Sophia and Eve The Valentinian myth of Sophia is often said to indicate the influence of non-Christian sources on Valentinian

teaching. In the myth, Sophia becomes separated from her consort and is expelled from the heavenly Pleroma. Christ then descends to her aid and she is joined to him. Rather than having a non-Christian origin, the main points of the myth seem to be derived from an allegorical interpretation of the Book of Genesis. In this allegory, Eve is identified with Sophia while Adam is interpreted as Christ. The book of Genesis features two different accounts of the creation of human beings. In the first, "God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female" (Genesis 1:27). In the second account, "God took some soil from the ground and formed a man from it" (Genesis 2:7). Then God creates woman from the man's rib (Genesis 2:22). The human beings are subsequently ejected from the garden. Influenced by the writings of Plato, many Jews and Christians of the period interpreted the creation as "male and female" to indicate that humanity was originally androgynous (cf. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:18:2).. As in Plato, the androgynous human being was later divided to form two sexes. Valentinians made use of this interpretation in their myth of Sophia. They explicitly identified Sophia (Wisdom), the youngest of the Aeons with Eve, "mother of the living" (Hippolytus Refutation 6:29 cf. Genesis 3:20). According to Valentinian teachers, the separation of Sophia/Eve from her male counterpart results in her expulsion from the heavenly Pleroma. According to Valentinian teachers, the passage "In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them" (Genesis1:27), means the creation of the "spiritual humanity" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:18:2). Specifically, "the 'male' are called angels, while the 'female' themselves are the superior seed" (Excerpts of Theodotus 21,1). The 'male' are of course Adam/Christ while the 'female' are of course Eve/Sophia. The creation of Eve from Adam's rib is understood to mean that Eve has become separated from him. In their interpretation, it is this separation of Eve from Adam rather than the eating of the forbidden fruit which constitutes the fall. The "sleep" of Adam (Genesis 2:21) is the sleep of ignorance into which Sophia/Eve fell as a consequence of which she was separated from him. According to the Interpretation of Knowledge, "From being counted with the female (i.e.Eve), sleep brought labor and the sabbath which is the world" (Interpretation of Knowledge 11:18-20 cf. Gen 3:17). As Ptolemy says, she "plunged forward and fell victim to suffering without the embrace of her consort" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:2:2). According to Valentinian myth, Sophia/Eve "cut herself off from her consort"(Valentinian Exposition 34) and this results in the creation of the material universe. Just as Sophia separated from her partner, "so also in the case of Adam: the male remained in him, but the entire female seed was taken from him and became Eve (i.e. Sophia), from whom the female beings derive, as do the males from him. The males were drawn together with the Word" (ExTheo 21:2-3). The Gospel of Philip states that "Eve separated from Adam because she was never united with him in the Bridal Chamber"(Gospel of Philip 70). According to Valentinian myth of the fall, God held back perfect knowledge (gnosis) of himself from his Aeons (including Sophia) so that they would search for him. Until Chist manifested himself to them, the Aeons had not united in the "bridal chamber", a metaphor for perfect knowledge of God. It was as a result of this withholding of gnosis that the fall occured. The separation of Sophia/Eve is described as the origin of our deficient relationship with God. In Valentinianism deficiency or ignorance is identical with spiritual death. According to the Gospel of Philip "When Eve was still in Adam death did not exist. When she was separated from him death came into being" (GP 63 cf. Genesis 3:19 see also Gospel of Philip 70). However, this allegory ends on an optimistic note. The passage in Genesis that follows the separation of Eve from Adam describes how "a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife and they become a single flesh" (Genesis 2:24). According to the Valentinians, this "man" is Christ who descends from the Fullness (pleroma) to unite with his partner Sophia/Eve. As Theodotus says, "he came forth, full of the Aeons, as one who proceeded from the All" (Excerpts of Theodotus 23,1). Christ is the second Adam, who comes to undo the fall. According to the Gospel of Philip, "Adam came into being from two virgins, from the Spirit and from the virgin earth. Christ, therefore, was born of a virgin to rectify the fall which occurred in the beginning" (Gospel of Philip 74). Elsewhere in the same work, it says, "Christ came to came to repair the separation which was from the beginning and again unite the two, and to give Life to those who died as a result of the separation and unite them. But the woman is united to her husband in the bridal chamber. Indeed, those who have united in the bridal chamber will no longer be separated" (Gospel of Philip 70) The Gospel of Philip "if she (Sophia/Eve) enters into him and he takes her to himself, death will no longer exist" (Gospel of Philip 63). Similarly, according to the Exegesis on the Soul, "once they unite with one another, they become a single life. Wherefore the prophet said concerning the first man and woman, 'They will become a single flesh'. For they were originally joined to one another when they were with the Father, before the woman led astray the man, who is her brother" (Exegesis on the Soul 132:34-133:6). The Interpretation of Knowledge contrasts the "sleep"(Genesis 2:21) of ignorance which brings about the separation with the "sleep" of gnosis which reverses it. According to this author, "From being counted with the female (i.e.Sophia), sleep brought labor and the sabbath which is the world. But from being counted with the Father, sleep brought the Sabbath and the exodus from the world of the beasts" (Interpretation of Knowledge 11:18-22) It allows us to reverse the fall and "enter through the rib whence you came" (Interpretation of Knowledge 10:34-35 cf Genesis 2:2122).

Thus Sophia/Eve will be to be reunited with Christ/Adam and the fall undone. Similarly, the female "seed" within each of us is to be reunited with its male angelic counterpart. As Theodotus concludes in his discussion of the separation of Adam and Eve, "the female . . . unites itself with the angels and enters into the Fullness" (Excerpts of Theodotus 21:3). Through gnosis, "we are raised equal to angels, restored to the males, member to member, to form a unity" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:2). Accordingly, "when Sophia (Wisdom) receives her consort and Jesus receives the Christ and the seeds and the angels; then the Fullness will receive Sophia (Wisdom) joyfully, and the All will come to be in unity and reconciliation" (Valentinian Exposition 39) The Pair (syzygy) in Valentinian Thought The notion of the pair or "syzygy" is central to Valentinian thought. The term refers to the linking together of complementary qualities ("Aeons") of to form a state of wholeness (pleroma). This is the highest level of reality. The halves of a syzygy are often refered to as male and female. The male corresponds to form and the female corresponds to substance. God can be understood to consist of four primary pairs or syzygies: Depth and Silence (unknowable God), Mind and Truth (comprehensible God), Word and Life (active God), Humanity and Church (immanent God). It is worth noting that the syzygies were understood to be male-female pairs. Thus Depth, Mind, Word and Humanity were understood as corresponding to the "male" aspect of God while Silence, Truth, Life and Church were seen as the "feminine" aspect of God.From these primary energies, eleven further syzygies were generated by a process of emanation for a total of fifteen pairs (i.e. thirty Aeons). This harmonious realm of paired energies is refered to as the "Pleroma", which means "fullness" or "completion". The complementary qualities that make up the syzygy have become separated in this world due to the action of Sophia, resulting in a state of deficiency (hysterema). This lower level of reality is a illusion that results from ignorance and separation. According to Valentinus, every human being contains a seed of the divine essence (pneuma) that has to be rejoined to its heavenly counterpart or angel in a syzygy. Because of our ignorance, we often mistakenly believe that things can be separated into opposites. This is discussed in the Gospel of Philip: "Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are mutually dependent; it is impossible for them to separate. Accordingly the 'good' are not good, the 'bad' are not bad, 'life' is not life, 'death' is not death." (Gospel of Philip 53:14-23). Categories that are often considered as opposites are in fact closely related and one cannot be understood without the other. There can be no concept of maleness without femaleness or no concept of darkness without light. The division into opposites is an illusion. This illusory level of reality can be "dissolved" by reunification of the pneuma within us with its angelic counterpart. This is commonly refered to as gnosis and results in a restoration of the individual to the syzygy and the wholeness (pleroma). This "gnosis" is understood simultaneously as knowledge of God and as reunification with one's heavenly counterpart. Distinctions such as the division into "opposites" are dissolved through restoration to unity. Restoration to unity allows the mystic to transcend the illusion and perceive the true reality. According to Valentinus: "Inasmuch as the deficiency came into being because the Father was not known, from the moment the Father is known the deficiency will not exist. As with a person's ignorance- when one receives gnosis, ignorance of the other passes away of its own accord, as the darkness vanishes when the light appears, so also the deficiency vanishes in the completion, so from that moment on the realm of appearance (i.e. the mundane world) is no longer manifest but rather will pass away in the harmony of unity." (Gospel of Truth 24:27-25:6) It is clear from the preceding that Valentinianism is a form of monism. According to Valentinus, the divine is the only true reality. All else is illusion. Dualistic distinctions between "body" and "mind", "soul" and "matter" are meaningless. To have gnosis of God is to see through the illusion of worldly distinctions and to experience reality as the fullness (pleroma) of the divine. The Role of Jesus in Valentinianism Introduction Valentinianism is a profoundly Christo-centric form of Christian mysticism. The entire mythology can be seen as Christology. In Valentinian thought, the decisive event in the history of the world was the ministry of Jesus. Prior to his coming, the true God was unknown ( Against Heresies 1:19:3-1:20:3). This is because "no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27 cf. Against Heresies 1:20:3). This is the point of the Sophia myth. Throughout the ages, human beings sought to find God, but in the absence of Christ, they succeeded only in producing a defective image of the divine i.e. the Craftsman (demiurge). In their error they worshipped an imperfect image of God as lawgiver and Craftsman of the material world instead of the true God. The Human Jesus and the Divine Christ Valentinian tradition draws a sharp distinction between the human and the divine Jesus. By a special dispensation, the human Jesus was born (Against Heresies 1:15:3). Some Valentinians accepted the virgin birth (e.g Second Apocalypse of James 50:10f) while others believed Jesus was the true son of Mary and Joseph (Gospel of Philip 55:23-26). According to Valentinian theologians, Jesus derived his animate "body" or essence from the Craftsman. His spiritual essence is the entire "church of the superior seed" (Excerpts of Theodotus 17:1) deriving from Wisdom (Sophia). That

is why the angel told Mary, "The Holy Spirit (i.e. Wisdom) will come upon you and the power of the Most High (i.e. the Craftsman) will overshadow you" (Luke 1:35 cf. Refutation of Heresies 6:35:3-4, also Excerpt of Theodotus 60, Against Heresies 1:15:3). According to Ptolemy, the contributions from Wisdom (Sophia) and the Craftsman pass through Mary into Jesus "like water through a pipe" (Against Heresies 1:7:2). This human being is the "lamb of God" (John 1:26 cf. Fragments of Herakleon 10), that is, the one the "Father of All chose to obtain knowledge of himself" ( Against Heresies 1:15:3). Jesus became closely identified with humanity by taking on a human body. His human body is seen as consubstantial with the Church. Drawing on the metaphor from Saint Paul that the church is the body of Christ, Theodotus says, "The visible part of Jesus was Sophia (Wisdom) and the church of the superior seed which he put on through the body but the invisible part was the Name which is the only begotten Son" (Excerpts of Theodotus 26:1). The corresponding metaphor in the Gospel of Truth is the "living book" which contains the names of all the saved that the Son takes up (Gospel of Truth 20:10-14 cf. Revelation 20:15). Valentinians divide the human personality into three distinct parts: chous (carnal), psyche (soul) and pneuma (spirit). The chous is closely linked the physical body and consists of the instinctual drives to self-gratification. It is said to directly derive from deficiency and suffering. By a special dispensation, Jesus was born without chous. For this reason, his physical body is sometimes said to be directly connected with psyche. Hence Ptolemy describes Jesus as having a "psychic" rather than a carnal (choic) body ( Against Heresies 1:6:1, 1:7:2). The Baptism of Jesus When he was thirty years old, he went to John the Baptist to be baptized (Luke 3:23). As soon as he went down into the water, "he came out laughing at everything (of this world), not because he considers it a trifle, but because he is full of contempt for it" (Gospel of Philip 71:3-15). The divine Savior, referred to as the "Spirit of the Thought of the Father", descended on him in the form of a dove (Matthew 3:16 and parallels cf. Against Heresies 1:7:2, 1:15:3, Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6, Refutation of Heresies 35:3) and the "Word became flesh" (John 1:14). Jesus' baptism and the descent of the "Spirit" is his redemption (Gospel of Philip 70:34-36). Redemption was necessary even for Jesus so that "he might not be detained by the thought of the deficiency in which he was placed" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:7 cf. also Tripartite Tractate 124:31-125:11). This is the true "virgin birth" and resurrection from the dead, for he was reborn of the virgin Spirit (cf. Gospel of Philip 70:34-71:7, Refutation of Heresies 35:5, Gospel of Philip 56:15-18). According to Theodotus, the Savior's angels were also baptized "through the redemption of the Name which came upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:1-2). The angels are those who are "baptized for the dead" (1 Corinthians 15:29), that is, for human beings who are in ignorance of the true God (Excerpts of Theodotus 21:1-2). The human Jesus is the "lamb of God", the Savior is the one "who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29 cf. Herakleon 10). He came to reveal knowledge (gnosis) of the Father (Gospel of Truth 20:15-24, Against Heresies 1:15:2, Interpretation of Knowledge 14:28-30). By knowledge (gnosis), the two elements which had been separated (i.e. the seeds and the angels) are rejoined (cf. Gospel of Philip 70:12-15 etc.) and restored to the Fullness (Treatise on the Resurrection 44:26-30). He also came to conquer death by means of the resurrection ( Against Heresies 1:15:3, Treatise on the Resurrection 44:26-30). He accomplished this by "sharing with the dispensational (i.e. human) Christ his power and his name" ( Against Heresies 3:16:1). Valentinian Christology emphasizes that the human Jesus is redeemed by being joined with the Savior at his baptism. The Son is "the Name which came down upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:6). The redemption of the human Jesus is seen by the Valentinians as applying to all who form part of the "church of the superior seed". The human Jesus is joined to the Savior. All who form part of the spiritual church which is identical with the human Jesus are also joined to the Savior. In the Interpretation of Knowledge, the human Jesus who represents the Church is called the "humiliated one"(12:18-22)and the "reproached one" (12:29-31). Again it is the Savior who redeems: "Who is it that redeemed the one that was reproached? It is the emanation of the Name (i.e. the Savior)" (Interpretation of Knowledge 12:29-31cf also 12:18-22). The descent of the Son into Jesus at his baptism is simultaneously the redemption of the human Jesus and the redemption of all who are joined with him. The Public Career of Jesus Following his baptism, he taught for twelve months in order to "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of retribution" (Isaiah 61:2 cf. Against Heresies 2:22:1). In order to reveal his dual nature, the Acts of John reports that at times he was substantial like an ordinary human being, but that at other times he seemed insubstantial and did not even seem to leave footprints. (Acts of John 88-89). Everything he did was "a symbol and a dispensation for the conversion and salvation of humanity" (Acts of John 102 cf. also Against Heresies 1:8:2). He taught he disciples "first in a figurative and mystical way, then in parables and riddles and thirdly clearly and directly in private" (Excerpts of Theodotus 66 cf. John 16:25, Luke 8:9-10). In the Gospel of Philip, Mary Magdalene is regarded as a full-fledged apostle. She was seen as having had a special relationship with Jesus and is said to be the apostle he loved more that the others (Gospel of Philip 64:1-2 cf. Gospel of Mary 18:14-15). She is sometimes interpreted as a symbol of Wisdom (Sophia). As such she is described as Jesus' consort and it is implied that they are married (Gospel of Philip 63:32-33, 56:6-10 cf. Gospel of Mary 10:2-3). His brother James also plays an important role in some Valentinian sources such as the First Apocalypse of James. The Crufixion

The forces of ignorance rose up against Jesus, and, not comprehending his true nature, attempted to destroy him (Gospel of Truth 18:21-26). His passion and death have a special symbolic value according to Ptolemy who says that Jesus "came to his suffering in the last times of the world for the purpose of revealing the suffering arising with the last of the Aeons and through its end to reveal for all to see the final aim of the events in the world of the Aeons" ( Against Heresies 1:8:2). Valentinians interpreted Jesus' suffering and death in terms of his dual nature. Inasmuch as Jesus is a human being, he suffered pain and died on the cross (cf. Against Heresies 1:7:2). However, his divine nature (i.e. the Savior) transcends physical pain and death ( Against Heresies 1:6:3, 1 Apocalypse of James 131:17-19). Instead, his divine aspect endured only the emotional sufferings of grief, fear and confusion in order to bring them to nothing. This distinction is expressed by the risen Christ in the following words: "What they (i.e. ordinary Christians) say of me, I did not endure, but what they do not say, those things I did suffer" (Acts of John 101). According to Ptolemy, the Savior expressed his grief with the words, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38). When he says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39) he shows fear. Similarly, his statement, "And what shall I say" (John 12:27) shows his confusion. ( Against Heresies 1:8:2). The reality of this suffering is affirmed in many places (Gospel of Truth 20:10-14, 20:28-30, Interpretation of Knowledge 5:30-35, Herakleon 12) The identity of the Jesus' body with the Church lead some Valentinians to identify the suffering of Jesus with the suffering of the individual Christians that make up that body. In the Letter of Peter to Philip, it says "Our illuminator came down and was crucified..Jesus is a stranger to this suffering. But we are the ones who suffered through the transgression of the Mother. And because of this he did everything like us" (139:15-25). According to the Apocalypse of Peter, Jesus was laughing on the cross at his persecutors: "He laughs at their lack of perception, knowing that they are born blind" (Apocalypse of Peter 83:1-3). They foolishly thought they were killing him but in reality they were setting him free from the flesh. Only the human Jesus was being put to death. According to Theodotus, when Jesus said, "Father, into your hands, I commend my Spirit" (Luke 23:4), he committed the lower Wisdom and her seed to the Father, having accomplished his work of redemption (Excerpts of Theodotus 1:1-2). The Savior then withdrew from Jesus and his human part died (Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6). That is why the human Jesus said with his dying breath, "My God, my God, why o Lord have you forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46), for "he was divided in that place" (Gospel of Philip 68:26-28 cf. also Interpretation of Knowledge 13:14-16). The Resurrection When the human body died, his non-corporeal spiritual body rose up from it (Refutation of Heresies 10:7, Apocalypse of Peter 83:6-8, cf. also Treatise on the Resurrection 45:14-17). The Gospel of Truth puts it thus, "Having stripped himself of perishable rags, he put on imperishability" (Gospel of Truth 20:30-32 cf. also Treatise on the Resurrection 45:14-22). According to a tradition preserved in the Acts of John, the risen Savior appeared immediately to the apostle John on the Mount of Olives while the multitude was still gathered around his human body nailed to the cross. The Savior revealed to him that the cross could be seen as a symbol of the Limit that separates the lower realm from the Fullness (Acts of John 97-100). When he told John that "those who are outside the mystery" (Acts of John 100) were saying that he had perished on the cross, John laughed at their foolishness (Acts of John 102). On the third day after his human body died, the Savior sent forth a ray of power which destroyed death, and "he raised the mortal body after he scattered the sufferings (i.e. the physical and carnal natures)" (Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6). This body which he raised is not the material body, "for what is flesh and blood cannot share in God's kingdom" (1 Corinthians 15:50). Instead, it was a body of animate essence specially transformed so that it could be seen and felt (cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 59:4, Against Heresies 1:6:1, 1:7:1). The risen Savior only took up those elements he wished to save, that is, the animate soul and the spiritual seed ( Against Heresies1:6:1). It is this animate and spiritual body of Christ which is consubstantial with the Church (Excerpts of Theodotus 42:3, 58:1, cf. Ephesians 4:15-16). Theodotus puts it in these words, "The visible part of Jesus was Wisdom (Sophia) and the Church of the superior seed which he put on through the body" (Excerpts of Theodotus 26:1). The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus The risen Jesus appeared to different people in various forms, that is "in the manner in which they would be able to see him" (Gospel of Philip 57:28-35 cf. also Excerpts of Theodotus 23:4, Acts of Peter 21). That is why Mary did not recognize him at the tomb (John 20:15) and the disciples did not recognize him on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:16). According to a tradition known to the Valentinians, Jesus remained for eighteen months after his crucifixion ( Against Heresies 1:3:2, Secret Book of James 2:19). During this time he instructed his disciples "plainly about the Father" (John 16:25 cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 66). Valentinians believed that the secret tradition passed on to them was revealed to the disciples during this period. After giving final instructions to Peter and James (Secret Book of James), the Savior and Wisdom (Sophia) ascended to the eighth heaven. The animate Christ remained in the seventh heaven on the right hand of the Craftsman (Excerpts of Theodotus 62:1 cf. Psalm 110). He will remain there until the consummation so that "they may see him whom they pierced" (Revelation 1:7 cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 62:2). Conclusion

