Section 14 (Page cxxxi)
VALENTINUS.
cxxxi substance, the antecedent representative of grosser matter; analogies, the counterpart of which we easily identify in this transcendental product of Achamoth's passion.
To ev y ylyverai is sufficiently descriptive of the lower Ogdoas the region of Achamoth; it was the cradle of creation, from whence the earliest germ of the material dated its rise.
Again, 'toVos, the habitat of Demiurge, was in the Platonic scheme the recipient of the eternal conception of things material in the Divine Intelligence, and it had its counterpart in the Pythagorean to kgvov, the breathing ground, as it were, of the animated world; !oi YlvBaydpov 6/ctos eivat tou kocthou Kevov, els o dvairvei
koo/xos xat e% ov.
Achamoth then
was placed for the present e'i$ rov virepovpaviov to-kov toutp «. ea-Tiv er rrj /mecroTijri, where the term neaoTtfi also was suggested by Plato's fieadr^Tet or harmonic means, which t™. 36 a. he interposes in the generation of r,vyvAnd further the constitution of Demiurge himself, intellectual but not spiritual, and evolved by Achamoth at the same time with the prot-ideal substance of matter, is in close harmony with the formation of the mundane soul in Plato; the Creator having taken a portion of indivisible substance, del
Tim. 35.
Kara raurd, eternally the same, and of that which is divisi ble, formed of them a third mean substance rplrov e£ d/j.(poty ev /xecra) l^vveKepaaaTO ovaias elSos, consisting in part of each, ttjs tc tovtou <pvaeu)$ av -jrepc Kai Ttj<; darepov, and placed the substance, thus formed, midway between the divisible and the indivisible, Kara ravra
%vveoTri<Tev in ixeaw •rod re d/xepovs avrwv nat tov Kara to aw/uara /xepiarov.
Still this composite substance was only ideal, rpla Xafiwn avTa ovra avveicepdaaTo elt fi'iav iravTa iSiav' in all of which terms we trace the original of the Valentinian evolution of Achamoth, and the animal principle Demiurge, as also 1 Hkdrw rbirov elcat rb ntra\n]irp.tm)v.
StoB. I. xviii. 4. riKbv rCiv elSwv, Swep etpyKe fiercupopucui 3 Stob. Phyt. I. xviii. 4. ttj* ff\ip>, Ka6drtp rwi. riB-qv-qv /cal Sffot 2
cxxxii
VALENTIN US.
Formation of their particular sphere midway between the Pleroma and ■yvuaw. the world of matter.
Enthymesis next became a suppliant for the return of Christ, whose Light had receded into the Pleroma, leaving however a certain shadow of glory, which, when contrasted with chaotic darkness, was positive light.
So in the Didasc. Or. upon Lam. iv. 20, ei/ t»} aiuq. avTou fycrovTat, it is said, cfkio.
"yap rrjs So£>/s tov ^wrtjpos t?Js irapd Ttp Tldrpi, tj irapovaia >] evravOa, (pwTOs Se anid ov (tkotos dWd (pc*)Ttan6s eoTiv.
§ 18.
It was a reproducpp. xcix. c. tion of the inherent aroma t^s v'toTtjTos of the Basilidian
P. 38, 3.
scheme.
Christ in answer to her prayer sent the Paraclete V s3or Saviour, endowed with the same collective gifts as Jesus,
and accompanied by an angelic 'body-guard.
Achamoth at first was alarmed at the glorious apparition, and veiled her face Si aiSw, symbolising perhaps the Platonic notion that before the orderly creation of the world commenced, matter and the soul were wholly unguided by intellect, 4i anc* ©heyed simply the rule of blind necessity, dvdyKtjt e£ Jr"
Ktvovrraw.
Next, Achamoth received from the Saviour the for mation Kara yv&civ, denied under the former revelation of the principal Christ, and was set free from her
■nd&tj.
These were imperishable, as having originated in the J£on Sophia, they were therefore hypostatised, as the ideal substance 3of matter; and at this point that we it is introduction of the element of evil into first observe the
Cf. the OTpwriSiTau Oeol of the Py organised, a better tenn would be un
formed, the idea followed being that of Plato's first matter. thagorean Onatas, rol J'
4XXoi 8eol ttotI Tbv wpdror 6ebv Kal voarbv ovtus exovri, uVxep x°PfvTal votI Kopvtpatov, Kal arpaNote however, that evil, thus arising
* t«St<u totI arparaybv.
Stob. from the Enthymesis of Sophia, ii. »S, traced is I. hack to the primary emanation Nus, 39p. 41.
The Valentinian reproduc tion of Christ in various phases, and had its source in Bythus, (p.
14, s n.
4), just as in the Zoroastrian theory in is complete harmony with the Egyptian light and darkness, as two co-ordinate ideas, sprung from the Infinite, pp. xiv. mythological permutations, see pp. xx. xxii. xv.
The origin of evil therefore was where for tntSee
antecedent to any contact with matter.
40, n. p.
