Valentinian

Pages

  • Excerpta ex TheodotoValentinian theological notes preserved by Clement of Alexandria — a window into Gnostic teaching as its adherents understood it.
  • Heracleon - FragmentsFragments from the first known commentary on a canonical gospel — Heracleon's Valentinian reading of John as allegory of the soul's descent and return.
  • Ptolemy - Commentary on JohnPtolemy's Valentinian reading of John's Prologue — the opening verses decoded as a map of the first eight Aeons of the divine Pleroma.
  • Ptolemy - Letter to FloraThe clearest surviving exposition of Valentinian theology — a pastoral letter analysing the Mosaic Law and introducing the Demiurge as an intermediate god.
  • The Interpretation of KnowledgeA Valentinian homily from Nag Hammadi on the unity of the Church as the Body of Christ, pleading against jealousy among believers through a cosmology of fall and redemption.
  • Valentinian Liturgical TextsFragmentary liturgical texts preserving the actual anointing prayers, baptismal theology, and eucharistic thanksgiving of a second-century Valentinian Gnostic community.
  • Valentinus - Fragments and PsalmsThe surviving fragments and psalms of Valentinus, the most influential Gnostic teacher of the second century, preserved only in the hostile works of his opponents.