Jesus sows the spiritual seed in all who hear the message. He is the sower in the parable (Matthew 13:1-8 cf. Interpretation of Knowledge 5:16-19). The spiritual seed bears fruit in the Church, "therefore the signs of the Spirit healing and prophesying - are accomplished through the Church" (Excerpts of Theodotus 24:1). Jesus is absolutely central to Valentinian theology. Their understanding of his incarnation places great emphasis on both his human and divine nature. The human Jesus alone died on the cross since the divine transcends pain and death. This is distinctly different from "docetism". Valentinians never claimed that Jesus only appeared to suffer or that his body was an apparition. The Name and Naming in Valentinianism Valentinus was a second century AD Gnostic Christian mystic and speculative theologian. He founded a theological school that preserved and further developed his ideas after his death in about 160 AD. The Valentinians and related speculative groups are often called 'Gnostic' because of the role that mystical knowledge (gnosis) plays in their thought. In Valentinus' thought, speculation on the Name and on naming play an important role. The notion of the Name is explicitly present in about half of the surviving Valentinian sources and can be implied in most of the remainder. The notion has been discussed in detail previously by Thomassen (1993) in relation to semiotics and by Zyla (1996). While the notion of the Name is not unique to the Valentinians, they did develop the idea in some unique and unusual directions. The concept of the Name in Valentinianism has links with Jewish speculation on the Divine Name. The Valentinian liturgy preserved by Irenaeus makes the connection clear. In one of the baptismal prayers, the Name is explicitly identified with Iao (Hebrew Yaho) which is a variant of Yahweh (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:3). A connection to Judaism is not all that surprising given the Jewish roots of both Christianity and Gnosticism. In Valentinian thought, the Son is identical with the Name. In The Gospel of Truth, Valentinus says, "Now the Name of the Father is the Son ... he begot him as a Son and gave him his Name" (Gospel of Truth 38:6-13 cf. also 39:19-21). Similarly, Theodotus writes of "the Name which is the Son, the form of the Aeons" (Excerpts of Theodotus 31:4). The association of Christ with the Name derives from early Christian speculation that has its ultimate origins in Jewish Christianity. In several passages in the New Testament, Jesus is said to have received the divine Name. For example in Saint Paul: "For this reason God raised him to the highest place and gave him the Name which is greater than any other name (Philippians 2:9) This passage is quoted in several Valentinian sources including 'The Prayer of the Apostle Paul'. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "I kept them safe by the power of your Name, the Name you gave me" (John 17:12). Thus the notion that the Son possessed the divine Name was well known in early Christianity. The unique feature in Valentinianism is that the Son not only possesses the Name, he is identical with it. The identity of the Son with the Name can only be explained by understanding the notion of naming in Valentinianism. In Valentinian thought, naming is the same as generation. Hence, the Father's generation of the Son and his act of naming the Son are the same thing. In the Gospel of Truth, the Father "begot him as a Son and gave his Name" (38:1013) and "bore him unto himself as a Name" (38:32-34). Elsewhere in the same work, Valentinus states that all things that truly exist have a name, "for what does not exist has no name" (39: 11-12). Through the act of naming, the thing which receives a name becomes virtually identical with what is referred to by the name. Thus the Son who receives the Father's Name becomes closely identified with the Father. The Gospel of Philip discusses this notion: "Only one name is not uttered in the world, the Name that the Father bestowed on the Son. It is above every other - that is the Name of the Father. For the Son would not become a Father had he not put on the Name of the Father" (Gospel of Philip 54:5-10).Thus the Son who receives the Name of the Father is himself called 'Father' in many Valentinian sources (e.g. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:1:1). There is an intimate association between the name and that which is named. According to Valentinus all things that truly exist do so in association with their name: "For what does not exist has no name - indeed what would a nonexistent be named? - but what exists, exists along with its name" (Gospel of Truth 39:11-16). The linking together of the name and that which is named is expressed elsewhere in Valentinian theology through the concept of the syzygy (linked pairs). In the syzygy, the "male" corresponding to form is joined with the "female" corresponding to substance. In most forms of Valentinian thought, even the Father is a syzygy. His inexpressible nature is expressed by having him united with his Thought (or Silence). The Son is also generally conceived of as a syzygy. He is Mind united with Truth. Inasmuch as both Father and Son are both syzygies, they are together described as the first Tetrad. (see Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:1:1). The Tetrad is itself linked with the fact that the divine name is expressed by four letters in Hebrew. In Valentinian theology, the Son emanates a series of divine attributes or 'Aeons'. The Aeons follow the pattern established in the first Tetrad and are arranged into pairs (syzygies). The relationship of the Son to the Aeons is unclear without taking account of the notion of the Name. How the Aeons are related to the Name (Son) is clearly spelled out in the teacher Marcus as follows: "The pronunciation of the Name took place as follows. He spoke the first word of it which was the beginning, and that utterance consisted of four letters. He added the second and this also consisted of four letters. Next he uttered a third and this again embraced ten letters. Finally, he pronounced a fourth which was composed of twelve letters. The enunciation of the whole Name consisted of thirty letters or elements, and of four distinct utterances" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:14:1) Using the metaphor developed by Marcus, each of the Aeons correspond to an individual letter of the Name. In addition to the Tetrad, there are twenty-six Aeons. Again we note a

connection to Judaism. In Hebrew numerology, the divine name has a numerical value of twenty-six. Four and twentysix give a total of thirty Aeons. The Aeons share in or are individual instances of the Name. They represent the various aspects of the Son's personality e.g. Word, Human Being, Church, Wisdom, etc. Only together as the Son do they constitute the complete Name. This relationship between the Aeons and the Son is described in the Tripartite Tractate with the following words: "He is each and every one of the Totalities forever at the same time. He is what all of them are." (Tripartite Tractate 67:7-10) In another passage from the same work: "All of them exist in the single one, as he clothes them completely and he is never called by his single Name. And in this unique way they are equally the single one (Son) and the Totalities (Aeons)" (Tripartite Tractate 66:30-36). Even though the Aeons represent aspects of the Son, they are to some degree are conceived of as distinct personalities. It is a key feature of Valentinian theology that the Aeons are ignorant of their role as part of the Name. This is discussed in Marcus: "No one of them perceives the form of that whereof it is only an element. It does not perceive or know the pronunciation of it's neighbor, but believes that which it expresses names the whole" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:14:1). As a consequence, they are also ignorant of the Father himself . As the teacher Ptolemy puts it, "The First Father was recognized only by the Only-Begotten (Son) who came into existence through him, that is, by Mind, whereas he remained invisible and inconceivable to all the others" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:2:1, cf. Gospel of Truth 19:7-10 ). This astonishing idea has its root in the notion that the emanation of the Name by the Father was a process of self-limitation. Valentinus himself admits that it is an surprising idea, "It was quite amazing that they were in the Father without being aquainted with him and that they alone were able to emanate, inasmuch as they were not able to perceive and recognize the one in whom they were" (Gospel Truth 22:27-33). The Aeons can be thought of as unintegrated aspects of the Son's overall personality who are unaware of the Name even while they form part of it. The longing of the Aeons to know their origin leads inevitably to disaster. Valentinian theologians expressed this through a myth in which Sophia, the youngest Aeon becomes separated from her syzygy. This fall leads to a disruption of the Name. According to Theodotus, "The Aeon which desired to grasp that which is beyond knowledge fell into ignorance and formlessness. Therefore he brought about a void of knowledge which is a shadow of the Name, which is the Son, the form of the Aeons. Thus the partial name of the Aeons is the loss of the Name" (Excerpts of Theodotus 31:3-4). This is the ultimate origin of the physical universe. The things in this world were seen as separated from their name and existing in a state of deficiency and ignorance. Through an act of grace, the Name is restored. According to Theodotus, "For then they recognized that what they are, they are by the grace of the Father, an inexpressible Name, form and knowledge (gnosis)" (Excerpts of Theodotus 31:3). The Aeons became united with the Son who then became known as the Savior. According to Marcus, "The restitution of all things will take place when the whole has reached the one single letter and one and the same expression is sounded" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:14:1). The Aeons are joined to the Son and the Name is restored when they all pronounce the Name together. In some sense, the restoration of the Name is linked to the notion that Aeons receive their name from the Son. In the Tripartite Tractate it says "The one from whom they take their name, he is the Son who is full, complete and faultless" (Tripartite Tractate 62:34-38). The unification of the Aeons with the Son is described in the Tripartite Tractate: "The Son in whom the Totalities are well-pleased put himself on them like a garment, through which he gave perfection to the perfect one and gave perfection to the defective one and gave confirmation to those who are perfect" (Tripartite Tractate 87:1-5). The Son then becomes integrated into a single personality. However, the fall of Sophia had given rise to a state of existence (the material world) which lacks true reality because it lacks the Name. The world and the human beings in it are said to exist in a state of ignorance and deficiency because they came into being apart from the Name. According to Valentinian tradition, human beings are formed in the image of the preexistent human being who can be identified with the Son (Valentinus Fragment 1). Valentinus compares the creation of Adam, the first human being, to the creation of a defective portrait. The portrait is an imperfect likeness but "the Name completed the deficiency within the act of modeling." (Valentinus Fragment 5, cf. also Fragment 1). The activity of the Son within Adam completed the lack within him and reunited him with the Name. Naming fills up the deficiency within the human being such that the person no longer exists in a state of ignorance but in gnosis (knowlege). In the Gospel of Truth the reception of gnosis is equivalent to having one's name called by the Father. "Those whose names he foreknew were called at the end as persons having gnosis. It is the latter whose names the Father called" (Gospel of Truth 21:25-28). Receiving a name is equivalent to receiving the Name. The individual name can be seen as an instance of the Name much in the same way as the Aeons are instances of the Name. Thus the Father's self-naming as Son is linked to the Father's self-naming as every individual. In many Valentinian sources, the elect are described as possessing the Name. In the Gospel of Philip, "one who receives the Holy Spirit has the gift of the Name" (Gospel of Philip 64:25-26, also 54:10-13). Similarly, Valentinus says, "Who then can utter his Name, the great Name, but him alone who possesses the Name - and the children of the Name in whom the Father's Name reposed and who in turn reposed in his Name" (Gospel of Truth 38:25-32cf also 43:20-22). The source of the notion that the elect possess the Name is found in the book of Revelation where it is said to be written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1 cf. also 22:4). Another metaphor used by the Valentinians to describe gnosis is being joined to a bridegroom angel. In Theodotus, the notion of being joined to an angel is linked to receiving the Name. (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:4-5) The angels are

closely associated with the Savior and can be considered as instances or parts of the Savior just as the individual's name spoken by the Father is an instance of the greater Name. In Theodotus we find the notion that the angels share in the Name (the Son). He refers to this as angelic baptism (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:4-5). Thus the bridegroom angels should be seen as essentially identical with the names that the Father calls. At the reception of gnosis, one receives one's angel/name. As discussed above, receiving a name is equivalent to receiving true existence. In the Gospel of Truth and the Treatise on Resurrection, only those who have gnosis (i.e. the Name) possess true reality. All else is illusion. According to the Treatise on Resurrection, "Suddenly the living are dying - surely they are not alive at all in this world of apparition! The rich have become poor, rulers overthrown: all changes, the world is an apparition" (48:20-27). All things that do not possess a true name are illusion. The Valentinians drew a sharp distinction between false worldly names and real names. This theme is best developed in the Gospel of Philip. According to that work, "Names given to worldly things are very deceptive since they turn the heart aside from the real to the unreal...The names that one has heard exist in the world[. . .] deceive. If the names were situated in the eternal realm, they would not be uttered on any occasion in the world, nor would they be assigned to worldly things: their goal would be the eternal realm" (Gospel of Philip 53:23-28). False worldly names serve to deceive human beings and distract them from the true Name. The demonic worldly powers took advantage of this: "The rulers wanted to deceive humanity, inasmuch as they saw that it had kinship with truly good things: they took the names of the good and gave them to the nongood, to deceive humanity by the names and bind them to the nongood" (Gospel of Philip 54: 18-25). Thus false names keep human beings attached to the illusion and separated from the true Name. Jesus becomes closely identified with humanity by taking on a human body. His human body is seen as consubstantial with the Church. Drawing on the metaphor from Saint Paul that the church is the body of Christ, Theodotus says, "The visible part of Jesus was Sophia (Wisdom) and the church of the superior seed which he put on through the body but the invisible part was the Name which is the only begotten Son" (Excerpts of Theodotus 26:1). The corresponding metaphor in the Gospel of Truth is the "living book" which contains the names of all the saved that the Son takes up (Gospel of Truth 20:10-14 cf. Revelation 20:15). Valentinian Christology emphasizes that the human Jesus is redeemed by being joined with the Savior at his baptism. The Son is "the Name which came down upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:6). The redemption of the human Jesus is seen by the Valentinians as applying to all who form part of the "church of the superior seed". The human Jesus is joined to the Name. All who form part of the spiritual church which is identical with the human Jesus are also joined to the Name. In the Interpretation of Knowledge, the human Jesus who represents the Church is called the "humiliated one"(12:18-22)and the "reproached one" (12:29-31). Again it is the Name who redeems: "Who is it that redeemed the one that was reproached? It is the emanation of the Name" (Interpretation of Knowledge 12:29-31cf also 12:18-22). The descent of the Son into Jesus at his baptism is simultaneously the redemption of the human Jesus and the redemption of all who are joined with him. Just as the Son becomes identified with the Father by receiving his Name, the individual Christian also becomes identified with Christ by receiving the Name. As the Gospel of Philip says, "Such a person is no longer a Christian but a Christ" (Gospel of Philip 67:26-27). The person becomes part of the "church of the superior seed" which is the visible part of Jesus in this world. (Excerpts of Theodotus 26:1) Just as the Son may be called 'Father' because he has the Name of the Father, so the individual can be called 'Christ' because he possesses the Name. The Savior is identified with the Father (as his Name), with the Aeons (as instances of the Name) and with the individuals he saves (by naming). The Name is said in many sources to be received in baptism which is also called redemption in some of the sources. According to the Tripartite Tractate, "there is no other baptism apart from this one alone which is redemption into God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit when confession is made by faith in those names which are a single Name of the gospel" (Tripartite Tractate 127:28-35). In the Valentinian baptismal liturgy preserved in Irenaeus, baptism is performed into the Name. Here is a selection from the text: "In the Name of the Father of all, into Truth the Mother of all, into him who descended into Jesus... The Name hidden from every divinity, rule and power... May your Name turn out to be to my benefit o Savior of Truth... in the Name of IAO... Peace to all on whom the Name rests" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:3). In baptism, the person who is redeemed is said to be joined with their angel and to receive "the same Name as that in which his angel was baptized before him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:4-5). As noted in Dawson (1992), Thomassen (1993), and Zyla (1996) the Name is closely identified by Valentinus with 'bold speaking' or 'free speaking' (parhesia). This notion of 'bold speech' as a characteristic of the presence of the Name seems to be derived from the New Testament. In the book of Acts, speaking boldly, healings and miracles are all said to be produced by the presence of the Name (Acts 4:29-30). According to Valentinus, the Father's "free act of speaking is the manifestation of the Son" (Valentinus Fragment 2). He goes on to say that the Son visits the heart of the individual in order to purify it. Similarly, in his account of the creation of human beings, the presence of the Name within Adam is said to produce 'bold speech' which frightens the angels(Valentinus Fragment 5). Just as the Father expressed himself boldly in the Son, so the Son expresses himself in "bold speech" within the individual person. As Zyla (1996) states, "Through the sacrifice of Jesus, gnosis of the Father was gained and can be passed on through parrhesia (bold speech)". Gnosis of the Name produces "bold speech" in the individual. Valentinus attributes inspired speech to the presence of the Name. The Name causes the individual to "utter sounds superior to what its modeling justified" (Valentinus Fragment 1). According to Marcus, inspired speech results from

being joined to one's bridegroom angel (Irenaeus Against Heresy 1:13:3). This further confirms the thesis that the angel is identical with the name. The experience of gnosis is the reception of one's angel/name which is a particular instance of the Son/Name. Inspired speech is an image of the Father's "bold speaking" of the Name in the Son. However, it is not identical with the speaking of the Name. According to the Gospel of Philip, "Those who possess this Name think it but do not speak it" (Gospel of Philip 54:10-12). Instead, "For our sakes Truth engendered names in the world - Truth to which one cannot refer without names. Truth is unitary, [worldly names] are multiple, and it is for our sakes that it lovingly refers to this one thing by means of multiplicity" (Gospel of Philip 54:13-17). Inspired speech is the worldly image of the Name. The Valentinians derived the notion of the Name from Judaism and other forms of early Christianity. They developed it in some rather unussual and distinctive directions. Many Valentinians made the concept central to their Christology and to their understanding of salvation. A thorough understanding of Valentinian thought is impossible without taking account of this concept. Valentinian Monism Valentinianism is ussually classified as a form of Gnosticism. The term 'Gnosticism' was coined in the nineteenth century to describe a variety of religious movements in the ancient world which have some common features. Some consider "radical dualism" to be a characteristic feature of all forms of Gnosticism (Jonas 1963). However, this generalization is simply incorrect. As Elaine Pagels points out in her book The Gnostic Gospels, "Valentinian gnosticism...differs essentially from dualism" (Pagels 1978). Describing Gnostic systems such as Valentinianism as "dualist" has also been subject to extensive criticism by Simon Petrement (1990). Indeed, it has been recognized for some time that "a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic" (Schoedel 1980, see also Petrement 1984, Dawson 1992). This article represents an attempt to characterize Valentinian monism. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines monism as describing "philosophies which maintain that there is ultimately only one thing and that the many are aspects of it, or to a more radical way of thinking, simply an illusion resulting from our misperception of the One". As we will see, this is an accurate description of Valentinianism. Valentinian sources describe God as containing all things within himself. An anonymous Valentinian quoted by Irenaeus claims that, "the Father of all contains all things, and that there is nothing whatever outside of the Pleroma..." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:4:2). Using virtually identical language, another author argues that God "contains in himself all things and is himself not contained" (Doctrinal Epistle quoted in Epiphanius Panarion 31:5:3). A similar background can be seen Ptolemy's in description of the Father as "uncontained" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:1:1). Valentinus himself says describes the relationship of God to all other things using similar language. He says that "the entirety was inside of him--the inconceivable, uncontained, who is superior to all thought."(Gospel of Truth 17:5-9) Elsewhere he describes God as "him who surrounds every way while nothing surrounds him" (Gospel of Truth 22:2226) According to the Valentinian Exposition found at Nag Hammadi, "he possessed the All dwelling within him...He encompassed the All, he who is higher than the All". Another author argues that, "in the Unbegotten One, all things exist simultaneously" (Hippolytus Refutation of all Heresies). The Gospel of Philip argues that "Christ has each within him, whether human being or angel or mystery" (Gospel of Philip 56:14-15). Such terminology is an extremely significant argument in favour of monism. It implies that there is a single reality i.e. God who is "cause of the generation of all created things" (Valentinan Treatise source quoted in Hippolytus Refutation). All other things lie within him and continue to be a part of him. According to the respected scholar of Gnosticism Bentley Layton (1987), this sort of teaching implies a "cosmological model...provided by Stoic pantheistic monism" in which "all is enclosed by God and ultimately all is God". William Schoedel (1972, 1980) researched the use of such topological language in Jewish, Christian and Gnostic sources. He argues that "such theology presupposes a non-dualistic cosmology; for it does not allow that the God who contains all things is limited by any other reality" (Schoedel 1972). This is in sharp contrast to Hans Jonas' characterization of Gnostic teaching on the relationship of God to rest of reality . He claims that "to the divine realm of light, self-contained and remote, the cosmos is opposed as the realm of darkness" (Jonas 1963). As we can see, this is inaccurate in the case of Valentinianism. The divine realm is not "selfcontained and remote". Rather it contains all things within itself including the cosmos. This is explicitly stated by the Valentinians who opposed Irenaeus: "In the Fullness, or in those things that are contained by the Father, the whole creation which we know to have been formed, having been made by the Craftsman or by the angels. It is contained by the ineffable Greatness, as the center is in a circle, or as a spot is in a garment." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:4:2). All things continue to be a part of God despite their apparent separation from him. The fact that we have come forth within the Father does not imply that we are acquainted with him. According to Valentinus, God is ultimately responsible for the creation of all things "It is he who created the entirety and the entirety is in him" (Gospel of Truth 19:8-9) However, the "entirety" i.e. those within the Father "were unacquainted with the Father since it was he whom they did not see"(Gospel of Truth 28:32-29:1). Being only a small part of reality, they are unable to perceive it completely on their own. In vain, "the entirety searched for the one from whom they had emanated" (Gospel of Truth 17:4-6). It is something of a paradox that we are within God, yet we do not recognize or know him. As Valentinus says, "It was quite amazing that they were in the Father without being acquainted with him

