Volume II Part 15 (2/2)

Mistaking a pa.s.sage of Irenaeus,(2) regarding the sacred Tetrad (Kol-Arbas) of the Valentinian Gnosis, Hippolytus supposes Irenaeus to refer to another heretic leader. He at once treats the Tetrad as such a leader named ”Kolarbasus,” and after dealing (vi. 4) with the doctrines of Secundud, and Ptolemaeus, and Heracleon, he proposes, -- 5, to show ”what are the opinions held by Marcus and

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Kolarbasus.”(1) At the end of the same book he declares that Irenaeus, to whom he states that he is indebted for a knowledge of their inventions, has completely refuted the opinions of these heretics, and he proceeds to treat of Basilides, considering that it has been sufficiently demonstrated ”whose disciples are Marcus and Kolarbasus, the successors of the school of Valentinus.”(2) At an earlier part of the work he had spoken in a more independent way in reference to certain who had promulgated great heresies: ”Of these,” he says, ”one is Kolarbasus, who endeavours to explain religion by measures and numbers.”(3) The same mistake is committed by pseudo-Tertullian,(4) and Philastrius,(5) each of whom devotes a chapter to this supposed heretic. Epiphanius, as might have been expected, fell into the same error, and he proceeds elaborately to refute the heresy of the Kolarbasians, ”which is Heresy XV.” He states that Kolarbasus follows Marcus and Ptolemaeus,(6) and after discussing the opinions of this mythical heretic he devotes the next chapter, ”which is Heresy XVI.,” to the Heracleonites, commencing it with the information that: ”A certain Heracleon follows after Kolarbasus.”(7) This absurd mistake(8) shows how little these writers

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knew of the Gnostics of whom they wrote, and how the one ignorantly follows the other.

The order, moreover, in which they set the heretic leaders varies considerably. It will be sufficient for us merely to remark here that while pseudo-Tertullian(1) and Philastrius(2) adopt the following order after the Valentinians: Ptolemaeus, Secundus, Heracleon, Marcus, and Kolarbasus, Epiphanius(3) places them: Secundus, Ptolemaeus, Marcosians, Kolarbasus, and Heracleon; and Hippolytus(4) again: Secundus, Ptolemaeus, Heracleon, Marcus, and Kolarbasus. The vagueness of Irenaeus had left some lat.i.tude here, and his followers were uncertain. The somewhat singular fact that Irenaeus only once mentions Heracleon whilst he so constantly refers to Ptolemaeus, taken in connection with this order, in which Heracleon is always placed after Ptolemaeus,(5) and by Epiphanius after Marcus, may be reasonably explained by the fact that whilst Ptolemaeus had already gained considerable notoriety when Irenaeus wrote, Heracleon may only have begun to come into notice. Since Tischendorf lays so much stress upon pseudo-Tertullian and Philastrius making Ptolemaeus appear immediately after Valentinus, this explanation is after his own principle.

We have already pointed out that there is not a single pa.s.sage in Irenaeus, or any other early writer, a.s.signing Ptolemaeus and Heracleon to a period anterior to the time when Irenaeus undertook to refute their opinions. Indeed, Tischendorf has not attempted to show that

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they do, and he has merely, on the strength of the general expression that these Gnostics were of the school of Valentinus, boldly a.s.signed to them an early date. Now, as we have stated, he himself admits that Valentinus only came from Egypt to Rome in a.d. 140, and continued teaching till 160,(1) and these dates are most clearly given by Irenaeus himself.(2) Why then should Ptolemaeus and Heracleon, to take an extreme case, not have known Valentinus in their youth, and yet have flourished chiefly during the last two decades of the second century? Irenaeus himself may be cited as a parallel case, which Tischendorf at least cannot gainsay. He is never tired of telling us that Irenaeus was the disciple of Polycarp,(3) whose martyrdom he sets about A.D. 165, and he considers that the intercourse of Irenaeus with the aged Father must properly be put about a.d. 150,(4) yet he himself dates the death of Irenaeus, a.d. 202,(5) and nothing is more certain than that the period of his greatest activity and influence falls precisely in the last twenty years of the second century. Upon his own data, therefore, that Valentinus may have taught for twenty years after his first appearance in Rome in a.d. 140--and there is no ground whatever for a.s.serting that he did not teach for even a much longer period--Ptolemaeus and Heracleon might well have personally sat at the feet of Valentinus in their youth, as Irenseus is said to have done about the very same period at those of Polycarp, and yet, like him, have flourished chiefly towards the end of the century.

