Valentinus

(second century)

   Theologian and Sect Founder.

   Valentinus was born in Egypt and he was said to be a pupil of Theodas, a student of paul. He lived in Rome in the middle years of the second century, but, after failing to become a Bishop, he left the Church. Although it is now lost, he was the author of an influential systematic theology. He taught that only his followers, the ‘spiritual men’, can have true knowledge of Jesus and the spiritual world: ordinary, unenlightened Christians merely achieve a shadowy glimpse of reality and the majority of human beings are simply consigned to perdition. According to Tertullian and Irenaeus, he had a large following who were known as Valentians, amongst whom was the heretic marcus.

   H. Jones, The Gnostic Religion (1963);

   G. Quispel, ‘The original doctrine of Valentinus’, Vigiliae Christianae, i (1947);

   G. Stead, ‘The Valentinian myth of sophia’, Journal of Theological Studies, n.s. xx (1969).