Savitr the supreme lord of the cosmos

The proto Indo-Iranian religion started off as Sun Worship. 

 - Max Mueller

The tradition of Shukla Yajur Veda worships Savitr as Brahman and the Rishi of this tradition is the great sage Yajnavalkya who extolled the Sun God and received such fresh portions of the Vedas which was not known to anyone before. The famous Ishavasya Upanishad is from this tradition which contains with in itself the ultimate truth of the universe and a pathway to know Brahman.

The Sun God will be very pleased if one gives up Sankalpa and does unselfish holistic worship to him. The greatest mystery which is so astonishing is the truth that all other gods exists in his womb and form his body, this is the reason why he is called as Hiranyagarbha, the golden egg, (garbha means womb or egg). Each individual light ray emanating from his body is an individual god, this is baffling and one can experience it by sincere devotion and worship to him.  Scientists and atheists are ignorant of this and they are taking the world in the wrong direction. For those who have not gone through upanayana rituals like me i.e. not Brahmins by birth they can do Surya Namaskara or Sun Salutations along with silent utterance of mantras in the mind you will soon see the benefits yourself.

The Lord Savitr is indeed the Supreme Lord of the universe and the more we dig deeper in history the more we acknowledge that everything is pointing to this God. I should say even science is pointing to this God but many people don't see it because of bad scholarship and bad education system. Sun God is not a jealous god he is the most ancient of all gods. He is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as it is stated in the Adithya Hrudyam. He is the Prajapathi of the Brahmanas and the Brahman of the Upanishads. He embraces Jesus and Buddha too and if one studies Gnostic Christianity and Vajrayana Buddhism you will wonder whether they were also worshiping the same Father. We ourselves don't know what secrets is hidden in him and what secrets he will reveal to all serious followers of Sauram.

He is the god whom Julian the Emperor extols in his Hymn to King Helios. Helios-Aion-Mithras, the god mentioned in Mithras Lithurgy is the same Sun god, Savitr. He is Sol Invictus, the Invincible, the unconquered sun. He is the Holy Father of the Gnostics and the one who sent the Saviour to earth who came down in the form of a dove on to Jesus Christ's body at the time of his Baptism. Jesus Christ was sent by the Demiurge, Jehovah but the Saviour was sent by the Holy Father, Savitr from the above Pleroma. Its so disappointing that this pagan religion is not known to many people and academic scholars don't interpret the Vedas in this light.

Its true that as the Gnostic Christians of the 2nd century say that before Jesus Christ came down to earth all the people of the world were worshiping the creator who is a lesser god and not the true god of the cosmos. The Saviour saved the world from the evil Archons by giving us the gnosis of the Father of Truth. The Archons of the world whose leader is the Devil, the fallen angel, Lucifer who is actually also a son of the Demiurge (Jehovah), got angry, jealous and murdered Jesus Christ. But there was one tribe who were worshiping the Father of Truth even before since the time Jesus Christ came down to earth and that tribe was none other than the Indo-Persian Aryans who heavily influenced Neoplatonists like Proclus, Iamblichus, Julian, Ammonius Saccus etc through the Chaldean Oracles.

Below is a list of Vedic verses extolling the God Savitr. All other Vedic gods like Pushan, Surya, Bhaga, Mitra, Agni, Soma, Indra, Varuna, Aruna, Bhaga, Usha, Gayatri, Ashvins emanate from this one God. I have included verses only from the Rig Veda here but this God is extolled and revered by the Aryans in all of the Vedas from Sama Veda to Atharvana Veda and from Black Yajurveda to White Yajurveda.

1 AGNI I first invoke for our prosperity; I call on Mitra, Varuṇa, to aid us here.
I call on Night who gives rest to all moving life; I call on Savitar the God to lend us help.
2 Throughout the dusky firmament advancing, laying to rest the immortal and the mortal,
Borne in his golden chariot he cometh, Savitar, God who looks on every creature.
3 The God moves by the upward path, the downward; with two bright Bays, adorable, he journeys.
Savitar comes, the God from the far distance, and chases from us all distress and sorrow.
4 His chariot decked with pearl, of various colours, lofty, with golden pole, the God hath mounted,
The many-rayed One, Savitar the holy, bound, bearing power and might, for darksome regions.
5 Drawing the gold-yoked car his Bays, white-footed, have manifested light to all the peoples.
Held in the lap of Savitar, divine One, all men, all beings have their place for ever.
6 Three heavens there are; two Savitar's, adjacent: in Yama's world is one, the home of heroes,
As on a linch-pin, firm, rest things immortal: he who hath known it let him here declare it.
7 He, strong of wing, hath lightened up the regions, deep-quivering Asura, the gentle Leader.
Where now is Sūrya, where is one to tell us to what celestial sphere his ray hath wandered?
8 The earth's eight points his brightness hath illumined, three desert regions and the Seven Rivers.
God Savitar the gold-eyed hath come hither, giving choice treasures unto him who worships.
9 The golden-handed Savitar, far-seeing, goes on his way between the earth and heaven,
Drives away sickness, bids the Sun approach us, and spreads the bright sky through the darksome region.
10 May he, gold-handed Asura, kind Leader, come hither to us with his help and favour.
Driving off Rākṣasas and Yātudhānas, the God is present, praised in hymns at evening.
11 O Savitar, thine ancient dustless pathways are well established in the air's mid-region:
O God, come by those paths so fair to travel, preserve thou us from harm this day, and bless us.