VALENTINUS.
cxxxiii the world of matter; for by reason of these iraOti or Spiritual pnnc'ple" affections, the idea first, and consequently the substance of matter obtained a double character; of passion, which was evil, and of convertibility; in the words of our author, Trpos to yeveo~6ai $vo ovalas, Ttjv <pav\t]v twv iraOwv, t^v tc p- *>• t>?s eTrio-Tpo<p!)s efiiraO!).
Further, by reason of this hypostatising of ideal matter, the Saviour was said to have created the world cuita/iet, virtually, though not actually, p41Achainoth now separate from grosser passion, conceived, from the vision of the Saviour's angelic retinue, the spiritual principle, afterwards infused into the elect souls.
The origin of all created substance, matter, soul, and spirit, is thus accounted for, ev Swdfxei: the formation of the first two
principles was within the province of Achamoth, that of the latter was beyond her power, as having like herself emanated from the Pleroma, but endued with that essen tial 1yv£<TK which was as the life of the perfect .Eons.
The principle that corresponds most closely with the mundane soul of Plato was now evolved, Demiurge, the king and father of all 2 psychic and 3hylic substance.
The p «• former of these in imitation of the Platonic, or more cor rectly perhaps of the * Pythagorean notion, was termed Se^iou or the dextral principle, the latter apiSTepov or sinistral.
In the Platonic system these relative expres sions had an 5 astronomical bearing, in the earlier theory, 1 twv Ik tou wi6ovt koX Tr)t ffkris.
fiiv YlvBayopiKol Sib. rXeibvwv Not very dissimilar was the Pythagorean theory, that evil was co-ordinate with the evolution of the Dyad; rwv ap%wr rijv bvopArwv Karrjyopovai, tov piv iyadov fxiv fiovdSa Sebv koX Ti.ya.6bv, tJtis forty rb (v rb TeTrtpaa/xivov rb pivov rb €vdd r\ tou v6os tpvvis, abrbs
vovt, Kal t^jv to Trepcatrbv rb rerpdywvov rb tffov rb Be£tbv rb \aprpbv rov Si KtuoB r^v abpiarov SvaSa Satfiova, koX rb KCLKbv, irtpl ■ijvlart rb iXiicoc jtAtjSos.
STOB. I. ii. ao.
SvdSa rb iireipov rb (pepbpxvov rb Kdp.- 1 11, 1, and see Index, v. yvwais. irvXov rb ipriov rb (repS/niKcs rb Smutch rb ipurrepbv to axoTuvbv, iSffTf TouVas 3 twv bfioovaltav ati7<§, Tovrierri twv ipxat yevfoews biroKeipivas.
Plut. de t/wXikwv.
It was evolved from the pas sion of fear, the instinctive cause of la. et Oa. c. 48.
3 TTJV p.iv ofo l£(l> $OpOV, itTftpTJpiffeV animal self-preservation.
Cf. also the Basilidian notion, Clem. Al. Sir. n. 8. ctvai rrjs tuvtov aJiVews, ttjv Si hrbi rrjs
cxxxiv
VALENTINUS.
ght and as in the Valentinian they involved a 1moral notion ; _and the idea has descended to us through the !Latin and German languages.
3 Plutarch assigns an Eastern origin to the fancy, and terming it irainrakaios $6j~a, says that two co-ordinate principles were believed to exist, the one of good, right and true, the other of evil, and directly antagonistic of the former.
4Lactantius apparently copies his statement.
In the sJewish Cabbalistic writings we find the same idea, whether borrowed from Greek philoso phy or from the East ; and in man's constitution, soul and spirit are symbolised by the right and left sides of the body, while Macroprosopus or
^938 "p*?#> the Infinite Source
3 diri Sveiv ivovrtuv Apx<2v Koi Svetv BarlpoV Tr)i>/liv St) rabrov, kotA irXeupav M 5e£iA Trepi-fryaye, ttji» Si Baripov, dvTnrd\uv Swdfiew, ttjs fiiv iwl rA 5e£tA /carA Sid/itrpov, itr* dpiarepd.
Plato, Ktd kclt' ebBeiav vtpijyovfUvni, Trji 5'
Tim. p.
36 0.
The philosopher however tfiwa\iv dvaoTpapofans nal &va.x\uo-ris,
tc filos puktSs, Kal b Koapjoi, k.t.\. de Is. is speaking of the equatorial circle and the ecliptic ; of which the one was ex ternal to the other, and forming an et Os. c. 45.
4 Fecitque ante omnia duos fontcs rerum sibi adversantiuvi, illos videlicet angle with it.
The East is here rb Segibv, the West ro ipurrepiv.
The duos Spiritus, quorum alter est Deo tamEgyptians used the same terms, but of North and South; for the rising sun quam dextera, alter tamquam sinistra.
Inst.
II.
The dualistic principle therefore was not independent of an representing tov Kbo-pu>v Trpbcrwirov, has antecedent cause.
