A Source Book for Ancient Church History Part 10

But Basilides, not noticing that these things ought to be understood of the natural law, according to impious and foolish fables turns this apostolic saying into the Pythagorean dogma, that is, attempts to prove from this word of the Apostle that souls are transferred from one body to another. For he says that the Apostle has said, I lived without any law_i.e._, before I came into the body I lived in that sort of body which is not under the law, _i.e._, of beasts and birds.

Basilides, in the twenty-third book of the Exegetics, respecting those that are punished by martyrdom, expresses himself in the following language: For I say this, Whosoever fall under the afflictions mentioned, in consequence of unconsciously transgressing in other matters, are brought to this good end by the kindness of Him who brings about all things, though they are accused on other grounds; so that they may not suffer as condemned for what are acknowledged to be iniquities, nor reproached as the adulterer or the murderer, but because they are Christians; which will console them, so that they do not appear to suffer.

And if one who has not sinned at all incur suffering (a rare case), yet even he will not suffer aught through the machinations of power, but will suffer as the child which seems not to have sinned would suffer. Then further on he adds: As, then, the child which has not sinned before, nor actually committed sin, but has in itself that which committed sin, when subjected to suffering is benefited, reaping the advantage of many difficulties; so, also, although a perfect man may not have sinned in act, and yet endures afflictions, he suffers similarly with the child. Having within him the sinful principle, but not embracing the opportunity of committing sin, he does not sin; so that it is to be reckoned to him as not having sinned. For as he who wishes to commit adultery is an adulterer, although he fails to commit adultery, and he who wishes to commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to kill; so, also, if I see the man without sin, whom I refer to, suffering, though he have done nothing bad, I should call him bad on account of the wish to sin. For I will affirm anything rather than call Providence evil. Then, in continuation, he says expressly concerning the Lord, as concerning man: If, then, pa.s.sing from all these observations, you were to proceed to put me to shame by saying, perchance impersonating certain parties, This man has then sinned, for this man has suffered; if you permit, I will say, He has not sinned, but was like a child suffering. If you insist more urgently, I would say, That the man you name is man, but G.o.d is righteous, for no one is pure, as one said, from pollution. But the hypothesis of Basilides says that the soul, having sinned before in another life, endures punishment in thisthe elect soul with honor by martyrdom, the other purged by appropriate punishment.

(_c_) Irenus, _Adv. Hr._, I, 24:3 _ff._ (MSG, 7:675.)

The system of Basilides, as presented by Irenus, is dualistic and emanationist; with it is to be compared the presentation of the system by Hippolytus in his _Philosophumena_, where it appears as evolutionary and pantheistic. The trend of present opinion appears to be that the account given by Irenus is more correct, or, at least, is earlier. The following account has all the appearance of having been taken from an original source (_cf._ Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte_, 195, 198). It represents the esoteric and more distinctively Gnostic teaching of the school.

Ch. 3. Basilides, to appear to have discovered something more sublime and plausible, gives an immense development to his doctrine. He declares that in the beginning the Nous was born of the unborn Father, that from him in turn was born the Logos, then from the Logos the Phronesis, from the Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, and from Dynamis and Sophia the powers and princ.i.p.alities and angels, whom he calls the first; and that by these the first heaven was made. Then by emanation from these others were formed, and these created another heaven similar to the first. And in like manner, when still others had been formed by emanations from these, corresponding to those who were over them, they framed another third heaven; and from this third heaven downward there was a fourth succession of descendants; and so on, in the same manner, they say that other and still other princes and angels were formed, and three hundred and sixty-five heavens.

Wherefore the year contained the same number of days in conformity with the number of the heavens.

Ch. 4. The angels occupying the lowest heaven, that, namely, which is visible to us, created all those things which are in the world, and made allotments among themselves of the earth, and of those nations which are upon it. The chief of them is he who is thought to be the G.o.d of the Jews.

Inasmuch as he wished to make the other nations subject to his own people, the Jews, all the other princes resisted and opposed him. Wherefore all other nations were hostile to his nation. But the unbegotten and nameless Father, seeing their ruin, sent his own first-begotten Nous, for he it is who is called Christ, to set free from the power of those who made the world them that believe in him. He therefore appeared on earth as a man to the nations of those powers and wrought miracles. Wherefore he did not himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain Cyrenian, was compelled and bore the cross in his stead; and this latter was transfigured by him that he might be thought to be Jesus and was crucified through ignorance and error; but Jesus himself took the form of Simon and stood by and derided him. For as he is an incorporeal power and the Nous of the unborn Father, he transfigured himself at pleasure, and so ascended to him who had sent him, deriding them, inasmuch as he could not be held, and was invisible to all. Those, then, who know these things have been freed from the princes who made the world; so that it is not necessary to confess him who was crucified, but him who came in the form of a man, and was thought to have been crucified, and was called Jesus, and was sent by the Father, that by this dispensation he might destroy the works of the makers of the world.