and that they alone were able to emanate, inasmuch as they were not able perceive and recognize the one in whom they were" (Gospel of Truth 22:27-32) Due to our ignorance of God we can fall into an erroneous or false understanding of reality ("error" or "deficiency"). According to Valentinus, "Ignorance of the Father caused agitation and fear. And the agitation grew dense like fog, so that no one could see. Thus error found strength" (Gospel of Truth 17:9-20). According to Valentinians, the material universe that we perceive is an illusion deriving from our ignorance of the Father. This is often expressed by Valentinians though the story of Sophia. This myth describes Sophia's ignorance of God and the suffering that results. It is the suffering that results from her error that constitutes the material realm. Valentinian sources occasionally describe the material realm as "outside" of the Fullness. As Schoedel(1972) notes, "They insist that their local language is relevant only epistemologically" and that it does not imply that the material realm is outside of the Father. Instead, they claimed that "what is without and what within (the Pleroma is) in reference to knowledge and ignorance, and not with respect to local distance" (Anonymous Valentinian quoted in Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:4:2). The material realm of is a product of the Fullness and lies within it "as the center is in a circle, or as a spot is in a garment" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:4:2). As Schoedel (1980) observes, Irenaeus' Valentinian opponents were willing to present "a resolutely monistic interpretation of their theology and to stress the epistomological significance of the spatial language of their mythology. They could imagine a realm of 'vacuity and shadow' within the Father presumably because it was felt to be epiphenomenal to the reality of spirit". As Layton (1987) points out, the Valentinian teaching exemplified by the Gospel of Truth "is strongly anti-materialist, even illusionist, as regards the reality of material structures". Valentinus describes the "realm of appearance" as an bad dream as "when one falls asleep and finds one's self in the midst of nightmares" (Gospel of Truth 29:8-10f). The author of the Treatise on Resurrection similarly describes the material world as follows, "Suddenly the living are dying surely they are not alive at all in this world of apparition! - the rich have become poor, rulers overthrown: all changes, the world is an apparition" (Treatise on Resurrection 48:19-27cf Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:14). In contrast to the reality of the Father, "those things which are 'outside' of the Fullness have no true existence... These things are images of those which truly exist." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:14:3). The things we perceive in the physical world are often described as "images" or "shadows" of the divine realm. (Valentinian Exposition 36:10-13, Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:5:1,2:6:3, etc.) This is a reference to the famous Platonic parable which compares the physical world to shadows cast on the back wall of a cave. God is the only reality. However, we who are ignorant of the true situation mistake the shadows for reality. We construct an illusory false reality for ourselves because we are ignorant of the overall picture. Even though physical things are seen as an image of the divine, Valentinians believed that one can get only an incomplete understanding of God as reflected in the physical realm. The name used to describe this imperfect image of God is the 'Craftsman' (demiurge). The Craftsman is God understood as the creator of the material realm and as a lawgiver. However, Valentinian tradition makes clear that this is only an inferior image of the true God. According to the teacher Marcus, the Craftsman "could not express its (the divine) permanence and eternity because he was an offspring of deficiency" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:17:2). It is due to our ignorance of the true nature of reality that we believe that things can be separated into opposites. This is discussed in the Gospel of Philip: "Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are mutually dependent; it is impossible for them to separate. Accordingly the 'good' are not good, the 'bad' are not bad, 'life' is not life, 'death' is not death." (Gospel of Philip 53:14-23). Categories that are considered as opposites are in fact closely related and one cannot be understood without the other. This is expressed in Valentinianism through the notion of the syzygy (pair). The term refers to the linking together of complementary qualities ("Aeons") of to form a state of wholeness (pleroma). This is the highest level of reality. The halves of a syzygy are often referred to as male and female. The male corresponds to form and the female corresponds to substance. There can be no concept of maleness without femaleness or no concept of darkness without light. Dualistic distinctions between "body" and "mind", "soul" and "matter" are meaningless. All things are ultimately one. Just as the illusion arose as result of ignorance, it will be dissolved through knowledge (gnosis). Upon knowledge (gnosis) of God, the world of multiplicity vanishes. As an anonymous source puts it, "Since deficiency and suffering had their origin in ignorance, the entire system originating in ignorance is dissolved by knowledge (gnosis)" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:4 cf. also Irenaeus Against Heresies 2:4:3). The illusion of multiplicity vanishes once the person knows the true reality. According to Valentinus, "Inasmuch as the lack came into being because the Father was not known, from the moment the Father is known, the lack will not exist...lack passes away in completion, and so from that moment on, the realm of appearance is no longer manifest but will pass away in the harmony of unity...It is by acquaintance (gnosis) that all will purify themselves out of multiplicity into unity, consuming matter within themselves as fire" (Gospel of Truth 24:28-25:19 cf. also Treatise on Resurrection 48:38-49:4, Valentinus Fragment 4). The material world is an illusion that is dissolved by knowledge (gnosis) of God. Not only does the realm of multiplicity pass away through knowledge (gnosis), so does the distinction between the self and God. To know God is to be God. According to the Gospel of Philip, "People cannot see anything in the real realm unless they become it...if you have seen the spirit, you have become the spirit; if you have seen Christ, you have become Christ; if you have seen the Father, you will become the Father" (Gospel of Philip 61:20-32 cf. 67:26-27). It represents a restoration to the syzygy, that is, the reestablishment of the link between the self and the divine.

Once you understand that reality, your perception of multiplicity is gone. The duality vanishes since it was never really there in the first place. According to the Gospel of Philip, "The world has already become the eternal realm (Aeon), for to this person the eternal realm is Fullness. As such, it is manifest to him or her alone, not hidden in the darkness and the night, but hidden in perfect day and holy light" (Gospel of Philip) It implies that for the person who has gnosis, there is no longer any distinction between the world and the Pleroma. Through gnosis one can participate in and experience the divine realm. As a result, "the Valentinian and his or her world have been completely absorbed by the divine fullness or entirety" (Dawson 1992). The entire process of emanation from the Father, fall into illusion and restoration through gnosis takes place within the Godhead. As Dawson (1992) points out, "the patterns and sequences of nature and history now unfold simultaneously within the mind of God and the minds of the Valentinians". The reception of gnosis brings the dissolution of the world for the individual, such that "the apocalypse now takes place not in history but in the mind...in contrast to the dissapointment of history, and its division, struggle, fear and evil, the emanated Son brings the message that, despite all appearances to the contrary, reality is good..." (Dawson 1992) . It is worth noting that Valentinianism shows an astonishing degree of similarity to another monistic system, the Advaita Vedanta school of Indian philosophy. In Advaita, the material world is an illusion (maya) attributed to ignorance (avidya) of the true reality. Through knowledge (jnana) of the ultimate reality (brahman), the world of multiplicity vanishes. True redemption (moksha) is the knowledge of one's true nature. This raises the intriguing possibility of some kind of connection between the two. There was some awareness of Indian thought in the ancient Roman world. However, at the time of Valentinus, there was no systematic statement of Advaita thought. It is possible that Valentinus came into contact with some form of early Advaita Vedanta teaching. Advaita philosophy as it now stands was given its definitive form by Shankara in the 6th or 7th century AD. There also exists the possibility that he was influenced by Valentinian thought. Valentinians are known to have been active in the Middle East as late as the seventh century. It is possible that Valentinian missionaries or refugees may have made their way to India and come into contact with Shankara or his immediate predecessors. However, any connection between the two remains purely hypothetical. Psychology and Salvation The Three Elements Within The Human Being Valentinians interpreted human psychology and salvation in terms of a triple division of the human psyche. According to the Valentinian myth of Sophia (Wisdom), three states of consciousness result from her fall into deficiency and her ultimate redemption. From her deficiency and suffering is derived the irrational carnal soul. From her pleading and conversion comes the rational or animate soul. From her gnosis comes the spiritual seed. The origin and nature of human beings is explained through allegorical interpretation of the Book of Genesis in terms of these three internal psychic components. According to Valentinian tradition, the Craftsman and his angels set about creating human beings in the image of the pre-existing Humanity (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:5:2, Excerpts of Theodotus 51:1). From "dust" (Genesis 2:7), that is, non-corporeal deficiency and suffering, they created the carnal or irrational soul. Into this the Craftsman breathed an animating rational soul deriving from pleading and conversion (i.e. from his own substance). This is the "breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). Lastly, Wisdom (Sophia) secretly sowed her spiritual seed into the human being. Thus there are three essences in every human being: an irrational carnal soul, an animating rational soul and a spiritual seed. The irrational carnal soul is the burden of deficiency and ignorance which has been distributed among the seeds so that when they receive knowledge (gnosis), ignorance may be completely destroyed. Valentinus says, "You wished to distribute death (i.e. deficiency) amongst yourselves so as to consume it and annihilate it and so that death might die in and through you." (Valentinus Fragment 4). The carnal nature represents unthinking instinctual drives for selfgratification (cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 50:1, Ireneus Against Heresies 1:5:4). It is a "tare" (Matthew 13:22) and a "seed of the Devil" (Matthew 13:28 cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 53:1). Saint Paul calls it "the law which wars against the law of my mind" (Romans 7:23, cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 52:1-53:1). The carnal nature is sometimes personified as the "Devil" and "spiritual powers of wickedness" (Ephesians 6:12; for more discussion see Ireneus Against Heresies 1:5:4, Excerpts of Theodotus 48:2, Hip 32:5, 34:1) By its very nature, the carnal is not open to salvation in any form. The rational animating soul is what makes us living human beings. It is our normal consciousness, identified with our emotions and our rational faculty. It is the rational soul that constructs the concensus reality that most of us share. For this reason it is called a "Craftsman" which creates the world. Soul is characterized by a capacity for free choice (Excerpts of Theodotus 55:3). It can only be saved if the person chooses good deeds rather than evil ones. The spiritual nature is our true inner self. It exists potentially, as a seed, within all who hear the Word and is expressed as creativity and intuition. The spiritual seed was sent "to be formed here along with the animate soul and to be brought up and elevated with it." (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:1). The spiritual seed is often compared to gold or a pearl cast into mud (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:2, Gospel of Philip 62:17-25) since "it is a precious thing and it has come to reside in a lowly body" (Gospel of Philip 56:24-25). If the seed bears fruit (cf. Matthew 13:23) and the person attains to some level of knowledge, the spiritual nature is actualized. Such a person attains to the highest level of salvation. According to Valentinus, the sowing of the spiritual seed into Adam caused him to utter things "superior to what his origins justified" (Valentinus Fragment 1, cf. Gospel of Philip 70:26-29, Naasene Preaching 8:14). As a result, fear overcame the Craftsman and his angels (Valentinus Fragment 1), and they became envious of the human being

"because they were separated from the spiritual union" (Gospel of Philip 70:26-29). The angels then "hid" their handiwork (cf. Valentinus Fragment 1) in a "coat of skins" (Genesis 3:21), i.e. the physical body (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:5:5, 1:18:2, Excerpts of Theodotus 52:1). Valentinians interpreted the trees planted in the Garden of Eden in terms of the three natures. According to their interpretation, there were ordinary carnal trees, the animate "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" and the spiritual "Tree of Life" in the garden. The human beings ate of the carnal trees and the animate Tree of Knowledge rather than the spiritual Tree of Life (Gospel of Philip 71:22-24, Tripartite Tractate 106:25-107:18 cf. Genesis 2:16-17). In the Gospel of Philip, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (animate nature) is identified with the Law. Using the Epistle to the Romans 7:7-11, the author says: "It has the power to give knowledge of good and evil. It neither removed him from evil, nor did it set him in the good. Instead it created death for those who ate of it. For when it said, 'Eat this. Do not eat that.' it became the beginning of death." (Gospel of Philip 74:3-11) The human beings ate of this tree and embraced their lower nature and the resulting arbitrary laws. As a result, Adam became separated from Eve who represents the female spiritual principal (cf. Genesis 2:21-22). This is spiritual death (Gospel of Philip 70:10-12). Three Types of People Human beings can be divided into three types depending on which of the three natures is dominant within them. According to the Valentinians, that is why Adam and Eve are described as having had three children who they named Cain, Abel and Seth. They are the prototypes of carnal (choic), animate (psychic) and spiritual (pneumatic) human beings respectively. (Ireneus Against Heresies 1;7:5, Excerpts of Theodotus 54:1). A key to understanding the Valentinian doctrine of the three classes is their teaching about the spirit which they compare to a "seed", an image derived from the parable of the sower in the Gospel of Matthew (13:3-8, 18-23). The Tripartite Tractate is tremendously valuable in clarifying their teachings here. The event that divides people into three classes is not predestination but their response to Jesus and his message of salvation. Those who don't understand and reject Jesus are the "seeds that fell on the path" (Matthew 13:4) i.e. the carnal. Those who hesitate and don't understand the message fully are the "seeds that fell among the thorns" (Matthew 13:7) i.e. the animate. Those who accept the message immediately and achieve gnosis are the seeds "sown in the good earth" (Matthew 13:8) i.e. the spiritual. All people were believed to have the spiritual potential (seed), but it was actualized in only a few. Instead of being seen as immutable, preordained categories, the three classes should instead be seen as stages of spiritual development. Valentinians believed that one could move from one category to another as a result two major life-changing transitions. Carnal (Choic) Human Beings In carnal people, the irrational (or carnal) soul acts like a drug that makes them forget their true origin and become a creature of the world (Gospel of Truth 22:17-18). The Gospel of Truth describes the carnal state as being like a nightmare: "As when one falls soud asleep and finds oneself in the midst of nightmares: running towards somewhere, powerless to get away while being pursued--in hand to hand combat--being beaten--falling from a great height..sometimes too it seems that one is being murdered..or killing one's neighbours, with whose blood one is smeared.." (Gospel of Truth 29:8-25). People dominated by their carnal nature act purely to satisfy personal needs and wants without regard for others. As Saint Paul says, "Their god is their bodily desires..they think only of things that belong to this world" (Philippians 3:19). The Gospel of Philip describes the carnal nature this way: "If we are ignorant of it, it sinks its roots within us and yields its crops within our hearts. It dominates us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive so that we do the things we do not want and do not do the things we want." (Gospel of Philip 83:22-28). Cain is the prototype of the carnal person. Like all carnal people, he was by nature a "child of the Devil" (John 1:44 cf. Herakleon 46, Gospel of Philip 66:4-6) and was driven towards conflict by the lust for power that was strong within him (cf. Tripartite Tractate 79:20-80:11). As a result "he became a murderer just like his father and killed his brother" (Gospel of Philip 66:6-10). Those who remain in the carnal state until death are the seeds that fell along the path (Matthew 13:18). They hear Christ's message but do not understand it since it has no meaning for them (cf. Matthew 13:19). As Valentinus says, "The material ones were strangers and did not see his (i.e. Jesus') likeness and had not known him, for he came by means of a fleshly form." This type of person is a "creature of oblivion" (Gospel of Truth 2:35). When they die they will be scattered into the outer darkness and pass into nonexistence (Gospel of Truth 2:35-36, Excerpts of Theodotus 37, 55:3, Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:1, Ep 7:6). They were never truly "alive", at least not in the spiritual sense (Treatise on the Resurrection 48:23-24, Gospel of Philip 52:15-17). Animate (Psychic) Human Beings Only if the person undergoes a conversion from their carnal state can they become identified with their animate rational nature. The call from above awakens them from their unconscious carnal state. As a result they become aware of the grief, fear and confusion to which they had previously been numb. Because of their distress, they repent and plead for assistance. This pleading and repentance is the essence of the animate state (cf. Ireneus Against Heresies 1:4:5). The Exegesis on the Soul describes this in the following way; "The beginning of salvation is repentance. Therefore before Christ's appearance came John preaching the baptism of repentance. And repentance takes place in distress and grief" (Exegesis on the Soul 135:21-26). Through animate conversion, people are said to "ascend" to the level of the Craftsman. They remain in ignorance of the true God and of the spiritual nature. This is illustrated by discussion of Wisdom (Sophia) and the Craftsman, archetypes of the spiritual and animate respectively. (cf. Ireneus Against Heresies 1:5:1, Excerpts of Theodotus 47:2). The

Craftsman (i.e. the animate person) is ignorant of Wisdom (the spiritual nature). The animate nature is unconsciously inspired towards good deeds by his spiritual nature. However, like the Craftsman, every animate person will foolishly insists that he undertakes all of his actions independently, without spiritual inspiration (Excepts of Theodotus 53:4). Animate people are strengthened by faith and good works (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:2). However due to their ignorance, they require perceptible instructions and rules to determine what course of action is correct (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:2 cf. Romans 2:18). Therefore, they remain subject to the arbitrary demands of human Law (Galatians 3:23-24) and to temptation by "demons" i.e. selfish evil thoughts (cf. Gospel of Philip 65:1-7, 85:32-86:6). In one famous analogy, the soul is compared to an inn vandalized by its visitors (Valentinus Fragment 2, Hip 34:6). Like the carnal human being, the animate is driven by the lust for power and this often leads to violent conflict between the two (Tripartite Tractate 79:20-80:11) Those who remain in the animate state are the seeds who fell amongst the thorns (Matthew 13:22). They hear the message and understand it. However, they are hesitant (cf. Tripartite Tractate 118:37-119:1) and "worries about this world and the love for riches choke the message" (Matthew 13:22). Because of this they do not receive the complete spiritual knowledge and remain slaves of the ruling spirits of this world (Galatians 4:3). In their ignorance, they worship the Craftsman instead of the true God, as Herakleon says "They worshipped the creation and not the true creator" (Herakleon Fragment 23 cf. Romans 1:25) Animate people can be saved if they resist temptation and choose the better (Excerpts of Theodotus 55:3, Ep 7:3, 7:9). After death the animate people who are saved reside with the Craftsman. They will not achieve their full spiritual potential until the end of the world. However, if they choose evil, then they become "children of the Devil" by intent (Herakleon 46 cf. John 8:44; see also Authoritative Teaching 33:25-26). Having become like the carnal, they are scattered along with it into the outer darkness (Excerpts of Theodotus 37, 55:3, Gospel of Philip 66:29-27:1) Spiritual (Pneumatic) Human Beings In order to become identified with the spiritual element, the person must attain a state of mystical knowledge (gnosis) of God. The person directly experiences the presence of the risen Christ in the form of his or her personal angel. Just as Wisdom (Sophia) was formed according to knowledge by the Savior, they themselves are formed according to knowledge by the angels who will be their bridegrooms (cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 61, Exegesis on the Soul 132:9-23). The spiritual person no longer needs to rely on the testimony of others, having come to believe from the Truth itself (Herakleon 39). Awakened from the drunken stupor of ignorance, and freed of suffering, they recognize their true spiritual nature. They remember where they come from and where they must return (Gospel of Truth 22:13-15, Excerpts of Theodotus 78:2, etc.). Confidently, they can proclaim, "I trace my origins to the Pre-existent One. I am returning to my own from whence I came" (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:21:5, 1 Apocalypse of James 34:17-18, cf. also Gospel of Mary 16:13-17, Gospel of Thomas 50). Knowing God is the final result of knowing themselves. They come to know God because they are part of God. Attaining to knowledge (gnosis) is spiritual rebirth (John 3:6-7). It is the true resurrection from the dead, that is, from the death of ignorance. This resurrection does not take place in the afterlife. It must be experienced in the here and now (Gospel of Philip 56:18-19, Treatise on the Resurrection 49:9-35 cf. Romans 6:4). As the Gospel of Philip says, "People who believe they will die first and then rise up are mistaken. If they do not first receive resurrection while they are alive, once they have died they will receive nothing" (Gospel of Philip 73:1-5). Putting on the true flesh (Galatians 15:44, Romans 6:2), the elect obtain a spiritual body which will arise from the fleshly one when they die (Ep 7:3 cf. Gospel of Philip 56:26-57, Authoritative Teaching 32:30-32, Treatise on the Resurrection 47:4-8, 1 Corinthians 15:44-46). Thereby "imperishability descends upon the perishable" (Treatise on the Resurrection 48:38-49:1) and they "shall never die" (John 11:26). As the apostle John says, "We know that we have left death and come over to life" (1 John 3:14, cf. also John 5:24) Valentinians made no distinction between present and future eschatology. Just as resurrection was immediate, the final consummation of the world was also said to be experienced here and now through gnosis. Through resurrection, the spiritual person was said to ascend beyond the animate realm of the Craftsman to the Eighth heaven. There they put aside their soul, become joined with an angel (Ireneus Against Heresies 3:15:2). Then they reenter the heavenly realm or Fullness (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:7:1,Ireneus Against Heresies 3:15:2, Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1, Valentinian Exposition 39:28-33, Gospel of Philip 81:34-82:25) and all "attain to the vision of the Father and become intellectual Aeons, entering into the intelligible and eternal union in marriage" (Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1). The entire Fullness is the "bridal chamber" for their union (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:7:1, Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1). For them "the world has already become the eternal realm" (Gospel of Philip 86:11-14). Valentinus describes it this way, "The Father is within them and they are within the Father, being perfect, being undivided in the truly good one, being in no way deficient in anything, but they are refreshed in the Spirit" (Gospel of Truth 42:27-33). This process is said to result in the dissolution of the material world (Valentinus Fragment 4, cf. also Ireneus Against Heresies 1:21:4). As Valentinus says, "Since deficiency came into being when the Father was unknown, therefore when the Father is known, from that moment on , the deficiency will no longer exist." (Gospel of Truth 24:28-32) and the "realm of appearance is no longer manifest but will pass away in the harmony of unity" (Gospel of Truth 25:1-6). The deficiency and "the entire system originating in ignorance (including the world) is dissolved by knowledge" (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:21:4, cf also Ireneus Against Heresies 1:7:1). Those who have attained to knowledge are said to