See pp. xii, xiii. the North to the right, and the South to the left; and identifying Kronos with the Nile, they considered that he had pn ironcs nvby (rupi* na i) ^kdpi vomn jntaD pno prm his origin from the left, and was ab sorbed in the ocean to the right; Koi Bprjvbs ijTiv lepbs iwl tov Kpivou yevbNB>HP KHDSM rO'DH DTK lievos, dpnvcl Si tov hi tois ipurrcpoTt S. Zeniuth. iv.
7, 8.
.Tri K*B3 fc6s»BH yevbp.evot pApeaiv, iv Si toU Se£ioU tpBeiWhen the lower Adam descended (into pbp.evov Myiimoi yip otorrcu to. p.iv iwa tov koV/xou Trpbaurov drat.
Plut.
Is. et Os.
32.
1 Theodorus, as quoted by Plutabch, used the terms of the Intel the world) in the likeness (iv eUbvi) of the upper, t/iere were found in him two spirits.
Man is completed of two sides, the right and the left.
The right (signi fies) the holy soul; the left the animal lectual, and its converse, when he charged his pupils with receiving with the left, principle (soul of life).
Compare pp.
43.
3S*> and Hippolttds, Sivafur that which he gave them with his right ; ^vxueys oifflas, ifns raXetrai SeJiA, b Toils \070uy avrov t-q Script TrporelvovTos, Sn/iiovpybs.
VI. 32.
Without doubt Upcmtnubt or Mrjrij, the Orphic A070S.
Lobeck Agivlovs rjj ipiarepq. St\ta6ai twv dxpoufiivwv.
Is. et Os.
68. a Dos Recht, and Sinister. laoph.
469, 483, who also, like the
VALENTINUS.
cxxxv Evil. of all, was wholly ' £e£io'y.
The apocryphal, though highly Good and ancient Clementine homilies, supply more than one in stance of the same mode of thought, and *Heaven is the Right, Earth the Left principle.
3 Good and Evil also are symbolised by the same terms ; and the whole human race is arrayed under these two principles, 4the Right leading to God, while the Left is the scourge of the wicked.
As regards the Valentinian system, 6Theodotus states that the Right principle subsisted before Achamoth's prayer for the light of Christ's glory ; but 6 the spiritual seed of the Church, which was still Se^wi/, was subordinate in point of succession to the Left power.
Evidently, however,
Valentinus found these terms ready to his hand ; and in his system the Right designated the immaterial principle ofp-«the soul ; the Left, the grosser principle of matter ; the former alone being capable of salvation, but only so far p. si. as it was conjoined with spirit.
Rabbinical prototype, was arrhenothele.
Oeov Siva/us wv, Kal ruv rbv Qebv ovk elSSruv, M KOKoroita r^v i^ovatav txav, viaoit bp.S.1 reptpaXetv ifivHiBv.
Clem.
Ib. 490, ©qAu? Cfluytvtrtjp xpartpos ©«b«'HpucaTrcuo?.
Horn. VII. ».
Compare also Stob^DS, Phys. I. Hi. 56,
Avalv iKdarore Apxovcw, Se£iwv re Kal evwvv'p.wv, .... rQ Qeip Sib tov where the notion is traced back through Bardesanes to an Indian source.
1 There U nothing sinistral in this iyaffov xal SeftoO irye/ibvos irpoaipoynre Ancient Jnscrulalle Being, he is wholly . . . avrbs ybp pJbvoi Sib rijs dpiarepds dextral.
Idra R.
§ 81.
N^NDC tA k» t6i3 riNO»riD sp»ny ttm It may be noted that Demiurge, among avaupwv, Sib, rrp Sefias faoroifyrai Sivarai.
Clem.
Horn. vil. 3.
5 T4 p.iv ybp Se£ib rrpb t?s tov <f>orrbs ah-f/aeus Trponve\9n brb rijs prrrpbs, rb.
Si airipp.ara Trjs iKK^-natas p.erb rty rov other names, was called by the exact term so frequently applied in the Cab bala to J'SJN "p"iy, viz. raXaibi tuv tpwrbs atrijciv, Sre virb rod dppevos rb rjfiepiip.
Hipp. Ph. vr. 32.
2 'f> ipxS 0 6f *s & <3cTep Sefii iyye\iKb, rdv areppdruv ir/joe/SdXero.
Did. Or. § 40.
• 'AXX4 Kal eiiivvpioi Swd/ius, irp&rai Kal dpiarepb, irpCrrov ivolnaev rbv ovpaTpop\i)8eiaai rwv Seljiwv inr' abrijt, {nrb vbv, elra -rip* yrjv, Kal ovrus Karb to i(ijt triaai tAs av^vylat CMveaT-qaa.ro. rrjs rov ipurbs irapovalas oi popipovvrat, Clem.
Horn, ir.
16.
The idea was KaTe\el<p6rjaav Se al bpiarepal inrb tov rbirov p.op<po>$Tjvau § 34.
Here mention Valentinian ; Theodotcs gives as syno nyms rbv ovpavbv teal rty yrjv, rovriari rb oipdvta Kal ri lirlyeia, rb. Sefii koX is simply made of the spiritual seed, not of the animal or intellectual principle, which, as in the Platonic theory, was rb. bpiarepd. p. 43, n. 3.