Therefore, Basilides says that if any one confesses the crucified, he is still a slave, under the power of those who made our bodies; but whoever denies him has been freed from these beings and is acquainted with the dispensation of the unknown Father.

Ch. 5. Salvation is only of the soul, for the body is by nature corruptible. He says, also, that even the prophecies were derived from those princes who made the world, but the law was especially given by their chief, who led the people out of the land of Egypt. He attaches no importance to meats offered to idols, thinks them of no consequence, but makes use of them without hesitation. He holds, also, the use of other things as indifferent, and also every kind of l.u.s.t. These men, furthermore, use magic, images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious arts. Coining also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they a.s.sert that some of these belong to the first, others to the second, heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, principles, angels, powers, of the three hundred and sixty-five imagined heavens. They also affirm that the name in which the Saviour ascended and descended is Caulacau.(43)

Ch. 6. He, then, who has learned these things, and known all the angels and their causes, is rendered invisible and incomprehensible to the angels and powers, even as Caulacau also was. And as the Son was unknown to all, so must they also be known by no one; but while they know all and pa.s.s through all, they themselves remain invisible and unknown to all; for Do thou, they say, know all, but let n.o.body know thee. For this reason, persons of such a persuasion are also ready to recant, yea, rather, it is impossible that they should suffer on account of a mere name, since they are alike to all. The mult.i.tude, however, cannot understand these matters, but only one out of a thousand, or two out of ten thousand. They declare that they are no longer Jews, and that they are not yet Christians; and that it is not at all fitting to speak openly of their mysteries, but right to keep them secret by preserving silence.

Ch. 7. They make out the local position of the three hundred and sixty-five heavens in the same way as do the mathematicians. For, accepting the theorems of the latter, they have transferred them to their own style of doctrine. They hold that their chief is Abraxas [or Abrasax]; and on this account that the word contains in itself the numbers amounting to three hundred and sixty-five.

B. The School of Valentinus

The Valentinians were the most important of all the Gnostics closely connected with the Church. The school had many adherents scattered throughout the Roman Empire, its leading teachers were men of culture and literary ability, and the sect maintained itself a long time. Valentinus himself was a native of Egypt, and probably educated at Alexandria, where he may have come under the influence of Basilides. He taught his own system chiefly at Rome c. 140-c. 160. The great work of Irenus against the Gnostics, although having all Gnostics in view, especially deals with the Valentinians in their various forms, because Irenus was of the opinion that he who refutes their system refutes all (_cf. Adv. Hr._, IV, _prf._, 2). It is difficult to reconstruct with certainty the esoteric system of Valentinus as distinguished from possibly later developments of the school, as Irenus, the princ.i.p.al authority, follows not only Valentinus, but Ptolomus and others, in describing the system. The following selection of sources gives fragments of the letters and other writings of Valentinus himself as preserved by Clement of Alexandria, pa.s.sages from Irenus bringing out distinctive features of the system, and the important letter of Ptolemus to Flora, one of the very few extant writings of the Gnostics of an early date. It gives a good idea of the character of the exoteric teaching of the school.

Additional source material: The princ.i.p.al authority for the system of the Valentinians is Irenus, _Adv. Hr._, Lib. I (ANF), see also Hippolytus, _Refut._, VI, 24-32 (ANF); The Hymn of the Soul, from the _Acts of Thomas_, trans. by A. A. Bevan, _Texts and Studies_, III, Cambridge, 1897; _The Fragments of Heracleon_, trans. by A. E. Burke, _Text and Studies_, I, Cambridge, 1891; see also ANF, IX, index, p. 526, _s. v., Heracleon_. The _Excerpta Theodoti_ contained in ANF, VIII, are really the _Excerpta Prophetica_, another collection, identified with the _Excerpta Theodoti_ by mistake of the editor of the American edition, A. C.

c.o.xe (on the _Excerpta_, see Zahn, _History of the Canon of the New Testament_).

(_a_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, IV, 13. (MSG, 8:1296.)