able to see through the illusion which is the world and "rule over creation and the whole of corruption" (Valentinus Fragment 4, cf. also Gospel of Thomas 2). In order to attain to a state of mystical knowledge, the person needs to lead a life of meditation and detachment so that he or she is "in the world" but not "of the world" (John 17:11, 17:14 cf. Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:4, also Treatise on the Resurrection 49:9-11). The Treatise on the Resurrection states, "Everyone should practice in many ways to gain release from this element so that one might not wander aimlessly but rather might recover one's former state of being" (Treatise on the Resurrection 49:30-36). Knowledge (gnosis)is a restoration to the person's original condition. It transforms everything. Spiritual people by definition do not sin. Through knowledge they die with regard to sin and are raised up again with Christ (Galatians 2:19-20, Colossians 3:5). Knowledge enables them to annihilate the carnal nature (i.e. the burden of deficiency) which is the cause of sin. Valentinus describes this process in the Gospel of Truth: "It is within Unity that each one will attain himself; within knowledge he will purify himself from multiplicity into Unity, consuming matter (i.e. the carnal element) within himself like a fire and darkness by light, death by life" (Gospel of Truth 25:10-20). According to Theodotus, when the risen Christ breathed his Spirit into the apostles, "He blew away the carnal like ashes and removed it, but he kindled and made alive the spark" (Excerpts of Theodotus 3:2). This metaphor is made even clearer when we remember that the Greek word translated here as 'carnal' is chous which literally means 'dust'. In order to annihilate the carnal nature and become truly spiritual it is necessary to completely refrain from sin (Excerpts of Theodotus 52:2). The Gospel of Philip says "The one who has knowledge is a free person. But the free person does not sin, for the one who sins is a slave of sin " (Gospel of Philip 77:15-18 cf. John 8:34). Therefore, as it says in another part of the Gospel of Philip, "Let each us burrow for the root of evil that is within and root it up from his or her heart. It will be rooted up when it is recognized" (Gospel of Philip 83:18-21). This is why it is said that spiritual people are "saved by nature" (Excerpts of Theodotus 55:3, cf. Ep 7:8, Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:4, Thessalonians 2:13), and that it is "impossible for them to fall prey to corruption" (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:2 cf. 1 John 3:9). They have the knowledge of God's will that allows them to lead a sinless existence (cf. Gospel of Truth 22:9-11, Interpretation of Knowledge 9:31-33) and have become "illuminators in the midst of mortal men" (Letter of Peter to Philip 137:6-9). In people who attain knowledge in their lifetime, the seeds are "sown in the good earth" and they "bear fruit" (Matthew 13:23 cf Ireneus Against Heresies 1:7:1). Each person who receives knowledge destroys a portion of the deficiency and brings the Godhead one step closer to reintegration. The final end of the world will occur when "all that is spiritual has been shaped by knowledge" (Ireneus Against Heresies 1:6:1). The triple division of the human psyche is overcome through gnosis and the person is reintegrated into the divine. Realized Eschatology Introduction Eschatology, speculation about the last things, plays an important role in virtually all religions. Gnosticism is no different in this regard. However, Gnosticism is unique in that the distinction between future eschatology and present salvation begins to break down. This is particularly true in Valentinianism. The Valentinian position on the end of the world is inextricably linked to their teaching about the origin of the world. According to Valentinian teaching, human beings (personified as Sophia) were originally part of the divine collectivity or Fullness (pleroma). The world originates when human beings fall into a state of suffering and deficiency. Physical existence is explicitly identified with this fallen state. Similarly, the dissolution of the world and restoration to Fullness takes place through gnosis. There is no distinction between present and future eschatology for those who have gnosis. Gnosis is described in terms of mythological descriptions of the restoration to Fullness and the destruction of the world. First we will examine the eschatological myth the Valentinians used to describe the restoration to the Fullness (pleroma) and the end of the world. Then we will explore how through gnosis, Valentinians believed that they could experience all the events described in that myth in their lifetime. The Myth According to Valentinian myth, one's fate depended on whether one had attained to gnosis or not. Those who did not have gnosis were believed to be subject to judgement and punishment by the Craftsman (demiurge) and his associates in the "Middle" (Gospel of Philip 66:7-20). In contrast, the spiritual person who has gnosis rises up in a spiritual body and leaves the material realm behind. Then they begin the ascent through the seven levels of the psychic (soul) realm. Armed with gnosis of their origin, they are able to ascend beyond the powers of soul (the Demiurge and his associates) and into the spiritual realm in the eighth heaven. In the Eighth heaven, they celebrate the "wedding feast common to all the saved until all become equal and mutually recognize one another" (Excerpts of Theodotus 63:1 cf. Revelation 19:7-9, see also Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:1, 1:2:6). They are the spiritual Church (cf. Ex Theo 17:1) which is destined to be joined to Christ in the "bridal chamber". At the end of the world, the spirits then enter the Fullness (pleroma) along with Sophia, their mother. Sophia is joined to her bridegroom, the Savior. Likewise, the spirits are joined to their angelic counterparts (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:1, Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1, Valentinian Exposition 39:28-33, Gospel of Philip 81:34-82:25). They all "attain to the vision of the Father and become intellectual Aeons, entering into the intelligible and eternal union in marriage"

(Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1). The entire Fullness is the "bridal chamber" for their union (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:1, Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1). Then the "fire which is hidden in the world will blaze up and ignite and destroy all matter and consume itself at the same time and pass into nothingness" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:1). The physical world will cease to exist. The deficiency will then have been eliminated and the process of restoration will be complete. On the surface, this myth seems to deal with what happens after death and what happens at the end of the world. As we shall see, this is not strictly the case. Gnosis and the Myth Unlike most religious movements, the Valentinian eschatological myth does not present events that are postponed until the afterlife or the end of the world. They believed that those who had gnosis experienced the restoration to Fullness (pleroma) here and now through visionary experiences and ritual. The orthodox teacher Irenaeus reports with some bewilderment that Valentinians claimed that they were "in the heights beyond every power" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:6) and that they were "neither in heaven nor on earth but have passed within the Fullness and have already embraced their angel" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:15:2). They described the experience of gnosis itself in terms of the eschatological myth. Attaining gnosis was seen as spiritual rebirth (John 3:6-7). It is the true resurrection from the dead, that is, from the death of ignorance. Through gnosis the person was believed to share in the resurrection of Christ (Treatise on Resurrection 45:23-27). In contrast to orthodox teaching, the resurrection does not take place in the afterlife. Valentinian sources emphasize that it must be experienced in the here and now (Gospel of Philip 56:18-19, Treatise on the Resurrection 49:9-35 cf. Romans 6:4). As the Gospel of Philip says, "People who believe they will die first and then rise up are mistaken. If they do not first receive resurrection while they are alive, once they have died they will receive nothing" (Gospel of Philip 73:1-5). Valentinians linked baptism with resurrection from the dead. In the immersion, the person symbolically participated in the death and resurrection of Christ (Gospel of Philip 67:9-19, 69:25-26, 73:1-7). The old sinful person was put to death and the new spiritual person is raised up (Valentinian Exposition 41:21-22, Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:2, Gospel of Philip 75:21-24). The anointing which forms part of the baptismal rite is closely associated with the concept of "restoration." In the formula of restoration which is recited as part of the anointing, the person renounces their connection to the physical world (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:3). The liturgical materials appended to the Valentinian Exposition describe baptism as the "descent (i.e. into the water) which is the upward progression, that is our exodus into the Aeon" (On the Baptism A). It marks the beginning of the transition "from the created into the Fullness (pleroma)" (On the Baptism B). Resurrection is closely linked with ascension. According to the Exegesis on the Soul, "It is fitting that the soul regenerate herself and become again as she formerly was...This is the resurrection that is from the dead. This is the upward journey of ascent to heaven..." (134:6-14). In addition to sharing in Christ's resurrection, Valentinians believed that they also shared in his ascension. As it says in the Treatise on Resurrection, "We have suffered with him, arisen with him and ascended with him" (Treatise on Resurrection 45:23-27). Through resurrection, the spiritual person was said to ascend beyond the animate realm of the Craftsman to the Eighth heaven. As Theodotus says, "He to whom Christ gives second birth is translated into life, into the Eighth" (Excerpts of Theodotus 80:1). The Valentinian initiation ritual included prayers for the ascent to the eighth heaven in which the person declared their origin from the "Pre-existent One" and renounced the authority of the Craftsman (Demiurge) and the lower powers.(Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:5 cf. First Apocalypse of James 32:29-36:1, Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:6). According to Merkur (1993), the ascension was a visionary experience rather than simply a metaphor for transcendence. The gnostic actually experienced a vision of ascension to the eighth heaven. Such an experience is described in the Apocryphon of James: "And we knelt down, I and Peter, and gave thanks, and sent our hearts up to heaven. We heard with out ears and saw with our eyes the sound of wars and a trumpet call and a great commotion. And when we passed beyond that place, we sent out minds up further. And we saw with out eyes and heard with our ears hymns and angelic praises and angelic jubilation. And heavenly majesties were hymning, and we ourselves were jubilant..." (Apocryphon of James 15:6-25). These visions could also include apparitions of the risen Christ. Valentinus himself claimed a vision of Christ in the form of a small child (Valentinus Fragment 7/A) while his disciple Marcus claimed a vision of Christ in the form of a woman (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:14:1). Valentinian initiates claimed that they were "neither in heaven nor on earth" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:15:2) but "in the heights beyond every power" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:6, 2:30:1). This comprehensible both in terms of the visionary experience and in terms of Valentinian theology. The lower seven heavens were identified with the realm of soul in while the eighth was the realm of spirit. No longer "in heaven or on earth," (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:15:2) the gnostic was no longer under the domination of the material ("earth") or the rational soul ("heaven"). Instead, he or she transcended all these to a attain a state of spiritual perfection while still in the flesh. This what is meant in the Gospel of Philip where it says, "Whoever 'leaves the world' will no longer be restrained as though in the world. This person is obviously above desire" (Gospel of Philip 65:27-30). Entry into the eighth heaven is associated with great exultation and joy. The Apocryphon of James uses the following words: "And we saw with our eyes and heard with our ears hymns and angelic praises and angelic jubilation. And

heavenly majesties were hymning, and we ourselves were jubilant..." (15: 15-23). The visionary joins with the spiritual heavenly beings in praising God. To Valentinians, the eucharist (literally "giving thanks") is the "wedding-feast" of the saved (cf. Excerpts of Theodotus 63:1) and takes place on Sunday, the "eighth day" (= the Eighth heaven). This idea also occurs in other early Christian sources. The bread was regarded as the true, life-giving food (Gospel of Philip 55:6-13, 73:19-25) and is closely identified with Jesus (Gospel of Philip 63:1). The wine was believed to be full of Grace and the Holy Spirit (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:2, Gospel of Philip 75:17-18). This how one receives the spiritual flesh and blood of the resurrection body (Gospel of Philip 56:26-57:22) and becomes joined to the "body of Christ". The eucharist precedes union in bridal chamber(Gospel of Philip 58:10-14) Valentinians described unitive mystical experiences (gnosis) as "being joined to an angel" and "entering the Fullness". Through gnosis, "we are raised equal to angels, restored to the males, member to member, to form a unity." (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:2). The elect "have passed within the Fullness and have already embraced their angel" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:15:2). Valentinus describes it this way, "The Father is within them and they are within the Father, being perfect, being undivided in the truly good one, being in no way deficient in anything, but they are refreshed in the Spirit" (Gospel of Truth 42:27-33). Joining with one's angel was said to allow the person to lead a sinless existence (Gospel of Philip 65:23-26). Valentinians believed it was possible to receive an angel through the imposition of hands of someone who was already joined to their angel. Thus, Valentinian mysticism was a community practice. In the invocation that accompanied the rite, the initiate is told, "Allow the seed of light to take up its abode in your bridal chamber. Receive your bridegroom from me and take him into you, and be take by him." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:3). They believed that the person received or became possessed by the light (Gospel of Philip 86:4-6), that is, their heavenly counterpart or bridegroom angel. In Valentinian theology, matter itself is derived from and in some ways identical with ignorance. As a consequence, Valentinus claimed that the person who received gnosis (knowledge) of God could purge himself of matter (=ignorance) and bring about the dissolution of the material world! He describes this process in the Gospel of Truth: "Since deficiency came into being when the Father was unknown, therefore when the Father is known, from that moment on , the deficiency will no longer exist." (Gospel of Truth 24:28-32) and the "realm of appearance is no longer manifest but will pass away in the harmony of unity" (Gospel of Truth 25:1-6 cf. also Valentinus Fragment 4, Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:21:4). Elsewhere, he says, "It is within Unity that each one will attain himself; within knowledge (gnosis) he will purify himself from multiplicity into Unity, consuming matter (=ignorance) within himself like a fire and darkness by light, death by life" (Gospel of Truth 25:10-20). This fits with Alexander's claim that Christ came to "abolish sinful flesh..."(Tertullian On The Flesh of Christ 16). The person's experience of the world is wholly transformed. For them, "the world has already become the eternal realm" (Gospel of Philip 86:11-14). The entire eschatological process is accomplished through gnosis. The distinction between future and present eschatology is eliminated completely. This is referred to as "realized eschatology" by many scholars and is a natural consequence of Valentinian theology. The gnostic experiences the restoration of the Fullness and the dissolution of the world in the present. For the person who has gnosis, the end of the world has already come! They regarded ordinary Christian ideas about the end of the world and a physical resurrection as a naive misinterpretation. As Simone Petrement (1984) says, "Realized eschatology might be considered one of the characteristic traits of the Gnostic picture of the world and salvation." One consequence is that the world itself is an illusion which is dissolved once the person is restored to Fullness (pleroma) through gnosis. As Petrement points out, "These thoughts amount to an overcoming of time. One becomes because one is. . . He who receives eternal life has already been an eternal being in another world, or at least in the thought of God." The implications of Valentinian eschatology were also noted by Dawson (1992). He notes that in Valentinian thought, "the self, society and history were all absorbed into the inner life of God." Therefore, the "apocalypse now takes place, not in history, but in the mind" (Dawson 1992). Conclusion Ultimately the Valentinian myth of the fall into suffering through ignorance and restoration to Fullness through Christ can be seen as a metaphorical description of the gnostic experience(Gospel of Philip 67:9-12). While the metaphors may not be literally true, nonetheless Valentinians insisted that they described something that is very real. They insisted that what the myth described was in fact MORE real than ordinary reality! As it says in the Treatise on Resurrection, "Do not suppose that the resurrection is an illusion. It is not an illusion; rather it is something real. Instead, one ought to maintain that the world is an illusion, rather than resurrection" (Treatise on Resurrection 48: 12-17). They believed that the experience expressed through the myth was real and that through visionary experiences (gnosis) and ritual one could experience the events it described. Thus the "myth" is not merely a teaching story. It is a metaphorical description of the experience of redemption. Faith (pistis) and Knowledge (gnosis) The distinction between faith (pistis) and knowledge (gnosis) is a very important one in Valentinianism. Pistis, the Greek word for faith denotes intellectual and emotional acceptance of a proposition. To the Valentinians, faith is primarily intellectual/emotional in character and consists accepting a body of teaching as true. Knowledge (gnosis) is a somewhat more complex concept. Here is the definition of gnosis given by Elaine Pagels in her book The Gnostic Gospels: "...gnosis is not primarily rational knowledge. The Greek language distinguishes

between scientific or reflective knowledge ('He knows mathematics') and knowing through observation or experience ('He knows me'). As the gnostics use the term, we could translate it as 'insight', for gnosis involves an intuitive process of knowing oneself... Yet to know oneself, at the deepest level is to know God; this is the secret of gnosis."(The Gnostic Gospels, p xviii-xix) Bentley Layton provides a similar definition in The Gnostic Scriptures: "The ancient Greek language could easily differentiate between two kinds of knowledge... One kind is propositional knowing - the knowledge that something is the case ('I know Athens is in Greece'). Greek has several words for this kind of knowingfor example, eidenai. The other kind of knowing is personal aquaintance with an object, often a person. ('I know Athens well'; 'I have known Susan for many years'). In Greek the word for this is gignoskein...The corresponding Greek noun is gnosis. If for example two people have been introduced to one another, each can claim to have gnosis or aquaintance of one another. If one is introduced to God, one has gnosis of God. The ancient gnostics described salvation as a kind of gnosis or aquaintance, and the ultimate object of that aquaintance was nothing less than God" (The Gnostic Scriptures, p 9). Faith corresponds to the intellectual/emotional aspect of religion while gnosis corresponds to the spiritual/experiential aspect. Valentinians linked the distinction between pistis and gnosis to the distinction they made between psyche and pneuma. The psyche (soul) was identified by them with cognitive/emotional aspect of the personality (the ego consciousness). The pneuma (spirit) was identified by them with the intuitive/unconscious level. The pyche was seen as consubstantial with the Demiurge while the pneuma was consubstantial with Sophia (and hence with God). Both the psyche and pneuma were capable of salvation. Psyche was saved through pistis while pneuma was saved through gnosis. Hence they distinguished two levels of salvation: psychic and pneumatic. The psychic level of salvation was characterized by conversion (metanoia) and faith (pistis). This corresponds to receiving oral and written teachings since the psyche "requires perceptible intruction". (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:1). Herakleon describes the psychic level of salvation as "believing from human testimony" (Herakleon Fragment 39). Through pistis and psychic salvation, one attained to the level of the Demiurge. In order to be saved the person had to freely chose to believe and to do good works (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:2). The psychic level of salvation was decisive in that it opened the person to the possibility of attaining the pneumatic level. Receiving the Valentinian tradition was only a first step towards the goal of gnosis. The superior pneumatic level of salvation depends on the person having already attained to the psychic level. As the Gospel of Philip says, "No one can receive without faith" (GPhil 61:35-36) Elsewhere in the same work, the author uses an agricultural metaphor to describe this process: "Our earth in which we take root is faith. The water by which we are nourished is hope. The air by which we grow is love. And the light is aquaintance (gnosis), by which we ripen to maturity" (GPhil 79:25-32) At the pneumatic level the person was reborn through spiritual resurrection and directly experienced the divine Truth through gnosis. Herakleon described this as follows: "At first men believe in the Savior because they are lead to that point by men, but when they encounter his word they no longer believe because of human testimony alone, but from the Truth itself" (Herakleon Fragment 39). Through gnosis one could participate in and experience the divine realm. Thats what the Gnostic doctrine of the resurrection refers to: spiritual rebirth through mystical experience (gnosis). One attained gnosis through the grace of God, not by choice. Psychic salvation was by choice while pneumatic salvation was by election. If Elaine Pagels is correct, then the Valentinians believed that those who only attained psychic salvation would ultimately attain pneumatic salvation at the end of the world. After they died, those who had only attained psychic redemption waited with the Demiurge until the end. Then they joined those who had pneumatic redemption for the "wedding feast of all the saved" and they "all become equal and mutually recognize one another" (Excerpts of Theodotus 63:2). Then they entered the Pleroma to be joined to an angel. If this is correct then the only difference between psychic salvation and pneumatic salvation is a matter of timing. One could attain pneumatic salvation now by becoming a Valentinian or wait until the end to attain it. Despite its lower value than gnosis, pistis was decisive for salvation! In orthodox Christianity, pistis is an end in itself. The object of pistis is pistis itself. This easily leads to a rigid dogmatism. Salvation comes to be seen as acceptance of a specific body of dogma to the exclusion of all others. In Valentinianism and other forms of "Gnostic" Christianity, the object of pistis is gnosis. The teachings are seen as a series of metaphors that point to the higher reality of gnosis. This helps explain the diversity of thought found within Valentinianism. The teaching about faith and gnosis is at the heart of the dispute between the Valentinians and Irenaeus of Lyon. The Valentinians criticized Irenaeus' rigid emphasis on dogma and pistis (faith) alone at the expense of gnosis. In their view, Irenaeus' Christianity was unspiritual and offered only the lower psychic level of salvation. while they themselves had attained the higher pneumatic salvation (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:1-4). The terms "Gnosis" "Gnostic" and "Gnosticism" are often used by modern writers to describe Valentinianism. From the discussion above it should be clear that using the term 'gnosis' to describe Valentinian teaching is contrary to the use of the term by the Valentinians themselves. Gnosis refers to mystical experiece and is not restricted to a particular group or period of history. The term "Gnostic" (possessing gnosis) was rarely used by the Valentinians to describe themselves. They prefered to be called things like 'the elect', 'the spiritual ones', 'the church of the superior seed' or 'disciples of God'. The term "Gnosticism" was coined in the 19th century to describe the teachings and beliefs of