* XbrUa yovv 2tp.wv, dpiarepb tov antecedent to the material.
As the
CXXXvi
VALENTINUS.
Demiurge.
Achamoth therefore having now received her formation Kara, yvwatv, originated those spiritual powers of inferior grade, that were no longer considered too subtle for intermixture with the gross essence of matter.
These were, Demiurge, 'fiery as the first matter of Plato, formed after the image of Monogenes or Nus by the co-opera tion of Soter; and the various angelic and archangelic counterparts of the Jions ; these also peopled the psychic habitat of Demiurge, constituting the seven astronomical heavens, or 2J3ebdomas, or 'Avairavots, and in which the souls of the faithful and elect are reserved as in a place of rest; 3 rip Af3pad/x Kat rots \oiwois ousaloK tojs ev Trj
avairavtxet ovatv ev toTs ^e^toiy.
Both the psychic or dextral, and the hylic or sinistral principle were embodied in form by Demiurge ; the first being analogous to the formation of the mundane soul in the Timaeus, while the consolida tion of the second represented the Platonic sifting of oppop-43. site elements, Kov<pu)v Kat fiapeaSv, dvwcpepwv Kai Karw(pepwv.
There is also a close ratio to be observed between this portion of the Valentinian and of the Platonic theories, and Achamoth was to her hypostatised irdOrj, as the 4 crea tor deities of Plato were to the first matter ; also, Acha moth with these various irdOri, was to Bythus, as the Platonic creators with the first matter, were to the Su preme.
So, again, a definite analogy may be traced between the three relations of the Divine Principle in the later Platonic idea, and the triple progression of Valentielder it ruled the younger or bodily Athene, the impersonation of the Dielement, 06 yip &j>ipxecr$ai TrpevfUrtpov vine IStai, pp. xxii. xxvii. rip Si ifiSondvwb vturipov
{iWp|as fXaaa.
Tim.
34 c.
Jo Koi/jov Kai 'kBipiw.
Stob. Phys. I. i.
1 See p.
164, n.
3, and cf. Plato, 10.
'AS-Zirn also, as the Egyptian godTim. 40 A : tov flip oiv Betov tt\v jrXeiirdess Neith, the mundane Divine soul, riff Ifiav (k Tvpbi direipyd&ro.
But was called ifiSofids.
Plut. de It. d Ot. this element as an object of sense, was 10. a product of the Creator.
Ib.
3 1 B.
* Did.
Or. §18.
8 In the later Pythagorean symbo-
rCtv fii Bvijtuv t))v yiveow rots ]ism of particular numbers, the Hebiamov yerr^/uurt iTifJUOvpyeiy rpoatraicy. domad typified periodical Time, and Tim. 69 c.
VALENTINUS.
CXXXVll nianism as expressed in Bythus, the Pleroma as repreHebdomas. sented by Soter, and Achamoth, the more immediate source of this lower world of matter.
The Hebdomas of 1Demiurge also has its counterpart in the Platonic theory ; only the Philosopher shews that he meant no other heavens, than space circumscribed by the planetary *orbits; but the Gnostic had always held that Plato was 3blind to the spiritual sublimities of a true
Gnosis; his more material views therefore were subli mated, and the seven heavens became under Valentinian treatment no mere matter-of-fact orbits, but 4angelic vir tues and powers.
The Clementine homilies endeavour to give a Catholic expression to this notion.
There the Creator is exhibited as forming the worlds with six 5intercalations of time ; himself being the true Hebdomas or 'Avdiravais.
The Cabbala however of the Jews may have supplied the notion, having first received it from the East.
Thep «,i. locality of Paradise in the fourth sphere, or true mean, was undoubtedly Cabbalistic ; tov UapaSeiaov vnep rplrov it>. ovpavov ovra, from whence also Adam received the animal P. 45, i. soul.
Thus the ordering and disposing of the world of matter, which was deemed wholly 6derogatory to the 1 'Evra Kal oipavois KaT«rKevaKcvai,
robs Si iTrrb. oipavois ovs ehat wv iirdvoi tov Atiptovpyov elvat \eyovoi. voijrois (voepois) ipaffiv, dyyftovs abrois p. 44brorWevTai.
Compare 45 with 44.
3 'Ejrri k6k\ovs dvloovs Kara ttjk tov 6 XpoviKots If Stao-T-f/pao-tv <rwre\et Sir\turlov Kal TpiirXaalov Stdoraciv (xdarbv Kbapov, airbs ivdwavais liv Kal tov njr.
Tim. p.
36 D. iobpevov iweipov al£va eUbva txuV Xtipara Si abr&v iKdeTuv woi-fiaas apx^l <3» Kal TeXfifTi). . . . tovt6 io-Tiv 0 Gedi, IBqKev els t4i irepupopas, is i) ifjbopdSos pvor-fipiov' airbs yip (oriv ^ daripov nepioSos iirra offffas, Sera tuv oXojv dvdTravais' uij Toil iv piKp<$ eirrd.
