VALENTINUS and the GNOSTIKOI* One of the Few Data in the Study Of

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR VALENTINUS AND THE GNOSTIKOI* One of the few data in the study of Gnosticism that always seemed rather certain was the hypothesis that the “mythological Gnosis” as represented by the sect of the Gnostikoi of Irenaeus 1.29, the Apocryphon of John and so many other writings found near Nag Hammadi, preceded the more “philosophical Gnosis” of Valentinus and his pupils.1 Bentley Layton accepted this view and made it the fundamental historical thesis of his book The Gnostic Scriptures.2 According to him Valentinus was a Christian reformer of an already existing gnostic tradition and in fact used a version of this gnostic myth of origins as his main system of orientation. Christoph Markschies has recently challenged this approach to gnostic origins and criticised it in the sharpest possible way.3 He does not deny that all known pupils of Val- entinus were inﬂ uenced by this originally Jewish form of Gnosticism, but he holds that Valentinus himself is an exception to the rule and in fact was nothing but a more or less orthodox, apologetic, Christian theologian like Clement of Alexandria and Origen. In order to prove this assumption, he discusses critically the evidence which seems to point out that Valentinus knew the myth of the Gnostikoi. He has, however, ignored one passage which seems relevant to this problem. Irenaeus quite often mentions the Gnostikoi, mostly together with the Valentinians: according to him they are a separate sect. He never calls other groups, the Valentinians, Marcionites, Basilidians etc. gnostic.4 The use of the word gnostic in a general sense to indicate all sorts of heretics is modern. * Previously published in Vigiliae Christianae 50 (1996) 1–4. 1 Howard M. Jackson, The Lion becomes Man, Atlanta 1985, 22, quotes Ferdinand Christian Baur, Die christliche Gnosis, Tübingen 1835, 171 and Hans Jonas, Gnosis und spätantiker Geist I, Göttingen 19643, 358–362. 2 Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures, New York 1987, XII and XXII. 3 Christoph Markschies, Valentinus Gnosticus?, Tübingen 1992, 405: “Die These B. Laytons, Valentinus sei ein ‘Christlicher Reformer eines klassischen gnostischen Systems gewesen’, kann nicht scharf genug widersprochen werden”. 4 R.A. Lipsius, Die Quellen der ältesten Ketzergeschichte neu untersucht, Leipzig 1875, 191–225. 382 chapter twenty-four Irenaeus never tells us that he had encountered Gnostikoi in his congregation at Lyon. Perhaps he got his information in Rome when he visited pope Eleutherus in 177–178 in his endeavour to intermedi- ate in the Paschal controversy between Rome and Asia Minor. It was in Rome that an adherent of the sect of the Gnostikoi, Marcellina, had seduced many true believers during the episcopacy of Anicetus (155–166).5 The Catholic leaders there knew what they were speaking about: they may have informed the bishop of Lyon. When summarising the doctrine of Valentinus himself as opposed to that of his pupils, Irenaeus observes that the Master had derived the main tenets of his doctrine from the so-called Gnostic heresy and had transformed them into a school of his own (1, 11, 1). And in Adversus haereses, I, 30, 15 he concludes his report on the Gnostikoi in the two preceding chapters with a remarkable passage which demands our special attention and which should be read in the following way: tales quidem secundum eos sententiae sunt, a quibus velut Lernaea hydra, multiplex capitibus fera de Valentini schola generata est. It is true that the editors of Irenaeus in the series Sources Chrétiennes 263/264, Rousseau and Doutreleau, have omitted de in this passage. But their competent critic Sven Lundström has proved that the reading of the manuscripts makes good sense:6 So foolish are the views (of the Gnostikoi), from whom the many-headed serpent,7 just like the Hydra of Lerna, was generated that arose from the school of Valentinus. As Lundström remarks, generata est has sexual connotations. He com- pares Irenaeus, Adversus haereses I, 14, 1 where another Valentinian, Marc the Magician, the only pupil of Colorbasus, one of the leaders of the Oriental School of Valentinianism, is said to be “the womb which conceived the Silence of Colorbasus (vulvam et exceptorium Colorbasi Silentii).” 5 Irenaeus, Adversus haereses I, 25,6: “Unde et Marcellina, quae Romam sub Aniceto venit, cum esset huius doctrinae, multos exterminavit. Gnosticos se autem vocant.” 6 Sven Lundström, Die Überlieferung der lateinischen Irenaeus-Übersetzung, Uppsala 1985, 12. 7 Fera must be the translation of the Greek θηρίον, which often means: serpent. Bauer, Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 361 quotes Acts of the Apostles 28:4, where θηρίονvariates with ἔχιδνα..

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