- Rig Veda Book 1, HYMN XXXV. Savitar.

1. UPRISEN is Savitar, this God, to quicken, Priest who neglects not this most constant duty.
To the Gods, verily, he gives rich treasure, and blesses him who calls them to the banquet.
2 Having gone up on high, the God broad-handed spreads his arms widely forth that all may mark him.
Even the waters bend them to his service: even this wind rests in the circling region.
3 Though borne by swift steeds he will yet unyoke them: e’en the fleet chariot hath he stayed from going.
He hath checked e’en their haste who glide like serpents. Night closely followed Savitar's dominion.
4 What was spread out she weaves afresh, re-weaving: the skilful leaves his labour half-completed.
He hath arisen from rest, and parted seasons: Savitar hath approached, God, holy-minded.
5 Through various dwellings, through entire existence, spreads, manifest, the household light of Agni.
The Mother gives her Son the goodliest portion, and Savitar hath sped to meet his summons.
6 He comes again, unfolded, fain for conquest: at home was he, the love of all things moving.
Each man hath come leaving his evil doings, after the Godlike Savitar's commandment.
7 The wild beasts spread through desert places seeking their watery share which thou hast set in waters.
The woods are given to the birds. These statutes of the God Savitar none disobeyeth.
8 With utmost speed, in restless haste at sunset Varuṇa seeks his watery habitation.
Then seeks each bird his nest, each beast his lodging. In due place Savitar hath set each creature.
9 Him whose high law not Varuṇa nor Indra, not Mitra, Aryaman, nor Rudra breaketh,
Nor evil-hearted fiends, here for my welfare him I invoke, God Savitar, with worship.
10 May they who strengthen bliss, and thought and wisdom, and the Dames’ Lord and Narāśaṁsa aid us.
That good may come to us and wealth be gathered, may we be Savitar the God's beloved.
11 So come to us our hearts' desire, the bounty bestowed by thee, from heaven and earth and waters,
That it be well with friends and those who praise thee, and, Savitar, with the loud-lauding singer.

- Rig Veda Book2, HYMN XXXVIII. Savitar.

1. Now must we praise and honour Savitar the God: at this time of the day the men must call to him,
Him who distributes wealth to Manu's progeny, that he may grant us here riches most excellent.
2 For thou at first producest for the holy Gods the noblest of all portions, immortality:
Thereafter as a gift to men, O Savitar, thou openest existence, life succeeding life.
3 If we, men as we are, have sinned against the Gods through want of thought, in weakness, or through insolence,
Absolve us from the guilt and make us free from sin, O Savitar, alike among both Gods and men.
4 None may impede that power of Savitar the God whereby he will maintain the universal world.
What the fair-fingered God brings forth on earth's expanse or in the height of heaven, that work of his stands sure.
5 To lofty hills thou sendest those whom Indra leads, and givest fixed abodes with houses unto these.
However they may fly and draw themselves apart, still, Savitar, they stand obeying thy behest.
6 May the libations poured to thee thrice daily, day after day, O Savitar, bring us blessing.
May Indra, Heaven, Earth, Sindhu with the Waters, Aditi with Ādityas, give us shelter.

- Rig Veda Book 4, HYMN LIV. Savitar.