ZeXijn;!' piv els tov irepl yijv pipovp-ivois abrov ti piya, abrbv xaplfexpwrov, "Tl\wv b" els Tbv Sebrepov irip rat els avdiravaw.
Clem. XVII.
9, 10. yfjs.
Tim. p.
38 0.
0 So Stob. speaking of the Platonic * Kal avrol iiicaTwpboi, ws Sii tov theory, vovs obv b Bebs, xuputTbv elSos, HXdruvos els t6 f)d6os rijs voTrrrjs obalas rb Si xup"rr°v dxoviaBu tA dpjyis irdo-qs 01 xe\daavTos.
Porph. v. Plot.
16. vXijs, Kal p-r/Sevl tuv aupariKuv <rvp-
cxxxviii
VALENTIN US.
DevelopMajesty of the Supreme Being, was effected without the "evU^ Pleroma, and Demiurge was the unconscious agent, performing his functions in entire ignorance of the Divine 1lSeai, or archetypal forms, as well as of the Supreme Bythus.
The notion that he imagined himself to be the Supreme and only God, bears perhaps upon the belief of physical philosophers, that the world itself was the Deity.
It was the very general conclusion arrived at by the ^/i/^i/cos-, or natural man.
Evil, as in the Persian theory of Zoroaster, was no true co-ordinate of the Supreme Good ; but it was mixed up with its primary emanation, so soon as discretive attri
bute brought in the idea of relation.
Thus the first germ of evil shewed itself with Nus ; and the aboriginal Enthymeme was to Monogenes, as Ahriman was to Ormuzd.
At a later point the principle of moral evil, ra ■trvevnuTiKa Trjs Trovrjp'cas, productive also of physical evil, emanated from the grief of Achamoth.
Hence Satanic influence was closely mixed in with the mundane principle; and grief rather than any other affection marked the hypostatic character of this Cosmocrator and his angels, as being the negation of s the Holy Spirit, which we are charged not to grieve.
The dwelling of Cosmocrator was the world; his proper element was air, as the pabulum of fire ; and the world contained within itself the latent ele ment, that in the end should burst forth and 'annihilate matter.
The distraction of Achamoth was descriptive of the blind but continuous kIvijo-is, with which matter was ■treirkeyiiivov, /irjSi Tif vaBrjrQ Trfi <p6<rcus to nvcvfia t6 iyiov roC 6fo0 iv a (crtppa- <rvftTa$tt.
Phyt. I. ii. ig. ylodirre.
Did. Or. 48.
1 IfyroiiKirai air<Sv (Int. airiv) t4s 3 p. 59. A notion quite inconsistent /Was wr hrolu, koI atfrV rty inrfripa. with the pre-existence of matter.
If p. 45. matter had an eternal existence, it could a koX irotei Ik t&v {iXikwv, to p.iv (k not again be annihilated, (Tim.
53 A,) rijs Xtfirijs owriwSes ktI$wv irvcvfiaTiKb. as is stated expressly by Iren.«i:s to riji irovriplat, irpAs & i) ird\tj Tj/Xiv S16 have been a tenet in the Valentinian ical \(yti i 'ATriaroXos, Kal pJ) XuirctTe creed.
VALENTIN US.
cxxxix agitated, according to the 1Platonic theory, before it was Formation organised by the infusion of the mundane rational soul, — "^Land from which it was reclaimed by the harmonising action of mind.
It was matter in its subjective aspect, ever shifting and changing, even before it had been endued with the plastic properties of life.
It was in this way that the diropla of Achamoth was causative of the first or procosmic matter.
The world being now reduced into order by the orga nisation of the iraQr} of Achamoth, Man's bodily nature was next created.
And Plato still gives the key-note, whose belief that Mind existed antecedently to matter, was
based upon the necessity, that the *dominant should pre cede the subject; for the intellectual and vital principle, the ^u^rj of Man, was first evolved, the gross inert element of matter, organised as his body, was an after-product.
Hence also in the Cabbalistic Book Zobar, the first Adam is said to have been formed of 3Light, and of the com ponent elements 4of all the Aziluth, or worlds; as ideal matter had an eternal existence, so man's subsistence in the Divine idea was from everlasting.
And this would seem to have been the heresiarch1s meaning, when he says that the choi'c Man was formed by Demiurge, ovk diro ravrris Trjs %r)pa$ ym, d\\' diro tjj? dopdrov ova'tas, diro v- «• tov Ke^vixevov /ca< pevarov Trjs vXtjs' not from the dry dust of the earth, but from the unseen substance of procosmic matter, over which the Spirit of God brooded, when the 1 Tim.
52 E. and cf. p. cxxvi. n. I.
56; also the Philonic Logos, which conJ Tim.
34 o.
36 E. tained a fruitful germ for after develop8 El ex ta (luce) factus est Adam ment; being designated in various parts primus occultus, qui supra splendorem. of his writings as, liia tCiv ISc&v, t?)s Introd. in Zoh. IV. c. iv. see xiii. liv. lv. fianaplat ipitreus Ixaayeiw, ivaiycurfta, lxxxiii. lxxxix. cxvi. and p.
134, 1.
