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| The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of Valentinus' System of the Emanation of Æons.
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Chapter
XXV.—The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of
Valentinus’ System of the Emanation of Æons.
Logos himself also, and Zoe, then saw that Nous and
Aletheia had celebrated the Father of the universe by a perfect number;
and Logos himself likewise
with Zoe wished to magnify their own father and mother, Nous and
Aletheia. Since, however, Nous and Aletheia were begotten, and
did not possess paternal (and) perfect uncreatedness, Logos and Zoe do
not glorify Nous their father with a perfect number, but far from it,
with an imperfect one.676
| 676 This
follows the text as emended by Bernays. | For Logos and Zoe offer twelve
Æons unto Nous and Aletheia. For, according to Valentinus,
these—namely, Nous and Aletheia, Logos and Zoe, Anthropos and
Ecclesia—have been the primary roots of the Æons. But
there are ten Æons proceeding from Nous and Aletheia, and twelve
from Logos and Zoe—twenty and eight in all.677
| 677 The
number properly should be thirty, as there were two tetrads: (1)
Bythus, Sige, Nous, and Aletheia; (2) Logos, Zoe, Ecclesia, and
Anthropos. Some, as we learn from Hippolytus, made up the number
to thirty, by the addition of Christ and the Holy Ghost,—a fact
which Bunsen thinks conclusively proves that the alleged generation of
Æons was a subsequent addition to Valentinus’ system. | And to these (ten) they give these
following denominations:678
| 678 There
is some confusion in Hippolytus’ text, which is, however,
removeable by a reference to Irenæus (i. 1). | Bythus and Mixis, Ageratus and
Henosis, Autophyes and Hedone, Acinetus and Syncrasis, Monogenes and
Macaria.679
| 679 We
subjoin the meanings of these names:—
Ten Æons from Nous and Aletheia,
(or) Logos and Zoe, viz.:—
1. Bythus = Profundity.
2. Mixis = Mixture.
3. Ageratos = Ever-young.
4. Henosis = Unification.
5. Autophyes = Self-grown.
6. Hedone = Voluptuousness.
7. Acinetus = Motionless.
8. Syncrasis = Composition.
9. Monogenes = Only-begotten.
10. Macaria = Blessedness. | These are
ten Æons whom some say (have been projected) by Nous and Aletheia,
but some by Logos and Zoe. Others, however, affirm that the
twelve (Æons have been projected) by Anthropos and Ecclesia, while
others by Logos and Zoe. And upon these they bestow these
following names:680
| 680 The
following are the meanings of these names:—
Twelve Æons from Anthropos and
Ecclesia, (or) Logos and Zoe:—
1. Paracletus = Comforter.
2. Pistis = Faith.
3. Patricus = Paternal.
4. Elpis = Hope.
5. Metricus = Temperate.
6. Agape = Love.
7. Æinous = Ever-thinking.
8. Synesis = Intelligence.
9. Ecclesiasticus =
Ecclesiastical.
10. Makariotes = Felicity.
11. Theletus = Volition.
12. Sophia = Wisdom. |
Paracletus and Pistis, Patricus and Elpis, Metricus and Agape,
Æinous and Synesis, Ecclesiasticus and Macariotes, Theletus and
Sophia. But of the twelve, the twelfth and youngest of all the
twenty-eight Æons, being a female, and called Sophia, observed the
multitude and power of the begetting Æons, and hurried back into
the depth of the Father. And she perceived that all the rest of
the Æons, as being begotten, generate by conjugal
intercourse. The Father, on the other hand, alone, without
copulation, has produced (an offspring). She wished to emulate
the Father,681
and to produce
(offspring) of herself without a marital partner, that she might
achieve a work in no wise inferior682
| 682 This
Sophia was, so to speak, the bridge which spanned the abyss between God
and Reality. Under an aspect of this kind Solomon (Prov. viii.)
views Wisdom; and Valentinus introduces it into his system, according
to the old Judaistic interpretation of Sophia, as the instrument for
God’s creative energy. But Sophia thought to pass beyond
her function as the connecting link between limited and illimitable
existence, by an attempt to evolve the infinite from herself. She
fails, and an abortive image of the true Wisdom is procreated, while
Sophia herself sinks into this nether world. | to (that of) the Father. (Sophia,
however,) was ignorant that the Unbegotten One, being an originating
principle of the universe, as well as root and depth and abyss, alone
possesses the power of self-generation. But Sophia, being
begotten, and born after many more (Æons), is not able to acquire
possession of the power inherent in the Unbegotten One. For in
the Unbegotten One, he says, all things exist simultaneously, but in
the begotten (Æons) the female is projective of substance, and the
male is formative of the substance which is projected by the
female. Sophia, therefore, prepared to project that only which
she was capable (of projecting), viz., a formless and undigested
substance.683
| 683
Miller’s text has, “a well-formed and
properly-digested substance.” This reading is, however,
obviously wrong, as is proved by a reference to what Epiphanius states
(Hær., xxxi.) concerning Valentinus. | And this,
he says, is what Moses asserts: “The earth was invisible,
and unfashioned.” This (substance) is, he says, the good
(and) the heavenly Jerusalem, into which God has promised to conduct
the children of Israel, saying, “I will bring you into a land
flowing with milk and honey.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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