 

1. THE priests of him the lofty Priest well-skilled in hymns harness their spirit, yea, harness their holy thoughts.
He only knowing works assigns their priestly tasks. Yea, lofty is the praise of Savitar the God.
2 The Sapient One arrays himself in every form: for quadruped and biped he hath brought forth good.
Excellent Savitar hath looked on heaven's high vault, and shineth after the outgoing of the Dawn.
3 Even he, the God whose going-forth and majesty the other Deities have followed with their might,
He who hath measured the terrestrial regions out by his great power, he is the Courser Savitar.
4 To the three spheres of light thou goest, Savitar, and with the rays of Sidrya thou combinest thee.
Around, on both sides thou encompassest the night: yea, thou, O God, art Mitra through thy righteous laws.
5 Over all generation thou art Lord alone: Pūṣan art thou, O God, in all thy goings-forth.
Yea, thou hast domination over all this world. Śyāvāśva hath brought praise to thee, O Savitar,

- Rig Veda Book 5, HYMN LXXXI. Savitar.

1. WE crave of Savitar the God this treasure much to be enjoyed.
The best, all-yielding, conquering gift of Bhaga we would gladly win.
2 Savitar's own supremacy, most glorious and beloved of all,
No one diminisheth in aught.
3 For Savitar who is Bhaga shall send riches to his worshipper.
That wondrous portion we implore.
4 Send us this day, God Savitar, prosperity with progeny.
Drive thou the evil dream away.
5 Savitar, God, send far away all sorrows and calamities,
And send us only what is good.
6 Sinless in sight of Aditi through the God Savitar's influence,
May we obtain all lovely things.
7 We with our hymns this day elect the general God, Lord of the good,
Savitar whose decrees are true.
8 He who for ever vigilant precedes these Twain, the Day and Night,
Is Savitar the thoughtful God.
9 He who gives glory unto all these living creatures with the song,
And brings them forth, is Savitar.

- Rig Veda Book 5, HYMN LXXXII. Savitar.

1. FULL of effectual wisdom Savitar the God hath stretched out golden arms that he may bring forth life.
Young and most skilful, while he holds the region up, the Warrior sprinkles fatness over both his hands.
2 May we enjoy the noblest vivifying force of Savitar the God, that he may give us wealth:
For thou art mighty to produce and lull to rest the world of life that moves on two feet and on four.
3 Protect our habitation, Savitar, this day, with guardian aids around, auspicious, firm and true.
God of the golden tongue, keep us for newest bliss: let not the evil-wisher have us in his power.
4 This Savitar the God, the golden-handed, Friend of the home, hath risen to meet the twilight.
With cheeks of brass, with pleasant tongue, the Holy, he sends the worshipper rich gifts in plenty.
5 Like a Director, Savitar hath extended his golden arms, exceeding fair to look on.
He hath gone up the heights of earth and heaven, and made each monster fall and cease from troubling.
6 Fair wealth, O Savitar, to-day, to-morrow, fair wealth produce for us each day that passes.
May we through this our song be happy gainers, God, of a fair and spacious habitation.


- Rig Veda Book 6, HYMN LXXI. Savitar.

1. SAVITAR, golden-haired, hath lifted eastward, bright With the sunbeams, his eternal lustre;
He in whose energy wise Pūṣan marches, surveying all existence like a herdsman.
2 Beholding men he sits amid the heaven filling the two world-halves and air's wide region.
He looks upon the rich far-spreading pastures between the eastern and the western limit.
3 He, root of wealth, the gatherer-up of treasures, looks with his might on every form and figure.
Savitar, like a Godẉhose Law is constant, stands in the battle for the spoil like Indra.
4 Waters from sacrifice came to the Gandharva Visvavasu, O Soma, when they saw him.
Indra, approaching quickly, marked their going, and looked around upon the Sun's enclosures.
5 This song Visvavasu shall sing us, meter of air's mid-realm celestial Gandharva,
That we may know aright both truth and falsehood: may he inspire our thoughts and help our praises.
6 In the floods' track he found the bootyseeker: the rocky cow-pen's doors he threw wide open.
These, the Gandharva told him, Rowed with Amṛta. Indra knew well the puissancc of the dragons.

- Rig Veda Book 10, HYMN CXXXIX. Savitar.

1. SAVITAR fixed the earth with bands to bind it, and made heaven stedfast where no prop supported.
Savitar milked, as ’twere a restless courser, air, sea bound fast to what no foot had trodden.
2 Well knoweth Savitar, O Child of Waters, where ocean, firmly fixt, o’erflowed its limit.
Thence sprang the world, from that uprose the region: thence heaven spread out and the wide earth expanded.
3 Then, with a full crowd of Immortal Beings, this other realm came later, high and holy.
First, verily, Savitar's strong-pinioned Eagle was born: and he obeys his law for ever.
4 As warriors to their steeds, kine to their village, as fond milk giving cows approach their youngling,
As man to wife, let Savitar come downward to us, heaven's bearer, Lord of every blessing.
5 Like the Aṅgirasa Hiranvastupa, I call thee, Savitar, to this achievement:
So worshipping and lauding thee for favour I watch for thee as for the stalk of Soma.