Cf. puwds,
SvOptinroi Oeov, i/!os Oeov, rb the oriental notion, p. cxvi. n.
1. tiSv ivruv TpetrfSiTepov &p"ftrp-oi>,ofoapus * Ibid. Sect. VI. c. xxxiii.
4, 7, and Oeov, TiJjros rov Kicrfiov yoryrov, fUav, compare the Indian Macroprosopus in ami., trapdSeiyna, ipxervrot, l$ta ipp.1;the myth cited by Porphtrt, from veils, iyyeXos /iealTrjs, Sevrepos Beds, q Bardesaitbs in Stob-eus, Phys. I. iii. twv SKay yf/vxfi k.t.\.
cxl
VALENTINUS.
Tetrad reworld existed in its first rudimental idea, without form presented Void. jnto a body of this 1transcendental matter the soul of life was breathed, and, by virtue of that gift, man became as the representative of the Deity, k<xt eixova xai Kaff ofioluxrtv.
That the choic body, thus imagined, was not yet the body of tangible flesh is evident; this was added p- *9afterwards, varepov Se TrepireOe^aOai Xeyovaiv avTtp tov SepnaTivov yirwva' tovto to a'ia9t]Tov aapuluv etvat Xeyov (Se aiv, and the union of the two, in the human being Adam, was a cause of 2fear and terror to the angels, who heard spiritual mysteries uttered by that which they deemed to have been wholly carnal.
Man as yet was mere soul and
body; the spiritual principle was infused only into the was the conception of Achamoth, engendered elect seed; it by the vision of angels and was imparted by her without ; the cognisance of Demiurge.
Man, therefore, in his coma compound of four several principles; pp.5o,si. plete condition, is the animal soul that he received from Demiurge, the body of procosmic substance, the flesh of matter, and the spirit infused by Achamoth.
Thus he comprised in binary o-vfyy'ta, in which the higher nature, com himself a pounded of spirit and protarchal substance, was the corp. «• relative of soul and of the material flesh he was a counter ; part of the Tetrad.
Practically, however, Man was viewed as a triple compound, body, soul, and spirit; the transcen dental substance, in which he was supposed to have pre existed, in no way influenced either his present or his future Being, and was only mentioned to be forgotten The Cabbalistic books of the Jews not said, the Man, but Man simply, in
make the same distinction as Philo, contradistinction to the upper Man, that between man created after the similiwas formed in the Perfect Name.
As in the fragment of an Epistle tude of God, and man formed of the s dust of the earth.
So Siphra da Zeniut/ia, by Valentinus, quoted by Clem. Al. m.M, says; .DIN HEW D'r6t< Strom8: eis ^ ^"^ ^P"™ DnD dik *6n vto vh omri r^9,'1' 'Af\f^T ."be mops Tajmtn t6tfn «pas6 T&T„_ Corapare also tho corresponding And God said, Lei us male Man; notion of Basilides, Hipp. Ph. VD. 16. is it
VALENTINUS.
cxli again.
Similarly the entire human race was divided into in Man the spiritual, animal, and material, and it mattered little, Christ! practically, that there was an antecedent ideal Adam. The " seed of the elect was the counterpart of the heavenly Ecclesia, the Church foreordained from everlasting in the Pleroma of Divine Ideas.
The Christology of Valentinus was essentially Docetic. p. eo.
The heresiarch imagined again a four-fold constitution for his Christ; and in lieu of the body of flesh, or hylic prin ciple, which would have involved on the one hand the 6personal suffering of Christ, and on the other the Resur rection and Ascension into the Pleroma of a body of flesh,
he substituted a being, who, though of reasonable soul, was by no means of human flesh, but was formed nar oinovon'iav, P.s8. and dppijTtp Te^wj, so as to bear the outward appearance of man, though composed of the same ideal substance in which the archetypal "AvOpmirot was also formed; nal vXikov oe ovc? otiouv eiXrjtptvai Xeyovaiv avTov, /uij yap elvai ttjv vXrjv &eKTiia}i> awrriplas.
The body of Christ then, as Apollinaris afterwards affirmed, was of a heavenly charac ter, and being formed in heaven, passed into the world cos Sid awXrjvos, without receiving anything of the Blessed p. so.
Virgin beyond mere transmission.
Similarly, before the crucifixion, the /Eon Christ who descended upon Jesus at Baptism as a dove, was again separated, and left the psychic and economic Christ, the spiritual Christ being P. si. impassible ; and he suffered in no respect as an atonement p. 62. for sin, but simply to symbolise the voluntary isolation of Christ from the Pleroma, when he formed Achamoth
/car' ouaiav.
The Valentinian view of the destiny of the human race, bore a considerable resemblance to the Manicheean theory of Indefectibility, which has descended to us as the Supralapsarian theory of Predestination.
Of the three classes into which the human race was divided, according to the
cxlii
VALENTIN US.