various second century Judeo-Christian groups including the Valentinians. Those we now call "Gnostics" would never have used a term like "Gnosticism" to describe their teachings. To summarize, the Valentinians made a clear distinction between belief and gnosis. To them belief in a body of teachings (Valentinian or otherwise) was much inferior to gnosis. They never apply the term 'gnosis' to their teachings. The word is reserved to refer to salvation through experience of the divine. Failure to draw the distinction between belief and gnosis can lead to an inaccurate picture of Valentinianism and Gnosticism in general. Christ and the Church Introduction One of the debates that divided orthodoxy from Gnostic Christianity in the third century was the issue of the Church. The orthodox position was that the Church was to be understood in concrete terms as a hierarchy of bishops and presbyters. In contrast, Gnostic Christians never refer to ecclesiastical offices in any of their descriptions of the Church. They remained closer to the original meaning of the word ecclesia (literally "assembly") in understanding the Church as refering to all who have been redeemed by Christ collectively. The most sophisticated theory of the Church is found in the Valentinian school. They drew on a metaphor derived from Saint Paul to decribe the Church as the "body of Christ" which is manifested in the of the activity of the Holy Spirit. Valentinians developed this metaphor and made it central to their understanding of Christology and the process of redemption. As the teacher Theodotus says, "The Spirit which each of the prophets received specially for his ministry is poured out upon all in the Church: therefore the signs of the Spirit - healings and prophesyings - are accomplished through the Church" (Excerpts of Theodotus24,1). The figure of the Holy Spirit is often refered to as Wisdom (Sophia) in Valentinianism (cf Irenaeus 1:4:1). Based on the parable of the sower, the Holy Spirit (Wisdom) is said to sow her "spiritual seed" within human beings. It is this seed which enables human beings to "bear fruit" through gnosis. All who have received this "seed" are part of the "Church" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:5:6, 1:8:1 cf Excepts of Theodotus 40,1). Extending the agricultural metaphor, Herakleon describes the salvation of those who have the seed as a harvest in which "some were on the point of being ready, some are near to being ready and some are still being sown" (Herakeon Fragment 32). The Church is the "assembly" of all who have been redeemed and all who will be redeemed in the future. The Church as Christ's Body Like Saint Paul, Valentinians describe the Church as the "body of Christ"(cf. Romans 12: 5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, etc). Christ is the "head" while individual Christians are the "members" of the body (cf. Ephesians 4:16, Colossians 1:18, 2:19). By a "special dispensation", the body of the human Jesus is consubstantial with the Church. According to Theodotus, "the body of Jesus . . .was of the same substance as the Church." (Excerpts of Theodotus 42:3). Elsewhere, he says "the visible part of Jesus was Wisdom (Sophia) and the Church of the superior seed" (Excerpts of Theodotus 26:1 cf. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2, Tripartite Tractate 122: 12-17, Excerpts of Theodotus 17,1). In contrast to orthodox Christians, Valentinians did not believe that Christ was joined to Jesus at his birth. Instead, they insisted that Christ became joined to Jesus only at the beginning of his ministry i.e. at his baptism. The dove which descends upon Jesus at the baptism was understtod as Christ descending on Jesus and joining with him (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2, 1:15:3, 3:16:1, 3:10:3, Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6,26:1 Hippolytus Refutation 6:35:3). Christ is "the Name which came down upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:6 cf. Gospel of Philip 70:34-36). Christ came to bring knowledge (gnosis) of the Father and to the conquer death by means of the resurrection (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:15:3, Treatise on the Resurrection 44:26-30). He accomplished this by "sharing with the dispensational Christ (i.e. the Church) his power and his Name" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:16:1). The redemption of the human Jesus is shared by all who form part of the body i.e. Wisdom and the "church of the superior seed". According to Theodotus, "Jesus Christ performed a saving work in that, whilst all authorities and divinities refused, he took upon himself the Church, that is the elect and the calledthe spiritual from her who had borne it, but that of soul from the dispensationand bore aloft what he had assumed and thereby what was consubstantial with them" (Excerpts of Theodotus 58:1). The author of the Tripartite Tractate states the same thing somewhat more clearly: "Now when he received redemption from the Word which had descended upon him, all the rest received redemption from him, namely those who had taken him to themselves. For those who received the one who had received (redemption) also received what was in him" (Tripartite Tractate 125: 5-11) In the Interpretation of Knowledge, the human Jesus who represents the Wisdom (Sophia) and the Church is called the "humiliated one"(12:18-22)and the "reproached one" (12:29-31). This is a reference to the fall of Wisdom and her children (i.e. the Church) into ignorance. Again it is the Savior who redeems: "Who is it that redeemed the one that was reproached? It is the emanation of the Name (i.e. Christ)" (Interpretation of Knowledge 12:29-31cf also 12:18-22). Christ has within him the angels which are the heavenly counterparts of the spiritual seed (i.e. the Church). For Valentinians being joined to an angel through mystical experience is the same as being joined to the spiritual Church. Hence the incarnation is an event of cosmic significance. It is not merely the joining of Christ to Jesus, it is in effect the simultaneous redemtion of all who are part of his body. It is the single event whereby "Sophia receives her consort and Jesus receives the Christ and the seeds (receive) the angels ... and all will come to be in unity and reconciliation" (Valentinian Exposition 30: 28-30)

That is not to say that salvation is assured. In fact, only those who are joined to the body are saved. According to the Tripartite Tractate, "The spiritual race, being like light from light and like spirit from spirit, when its Head appeared, it ran toward him immediately. It immediately became a body of its Head" (Tripartite Tractate118: 28-35). Others were not so quick to respond to Jesus and become joined to the body. The Called and the Elect Roman Valentinians distinguished two groups of Christians within the Church. One group consisted of those who had perfect knowledge (gnosis) of Christ and were described as the 'elect' or the 'spiritual' (pneumatikoi). They were those who had become part of the spiritual body. The other group consisted of those who believe in Christ based on the testimony of others. They are the 'called' or the 'animate' (psychikoi) and are the majority of Christians. This particular feature of Valentinian thought describes the position of the school within the Church. Just as they distinguished two classes of Christians within the Church, they also describe of Christ's body as having animate and spiritual components (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2, Excerpts of Theodotus 58:1, etc). His body consists both of the 'elect' who have gnosis and the 'called' who believe but have not yet attained gnosis. Both were regarded as having the "spiritual seed" within them and hence as forming part of the body. The spiritual elect have attained to gnosis and believe "because of the Truth itself" (Herakleon Fragment 39). Valentinian teachers frequently caution those with gnosis to "share it without hesitation" (Interpretation of Knowledge15:36). They are not to despise others as inferior or ignorant, for "you are ignorant when you hate them and are jealous of them, since you will not receive the grace that dwells within them, being unwilling to reconcile them to the bounty of the head" (Interpretation of Knowledge17:27-31) Rather, as "illuminators in the midst of mortal men" (Letter of Peter to Philip137:8-9)., they have a duty to aid in the salvation of those who do not yet have gnosis. In the Gospel of Philip it says, "Whoever becomes free through acquaintance (gnosis) is a slave on account of love towards those who have not yet taken up the freedom of aquaintance (gnosis)" (Gospel of Philip 77:26-29). It is the role of the spiritual to "return to the world to announce the good tidings of Christ's coming to the 'called'. For through the Spirit and by the Spirit, the soul is drawn to the Savior" (Herakleon Fragment 27). In contrast, the 'called' (i.e. ordinary Christians) believe "because of human testimony" (Herakleon Fragment 39) that is "because of the spiritual Church" (Herakleon Fragment 37). They can be led to readiness for gnosis by the elect. The author of the Interpretation of Knowledge cautions the called not to be jealous of the elect. He insists that members of the Church "are a single body. Those who belong to us all serve the head together" (17:14-16). By being part of the body and "loving the head who possesses them, you also possess the one from who it is that these outpourings of gifts exist among your brethren" (16:28-31). Applifying the image from Saint Paul that each member of the Church is a unique part of the body of Christ he goes on to say, "Do not accuse your Head because it has not appointed you as an eye but rather as a finger. And do not be jealous of that which has been put in the class of an eye or a hand or a foot, but be thankful that you do not exist outside the body" (18:28-34). Christ Shares the Church's Suffering In order to share gnosis with those in the Church, Christ shared the suffering which Wisdom (Sophia) and her children (i.e. the Church) experience because of their ignorance of God. This is the true meaning of the Passion (cf Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:8:2). In the Letter of Peter to Philip, it says "Our illuminator came down and was crucified . . . Jesus is a stranger to this suffering. But we are the ones who suffered through the transgression of the Mother" (Letter of Peter to Philip139:15-23, cf. Acts of John 96). According to Ptolemy, Jesus expressed his grief with the words, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38). When he says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39) he shows fear. Similarly, his statement, "And what shall I say" (John 12:27) shows his confusion. (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:8:2). The entire Fullness (pleroma) of the Godhead which was within Christ also shared in the emotional suffering, as Theodotus says, "When the Passion took place, the whole suffered in the same suffering for the recovery of the sufferer" (Excerpts of Theodotus 30:2). The Passion of Jesus gives us the gnosis which destroys the ignorance which is the root of suffering. Again Theodotus says, "His Passion rescued us from passion in order that we might in all things follow him" (Theo 76:1 cf. 67:4). Paradoxically, while Valentinians allowed that Christ shared in the emotional sufferings of Jesus and the Church, they insisted that he did not share in his physical pain or death on account of his divinity. (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:3, 3:11:3, 1 Apocalypse of James 131:17-19). Theodotus calls the idea that Christ shared in death "absurd" (Excepts of Theodotus 61:7). In the Acts of John, the risen Christ says, "What they say of me I did not endure, but what they do not say, those things did I suffer" (Acts of John 101). Valentinians insisted that the divine was incapable of sharing in physical pain or death since it is "above" these things. By bearing the cross on his shoulders, Jesus took up the burden of all humanity and enabled them to return to the perfect realm through gnosis. According to Theodotus, "Jesus, by the sign of the Cross, also carries the seeds on his shoulders, and leads them into the Fullness. For Jesus is called the 'shoulders of the seed', but the head is called Christ" (Excerpts of Theodotus42, 2). This theme is also picked up in the Interpretation of Knowledge: "If now you believe in me, it is I who shall take you Above through this shape (i.e. body) that you see. It is I who shall bear you upon my shoulders" (Interpretation of Knowledge 10:31-34). According to Theodotus, when Jesus said, "Father, into your hands, I commend my Spirit" (Luke 23:4), he committed the lower Wisdom and her seed (the Church) to the Father, having accomplished his work of redemption (Excerpts of Theodotus 1:1-2). The Savior then withdrew from Jesus and his human part died (Excerpts of Theodotus 61:6 cf also

Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2). That is why the human Jesus said with his dying breath, "My God, my God, why o Lord have you forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46), since "he was divided in that place" (Gospel of Philip 68:26-28). According to the Interpretation of Knowledge, "When he cried out, he was separated from the Church like portions of the darkness from the Mother, while his feet provided him traces, and these scorched the path of the ascent to the Father" (Interpretation of Knowledge 13:14-20). In the account of the crucifixion in the Acts of John, John has a vision of the Cross. In this vision he sees the figure of Jesus on the Cross of "one form and the same likeness" while Christ hovers above the Cross "having no shape but only a kind of voice" (Acts of John 98). For Valentinians, the Cross symbolized the limit or boundary (horos) between the divine pleroma and the lower realm (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:3:5, Acts of John 98, etc.). The fact that John saw Christ above the Cross indicates that he has separated from the body and reentered the Fullness. The voice of the Savior reveals to John the separating function of the Cross. He goes on to reveal that "those you saw on the Cross" are the "members of him who came down" i.e. the Church (Acts of John 100). The body of Jesus on the Cross acts as the "door" (Excepts of Theodotus 26:2) into the Fullness (pleroma). By being joined to the body, we are crucified with him and enabled to enter into the Fullness with him. The body i.e. the Church waits "on the Cross" i.e. in the eighth heaven just below the boundary (Cross) until the end of the world before entering the Fullness. At the the end of the world, "when he enters in, the seed also enters with him into the Fullness, brought together and brought in through the door" (Excepts of Theodotus 26:3). The crucifixion and subsequent resurrection serve to destroy death and make the "book of the living" available to all who are members of the Church (cf. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:2, Gospel of Truth 21:4-7). According to Valentinus, the Church is the "book of the living" which contains the names of all the saved (Gospel of Truth 21:4-7). Just as the spiritual seed dwells within each Christian, the passages of this "book" are said to be "written in the heart" (Valentinus Fragment 6/G, Gospel of Truth 19:34, 22:35-23:17). Like the Church, this "book" is identical to Christ's body i.e. the Church. According to Valentinus, Jesus "accepted the sufferings even unto taking up that book" (Gospel of Truth 20:10-13). He goes on the say that "Jesus appeared, wrapped himself in that document , was nailed to a piece of wood, and published the Father's edict on the cross" (Gospel of Truth 20:23-27). The crucifixion is the "publication" of the book in order that the "living enrolled in the book of the living learn about themselves, recovering themselves from the Father and returning to him" (Gospel of Truth 21:4-7). The crucifixion is the defining event that makes gnosis available to humanity. The Church Shares Christ's Resurrection On the third day after his human body died, the Savior sent forth a ray of power which destroyed death, and "he raised the mortal body after he scattered the sufferings. The animate element is raised again in this way and is saved". (Excerpts of Theodotus 61:7-8). The redemption of all who are part of the body is accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus. According to Herakleon, "The third day is the spiritual day, on which the resurrection of the Church is revealed" (Herakleon Fragment 15) By being part of the body (Church), the animate Christians (i.e. the 'called')are able to share in the resurrection and become spiritual through gnosis. According to Ptolemy, this is what Paul meant when he said, "If the first-fruit is holy, so is the whole lump" (Romans 11:16). According to Ptolemy, "The expression 'first-fruits' denoted that which is spiritual, but 'the lump' means the Church of animate substance. He took it and made it rise by his agency, for he is the 'leaven'" (Ir 1:8:3). The Church shares in the ascension of Jesus into heaven. All who have the spiritual seed have potentially entered with him into the heavenly realm (Fullness), "In him the seeds were potentially purified, when they entered with him into the Fullness" (Excerpts of Theodotus 41:2, cf also 26:3). According to the Treatise on Resurrection, "we have suffered with him, and arisen with him and ascended with him"(Treatise on Resurrection 45:23-26). The members of the Church radiate from Christ like the rays from the sun, "are being held fast by him until our sunset--that is our death in the present life--we are drawn upward by him as rays are drawn by the sun, restrained by nothing" (Treatise on Resurrection 45:31-38). By his ascent into the Fullness (pleroma), Christ draws his members above with him. According to the Interpretation of Knowledge, "The Head drew itself up from the pit; it was bent over the Cross and it looked down to Tartaros so that those below might look above.Hence, for example, when someone looks at someone, then the face of the one who looked down looks up; so once the Head looked from the height to its members, our members went above, where the Head was" (Interpretation of Knowledge 13:25-36). The body of Christ is not yet complete because "his members need a place of instruction" (Tripartite Tractate 123: 1112). The seed needs to grow to maturity before the body can be complete (cf. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:1, 1:7:1). As the Acts of John explains about the body on the Cross, "not every member of him who came down has yet been gathered together. But when human nature is taken up and the race that comes to me and obeys my voice, then he who hears me will be united with this (body) and shall no longer be as he is now, but shall be above them as I am now" (Acts of John 100). The spiritual body must wait on the Cross until all of it's members are joined to it before it can ascend above the boundary (Cross) into the Fullness. The body temporarily remains divided between the called who have not yet shared the resurrection and the elect who have. The elect are joined to the spiritual body on the eigth day (i.e. Sunday) while the animate part of the body (i.e. the called) remain trapped in the seven days of the lower creation (Excerpts of Theodotus 62:1-2, Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:5).

Conclusion Valentinians look forward to when "all the members of the body of the Church are in a single place . . . when they have manifested as the whole body" (Tripartite Tractate 123: 16-22). According to Valentinian myth, at the end of the world the animate and spiritual members of the body join together in the "the wedding-feast, common to all the saved, until all become equal and mutually recognize one another" (Excerpts of Theodotus 63:2). Then they reenter the perfect realm as a whole to join the angels in the "bridal chamber within the boundary and attain to the vision of the Father, and become intellectual Aeons entering into the intelligible and eternal marriage of the pair" (Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1, cf. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:7:1, Valentinian Exposition 39: 28-35). oined To An Angel The earliest Christians to teach about guardian angels were the second century AD mystic Valentinus and his followers. The Valentinians, as they came to be called, believed that guardian angels played an essential role in the salvation of the individual. In their literature, angels are almost invariably depicted as male while the individual person's spirit or "seed" was depicted as feminine. The person who attained to a mystical experience of the divine (gnosis) was said to have become joined to their angel in the "bridal chamber". In order to fully understand their teaching about angels, it is necessary to have a basic understanding of their teaching about the fall. For them, the significant event in the fall was not the eating of the apple but the separation of the male from the female (Genesis 2:21-23). This event was taken to signify the alienation between humanity and the divine. Our inner spiritual "seed" is thought of as female. It originates from God and has a male counterpart or angel in the heavenly world or Fullness (pleroma). In the fall, our spirit became separated from its angel. This separation is said to lead to our mortality and our expulsion from paradise into the illusory world of matter. Valentinians believe that Christ came "to give life unto those who had died by separation and join them together (i.e. with their angel)" (Gospel of Philip 70:15-18). The angels were said to accompany him when he descended into this world. One important teacher says, "He went forth outside the Limit (of the heavenly realm) and, being an angel of the Fullness, he brought with him the angels of the superior seed. And since he had proceeded from the Fullness, he himself had the redemption, but he brought the angels with him for the correction of the seed ." (Excerpts of Theodotus 35:1-2) These are the angels who heralded the birth of Jesus (cf. Luke 2:6-14). The angels are said to share in the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17 pars). The teacher Theodus claims that "In the beginning the angels were baptized through the redemption of the name which came down upon Jesus in the dove and redeemed him"(Excerpts of Theodotus 22:6). He claimed that they are baptized for human beings "in order that we too, possessing the name, may not be held back and prevented by the Limit and the Cross from entering the Fullness" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:4). The angels are said to take an active role in the salvation of the individual. According to Theodotus, "They entreat and supplicate for us as if for a part of them, and, being restrained for our sake in their haste to enter (the heavenly world), they plead for forgiveness for us, in order that we may enter in with them. For they virtually have need of us that they may enter, since without us it is not permitted to them." (Excerpts of Theodotus 35:3-4). Similarly Herakleon says, "The Savior who is also the Son of Man, harvests and sends as reapers the angels . . . each for his own soul."(Herakleon Fragment 35) Through mystical experience or gnosis, "we are raised equal to angels, restored to the males, member to member, to form a unity" (Excerpts of Theodotus 22:2). One is said to be joined to an angel just as a bride is joined to her bridegroom so that "once they unite with one another, they become a single life" (Exegesis on the Soul 132: 34-35 cf. Genesis 2:24). This is regarded as the restoration of the original condition before the fall. Valentinus describes it this way, "The Father is within them and they are within the Father, being perfect, being undivided in the truly good one, being in no way deficient in anything, but they are refreshed in the Spirit" (Gospel of Truth 42:27-33). Joining with one's angel was said to allow the person to lead a sinless existence (Gospel of Philip 65:23-26). Such mystical experiences could occur either in private or at Valentinian meetings. Valentinians believed it was possible to receive one's angel through imposition of hands by a person already joined to their own angel. In the prayer that accompanied the imposition of hands the elect declared, "Allow the seed of light to take up its abode in your bridal chamber. Receive your bridegroom from me and take him into you, and be take by him." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:13:3) They believed that the person received or became possessed by the light (Gospel of Philip 86:4-6), that is, their bridegroom angel. Valentinian were the first Christians to teach about guardian angels. They believed that they were destined to be joined to an angel in a kind of celestial marriage of the human with the divine. One could receive an angel either through mystical experience (gnosis) or by imposition of hands by a person who was already joined to an angel. The Demiurge in Valentinianism Introduction Valentinus founded a school of speculative Christian theology in the second century AD. Because he and his followers drew a distinction between the true God and the creator of the world, they are classified by modern scholars as "Gnostics". In common with other Gnostics, they believed that the material world was created by a lesser deity which they call the Demiurge (literally "public craftsman").

