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Valentinus was one of the best known of the early Gnostic Christian teachers. A probable student of Basilides, Valentinus claimed to be an initiate of secret teachings of the apostle Paul. Valentinus was at one time a candidate forthe office of the Pope- had he won, we might have seen a very different development of the Christian religion.
Valentinus' teachings included a doctrine of emanations, specifically, that the pleroma (godhead) was composed of thirty emanations (male-female pairs), or aeons, the last of which was Sophia, the mother of the Demiurge Ialdabaoth.* The role of Christ in Valentinian thought was as the redeemer of Sophia, who was trapped outside of the pleroma, within the world of delusion. Christ is not human nor God in the usual sense, but the logos, or intelligent, penetrating energy of god.
It was Valentinus' teachings on the importance of sacred sex and the marriage-bed, however, which have had the most lasting effect. According to his doctrine, the aeons existed in sexual pairs, and Valentinus' followers imitated this divine sexual congress. It was Valentinian celebrations at the time of the Luperclia that bequeathed to us the modertn love-holiday, Valentine's day.
*In Valentinian thought, the demiurge is not so much creator as created- he is the stumbling block, the god that "knows no higher than itself," our own concept of god, a reflection of the ego.
Related Resources:
- Gnosticism
A belief system with a unique worldview, Gnosticism is both an ancient Pagan religion and an early Christian Heresy. Gnostic belief is purported by some to be the original Christianity, by others the greatest heresy. - Hollywood
goes Gnostic
Has Hollywood gone Gnostic? Are there secret theological messages in modern films? Explore Cinema's strange new direction. - Sophia and the Divine Feminine
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