Mail's triple division of his nature into body, soul, and spirit, those destiny, that were under bondage to the first, or the choic, were ^7m! wholly out of the reach of salvation ; the psychic or animal man, as the Church Catholic was called, was only so far salvable, as he made choice for himself of good, eav to (ieXTtova eXr/rai' but then there was no admission for p. 59. him into the Pleroma; he had his Rest in the Mean, or MecroTiy?, where Achamoth for the present received the souls of the Just; and whither Demiurge, upon her final promotion to the Pleroma, should ascend after the lower worlds had passed away.
But if the animal man made choice of evil, his eternal lot was, y^wp^aetv Trpos to. onoia,
p- «■ t. e. like the choic, eis Ttjv <p9opdv.
The spiritual, that is Valentinian heretics, alone were admitted into the Pleroma, from whence their origin was dated; for at p the final restitution of all things, Achamoth and the spirits that had been transfused by her into the world, should be admitted into the Pleroma, and mated with peut. xxxii. tjjg angels, their consorts.
Numerically therefore the Kk1ui.xvii.
^ ^e elect was KaT' apiQfiov dyyeKwv Geo?.
The soul however, or mere animal and intellectual principle, had no entrance into the Pleroma, it was divested of the spirit, as of the body, and remained without ev p. «. fxeaoTriTi, with Demiurge and the other souls of the just.
The souls of men therefore alone, as occupying the mean between the carnal and the spiritual, were capable of a p. «s. two-fold division, accordingly as they inclined to the higher or the lower principle; the better souls might receive the seed, the worse never.
The spiritual principle and the material were respectively sui generis, they were both inconvertible and incapable of further modification. yp^5+^»; The moral effect of such doctrine was pernicious in the extreme ; Irenseus gives a dark picture of its working within his own immediate observation, and such as the heresy was on the banks of the Rhone, it also was in Asia.
VALENTIN US.
cxliii But Hippolytus either draws the veil of charity over the Theory of more secret working of Gnosticism, or in Italy its votaries
">aP'ratl0nlived, si non caste caute tamen, and paid a greater regard to appearances than in the provinces ; for it is remarkable that the Bishop of Portus, following as he so frequently does the account of Irenseus, and transcribing long extracts, stops short at these charges of immorality ; as though he could not bear witness to the truth of the picture, so far as it had been presented to his own personal observation, amid the realities of life.
One very remarkable feature in the work of S. Hippolytus, is the care that he takes not to sully his page with topics that it must always pain the
Christian to read.
For this reason we also may omit those details upon Valentinian and Marcosian immoralities, that followed in natural course from their ideas of inde fectible privilege.
The Valentinian view of inspiration was quite consistent with the rest of the system.
For the government and disposition of the affairs of life were wholly under the guidance of Demiurge, whose profound ignorance of every thing above his sphere prevented him from having any know ledge of the spiritual substance imparted by Achamoth; upon the principle indicated by the Apostle, \j/u^iKw ceicor. 11.14. ai/6pu)Tros ov Several to. tow irvevfiaros tov Qeou.
There Was something, however, intrinsically beautiful in the spiritual principle that commended it to his regard; and those into whom it was infused were advanced by him to pre-emi nence, as Prophets, Priests, and Kings.
But the spirits of the prophets though subject to the prophets, were no subjects of the Demiurge; hence they uttered indifferently that which was dictated by Achamoth, as in the sugges tions of the seed they bore within, as well as the psychic and merely natural ideas that their human soul derived I Cor. vii. 6, from Demiurge; adopting possibly the notion from S. J,c^xL17, Paul's words, who speaks of himself at one while as giving v. 4.
Cor. ii. 10 ; . 4.
! Cor. xiii. 3.
cxliv
VALENTINUS.
Plato utterance to the mere human suggestions of intellect, chief] v followed at another to the inspiration of the Spirit, while in another
— place he declares that he speaks the wisdom ov tov a'uovos icor. u.6. rovrov, but the wisdom of God; words that the Valentinian would interpret of Achamoth.
It will not be necessary to 'oitao' a^vert to any of their more palpable perversions of Scrip ture, for they add nothing to our knowledge of Valentinian pr principles; they only illustrate them.
Altogether, therefore, we have seen that the Valenti nian system, in many of its notions, resembles the scheme set forth in the Timseus of Plato; and since the philosopher adopts 'Pythagorean views, more especially with reference
to the mundane soul and numerical harmonies, it is pro bable that this phase of Gnosticism gave back to the East it, that which had been borrowed from several centuries before, by the great master of physical philosophy.
To these two systems of ancient speculation, therefore, we have chiefly reverted for the light that has served to guide us through this mazy system.
The purely Oriental element consists in little else than the explanation of the creation and harmonious action of the universe, by supposing a series of successive emanations, to be re-absorbed into the Divine Nature; but always, whether in emanative diffusion, or in concentrated sublimity, God was All Things, and All Things were God.