However, the Demiurge in Valentinianism is quite different in character from the hostile creator figure familiar from other schools of Gnosticism. In the Sethian school, for example, the Demiurge is a hostile demonic force who creates the material world in order to trap the spiritual elements. In contrast, Valentinians "show a relatively positive attitude towards the craftsman of the world or god of Israel" (Layton 1987). Valentinians insisted that while the Demiurge may be a bit foolish, he certainly could not be considered evil. Instead, he has a role to play in the process of redemption. The Valentinian teacher Ptolemy strongly criticizes non-Valentinian Gnostics who taught that the Demiurge was evil. In his view, those who view the creator as evil "do not comprehend what was said by the Savior...Only thoughtless people have this idea, people who do not recognize the providence of the creator and so are blind not only the eye of the soul but even in the eye of the body" (Letter to Flora 3:2-6). They are as "completely in error" as orthodox Christians who taught that the Demiurge was the highest God (Letter to Flora 3:2). In contrast, he and other Valentinians steadfastly maintained that "the creation is not due to a god who corrupts but to one who is just and hates evil" (Letter to Flora 3:6). He carefully distinguished the Demiurge from both God and the Devil. According to Ptolemy, "he is essentially different from these two (God and the Devil) and is between them, he is rightly given the name, Middle" (Letter to Flora 7:4). He is "neither good nor evil and unjust, can properly be called just , since he is the arbitrator of the justice which depends on him" (Letter to Flora 7:5). In his excellent book on Gnosticism, Giovanni Filoramo (1990) compares the negative portrayal of the Demiurge in the Sethian school with the more positive Valentinian view: The image of Demiurge usually portrayed in the Sethian texts is negative. Apart from anti-Jewish and anti-Christian polemic there are some internal reasons for this, specifically the function of the psychic (soul) element represented by the Demiurge. This element is not, as for Valentinians and other Christian Gnostics, the seat of free will, but a moment (that of animation) in the hylic dimension and, like it, destined to perdition. This is the radical difference from the Valentinian Demiurge, the latter being a representative of the psychic element that is also called upon to participate in the work of salvation. Devoid of scarifying characteristics, Ptolemy's Demiurge is simply the Creator of the Seven Heavens, who lives above them (Filoramo 1990) Filoramo links the more positive view of the Demiurge in the Valentinianism to the relatively positive of the soul substance (psyche) of which he is formed. It would seem that in order to understand the teaching on the Demiurge, it is necessary to have at least a basic understanding of the Valentinian teaching on the soul (psyche) and its position within the overall structure of the cosmos. The Three Substances Unlike the Sethians who taught a dualism between matter and spirit, Valentinians taught that the structure of the universe is tripartite. In their view, the cosmos consists of three distinct components: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche) and matter (hyle). This tripartite division is also applied to human beings. Every human being is said to consist of three components: a material body, an animating soul, and a spirit. According to the Valentinian creation myth, this tripartite structure has its origins in the fall and redemption of the divine emanation (Aeon) Sophia or "Wisdom". They told a myth of her Sophia's fall and redemption which has three distinct phases or stages. In each stage of the myth, one of the three primary substances was created. The first part of the myth describes how Sophia (Wisdom) attempted to know the Father through thinking alone and as a result she was excluded from the divine Fullness (pleroma). She fell into deficiency and suffering. According to the myth, the deficiency and suffering she underwent congealed into the material elements or the "left" (Against Heresies 1:2:3, 1:4:1, Refutation of Heresies 6:25-26, Tripartite Tractate 76:30-80:11) In the second phase of the myth, Sophia repented of her actions and she underwent a conversion. Rather than continuing her struggle to understand the Father, she instead began to plead for assistance. According to Valentinians, her repentance and conversion gave rise to soul or the "right" (Against Heresies 1:4:1-2, Refutation of Heresies 6:27, Tripartite Tractate 81:22-83:33) In the third phase of the myth, the Father had mercy on her and sent Christ to her. Christ redeems her and gives her knowledge (gnosis) of the Father. As a result, she then gave birth to the spiritual element.(Against Heresies 1:4:5, Refutation of Heresies 6:27, Excerpts of Theodotus 43:2-45:2, Valentinian Exposition 35-36, Tripartite 90:14f) The spiritual substance lacked form and gnosis. Upon achieving gnosis, it is destined to attain salvation and reenter the presence of God along with Christ and Sophia. Matter or the "left" has no share in salvation and is dissolved by gnosis. Soul or the "right" is intermediate between matter and spirit and is characterized by free will (Excerpts of Theodotus 56:3). As Theodotus says, "that of soul, being possessed of free will, has an inclination towards faith and towards incorruptibility, but also towards unbelief and destruction, according to its own choice" (Excerpts of Theodotus 56:3). If it chooses the better, it attains salvation outside of the Pleroma, if it chooses the worse, it is dissolved along with matter. The Demiurge and the Creation While she herself has already attained salvation, the spiritual substance to which she has given rise was unformed and without gnosis. However, "she could not form the spiritual because it was of the same essence as she" (AH 1:5:1). Therefore she is required to find a place for it to grow to maturity. As the Tripartite Tractate states, "His members, however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the places which are adorned, so that they might receive from them resemblance to the images and archetypes, like a mirror, until all the members of the body of the Church are in a single place and receive the restoration at one time, when they have been manifested as the whole body, namely the restoration into the Pleroma" (Tripartite Tractate 123:11-22). This where the material world enters the picture. Sophia

uses the Demiurge as the tool to shape or "adorn" matter into an image of the Fullness to provide a place for the seed to "grow and increase in it, and so become suitable for the reception of perfect Word" (Against Heresies 1:5:6). As Hans Jonas (1963) succinctly puts it, "this fruit of hers had therefore to pass into and through the world to be 'informed' in its course. The Demiurge is an unwitting instrument in this process". According to Valentinians, the Demiurge is formed of soul (psyche) since soul is intermediate between matter and spirit. The teacher Ptolemy describes the creation of the Demiurge by the redeemed Sophia in the following way: "She therefore began to give form to the soul substance which had proceeded from her own conversion, and she emitted what the Savior taught her to emit. And first she formed out of soul substance the one who is Father and King of all, both of those which are of the same nature with himself, that is, soul substances, which they also call those on the right, and those which sprang from the suffering, and from matter, which they call those on the left"(Against Heresies 1:5:1 cf. also 1:4:2, Excepts of Theodotus 47:1-3, ). According to Valentinian tradition, the Demiurge is formed as an "an image of the Father"(Excepts of Theodotus 47:13). A similar description occurs in the Tripartite Tractate: "He is the lord of all of them, that is, the countenance which the logos (i.e. Sophia) brought forth in his thought as a representation of the Father of the Totalities. Therefore, he is adorned with every name which is a representation of him, since he is characterized by every property and glorious quality. For he too is called 'father' and 'god' and 'demiurge' and 'king' and 'judge' and 'place' and 'dwelling' and 'law'" (Tripartite Tractate 100:21-30). Because he is seem as the image of the true God and Father, Valentinians have no problem using the terms "Father" and "God" to describe him (cf. also Against Heresies 1:5:1, Valentinian Exposition 38). While he is an image of the true God, he is not a perfect on account of his non-spiritual nature. In comparison with the true God he is rather "coarse" or "rough" (Excerpts of Theodotus 33:4). The Demiurge creates the material world under the control of Sophia and Christ. According to the Tripartite Tractate, "The logos (i.e. Sophia) uses him as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below"(100:31-33). Similarly, in Theodotus, he is "the god through whom she (Sophia) made the heaven and the earth (Excerpts of Theodotus 47:2, see also Excerpts of Theodotus 49:1-2, Herakleon Fragment 1, Against Heresies 1:5:1-4, 1:17:1, 2:6:3, Refutation of Heresies 6:28). The Gospel of Philip compares the Demiurge and his angels to beasts of burden which are "submissive and obedient". Sophia uses them in "preparing for everything to come into being. For it is because of this preparation that the whole place stands, whether the good or the evil, the right and the left. The Holy Spirit (i.e. Sophia) shepherds every one and rules [all] the powers, the 'domesticated' ones (i.e. the Demiurge and his angels), and the ones that are 'wild' and living apart (i.e. the evil archons)" (Gospel of Philip 60:24-31) Using the Demiurge as her tool, Sophia shapes the products of the fall (i.e. suffering and repentance) into an image of the Pleroma. The Demiurge himself is completely unaware of the preexistent ideas of the things he creates. As Marcus says, "The creation itself was formed by the mother though the Demiurge without his knowledge, after the image of invisible things" (Against Heresies 1:17:1). Because the Demiurge is formed of soul, "he was incapable of having knowledge of spiritual things" (Against Heresies 1:5:4). As a result, he is unaware of his mother or her influence over him. According to the Tripartite Tractate, "The things which he (the Demiurge) has spoken he does. When he saw that they were great and good and wonderful, he was pleased and rejoiced, as if he himself in his own thought had been the one to say them and do them, not knowing that the movement within him is from the spirit (i.e. Sophia) who moves him in a determined way toward those things which it (spirit) wants" (Tripartite Tractate 100:36-101:5 cf. also Against Heresies 1:5:3, cf. also 2:6:3, Excerpts of Theodotus 47:2, 49:1-2, Herakleon Fragment 1, Refutation of Heresies 6:28, Gospel of Philip 55:14-19). The ignorance of the Demiurge of the spiritual realm is considered by Valentinians as typical of soul-dominated human beings as well. As Theodotus says, "For just as the Demiurge, secretly moved by Sophia (Wisdom), believes that he acts alone, so also with human beings" (Excerpts of Theodotus 53:4). Just as the Demiurge represents an imperfect image of the true God, his creation represents an imperfect image of the divine Fullness (pleroma). As Valentinus says, there is a "deficiency in the act of modeling" (Valentinus Fragment 5). The defect or imperfection of the world created by the Demiurge lies in its impermanence. According to Theodotus, "The Demiurge is an image of the Only-Begotten (i.e. Christ). Therefore the works of the image are transitory" (Excerpts of Theodotus 7:5 cf. also Against Heresies 1:17:2, Treatise on Resurrection 48:19-27). The reason for the imperfection of the world is lies not only in the nature of the Demiurge but with the raw materials he used to shape his creation. He shaped it from the products of the fall i.e. suffering and deficiency. Rather than arising accidentally during the fall as in Sethian Gnosticism, the Valentinian Demiurge is created by Sophia after she has been redeemed. He is what that the "Savior taught her to emit" in the "image of the Father". The Valentinian Demiurge has very little leeway for truly independent activity. He is "submissive and obedient" (Gospel of Philip 60:24-31), a "servant" of the higher powers (Herakleon Fragment 48). He serves as Sophia's "hand" in forming the creation (Tripartite Tractate 100:31-33). As Filoramo observes, "The true, if not only, protagonist has now become the Mother. The Demiurge appears, guided, so to speak, from within: as in a technically sophisticated robot, the program of creation is put into him via the abstract symbol of the idea " (Filoramo 1990). He is "nothing but an unconscious puppet manipulated by the invisible strings of higher powers" (Filoramo 1990). The Demiurge mediates between Sophia and matter in much the same way that the soul mediates between the spirit and matter within the individual person. He makes the creation of the material world possible. The Creation of Human Beings

The ultimate purpose of the Demiurge is the creation of human beings. The rest of the creation was simply preparing the way for this main event. As the Tripartite Tractate says, "the entire preparation of the adornment of the images and representations and likenesses, have come into being because of those who need education and teaching and formation, so that the smallness might grow, little by little, as through a mirror image. For it was for this reason that he created mankind at the end, having first prepared and provided for him the things which he had created for his sake" (Tripartite Tractate 104:18-30). The Demiurge and his angels created human beings in the image of the pre-existing Humanity (Against Heresies 1:5:2, Excerpts of Theodotus 51:1). From "dust" (Genesis 2:7), that is, non-corporeal deficiency and suffering, they created the carnal or irrational soul. Into this the Demiurge breathed an animating rational soul deriving from pleading and conversion (i.e. from his own substance). This is the "breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). Lastly, Sophia (Wisdom) used the Demiurge to secretly sowed her spiritual seed into the human being (Against Heresies 1:5:6, Excerpts of Theodotus 53:2, Valentinian Exposition 37, Tripartite Tractate 105:29-35). The sowing of the spiritual seed into Adam caused him to utter things "superior to what his modeling justified" (Valentinus Fragment 1, cf. Gospel of Philip 70:26-29, Naasene Preaching 8:14). As a result, awe overcame the Demiurge and his angels. This was because "Adam, modeled as representing a human being, made them stand in awe of the pre-existing human being" (Valentinus Fragment 1). Thus there are three essences in every human being: an irrational carnal soul, an animating rational soul and a spiritual seed. This so that the spiritual essence "might be formed by being coupled with the soul-substance and learning along with it during its time of residence in this place." (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:1). This is the main purpose of the Demiurge. It was "through his unknowing agency the spiritual seed was implanted in the human soul and body, to be carried there as if in a womb until it had grown sufficiently to receive the Logos" (Jonas 1963). As Herakleon says, it is the Demiurge and "the angels of the dispensation, through whom - as mediators - it (the seed) was sown and brought up" (Herakleon Fragment 36). In comparison with Sethian Gnosticism, this represents a very different view not only of the Demiurge but also the creation itself. The creation of the world by the Demiurge is a necessary part of the process of redemption. It is created in order to provide the spiritual substance a place to "grow and increase in it, and so become suitable for the reception of perfect Word" (Against Heresies 1:5:6). The Struggle of the Demiurge against the Devil According to Valentinian sources, the Demiurge dwells above the seventh heaven and rules over the planetary angels who are also formed of soul. The material world is ruled by the Devil and his archons (rulers). The texts emphasize the constant struggle of the Demiurge against the forces of evil. The Demiurge and the powers of the "right" are said to be in a state of constant warfare with the archons (rulers) of the "left" i.e. the Devil and his archons. They are the "wrath which fights against them (the evil ones) and the turning away from them" (Tripartite Tractate 130:16-17). As Theodotus says, "the powers are of different kinds: some are benevolent, some malevolent, some right, some left" (Excerpts of Theodotus 71:2). The Demiurge and those on the right are "like soldiers fighting on our side as servants of God" while the Devil and the powers of the left are "like brigands" (Excerpts of Theodotus 72:2). The aid of the Demiurge and those on the right is not sufficient to save the individual from sin. As Theodotus says, "Now because of the opponents who attack the soul through the body and outward things and pledge it to slavery, the ones on the right (the Demiurge and his angels) are not sufficient to follow and rescue and guard us. For their providential power is not perfect like the Good Shepherd's but each one is like a mercenary who sees the wolf coming and flees and is not zealous to give up his life for the sheep" (Excerpts of Theodotus 73:1-2). Cain and Abel are considered to be the archetypal representatives of the material ("left") and the soul-dominated ("right") beings respectively (see Valentinian Exposition 38, Tripartite Tractate 83:6-84:23 cf. Genesis 4:1-24). The material, represented by Cain, was created first during the fall and "belong to a nature of falsehood" (Tripartite Tractate 82:18). The soul, represented by Abel, was created second during Sophia's repentance and is "more honored than the first ones" (Tripartite Tractate 83:36-84:1 cf. Genesis 4:4-5). The strife between Cain and Abel symbolizes the strife between the powers of the "left" (the archons) and those on the "right" (the Demiurge and his angels). As it says in the Tripartite Tractate, "As they brought forth at first according to their own birth, the two orders assaulted one another, fighting for command because of their manner of being" (Tripartite Tractate 84:6-11 cf. Genesis 4:5-8) After Cain killed Abel there followed the "struggle with the apostasy of the angels and mankind, those of the right with those of the left, those in heaven and those on earth, the spirits with the carnal, and the Devil against 'God'" (Valentinian Exposition 38). The text goes on to relate this struggle to the story of the flood related in Genesis. The angels of the left "lusted after the daughters of men and came down to flesh so that 'God' (Demiurge) would cause a flood. And he almost regretted that he had created the world" (Valentinian Exposition 38). The story of the flood in the Old Testament is related to the strife between "God" (here the Demiurge) and the "angels of the left". Christ rescues us from this constant strife between the Demiurge and the Devil. As Theodotus says, "From this situation and the battle of the powers the Lord rescues us and supplies peace from the array of powers and angels, in which some are arrayed for us and others against us. For some are like soldiers fighting on our side as servants of God but others are like brigands" (Excerpts of Theodotus 72:1-2). One of the weapons used by the Demiurge in his war against the forces of the left is the Law given to Moses. As Ptolemy says, the Law is the legislation of "one who is just and hates evil" (Letter to Flora 7:3-4). It provides human beings with a very crude measure of good and evil. According to Ptolemy, "it is evident that the Law was not ordained

by the perfect God the Father, for it is secondary, being imperfect and in need of completion by another, containing commandments alien to the nature and intentions of such a God"(Letter to Flora 3:4-5). The Law represents the Demiurge's failed attempt to free human beings from sin. Being ignorant himself, he is powerless to free human beings from the ignorance which is the root cause of sin. According to the Gospel of Philip, the Law "has the power to give knowledge of good and evil. It neither removed him from evil, nor did it set him in the good. Instead it created death for those who ate of it. For when it said, 'Eat this. Do not eat that' it became the beginning of death" (Gospel of Philip 74:3-11). The Demiurge prescribed death for violations of the Law. However, the Law in itself does not prevent sin. Thus, in a way, the Law is a cause of death. The Demiurge acts as "the arbitrator of the justice which depends on him" (Letter to Flora 7:5). Accordingly, he "established a rest for those who obey him, but for those who disobey him, he also established punishments" (Tripartite Tractate 101: 25-28). He acts as the judge of those who are subject to him. As Herakleon says, "the one who judges and punishes is . . . the law-giver himself" (Herakleon Fragment 48). According to him, the Demiurge's role as judge is sanctioned by God himself. He is the "the servant commissioned for that purpose, who does not bear the sword in vain, the avenger of the king" (Herakleon Fragment 48). By judging and punishing the wicked and rewarding the virtuous, he is acting as a servant of the true God. However, only the material and soul dominated human beings receive rewards and punishment from him. The spiritual ones who have attained to gnosis are not subject to his judgment. Because of their redemption, "it has come to pass that they can neither be detained nor even seen by the judge" (Against Heresies 1:13:6) The Demiurge and the Old Testament Because the Demiurge was ignorant of his mother and of the Pleroma, "he imagined that he himself was everything" (Against Heresies 1:5:3, cf. also Refutation of Heresies 6:29). As a result, "he imagined himself to be God alone, and declared through the prophets, 'I am God, and besides me there is none else'" (Against Heresies 1:5:4 cf. Isaiah 45:21 see also Refutation of Heresies 6:28, 2nd Apocalypse of James 56:20-57:3). This passage is quite significant. It implicitly identifies the Demiurge with the god of the Old Testament. However, this not to say that Valentinians had a thoroughly negative view of the Old Testament. Indeed, in comparison with the Sethians, their view of it was quite positive. While some parts of the Old Testament were said to be inspired by the Demiurge alone (Against Heresies 1:7:3, Letter to Flora), other parts were under the inspiration of Sophia. Sophia used the Demiurge and the Old Testament prophets "as a mouth, to say the things which will be prophesied" (Tripartite Tractate 100:33-35) Through them "the Mother too has made known much concerning the higher realm" (Against Heresies 1:7:3, Letter to Flora). The Demiurge is the archetype of the Old Testament prophet. Like the Demiurge, the prophets remain ignorant of the one who works through them (Against Heresies 1:19:1-20:3, Refutation of Heresies 6:30). The teacher Herakleon compares the Demiurge to John the Baptist. According to him in the account of John the Baptist in the Gospel of John, "everything must be understood in relation to that person who was indicated through John, that is the Craftsman of the world"(Herakleon Fragment 8, cf. John 1:18-29). Herakleon claims that in his prophetic role, the Demiurge is "the forerunner of Christ, for he is in fact a kind of servant running before his master" (Herakleon Fragment 8) This relatively positive assessment of the Old Testament is in sharp contrast to the much more negative assessment of it in earlier forms of Gnosticism. In the view of Simone Petrement (1984), Valentinianism represents "a turning point" in the history of Gnosticism. In her view: It is the Valentinians who reestablish the harmony between the Old & New Testaments when they say that Sophia, the Wisdom derived from the true God has spoken though the mouths of the prophets; when they teach that, in creating the world, the Demiurge was inspired without knowing it by the Spirit or the Logos, of whom he was simply the instrument; when they say that the world was created to allow the perfecting of the seeds of the Spirit that have come from the eternal world (Petrement 1984) For the Valentinians, the Old and the New Testaments are not in conflict. Considering this theoretical basis, it comes as no surprise that Valentinian texts quote the Old Testament as authoritative scripture. For example, the Excerpts of Theodotus contains no less than 24 citations from six different books of the Old Testament. Other Valentinian sources which include numerous Old Testament citations include the Exegesis on the Soul, and the writings of Marcus summarized in Against Heresies 1:18:1-20:3. The Tripartite Tractate describes how the Greek philosophers and Jews all sought to know the truth. They correctly recognized the existence of the Demiurge and his powers. However, they erroneously believed that the Demiurge was the highest God. The mere existence of "the powers themselves seem to hinder them, as if they were the Totality" (Tripartite Tractate 110:2-3). Similarly, according to the Valentinian Exposition, the existence of the Demiurge serves to "cast a shadow over the union and the Fullness" for those who are ignorant of the truth (Valentinian Exposition 39). According to Herakleon, the Demiurge is "the creation or the Creator whom the Jews worship" (Herakleon Fragment 20). Jews and non-Gnostic Christians mistakenly worshipped him because they were ignorant of the true God. As Herakleon says, "The previous worshippers worshipped in flesh and in error him who is not the Father. . . They worshipped the creation and not the true creator, who is Christ, since 'all things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being'" (Herakleon Fragment 22 cf. John 1:3). In contrast those who are spiritual and have received gnosis of the true God "worship neither the creation nor the Demiurge, but the Father of Truth" (Herakleon Fragment 20, cf. also Fragment 24)

