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The Concept of Pleroma in Gnosticism

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The Concept of Pleroma in Gnosticism THE CONCEPT OF PLEROMA IN GNOSTICISM BY VIOLET MACDERMOT The word Pleroma in Greek literature has a number of meanings con­ nected with ideas of filling up or completing. It means that which fills, and also the fulness of a container, or the fill. Thus it means the comple­ ment of the crew on a ship or the sum of a series of numbers. In the New Testament it is used to mean fulfilment of the law, as in Romans 13. IO, and also fulness as in Ephesians 1.23 and Colossians 2.9, when it relates to the Godhead. These same meanings are given a wider connotation when the word is used by gnostic writers. In Gnosticism, the concept of pleroma is mainly found in the literature relating to the Valentinian school, but it also occurs in writings connected with other sects. The various meanings of the word are confirmed by its use in different contexts in the anti-heretical writings of lrenaeus, Hippolytus and Clement of Alexandria. As a gnostic concept, pleroma is perhaps most useful for the understanding of that aspect of gnostic teaching which deals with self-knowledge. This knowledge is essentially the knowledge of man's divine origin, of his fall in which he lost or forgot his divine status, and finally of the means by which t :s self-knowledge can be regained in order to achieve salvation or redemi)tion. The concept of pleroma as fulness is applied generally in gnosticism to the totality of unmanifest qualities of the Godhead, and also at times to those which are manifest in the universe or in man. In contemporary Hellenistic thought there is a currently found notion that soul qualities in the human world are paralleled by corresponding qualities in the world of the heavens. In the myth of the fall of Sophia from the pleroma, gnosticism elaborates and systematises this idea to show how the human world and the created universe have lost their connection with the divine fulness, and have thus become "deficient". In gnosticism, deficiency has to be seen as the polar opposite of the fulness of pleroma. The concept of pleroma denoting the fulness of all soul qualities or faculties is thus of great importance for conveying the no­ tion of selfhood as both a multiplicity and also a unity. The fall from THE CONCEPT OF PLEROMA IN GNOSTICISM 77 pleroma, according to this gnostic doctrine, is from a state of fulness to one of deficiency; that is to say, for man, from a state of self-knowledge to one of ignorance, from consciousness of his divine origin and nature to unconsciousness. Pleroma differs in meaning from the somewhat similar gnostic con­ cept "All" (t6 1tii11 or TTTH pq), in that pleroma usually means more than merely totality. As fullness, pleroma implies an ordered system cen­ tred round an unknown, ineffable Godhead, usually called the Father. The imagery of the year, subdivided into 12 months and 365 days, is sometimes used to convey the concept of pleroma as an ordered whole. 1 The zodiacal circle with a circumference of 360 degrees and 12 signs, each of 30 degrees, is another symbol of pleroma. 2 The subdivisions of pleroma or aeons, usually 30 or 28 in number, correspond to the number of days in the solar or lunar month; they are given the names of various virtues and qualities. In the account of the Valentinians by Irenaeus, the invisible and spiritual pleroma is divided into three: an ogdoad, a decad and a duodecad of aeons. 1 Sophia, or wisdom, is the last and youngest aeon of the duodecad. 4 According to Hippolytus, there is a system of 28 aeons, consisting of three primary dyads, a decad and a duodecad. Here also Sophia is said to be the twelfth of the twelve aeons. s In this account the aeons bring forth other aeons so that the total finally reaches the perfect number. 6 The ordered fulness of pleroma thus denotes perfection, and in contrast to this concept is the notion of the unordered universe after the fall as deficiency or shapelessness. 1 As well as being an expression of order, pleroma also means the con­ scious unity and identity of its constituent parts. In the Tripartite Trac­ tate, pleroma is the system of aeons brought forth for the sole purpose of giving glory to the Father. This pleromic congregation which is both unity and multiplicity is a self-revelation of the Father, while he himself remains unknown. The begetting of the aeons is described as a process of extension from the Father, so that those who come forth from him ' A Valentinian Exposition NHL Xl.2.30, The Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex (NHS Volume XIII) 246. ' Irenaeus Adv. Haer. I 17.1. • Irenaeus Adv. Haer. I 1.3. • Irenaeus Adv. Haer. I 2.2. ' Hippolytus Ref VI 30.3, 6. ' Hippolytus Ref VI 29.7, 8. ' Irenaeus Adv. Haer. I 4.1; Hippolytus Ref. VI 31.1-6; Clement of Alexandria Exe. ex Theod. 31.4. .
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