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Although there is not the slightest ground for a.s.serting that Ptolemaeus and Heraclcon were not contemporaries with Irenaeus, flouris.h.i.+ng like him towards the end of the second century, there are, on the other hand, many circ.u.mstances which altogether establish, the conclusion that they were. ”We have already shown, in treating of Valentinus,(1) that Irenaeus princ.i.p.ally directs his work against the followers of Valentinus living at the time he wrote, and notably of Ptolemaeus and his school.(2) In the preface to the first book, having stated that he writes after personal intercourse with some of the disciples of Valentinus,(3) he more definitely declares his purpose: ”We will, then, to the best of our ability, clearly and concisely set forth the opinions of those who are now [------] teaching heresy, _I speak particularly of the disciples of Ptolemaeus_ [------] whose system is an offshoot from the school of Valentinus.”(4) Nothing could be more explicit. Irenaeus in this pa.s.sage distinctly represents Ptolemaeus as teaching at the time he is writing, and this statement alone is decisive, more especially as there is not a single known fact which is either directly or indirectly opposed to it.

Tischendorf lays much stress on the evidence of Hippolytus in coupling together the names of Ptolemaeus and Heracleon with that of Valentinus; similar testimony of the same writer, fully confirming the above statement of Irenaeus, will, therefore, have the greater force.

Hippolytus says that the Valentinians differed materially among themselves regarding certain points which led to divisions, one party being called the

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Oriental and the other the Italian. ”They of the Italian party, of whom is Heracleon and Ptolemaeus, say, &c.... They, however, who are of the Oriental party, of whom is Axionicus and Bardesanes, maintain,” &c.(1) Now, Ptolemaeus and Heracleon are here quite clearly represented as being contemporary with Axionicus and Bardesanes, and without discussing whether Hippolytus does not, in continuation, describe them as all living at the time he wrote,(2) there can be no doubt that some of them were, and that this evidence confirms again the statement of Irenaeus.

Hippolytus, in a subsequent part of his work, states that a certain Prepon, a Marcionite, has introduced something new, and ”now in our own time [------] has written a work regarding the heresy in reply to Bardesanes.”(3) The researches of Hilgenfeld have proved that Bardesanes lived at least over the reign of Heliogabalus (218--222), and the statement of Hippolytus is thus confirmed.(4) Axionicus again was still flouris.h.i.+ng when Tertullian wrote his work against the Valentinians

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(201--226). Tertullian says: ”Axionicus of Antioch alone to the present day (ad hodiernum) respects the memory of Valentinus, by keeping fully the rules of his system.”(1) Although on the whole they may be considered to have flourished somewhat earlier, Ptolemaeus and Heracleon are thus shown to have been for a time at least contemporaries of Axionicus and Bardesanes.(2)

Moreover, it is evident that the doctrines of Ptolemaeus and Heracleon represent a much later form of Gnosticism than that of Valentinus. It is generally admitted that Ptolemaeus reduced the system of Valentinus to consistency,(3) and the inconsistencies which existed between the views of the Master and these later followers, and which indicate a much more advanced stage of development, are constantly pointed out by Irenaeus and the Fathers who wrote in refutation of heresy. Origen also represents Heracleon as amongst those who held opinions sanctioned by the Church,(4) and both he and Ptolemaeus must indubitably be cla.s.sed amongst the latest Gnostics.(5) It is clear, therefore, that Ptolemaeus and Heracleon were contemporaries of Irenaeus(6) at the time he composed his work against Heresies (185--195), both, and especially

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the latter, flouris.h.i.+ng and writing towards the end of the second century.(1)

We mentioned, in first speaking of these Gnostics, that Epiphanius has preserved an Epistle, attributed to Ptolemaeus, which is addressed to Flora, one of his disciples.(2) This Epistle is neither mentioned by Irenaeus nor by any other writer before Epiphanius. There is nothing in the Epistle itself to show that it was really written by Ptolemaeus himself. a.s.suming it to be by him, however, the Epistle was in all probability written towards the end of the second century, and it does not, therefore, come within the scope of our inquiry. We may, however, briefly notice the supposed references to our Gospels which it contains.

The writer of the Epistle, without any indication whatever of a written source from which he derived them, quotes sayings of Jesus for which parallels are found in our first Gospel. These sayings are introduced by such expressions as ”he said,” ”our Saviour declared,” but never as quotations from any Scripture. Now, in affirming that they are taken from the Gospel according to Matthew, Apologists exhibit their usual arbitrary haste, for we must clearly and decidedly state that there is not a single one of the pa.s.sages which does not present decided variations from the parallel pa.s.sages in our first Synoptic. We subjoin for comparison in parallel columns the pa.s.sages from the Epistle and Gospel:--

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It must not be forgotten that Iraeneus makes very explicit statements as to the recognition of other sources of evangelical truth than our Gospels by the Valentinians, regarding which we have fully written when discussing the founder of that sect.(5) We know that they professed to have direct traditions from the Apostles through Theodas, a disciple of the Apostle Paul;(6) and in the

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