The Redemption of the Demiurge Valentinians assume that Jesus came to save both the soul (psyche) and the spirit (cf. Against Heresies 1:6:1). The Demiurge himself, being composed of soul, is one of the objects of salvation. According to Herakleon, the Demiurge is redeemed when Christ appears at the Jordan to receive baptism from John. In his writings, Herakleon describes how at Jesus' baptism the Demiurge of the world "acknowledges . . . that he is inferior to Christ" (Herakleon Fragment 8). According to Herakleon, the repentant Demiurge then begs Christ to provide salvation for the soul element (psyche) which is consubstantial with him. In his interpretation, the Demiurge is the official from Capernaum whose child is ill (Gospel of John 4:46-53). The child represents the human beings dominated by the soul substance (i.e. the "psychics"). According to Herakleon, "The official was the Demiurge, for he himself ruled like a king over those under him . . . The child in 'Capernaun' is one who is in the lower part of the Middle (i.e. of soul substance), which lies near the sea, that is, which is linked with matter. The child's proper person was sick, that is, in a condition not in accordance with the child's proper nature, in ignorance and sins" (Herakleon Fragment 40). The Demiurge's own attempts to free his child from sin via the Law were a failure and so he turned to Christ for assistance. Herakleon continues: "Before the child was utterly put to death through sin, its father (the Demiurge) asks the only Savior to help his child, that is, the nature thus constituted." Jesus agrees to help the Demiurge's child, as Herakleon says Jesus "went down to the sick person and healed the illness, and having raised that one to life through forgiveness, said, 'Your child will live.' The words 'the man believed' mean that even the Demiurge is very ready to believe that the Savior, even if not present, is able to heal." The redemption of the Demiurge is also the redemption of all those of the psychic essence who are akin to his. "In addition, 'he himself believed, and all his household' is said with reference to the order of angels and the human beings who are akin to him (i.e. the Demiurge)." (Herakleon Fragment 40). The grateful Demiurge allies himself with Christ and becomes the prototype of the redeemed souldominated human being. Ptolemy similarly claims that the Demiurge "hastened to joined himself to him (Jesus) with all his strength." According to Ptolemy, the Demiurge "is the centurion mentioned in the Gospel, who addressed the Savior in these words: 'For I also am one having soldiers and servants under my authority; and whatsoever I command they do'" (Against Heresies 1:7:4 cf. Matthew 8:9). The Demiurge receives the partial instruction into the teaching of Jesus that is appropriate for the soul-dominated. He had "continued in a state of ignorance until the coming of the Lord. When the Savior came, he learned all things from him" (Against Heresies 1:7:4). Another Valentinian source describes the instruction of the Demiurge by Sophia. According to this author, "The Demiurge was taught by Sophia (Wisdom) that he is not God alone, as he imagined, with none other existing apart from him. Taught by Sophia, he recognized the higher (Deity). For he was instructed by her, and initiated and indoctrinated into the great mystery of the Father and of the Aeons, and he disclosed it to none" (Refutation of Heresies 6:31) At the end of the world, the Demiurge and the souls that have been saved will receive their reward outside of the Pleroma, in the Eighth heaven. According to Ptolemy, "the Demiurge himself will pass into the place of his mother Sophia (Wisdom) i.e. the Middle. And the souls of the just too will gain repose in the Place of the Middle. For nothing of the soul goes inside the Fullness" (Against Heresies 1:7:1 cf. also 1:7:5, Excerpts of Theodotus 34:2, 63:1, Gospel of Philip 84:29-85:1) Until that time, the Demiurge "will continue administering the affairs of the world as long as that is fitting and needful, and specially that he may exercise a care over the Church; while at the same time he is influenced by the knowledge of the reward prepared for him, namely, that he may attain to the place of the Mother"(Against Heresies 1:7:4). As we have amply demonstrated, the Demiurge in Valentinianism is quite different in character from the hostile Ialdabaoth familiar from the Sethian school. The Demiurge acts as an intermediary between the higher powers and the material world. The Valentinian view of the world created by the Demiurge is also quite different. According to Valentinian teaching, the world is created to aid the spiritual element to return to the Fullness (pleroma). Its creation was necessitated by the primordial fall into deficiency and suffering. The Figure of Error in the Gospel of Truth Introduction The Gospel of Truth is one of the most important Valentinian works discovered as part of the Nag Hammadi cache. The work is not a gospel in the sense of an account of the deeds and sayings of Jesus. Instead it represents an extended homily or meditation on the gospels and on Christ. Many scholars consider it to be the work of Valentinus himself. The opening paragraphs of the Gospel of Truth describe the primordial fall and the origin of the material universe in rather vague, euphemistic terms. This "creation tale" contains no explicit references to mythological figures familiar from other Valentinian texts (e.g. Sophia, the demiurge, etc.). However, these passages do refer to a semi-personified "error." This has led some to conclude that a some mythological figure such as the Demiurge or Sophia underlies these references to error. Other scholars have rejected such interpretations. The competing theories will be examined and evaluated on the basis of the text itself and relevant parallels from other Valentinian sources. The Competing Interpretations The concept of error (Greek plane) plays a central role throughout in the Gospel of Truth. In several passages near the beginning of the work, error is refered to in a semi-personfied manner. One group of scholars suggests that "error" in these opening passages of the work refers the figure of Sophia familiar from other Valentinian texts. For example

Simone Petrement (1990) and Attridge and McRae (1988, p 38) both link error to Sophia. Theories identifying error with Sophia can easily be discounted. For example, later in the text error is linked to the crucifixion of Jesus (18:2131). The text also speaks of error's destruction (26:15-32). This is at odds with any known Gnostic myth of Sophia, particularly a Valentinian one. Another group of scholars interpret error to be a reference to the Demiurge. For example, Kurt Rudolph argues that "presumably the 'passions' are circumlocutions for things which are abundantly described in mythological terms, for example 'error' as an image of the demiurge..." (Rudolph 1983, pp. 83-84). Hans Jonas also interprets this passage in a similar manner (Jonas 1963, p. 190). As we shall see, this theory also has some insurmountable problems. Last of all, some scholars have identified error to be a reference to the Valentinian devil (diabolos) or world-ruler (cosmocrator) (cf. Against Heresies 1:5:4). According to Helderman (1981), error "far more clearly resembles the Valentinian Kosmokrator or diabolos." The same position is also held by Menard (1972). As we shall see, this theory has some support in the Gospel of Truth as well as related texts. Due to problems with the above theories, some have suggested that error represents various combinations of the above mythological figures. For example, David Dawson (1992) suggests that error represents both the Demiurge and Sophia! In his view, Valentinus has "simplified the Gnostic narrative by assimilating characters, replacing Ialdabaoth and Sophia with 'Error'" (Dawson 1992, p 146). This position represents something of a cheat and will not be considered separately. Many of the arguments we will consider in regards to identification of error with either figure individually also apply here. Other scholars have cast doubt on claims that any mythological figures can be read into the text. For example, Robert Haardt argues that in the Gospel of Truth, "the Sophia myth, (and) the figure of the Demiurge, her son...are lacking..." (Haardt 1971, pp. 207-208). Bentley Layton agrees that the Gospel of Truth "makes no specific reference to the gnostic myth" (Layton 1987, p 250). Similar conclusions are also reached by Williams (1988) in her monumental work on this text. Indeed as we will demonstrate in this article, error seems to be used in the Gospel of Truth as a synonym for the familiar Valentinian concept of "lack" or "deficiency" ( Greek: hysterema). The Origin of "Error" According to the Gospel of Truth In order to investigate competing claims about this work, it is necessary to examine the passage in question in some detail. It is also useful to examine the passage in the context of the work as a whole. The text of the "creation" passage as translated by Layton (1987) is as follows: Inasmuch as the entirety had searched for the one from whom they had emanated, and the entirety was inside of him -the inconceivable uncontained, who is superior to all thought - ignorance of the Father caused agitation and fear. And the agitation grew dense like a fog, so that no one could see. Thus error found strength and labored at her matter in emptiness. Without having learned to know the truth, she took up residence in a modeled form (a material body), preparing by means of the power, in beauty, a substitute for the truth. Now to the inconceivable uncontained this was not humiliating; for the agitation and fear and the modeled form (material body) of deception were as nothing, whereas established truth is unchangeable, imperturbable, and cannot be beautified. For this reason despise error since she has no root. She dwelt in a fog as regards the Father, preparing, while she dwelt there, products and forgetfulnesses and fears, so that by them she might beguile those of the middle and take them captive. (16:31-17:36) This so-called "creation" passage opens with a description of how all of the divine emanations ("the entirety") lie within the father yet are somehow ignorant of him. As a result they began to search for him. Their ignorance of the Father leads to "agitation and fear". In a parallel account later in the text, the author describes how the Father "was the object of fear, and disturbance and instability and indecisiveness and division, there was much futility at work among them and much empty ignorance" (29:1-8). The fall is described in similar terms in another Valentinian text: "Instead of perfection, he saw a defect; instead of unification, he saw division; instead of stability, he saw disturbances; instead of rests, tumults" (Tripartite Tractate 80:15-19). Ignorance of the Father in all cases results in "fear" as well as "agitation" or "disturbance." The agitation resulting from the futile quest for the father is described as being "dense like a fog so no one could see" (17:11-13). Elsewhere in the text, it is described as being like when "one falls asleep and finds oneself in the midst of nightmares" (29:8-11). This "fog" results in the appearance of error or perhaps is error. Other parts of the text also describe how error arises because of ignorance of the Father. One passage describes how the Aeons "had swerved after accepting error because of the Depth of him who surrounds every way, while nothing surrounds him (i.e. the Father)" (22:20-32). According another passage, the unknowability of the Father (i.e. his "depth") led them to sin "in the midst of their error" (32:36-37). They are those "who had gone astray from the presence of certain others, who fell short of mercy, in error and bondage" (31:23-26). Parallels with other texts It is worthwhile comparing this description of the fall to accounts in other Valentinian works. One important difference is that in the Gospel of Truth, the Aeons as a group are described as having strayed into error. In conventional Valentinianism, only the twelfth Aeon, Sophia falls into error. For example, according to the teacher Marcus, "an error occurred in connection with the twelfth number" i.e. Sophia (Against Heresies 1:16:1). According to the account of Ptolemy, "Sophia (Wisdom), the very last and youngest of the Twelve emitted by Humanity and Truth, plunged forward and fell victim to suffering without the embrace of her consort...This suffering consisted of a search

for the Father. It was her wish to grasp his greatness, which she was unable to do because she had involved herself in an impossible undertaking. And she suffered great distress owing to the greatness, depth and inscrutability of the Father and her love for him"(Against Heresies 1:2:2) It is noteworthy that just as in the Gospel of Truth, the catalyst for the fall is the "search for the Father." The Aeons are assumed to be ignorant of the Father and it is their misguided wish to understand him that leads to disaster. In Ptolemy's account, Sophia's ignorance of the Father leads to "suffering." Similarly, the ignorance of Aeons in the Gospel of Truth leads to "agitation and fear." Sophia's suffering is regarded by Ptolemy as the origin of matter. The account in the Tripartite Tractate (74:18f) is also extrememly relevant here. The Tripartite Tractate similarly describes how the Logos (i.e. Sophia) fails in his quest to find the Father. According to this text, the Sophia-Logos "did not reach the attainment of the glories of the Father, the one whose exalted status is among things unlimited. This one did not attain him." Instead, the Sophia-Logos brought forth "that which was deficient in itself" corresponding to the sufferings described by Ptolemy. This took the form of a false reality in the form of "likenesses, copies, shadows, and phantasms, lacking reason and the light, these which belong to the vain thought, since they are not products of anything." The Tripartite Tractate goes on to describe how "the Logos (i.e. Sophia) was a cause of those who came into being and he continued all the more to be at a loss and he was astonished. Instead of perfection, he saw a defect; instead of unification, he saw division; instead of stability, he saw disturbances; instead of rests, tumults. Neither was it possible for him to make them cease from loving disturbance, nor was it possible for him to destroy it. He was completely powerless, once his totality and his exaltation abandoned him" What is noteworthy is that in the Tripartite Tractate as in the Gospel of Truth, the fall results in "disturbances" and "tumults" which have an energy and a false reality of their own. This false reality belongs to the Sophia-Logos' "vain thought" or "arrogance" much as the false reality in the Gospel of Truth belongs to the "error" of the Aeons. This primordial chaos corresponds to matter which according to the Tripartite Tractate was later formed into the visible world by the Demiurge. Is "error" the Demiurge? Is it possible that "error" in the Gospel of Truth represents a direct reference to the Demiurge? It is clear that error is closely associated in some manner with matter. According to the text in the Gospel of Truth, error "labored at her matter in emptiness"(17:15-16). However, it is far from clear that this refers to the formation of the material world by the Demiurge. It could instead refer to the generation of matter itself. According to other Valentinian accounts, matter is generated when Sophia fall into a state of deficiency before the Demiurge even appears on the scene. It is just as credible to relate this passage to that event as it is to the subsequent shaping of matter into the world by the Demiurge. The following sentence describes how error "took up residence in a modeled form"(17:17). The use of the term "modeled form" (plasma) seems to indicate that the passage is a reference to Adam. According to Bentley Layton's (1987) notes on his translation of the text, the term modelled form is "Jewish and Christian jargon for the human body, based on the fact that the creator modeled Adam out of earth." Thus, according to the text, error itself is present within Adam's body! This passage presents a major stumbling block to the theory that error is the Demiurge. In authentic accounts of the Demiurge, heis described as creating Adam's "modeled form" (e.g. Reality of the Rulers 87:26-88:3). Here, rather than creating the "modeled form," error is instead is described as taking up residence in it! This is at odds with the role played by the Demiurge in Gnosticism in general and Valentinianism in particular i.e. creation of Adam's body. The only way to maintain the theory that error is the Demiurge is to reject Layton's translation of this passage. However, three of the four major translations of this text phrase this sentence in a very similar manner to Layton (Grant 1961 pp. 146-161 and Foerster 1974 pp. 53-70). This leaves the Demiurge theory in very serious trouble (despite all the arm-waving by some on Usenet). "Error" as lack A less simplistic but ultimately more satisfying explanation is possible. Helderman (1981) argues that error represents the "state of consciousness of the Aeons/Pneumatics." A similar interpretation is also advocated by Bentley Layton (1987). He argues that in the Gospel of Truth, "the figures and events of myth are psychological." Stevan Davies (1989) similarly argues that while error is in reality present in the minds of the Aeons, they falsely perceive it as external to themselves much as they falsely perceive a material creation external to themselves. It is an "illusory self" which is "projected out and externalized" when in truth there is no reality outside of the self (Davies 1989). These three scholars agree that to the extent that error can be seen as a mythological figure, it should be understood as the psychological force which is active in the fallen Aeons. This has strong support in the text. The fallen Aeons are those who had "swerved after accepting error" (22:20) and who sinned "in the midst of their error" (32:36-37). In other Valentinian texts, this psychological force acting within the fallen Aeon Sophia is ussually termed "lack" or "deficiency" (Greek hysterema). In a few cases it is termed "error" (e.g. Against Heresies 1:16:1). Valentinians identify lack with matter and the material body and argue that lack is destroyed by the advent of gnosis. It is our contention that "error" is simply a synonym for "lack". This would not be surprising considering the similarity in meaning between the two terms. A strong case can be made for this interpretation if it can be shown that: 1. the terms "error" and "lack" are used interchangeably in the Gospel of Truth 2. error (like lack) is closely identified with matter and the physical body

3. error (like lack) is destroyed by the advent of gnosis (or truth) This theory has strong support within the text itself. Error is the state into which the straying Aeons have fallen. They have "swerved after accepting error" (22:20-32). They are the ones who "sinned in the midst of their error" (32:36-37). They are those "who had gone astray from the presence of certain others, who fell short of mercy, in error and bondage" (31:23-26). The fact that at times error is semi-personified does not necessitate reading a mythological entity such as the Demiurge into the text. Personified "error" can simply be seen as a metaphor for (non-personified) error or deficiency. Such a personification of "error" or "foolishness" is a common metaphor in ancient writings (see Helderman 1981). In almost every case, it is contrasted with "truth" or "wisdom." That's exactly what we see here. Error acts "without having learned to know the truth" (17:18) and represents a "substitute for the truth"(17:20). The identity of lack and error is supported in many passages where the two seem to be used interchangeably. Error arises because the Aeons did not know the Father. They "accepted error" because of the Father's "depth" i.e. his unknowability (22:20f). Similarly , "lack came into being because the Father was not known" (24:28-32). Both "error" and "lack" are described as coming into being because the Aeons did not know the Father. Surely this is no coincidence. According to the "creation tale," the material realm is in some manner is intimately associated with error. According to the text, it is "her (i.e. error's) matter" (17:16f). Elsewhere the text describes how "the realm of appearance which belongs to the lack is the world" (24:22-24). Thus the material realm is said to belong to both error and lack further supporting the hypothesis that the two are interchangeable. There is further confirmation of this from elsewhere in the text. According to one passage, "the lack belonging to the realm of matter did not result from the infinity of the Father...rather the Father's Depth is immense and it is not with him that the thought of error resides"(35:8-18). Note that the "lack belonging to the realm of matter" is described as the "thought of error." Again note the intimate association of matter, error and lack. In a notable parallel, the teacher Theodotus speaks of the realm of matter as "the thought of the deficiency" (Excepts of Theodotus 22:7). As is normal in Valentinian thought, the Gospel of Truth describes an intimate association between matter and lack. What is is noteworthy that the same intimate relationship is said to exist between matter and error. According Valentinian myth, the lack expresses itself as the negative emotional states (sufferings) experienced by the fallen Aeon Sophia such as grief, fear and confusion. These negative emotional states are the origin of matter. In the Gospel of Truth, error is similarly said to produce negative emotional states such as "forgetfulness", "fear" and "agitation" in those subject to it. As in other Valentinian texts, these mental states seem to be the basis of matter. As the text says, these emotional states became solidified into matter when "the agitation grew dense like a fog, so that no one could see" (17:11-12). As discussed above, the sentence that describes how "error found strength and labored at her matter in emptiness" (17:14-16) can thus be understood to refer to the creation of matter itself. Error/lack both creates and is matter. The presence of error within Adam's material body (i.e. modeled form") is not difficult to explain in light of this theory. In a parallel account of the creation of Adam's body, Valentinus describes "the lack (hysterema) within the act of modeling" of Adam (Valentinus Fragment 5/D). Like error, "lack" is said to be present within Adam's "modeled form." The close identity of the fallen state ("lack" or "error") with matter is typical of Valentinianism. The "error" or "lack" present in the modeled form is simply matter itself. The teacher Herakleon similarly describes the material body as "the deep matter (hyle) of error" (Herakleon Fragment 23). Another source describes how "mankind were involved in great ignorance and error" which can be seen as matter itself (Against Heresies 1:15:2). The line where "error" is said to "beguile those of the middle and take them captive" (17:34-36) also provides further evidence that the Demiurge theory is incorrect. In Valentinian jargon, "those of the middle" refers to ordinary Christians i.e. those who are already subject to the Demiurge (Layton 1987, Against Heresies 1:8:3). The Demiurge would have no need to take captive those who are already subject to him. A simple explanation is possible. The presence of error or deficiency within Adam and his descendants (i.e. "those of the middle") results in "products and forgetfulnesses and fears" which may "take them captive." The Gospel of Philip contains a significant parallel here. That work describes how ignorance is the "root of evil which is within" each of us (Gospel of Philip 83:19-20). According to this text, "if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces its fruit in our heart. It dominates us; we are its slaves. It takes us captive, so that we do things that we do not want; and do not do the things we want. And it grows powerful because we do not recognize it." (Gospel of Philip 83:24-28). Like error, ignorance is the root of evil that resides within us. And like error, it "grows powerful" and "takes us captive" if we are ignorant of it. In his study of the Gospel of Truth, Jan Helderman (1981) suggests that if it is necessary to identify error with a Valentinian theological figure, a far better candidate than the Demiurge is the Valentinian devil or "ruler of the world" (cf. Against Heresies 1:5:4). Like error, the devil (diabolos, literally "deceiver") is the personification of matter and ignorance. The Gospel of Truth does mention the devil using terms that closely resemble those applied elsewhere to error. Near the end of the Gospel of Truth, the author advises the elect: "Do not become a (dwelling) place of the devil, for you have already brought him to nothing" (33:19-22). The author cautions the elect who have already purged themselves of error against again becoming a dwelling place of "the devil." Note that the text assumes that fallen human beings are a dwelling place for "the devil." This can be brought into connection with claims that error resides in the modeled form of fallen human beings.

