1.

Footnote 446:

Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, Bury’s ed. vol. II. p. 13. Cf. what Irenaeus, Βk I. c. 1, § 8, p. 36, Harvey, says as to the high price charged by the Valentinians for their teaching.

Footnote 447:

Hippolytus, _op. cit._ Bk IV. c. 4, §§ 1-15.

Footnote 448:

Irenaeus, Bk I. cc. 7-8 _passim_, pp. 114-156, Harvey.

Footnote 449:

Thus he says that the Dove signifies Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, because Α and Ω, like περιστερά “dove,” have the numerical value of 801.

Footnote 450:

A similar miracle is performed by the risen Jesus in the Bruce Papyrus. See Chap. X _infra_.

Footnote 451:

Verse:

_a._

Φῶς πατρικὸν ποθέουσα, σύναιμε, σύνευνε, σοφή μου, λούτροις χρεισαμένη Χ(ρειστο)ῦ μύρον ἄφθιτον, ἁγνὸν, Αἰώνων ἔσπευσας ἀθρ[ῆ]σαι θεῖα πρόσωπα, βουλῆς τῆς μεγάλης μέγαν ἄγγελον, υἱὸν ἀληθῆ, [εἰς ν]υμφῶνα μολοῦσα καὶ εἰς [κόλπ]ους ἀνόρουσα[?] [Αἰώνων πα]τρικοὺς κ[αὶ]....

_b._

Οὐκ ἔσχεν κοινὸν βιότου [τ]έλος ἥδε θανοῦσα· κάτθανε καὶ ζώει καὶ ὁρᾷ φάος ἄφθιτον ὄντως· ζώει μὲν ζωοῖσι, θανὲν δὲ θανοῦσιν ἀληθῶς. γαῖα, τί θαυμάζεις νέκυος γένος; ὴ πεφόβηται;

(Boeckh’s) _C. I. G._ 9595_a_, t. I. and p. 594.

“Longing for the light of the Father, partner of my blood, partner of my bed, O my wise one! Anointed at the font with the incorruptible and pure myrrh of Christ, Thou hast hastened to behold the divine faces of the Aeons, [and] The Great Angel of the Great Council, the true Son. Thou hast gone to the nuptial couch and hast hurried to the fatherly bosoms of the Aeons And.... Though dying, she has not suffered the common end of life, She is dead, and yet lives and actually beholds the light incorruptible, To the living she is alive, and dead only to those really dead. O Earth, why dost thou wonder at this new kind of shade? or dost thou fear it?”

This was engraved on a _cippus_ of white marble found about three miles from Rome in the Via Latina and is now in the Kircher Museum. Renan’s translation is given in _Marc Aurèle_, p. 147. That the lady’s name was Flavia seems evident from the acrostic contained in the first verse. She must also have been a pneumatic or spiritual from her husband’s confident expectation that she would be raised to the Heavenly Jerusalem and by his assertion of her deathlessness. Hence it may be inferred that Valentinus’ disciples even when of the highest spiritual rank were allowed to marry. Cf. Clem. Alex. _Strom_. Bk III. c. 17. The name “Angel of the Great Council” is applied to Christ by Justin Martyr (_c. Tryph._ c. 126) who says that He is so called by Ezekiel. The passage does not appear in the Canon.

Footnote 452:

Matter, _Hist. du Gnosticisme_, t. II. p. 126, quoting St Jerome.

Footnote 453:

Epiphanius, _Haer._ XXXIII. c. 3, pp. 401-413, Oehler. Cf. “the Elect Lady” to whom 2 John is addressed.

Footnote 454:

It should be remembered that Valentinus had been dead some 50 years when Irenaeus and Hippolytus wrote.

Footnote 455:

Amélineau, _Gnost. Ég._ Chap. V., pp. 281-320 _passim_.

Footnote 456:

Julian, _Ep._ 43, tells Hecebolius that the Arians of Edessa, “puffed up by their riches,” have maltreated the Valentinians, and that he has therefore ordered the confiscation of the estates and treasure of the Church of Edessa. It is doubtful whether the edict can have been enforced before the emperor’s death abrogated it.

Footnote 457:

We get at a sort of minimum date for its persistence from the career of St Ambrose, who had been a Valentinian in his youth (see Eusebius, _Hist. Eccl._ Bk VI. c. 18), and was made bishop of Milan in 374 A.D., he being then 34 years old. The sect therefore had adherents in Italy about 360 A.D.

Footnote 458:

It may be news to some that an attempt has lately been made to revive in Paris the heresy of Valentinus. See the _Contemporary Review_ for May, 1897, or Jules Bois’ _Les Petits Religions de Paris_, where a full account of the services and hymns of “L’Église Gnostique” is given. Its founder, Jules Doinel, was reconverted to Catholicism some time before his death. Its present head is M. Fabre des Essarts.

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