The following pa.s.sages appear to be taken from the same homily of Valentinus. The pneumatics are naturally immortal, but have a.s.sumed mortality to overcome it. Death is the work of the imperfect Demiurge. The concluding portion, which is very obscure, does not fit well into the Valentinian system. _Cf._ Hilgenfeld, _op. cit._, p. 300.

Valentinian in a homily writes in these words: Ye are originally immortal, and ye are children of eternal life, and ye desired to have death distributed to you, that ye may spend and lavish it, and that death may die in you and by you; for when ye dissolve the world, and are not yourselves dissolved, ye have dominion over creation and all corruption.(44) For he also, similarly with Basilides, supposes a cla.s.s saved by nature [_i.e._, the pneumatics, _v. infra_], and that this different race has come hither to us from above for the abolition of death, and that the origin of death is the work of the Creator of the world. Wherefore, also, he thus expounds that Scripture, No one shall see the face of G.o.d and live [Ex. 33:20], as if He were the cause of death.

Respecting this G.o.d, he makes those allusions, when writing, in these expressions: As much as the image is inferior to the living face, so much is the world inferior to the living Eon. What is, then, the cause of the image? It is the majesty of the face, which exhibits the figure to the painter, to be honored by his name; for the form is not found exactly to the life, but the name supplies what is wanting in that which is formed.

The invisibility of G.o.d co-operates also for the sake of the faith of that which has been fas.h.i.+oned. For the Demiurge, called G.o.d and Father, he designated the image and prophet of the true G.o.d, as the Painter, and Wisdom, whose image, which is formed, is to the glory of the invisible One; since the things which proceed from a pair [syzygy] are complements [_pleromata_], and those which proceed from one are images. But since what is seen is no part of Him, the soul [_psyche_] comes from what is intermediate, and is different; and this is the inspiration of the different spirit. And generally what is breathed into the soul, which is the image of the spirit [_pneuma_], and in general, what is said of the Demiurge, who was made according to the image, they say was foretold by a sensible image in the book of Genesis respecting the origin of man; and the likeness they transfer to themselves, teaching that the addition of the different spirit was made, unknown to the Demiurge.

(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II, 20. (MSG, 8:1057.)

According to Basilides, the various pa.s.sions of the soul were no original parts of the soul, but appendages to the soul. They were in essence certain spirits attached to the rational soul, through some original perturbation and confusion; and that again, other b.a.s.t.a.r.d and heterogeneous natures of spirits grow onto them, like that of the wolf, the ape, the lion, and the goat, whose properties, showing themselves around the soul, they say, a.s.similate the l.u.s.ts of the soul to the likeness of these animals. See the whole pa.s.sage immediately preceding the following fragment. The fragment can best be understood by reference to the presentation of the system by W. Bousset in _Encyc. Brit._, eleventh ed., art. Basilides.

Valentinus, too, in a letter to certain people, writes in these very words respecting the appendages: There is One good, by whose presence is the manifestation, which is by the Son, and by Him alone can the heart become pure, by the expulsion of every evil spirit from the heart; for the mult.i.tude of spirits dwelling in it do not suffer it to be pure; but each of them performs his own deeds, insulting it oft with unseemly l.u.s.ts. And the heart seems to be treated somewhat like a caravansary. For the latter has holes and ruts made in it, and is often filled with filthy dung; men living filthily in it, and taking no care for the place as belonging to others. So fares it with the heart as long as there is no thought taken for it, being unclean and the abode of demons many. But when the only good Father visits it, it is sanctified and gleams with light. And he who possesses such a heart is so blessed that he shall see G.o.d.

(_c_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II. 8. (MSG, 8:972.)

The teaching in the following pa.s.sage attaches itself to the text, The fear of G.o.d is the beginning of wisdom (_cf._ Prov. 1:7).

Compare with it Irenus, _Adv. Hr._, I, 30:6.

Here the followers of Basilides, interpreting this expression [Prov. 1:7]

say that the Archon, having heard the speech of the Spirit, who was being ministered to, was struck with amazement both with the voice and the vision, having had glad tidings beyond his hopes announced to him; and that his amazement was called fear, which became the origin of wisdom, which distinguishes cla.s.ses, and discriminates, and perfects, and restores. For not the world alone, but also the election, He that is over all has set apart and sent forth.

