VALENTINIANS, in church-history, a sect of Christian heretics, who sprung up in the 11d century, and were so called from their leader Valentinus.
The Valentinians were only a branch of the Gnostics, who realized or personified the platonic ideas concerning the deity, whom they called Pleroma, or plenitude. Their system was this: the first principle is Bythos, i. e. depth, which remained many ages unknown, having with
it Ennoe or thought, and Sige or silence; from these sprung the Nous, or intelligence, which is the only son, equal to, and alone capable of comprehending, the Bythos, the sifter of Nous they called Alethia, or truth; and these constituted the first quaternity of zons, which were the source and original of all the rest; for Nous and Alethia produced the world and life; and from these two proceeded man and the church. But besides these eight principal zons, there were twenty two more; the last of which, called Sophia, being desirous to arrive at the knowledge of Bythos, gave herself a great deal of uneasiness, which created in her Anger and Fear, of which was born Matter. But the Huros, or bouncer, stopped her, preserved her in the Pleroma, and restored her to her perfection. Sophia then produced the Christ and the Holy Spirit, which brought the zons to their last perfection, and made every one of them contribute their utmost to form the Saviour. Here Enthymele, or thought, dwelling near the Pleroma, perfected by the Christ, produced every thing that is in the world, by its divers passions. The Christ sent into it the Saviour, accompanied with angels, who delivered it from its passions, without annihilating it; from thence was formed corporeal matter. And in this manner did they romance, concerning God, nature, and the mysteries of the Christian religion.