- Rig Veda Book 10, HYMN CXLIX. Savitar.

1. MAY the God Savitar, rich in goodly treasures, filling the region, borne by steeds, come hither,
In his hand holding much that makes men happy, lulling to slumber and arousing creatures.
2 Golden, sublime, and easy in their motion, his arms extend unto the bounds of heaven.
Now shall that mightiness of his he lauded: even Sūrya yields to him in active vigour.
3 May this God Savitar, the Strong and Mighty, the Lord of precious wealth, vouchsafe us treasures.
May he, advancing his far-spreading lustre, bestow on us the food that feedeth mortals.
4 These songs praise Savitar whose tongue is pleasant, praise him whose arms are full, whose hands are lovely.
High vital strength, and manifold, may he grant us. Preserve us evermore, ye Gods, with blessings.

- Rig Veda Book 7, HYMN XLV. Savitar.

1 HIS bright rays bear him up aloft, the God who knoweth all that lives,
Sūrya, that all may look on him.
2 The constellations pass away, like thieves, together with their beams,
Before the all-beholding Sun.
3 His herald rays are seen afar refulgent o’er the world of men,
Like flames of fire that burn and blaze.
4 Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Sūrya, maker of the light,
Illuming all the radiant realm.
5 Thou goest to the hosts of Gods, thou comest hither to mankind,
Hither all light to be beheld.
6 With that same eye of thine wherewith thou lookest brilliant Varuṇa,
Upon the busy race of men,
7 Traversing sky and wide mid-air, thou metest with thy beams our days,
Sun, seeing all things that have birth.
8 Seven Bay Steeds harnessed to thy car bear thee, O thou farseeing One,
God, Sūrya, with the radiant hair.
9 Sūrya hath yoked the pure bright Seven, the daughters of the car; with these,
His own dear team, he goeth forth.
10 Looking upon the loftier light above the darkness we have come
To Sūrya, God among the Gods, the light that is most excellent.
11 Rising this day, O rich in friends, ascending to the loftier heaven,
Sūrya remove my heart's disease, take from me this my yellow hue.
12 To parrots and to starlings let us give away my yellowness,
Or this my yellowness let us transfer to Haritāla trees.
13 With all his conquering vigour this Āditya hath gone up on high,
Giving my foe into mine hand: let me not be my foeman's prey.

Rig Veda Book 1, HYMN L. Sūrya.

1. THE brilliant presence of the Gods hath risen, the eye of Mitra, Varuṇa and Agni.
The soul of all that moveth not or moveth, the Sun hath filled the air and earth and heaven.
2 Like as a young man followeth a maiden, so doth the Sun the Dawn, refulgent Goddess:
Where pious men extend their generations, before the Auspicious One for happy fortune.
3 Auspicious are the Sun's Bay-coloured Horses, bright, changing hues, meet for our shouts of triumph.
Bearing our prayers, the sky's ridge have they mounted, and in a moment speed round earth and heaven.
4 This is the Godhead, this might of Sūrya: he hath withdrawn what spread o’er work unfinished.
When he hath loosed his Horses from their station, straight over all Night spreadeth out her garment.
5 In the sky's lap the Sun this form assumeth that Varuṇa and Mitra may behold it.
His Bay Steeds well maintain his power eternal, at one time bright and darksome at another.
6 This day, O Gods, while Sūrya is ascending, deliver us from trouble and dishonour.
This prayer of ours may Varuṇa grant, and Mitra, and Aditi and Sindhu, Earth and Heaven.

- Rig Veda Book 1, HYMN CXV. Sūrya.

 

1. STRONG Pūṣan's majesty is lauded evermore, the glory of his lordly might is never faint, his song of praise is never faint.
Seeking felicity I laud him nigh to help, the source, of bliss,
Who, Vigorous one, hath drawn to him the hearts of all, drawn them, the Vigorous One, the God.
2 Thee, then, O Pūṣan, like a swift one on his way, I urge with lauds that thou mayst make the foemen flee, drive, camel-like, our foes afar.
As I, a man, call thee, a God, giver of bliss, to be my Friend,
So make our loudly-chanted praises glorious, in battles make them glorious.
3 Thou, Pūṣan, in whose friendship they who sing forth praise enjoy advantage, even in wisdom, through thy grace, in wisdom even they are advanced.
So, after this most recent course, we come to thee with prayers for wealth.
Not stirred to anger, O Wide-Ruler, come to us, come thou to us in every fight.
4 Not stirred to anger, come, Free-giver, nigh to us, to take this gift of ours, thou who hast goats for steeds, Goat-borne! their gift who long for fame.
So, Wonder-Worker! may we turn thee hither with effectual lauds.
I slight thee not, O Pūṣan, thou Resplendent One: thy friendship may not be despised.