And Valentinus appears also in an epistle to have adopted such views. For he writes in these very words: And as terror fell on the angels at this creature, because he uttered things greater than proceeds from his formation, by reason of the being in him who had invisibly communicated a germ of the supernal essence, and who spoke with free utterance; so, also, among the tribes of men in the world the works of men became terrors to those who made themas, for example, images and statues. And the hands of all fas.h.i.+on things to bear the image of G.o.d; for Adam, formed into the name of man, inspired the dread attaching to the pre-existing man, as having his being in him; and they were terror-stricken and speedily marred the work.

(_d_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, III, 7. (MSG, 8:1151.)

The Docetism of Valentinus comes out in the following. It is to be noted that Clement not only does not controvert the position taken by the Gnostic as to the reality of the bodily functions of Jesus, but in his own person makes almost the same a.s.sertions (_cf.

Strom._, VI, 9). He might indeed call himself, as he does in this latter pa.s.sage, a Gnostic in the sense of the true or Christian Gnostic, but he comes very close to the position of the non-Christian Gnostic.

Valentinus in an epistle to Agathopous says: Since He endured all things, and was continent [_i.e._, self-controlled], Jesus, accordingly, obtained for Himself divinity. He ate and drank in a peculiar manner, not giving forth His food. Such was the power of His continence [self-control] that the food was not corrupted in Him, because He himself was without corruption.

(_e_) Irenus, _Adv. Hr._, I, 7, 15; I, 8, 23. (MSG, 7:517, 528.)

The division of mankind into three cla.s.ses, according to their nature and consequent capacity for salvation, is characteristic of the Valentinian Gnosticism. The other Gnostics divided mankind into two cla.s.ses: those capable of salvation, or the pneumatics, or Gnostics, and those who perish in the final destruction of material existence, or the hylics. Valentinus avails himself of the notion of the trichotomy of human nature, and gives a place for the bulk of Christians, those who did not embrace Gnosticism; _cf._ Irenus, _ibid._, I, 6. Valentinus remained long within the Church, accommodating his teaching as far as possible, and in its exoteric side very fully, to the current teaching of the Church.

The doctrine as to the psychics, capable of a limited salvation, appears to be a part of this accommodation.

I, 7, 5. The Valentinians conceive of three kinds of men: the pneumatic [or spiritual], the choic [or material],(45) and the psychic [or animal]; such were Cain, Abel, and Seth. These three natures are no longer in one person, but in the race. The material goes to destruction. The animal, if it chooses the better part, finds repose in an intermediate place; but if it chooses the worse, it, too, goes to the same [destruction]. But they a.s.sert that the spiritual principles, whatever Acamoth has sown, being disciplined and nourished here from that time until now in righteous souls, because they were sent forth weak, at last attain perfection and shall be given as brides(46) to the angels of the Saviour, but their animal souls necessarily rest forever with the Demiurge in the intermediate place. And again subdividing the animal souls themselves, they say that some are by nature good and others are by nature evil. The good are those who become capable of receiving the seed; the evil by nature, those who are never able to receive that seed.

I, 8, 23. The parable of the leaven which the woman is said to have hid in three measures of meal they declare manifests the three kinds of men: pneumatic, psychic, and the choic, but the leaven denoted the Saviour himself. Paul also very plainly set forth the choic, the psychic, and the pneumatic, saying in one place: As is the earthy [choic] such are they also that are earthy [I Cor. 15:48]; and in another place, He that is spiritual [pneumatic] judgeth all things [I Cor. 2:14]. And the pa.s.sage, The animal man receiveth not the things of the spirit [I Cor. 2:15], they affirm was spoken concerning the Demiurge, who, being psychic, knew neither his mother, who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor the Eons in the pleroma.

(_f_) Irenus. _Adv. Hr._, I, 1. (MSG, 7:445 _f._)

The following pa.s.sage appears, from the context, to have been written with the teaching of Ptolemus especially in mind. It should be compared with the account further on in the same book, I, 11: 1-3. The syzygies are characteristic of the Valentinian teaching, and the symbolism of marriage plays an important part in the system of all the Valentinians. In the words of d.u.c.h.esne (_Hist. ancienne de lglise_, sixth ed., p. 171): Valentinian Gnosticism is from one end to the other a marriage Gnosticism.

From the most abstract origins of being to their end, there are only syzygies, marriages, and generations. For the connection between these conceptions and antinomianism, see Irenus, _Adv.

Hr._, I, 6:3 _f._ For their sacramental application, _ibid._, I, 21:3. _Cf._ I, 13:3, a pa.s.sage which seems to belong to the sacrament of the bridal chamber.