Baur, therefore, perfectly right is when he corrects the notion put forth by Mosheim, and so generally received, that we must look to the Oriental systems of philosophy for an explanation of the Valentinian symbolises rather with modes of thought theory; for it prevalent in Greece; and, so far as Oriental notions are involved, we trace them back to the Cabbala that the Jews brought away from Babylon, rather than to Zoroaster or Hence Hippolttds says, without Kai yip UXdruv 5\us h Tip Tifialtp
aDy misgiving upon the subject, "Eon rbf llvdayipcw dxeyndfaro' roiyapovr *at Tifiaws aiVos t<rrur avrtp I\v0ay6p(ios OvaXevTivov atpeais 'Hv6ayopinlv oZ>v
ij kt]v tx°wa. *cai WKutuviktiv tt]v utroffeaiv.
$£vos.
Philog.
VI. 21.
VALENTIN US.
Cxlv the Zend Avesta.
Like Plato, Valentinus acknowledges a imitative prmc'plB" higher spiritual principle, as well as the mere psychic soul of the animal; like his master also, he leaves the origin of matter wrapped in mist and obscurity, though he seems to have taught that gross matter had its origin in time, while the space that it was to occupy, its ideal forms, tendencies, and general characteristics were eternal.
The Valentinian iEons have been very generally referred to the iSeai of Plato, and in several particulars they harmonise more closely with the views of the great master, than with the ideas of the neo-Platonic school ; the JEons of the Pleroma and the idea of the Universe, as it subsisted in
Achamoth, together, are not widely different from the ideal entities of Plato.
The imitative principle, that Valentinus adopted from Did. or. 33.
1more ancient systems of philosophy, is an idea of perpetual recurrence. sThe entire universe was held together by mimetic links.
Each emanation was a copy of the pre ceding, and a model for after development.
Thus Bythus was reflected in Monogenes or Nus, and the two by a pro portionate development became the Tetrad; this summed with its units the Decad, when a fresh series commenced, and the accession of another initial pair constituted the Dodecad.
Various instances of this reproduction will be noticed in the account of Irenseus.
The same mode of thought is perceptible in Plato.
The writings of Philo p. give numberless instances of it, and it was principally from 1 Compare Jove's reproduction of ~S.ip.wva., Hipp.
Ph.. VI. 9.
ApelleR per ceived the analogy between the Orphic Phanet, Gkote, M. Or. I. 35, the Orphic Tetras: and Simonian notion of a first principle of light, and adopting the idea of the Tb-pacLV 6<p$a\fwicru> ipiipterot tv9a xal Ma. —Herm. in Phcedr.
137.
Lob. Aglaoph. 1. 490; and one of the tetrad of Apelles ; Hrepov Si wtipivov rhv Mage, he designated it in the nomen clature of the Greek. a See Index, Imitative principle of Gnosticism, and compare the closing 4>av(vra.
Hipp.
Ph.
10.
Cf. also Zagreus, Grote, 1. 16, 29, 44 ; tart Si ii words of the Tinueut, infr. 368, 1, also Plat. It. et 0». p. xxiii. n. 3. a-rripavros SOvapis to irvp Kara rhv k VOL.
cxlvi
VALENTINUS.
this magazine that the Gnostic drew his ideas; unless indeed the question be open to argument, whether both Gnostic and philosophic Jew were not here the exponents of some tertium quid; as rearranging for the western mind, opinions and fancies that had been derived direct from the East.
Certainly there is muchin the 'Buddhist theory that bears comparison with parallel features of Gnosticism.
Even in China, traces exist of a primitive theology, in 2is as which the very feature now under discussion strongly marked, as in the more polished periods of Plato and Philo.
Valentinus could boast of a more numerous personal
following than any other heresiarch ; but his sect had no vitality, and could not cope with the Marcionites
; neither had it any principh? of unity ; accordingly it varied in the hands of Ptolemy, Heracleon, Secundus, and Marcus, in the West, as compared with the more Basilidian teach ing of Theodotus in the East ; it will be sufficient if these variations are noticed as the work proceeds.
Marcus alone appears to have imported a few fundamentally new notions into the system, derived from the numerical philosophy of the later Pythagorean renaissance in Egypt, and from the Cabbalistic trifling of the Jews.
Here again the reader 1 See the very interesting work of Dr Rowland Williams, Christianity and Hinduirm, c. I .
' There is something very Valentinian in the following notions of the le designe par le mot Raison . . .L'homme a son modele dans la terre, la terre dans le ciel, le ciel dans la Raison, la Raison en elle-meme." Abkl RKUVSAr, Melanges Atiatiquet, I. p. 94.
Compare also Le Chinese philosopher Lao-tsed, who was probably a contemporary of PythagoPere Tachabd, Voy. de Siam, VI.
113, who mentions three terms, regarded bas, and to whom even Rexusat assigns an antiquity of 2400 years; certainly Lao-tbeu never could have heard of Valentinus, yet he taught, "Avant le always with reverence by the Siamese ; the first of which means, God, the second, the Word of God, and the third, the imitator of God.
These analogies, chaos qui a pre'ee'de' la naissance du ciel from whatever source derived, are et de la terre, un seul rtrw existait, striking, and they were referred by the immense et silencieux, immuable et toujour* agissant.
C'est la mere de 1'universe, J'ignore son nom, mais je first Jesuit Missionaries to the mimetic attempts of other influences than philo sophy.