This connection between the devil and error is supported by Valentinus' disciple Herakleon. According to him, "the devil has no will, but only desires...his nature is not of the Truth, but the opposite to the Truth: error and ignorance. Therefore he can neither stand in Truth, nor have the Truth in himself. From his nature he has falsehood as his own, and by nature he can never speak the Truth. Not only is he himself a liar, but he is also falsehood's father. His 'father' means his nature, since it is composed of error and falsehood" (Herakleon Fragment 46-47). It is noteworthy that Herakleon explicitly identifies the devil but not the Demiurge with error. Error is described in the Gospel of Truth as contemptible because it has "no root"(17:29-30). In this work, rootlessness is related to impermanence. In the view of the author, "what has no root also has no fruit: truly, although it may think to itself 'I have come into being,' next it will wither of its own accord" (28:16-23) Only things that have a root in the Father are permanent and bear "fruit". All else is ultimately "empty" i.e. it has no true existence. Forgetfulness and the Downfall of Error The passage following the "creation tale" is also of some interest. It concerns error and its ultimate downfall through the activity of Christ: The forgetfulness which belongs to error is not apparent. It is not [...] with the Father. It was not in the Father's company that forgetfulness arose, and surely then not because of him! Rather, what comes into being within him is acquaintance, which appeared so that forgetfulness might perish and the Father might come to be known. Inasmuch as forgetfulness arose because the Father was unknown, from the moment the Father comes to be known, there will no longer be forgetfulness. It is to the perfect that this, the proclamation of the one they search for has made itself known, through the mercies of the Father. By this the hidden mystery Jesus Christ shed light on those who were, because of forgetfulness, in darkness. He enlightened them and gave them a way, and the way is the truth, about which he instructed them. For this reason, error became angry at him and persecuted him. She was constrained by him and became inactive. He was nailed to a tree and became the fruit of the Father's acquaintance. Yet it did not cause ruin because it was eaten. Rather, to those who ate of it, it gave the possibility that whoever he discovered within himself might be joyful in the discovery of him. (17:36-18:31) Like lack, forgetfulness, seems to be used more or less interchangeably with error. The first paragraph of this passage includes a retelling of the myth of the fall. However, instead of error, the text describes how "forgetfulness" arose "because the Father was not known." (18:8-10) In a related passage, a "modeled form" is attributed to forgetfulness (21:34-37). It seems natural to connect the modeled form of forgetfulness with that attributed to error above (17:17). The sentence describing the dissolution of forgetfulness has a very close parallel elsewhere in the text. The dissolution of lack is described using almost the same words: "Inasmuch as the lack came into being because the Father was not known, from the moment the Father is known the lack will not exist." (24:28-32). In a related passage discussed previously, the text describes how those who remain in ignorance are the "modeled form" of forgetfulness which will perish along with it (21:34-37). The second paragraph begins with an account of how Christ "shed light on those who were, because of forgetfulness, in darkness" (18:17-20). He gives them "a way" which is the truth. This can be related to a passage which occurs shortly after this one. It describes how Christ "has brought many back from error, going before them unto their ways from which they had swerved after accepting error because of the Depth of him who surrounds every way, while nothing surrounds him (i.e. the Father)" (22:20-32) Those who have fallen have strayed from the way of the truth because they have "accepted error" in their search for the one "who surrounds every way." Note that error is not a personification in this passage. As in the creation account above, error arises because of the ignorance of the Aeons. It represents the fallen state into which the Aeons have strayed because of their search for the Father. The text ascribes the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus by the Roman authorities to error. According to the text, "error became angry at him and persecuted him"(18:16-18). Similarly, the Tripartite Tractate describes how those "who are from the order of the 'left' have a path to error: not only did they deny the Lord and plot evil against him, but also toward the Church did they direct their hatred and envy and jealousy" (Tripartite Tractate 122:2-9). Once again it is "error," or rather, those on the "path to error" who are held responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. The Gospel of Truth goes on to compare the cross to the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. In contrast to the tree in the Garden of Eden, the cross bears the "fruit of the Father's acquaintance" (i.e. Christ) which gives the discovery of the Father to those who eat of it (18:24-31). The original tree resulted in error taking up residence in those who ate of it while the new tree brings truth and acquaintance (gnosis). The passage describes how as a result of the truth brought by Christ, error was "constrained by him and became inactive." (1822-23). A more detailed account of the dissolution of error occurs later in the text. It would be useful to examine it at this point: All the ways moved and were disturbed, for they had neither basis nor stability; and error became excited, not knowing what to do; she was troubled, mourned, and cried out that she understood nothing, inasmuch as acquaintance, which meant the destruction of her and all her emanations had drawn near to her. Error is empty, with nothing inside of her. Truth came forward, all its emanations recognized it and they saluted the Father in truth and power so perfect that it set them in harmony with the Father. (26:15-32) This passage can be related to the passage discussed above. Error's anger is related to the fear that the advent of the truth brought by Christ will bring about its destruction. The language used here to describe error has some close parallels in accounts of the fallen spiritual element. According to those accounts, the fallen spiritual element like error

"understood nothing..." (AH 1:4:1). As a result of the fall of the spiritual element into deficiency, "she suffered grief because she had not understood, fear lest life leave her as light had; uncertainty at all of these; and everything in lack of acquaintance" (AH 1:4:1). Error is not identical with the fallen spiritual element. To the contrary, the fallen spiritual element which has "accepted error" experiences lack of understanding and emotional turmoil as a result. As described elsewhere, "the Father's Depth is immense and it is not with him that the thought of error resides. It (the thought of error) is a fallen thing that can easily be made upright through the discovery of him who came to that which he would bring back" (35:14-21) The passage describes error as "empty". Elsewhere error is said to be active in "emptiness" (17:17). The appearance of Truth which is fullness (pleroma) results in the dissolution of error and her "emanations" (i.e. matter). This passage can be brought into close connection with the passages where the related abstractions of forgetfulness and lack are said to cease to exist when the Father become known (18:7-10, 24:28-32). Similarly the Devil is "brought to nothing" by those who have gnosis (33:19-22). Freed from error, the emanations of Truth are set in "harmony with the Father."(26:32). They are also freed of matter which is destroyed along with error. Like error, matter is ultimately "empty" or unreal with "nothing inside of it" (26:26-27).The text describes how matter is destroyed by gnosis: "all will purify themselves out of multiplicity into unity, consuming matter within themselves as fire, and darkness by light and death by life " (25:13-18). Matter, like error, simply goes up in a puff of smoke like a bad dream in the presence of truth and gnosis. Conclusion In conclusion, it seems apparent that the terms error, lack, and forgetfulness are used more or less interchangeably in this text. The text describes how the spiritual emanations or Aeons are initially in ignorance about the Father. They attempted to search for their origin but this only led them to fall into lack/error/forgetfulness. Error/lack/forgetfulness is essentially identical with matter and the "realm of appearance." The Father is eventually made known through the intercession of the Son. From the moment the truth becomes known, error/lack/forgetfulness ceases to exist. In addition, the "form" of lack/error/forgetfulness i.e. matter and the material body is also destroyed. Using constantly shifting metaphors, the Gospel of Truth describes a myth of how the spiritual element falls into error and is eventually restored to gnosis by Christ. However, the mythological figures familiar from other Valentinian texts are wholly absent in this text. Instead, as Bentley Layton puts it, in the Gospel of Truth, "the figures and events of myth are psychological . . . the underlying dynamic of Gnostic myth (fullness--lack--recapture of the lacked) is reapplied microcosmically, at the level of the individual Christian." (Layton 1987, pp250-251). Valentinus describes what he regards as the essential features of his teachings without clothing them in the mythological language he and his followers often used. The Valentinian View of the Creation Introduction The Valentinians had a very distincitive view of the material creation. Unlike other Gnostics, they saw the creation of the material world as part of the process of redemption. It was seen as instrumental in the destruction of the deficiency and the restoration of the fallen spiritual element to the divine fullness (pleroma). This viewpoint had certain ethical consequences which serve to further distinguish them from their Gnostic contemporaries. The Fall and the Emanation of the Three Substances In the Valentinian view, human beings consist of three components. Each person has a material body, an animating soul, and a spirit. Similarly, the cosmos itself is viewed as having a tripartite structure. It too is said to consist of spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche) and matter (hyle).Valentinians trace this tripartite structure back to the origin of the cosmos. According to their creation myth, the cosmos has its origins from the fall and redemption of the divine emanation (Aeon) Sophia or "Wisdom". Sophia attempted to know the Father through thinking alone and as a result she was excluded from the divine Fullness (pleroma) and fell into ignorance and suffering. She repented of her actions and began to plead for assistance. The Father had mercy on her and sent Christ to her and she attained knowledge (gnosis) of the Father. Sophia's fall, repentance and redemption are said by Valentinian writers to give rise to the three constituents of the universe. Matter (hyle) is said to originate from her suffering, soul (psyche) from her repentance, and spirit (pneuma) from her gnosis (Against Heresies 1:2:3, 1:4:1-5, 1:5:4 cf. also Refutation of Heresies 6:25-27, Excerpts of Theodotus 43:2-46:1, etc.). Spirit is destined to attain salvation and reenter the presence of God along with Christ and Sophia. Matter or the "left" has no share in salvation and is dissolved by gnosis. Soul or the "right" is intermediate between matter and spirit and is characterized by free will and is capable of partial salvation (Excerpts of Theodotus 56:3). The Valentinian view of matter seems to indicate a fundamentally pessimistic view of material existence. However, as we shall see, this is far from the whole story. The Creation During her fall and redemption by Christ, Sophia gave rise to unformed spiritual substance (pneuma). She was unable to form it herself. Therefore she was required to find a place for it to grow to maturity. This place is the material world. Thus in Valentinian thought, the creation of the world is instrumental in the process of redemption. As Hans Jonas (1963) succinctly puts it, "this fruit of hers had therefore to pass into and through the world to be 'informed' in its course. The Demiurge is an unwitting instrument in this process".

As Jonas indicates, Sophia was not regarded as having created the world directly. Rather she acted through the Demiurge and the lower powers. The Demiurge mediates between Sophia and matter in much the same way that the soul mediates between the spirit and matter within the individual person and allows the creation of the material world. The Demiurge is "the god through whom she (Sophia) made the heaven and the earth (Excerpts of Theodotus 47:2). Sophia "uses him as a hand, to beautify and work on the things below"(Tripartite Tractate 100:31-33). Though him she shaped matter into an image of the Fullness in order to provide a place for the seed to "grow and increase in it, and so become suitable for the reception of perfect Word" (Against Heresies 1:5:6). Note that the substance of the world (i.e. matter) is viewed negatively but its form contains images of pleroma and thus makes it suitable place for the seed to grow to maturity. The ultimate purpose of this process is the creation of human beings (Tripartite Tractate 104:18-30). Sophia used the Demiurge to create human beings consisting of a material body and a soul. Into each soul she sows the spiritual seed. Thus every human being is a microcosm consisting of all three substances: matter, soul and spirit (Against Heresies 1:5:6, Excerpts of Theodotus 53:2, Valentinian Exposition 37, Tripartite Tractate 105:29-35). Purpose of the Creation The human body is created in order to serve as a vessel in which the spiritual seed will grow to maturity. This is the main purpose of the Demiurge. According to Ptolemy, the spiritual element "was secretly deposited in him (the Demiurge), so that it might be sown by him into the soul that comes from him and into this material body; might be carried by these (as it were by a pregnant woman), and increase; and might become ready for the reception of the perfect Word" (Against Heresies 1:5:6). As Herakleon says, it is the Demiurge and "the angels of the dispensation, through whom - as mediators - it (the seed) was sown and brought up" (Herakleon Fragment 36). The seed is "being trained and nourished here since it was sent out in immaturity, but was later deemed worthy of perfection" (Against Heresies 1:7:5). As the Tripartite Tractate says, "the entire preparation of the adornment of the images and representations and likenesses, have come into being because of those who need education and teaching and formation, so that the smallness might grow, little by little, as through a mirror image. For it was for this reason that he created mankind at the end, having first prepared and provided for him the things which he had created for his sake" (TriTract 104:18-30). The world has been formed into an image of the Pleroma and human being were created to serve as a vessel in which the seed may attain to maturity. Valentinians believed that the spiritual "fruit of hers (i.e. Sophia) had therefore to pass into and through the world to be 'informed' in its course" (Jonas 1963). The attaining of maturity by the seed is linked to it receiving form. The seeds are described as "immature" or "unformed" when sent out for "training" in the world. According to Ptolemy, "the spiritual substance has been sent forth so that it might be formed by being coupled with the animate (psychic) and learning along with it during its time of residence in this place" (Irenaeus Against Heresies 1:6:1). Similarly, according to Theodotus, "From the three species (sown in humanity) there takes place both the formation of the spiritual substance and the changing of the substance of soul from slavery to freedom." (Excerpts of Theodotus 57:1). Herakleon describes how Christ comes to "harvest" the souls of believers. He says, "The harvest is of the souls of believers. They are already ripe, ready for harvest, and suitable for being gathered into the barn, that is, through faith into rest, all those who are ready. For they are not all ready. Some were already ready, some were on the point of being ready, some are near to being ready, and some are still being sown" (Her Frag 32). Through the activity of Christ, the seed "is being gradually given form through knowledge (gnosis)" (Excerpts of Theodotus 59:1). Furthermore, "so long as the seed is unformed, it is a child of female (alone). But when it is formed, it becomes male and becomes a bridegroom's attendant. No longer weak and subject to the cosmic powers, visible and invisible, but, having become (joined to the) male, it becomes an imperishable fruit" (Excerpts of Theodotus 79:1). Other Valentinian sources describe this process in a slightly different manner. As described above, matter is identical with the fallen state or "deficiency." The material body into which each seed is sown represents their share of "deficiency" or "death". This is what Valentinus refers to when he addresses the elect: "From the beginning you have been immortal and you are children of eternal life. And you wanted death to be allocated to yourselves so that you might spend it and use it up, and that death might die in you and through you. For when you nullify the world and are not yourselves annihilated, you are lord over creation and all corruption" (Valentinus Fragment 4). The matter of which the world was formed is regarded as identical with ignorance or "death". By entering the world, the seeds each are allocated a share of death or deficiency. It is their mission to "spend" and "use up" their share of death and thereby "nullify the world." Gnosis represents the destuction of lack and therefore of matter. As Valentinus elsewhere describes, "Inasmuch as the lack came into being because the Father was not known, from the moment the Father is known, the lack will not exist...lack passes away in completion, and so from that moment on, the realm of appearance is no longer manifest but will pass away in the harmony of unity...It is by acquaintance (gnosis) that all will purify themselves out of multiplicity into unity, consuming matter within themselves as fire" (Gospel of Truth 24:28-25:19). Just as the Demiurge created our material bodies out of matter or dust (chous), the gnosis brought by Christ removes the matter or dust from us. Theodotus describes how Christ aids us in the desctuction of our inner ignorance or "dust" (chous). According to him, "When the Savior came, he awakened the soul, but kindled the spark...And after the resurrection when he breathed his spirit into the apostles, he blew away the dust (chous) like ashes and removed it, but he kindled and made alive the spark." (Excerpts of Theodotus 3:1-2) Theodotus compares our reception of Christ's spirit to blowing on the embers of a fire. The Holy Spirit removes the "dust" or ignorance and awakens the spiritual spark.

Thus the creation can be understood as a mechanism by which lack and matter are gradually destroyed. As each person attains to gnosis, the lack and matter within them is destroyed and the universe is one step closer to reintegration with the pleroma. Eventually all of the ignorance will be used up and the world will be destroyed. As Ptolemy says, "the end is supposed to come when every spiritual element has been formed and perfected in acquaintance (gnosis)" (Against Heresies 1:6:1). Once all the ignorance will has been "used up", the matter of which the world is composed will cease to exist. According to Ptolemy, "The fire which is hidden in the world will blaze up and ignite, annihilate all matter, and consume itself also at the same time, and pass into nothingness" (Against Heresies 1:7:1 cf 1:6:1). With the deficiency eliminated, Sophia along with the seed will be readmited to the divine pleroma (Against Heresies 1:7:1 cf Excerpts of Theodotus 64:1). As Ptolemy says, "what leads them to the Fullness is the seed which was sent forth from there before it was mature, but attained to perfection here" (Against Heresies 1:6:4) Consequences This view of the world is not without ethical consequences. Entering the world is viewed positively in Valentinianism. It was seen as a necessary step towards receiving gnosis and returning to the pleroma. With this in mind, Valentinian teachers vigorously defended marriage and raising children. Ptolemy, an important teacher of the Valentinian school at Rome says of marriage: "Whoever has been in the world and has not loved a woman in such a way as to unite himself with her (i.e. marry her) is not from the Truth and will not attain to the Truth"! (Against Heresies 1:6:4). Similarly, the teacher Theodotus argues that marriage and rearing children "is indispensable for the salvation of those who believe for this child-bearing is essential until the previously reckoned seed is brought forth" (Excerpts of Theodotus 67:2-3). It is quite easy to see that the Valentinian view on marriage is a logical consequence of their teaching on the creation. If entering the world is the path to salvation for the spiritual element then the means by which this occurs (i.e marriage and child-bearing) must be viewed positively. For this reason Clement of Alexandria saw the Valentinians as allies against those who reject marriage (Stromata 3:1) despite his opposition to other aspects of their theology. Such an attitude towards marriage and childbirth sharply contrasts with other Gnostics who condemned marriage and child-bearing. Those Gnostics who rejected marriage and reproduction saw the created world in purely negative terms as the end results of the fall. Valentinians in contrast saw the creation of the world as part of the process of redemption and consequently had a less negative view towards it. Rather than being the nadir of the fall into ignorance, the creation is the way back from the fall. It is created specifically as a place for the spiritual seeds to attain to gnosis. The attainment of gnosis also corresponds to the destruction of ignorance and lack as well as their concrete manifestation i.e. matter. Thus the world is also a mechanism for the destruction of ignorance and matter. Valentinians agreed with Plato that the form of the created world preserved the image of the ideal realm (the pleroma). For this reason they rarely criticisize the form of the world. Instead most of their criticism is focused on the world's material substance. In their view, the matter of which the world is formed is condensed or solidified deficiency and suffering. Thus while the world preserves the image of the pleroma, it is inevitably deficient on account of its substance. Valentinians could therefore appreciate that which was beautiful about the world while criticisizing that which was ugly. Conclusion The view of the created world is quite different in Valentinianism than in most other forms Gnosticism. According to Valentinian teaching, the world is created to aid the spiritual element to return to the Fullness (pleroma). Its creation was necessitated by the primordial fall into ignorance and suffering. While the Valentinian view of the world is not altogether positive, it resulted in a positive view of marriage and reproduction.