- Rig Veda Book 1, HYMN CXXXVIII. Pūṣan.

Dr. Einar Thomassen speaks on Valentinus and the Valentinian tradition

Dr. Einar Thomassen is the author of the book The Spiritual Seed: The Church of the Valentinians and he is the first gnostic scholar apart from Elaine Pagels to have made a succinct formulation of the Valentinian system. His doctoral research was made on Tripartite Tractate, a Valentinian text which fully describes the Valentinian view of the cosmos. I really don't have to say anything else as Einar Thomassen has beautifully described our doctrine with his own words and I have nothing to object.

I would just like to add that if there is any Valentinian text that I would always like to keep it with me till my death then it will be the Gospel of Truth. In fact Einar Thomassen said in an another interview, "Not every time he (Valentinus) sat down to write a Gospel (Gospel of Truth) where he was going to throw in all the cosmology, cosmogony and the theogony." If anyone wants to understand the Valentinian system I would highly recommend reading Gospel of Truth because it was probably written by the great Valentinus himself. 

Saint Paul was a Gnostic and the Valentinians were the great Paulinists and what better proof for this theory than the work of Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Paul. Christ will never ever forgive those who persecuted the Valentinian Christians. But as Valentinus himself says we should not take error too seriously because all the evil that humans commit in this world is because they are ignorant of the Father and gnosis is the only way to end human suffering and evil in this world but to receive gnosis you need faith. "No one can receive gnosis without faith." (Gospel of Philip)

While I write this my heart bleeds at the way that these sensitive Christians were burnt alive by the so called orthodox church authorities.

Symbolic representation of Pleroma

First the • (Point), the Monad, Bythus (the Deep), the unknown and unknowable Father. Then the Δ (Triangle), Bythus and the first emanated pair or Duad, Nous (Mind) and its syzygy Aletheia (Truth). Then the □ (Square), the dual Duad, Tetractys or Quaternary, two males ||, the Logos (Word) and Anthrôpos (Man), two females, their syzygies, = Zoê (Life) and Ekklesia (the Church or Assembly), Seven in all. The Triangle the Potentiality of Spirit, the Square the Potentiality of Matter; the Vertical Straight Line the Potency of Spirit, and the Horizontal the Potency of Matter. Next comes the Pentagram ⋆, the Pentad, the mysterious symbol of the Manasáputras or Sons of Wisdom, which together with their syzygies make 10, or the Decad; and last of all, the Hexalpha or interlaced Triangles ✡ the Hexad, which with their syzygies make 12, or the Dodecad. Such are the Contents of the Pleroma or Completion, the Ideas in the Divine Mind, 28 in all, for Bythus or the Father is not reckoned, as it is the Root of all. The two small circles within the Pleroma are the syzygy Christos-Pneuma (Christ and the Holy Spirit); these are after-emanations, and, as such, from one aspect, typify the descent of Spirit to inform and evolve Matter, which essentially proceeds from the same source . . . The Circle of the Pleroma is bounded by a circumference emanated from Bythus (the Point), this is called the Horus (Boundary), Staurus (Stock, Stake, or Cross) and Metæcheus (Participator); it shuts off the Pleroma (or Completion) from the Hystêrema (the Inferiority or Incompletion), the larger from the smaller Circle, the Unmanifested from the Manifested. Within the Circle of the Hysterêma is the Square of primordial Matter, or Chaos, emanated by Sophia, called the Ektrôma (or Abortion). Above this is a Triangle, primordial Spirit, called the Common Fruit of the Pleroma, or Jesus, for to all below the Pleroma it appears as a unity. Notice how the Triangle and Square of the Hysterêma are a reflection of the Triangle and Square of the Pleroma. Finally, the plane of the paper, enclosing and penetrating all, is Sigê (Silence). 

— G.R.S. Mead & H.P. Blavatsky

This symbolism truly represents the doctrine of Valentinians and the Vedic Aryans that this world was created by the demiurge which is modelled based on the real Pleromic world. The symbol is allegorical and should not treated as a literal representation of the Pleroma. This symbol unites the Valentinian tradition with the Shukla Yajurveda tradition and I have this symbol on my car's rear window which truly represents our gnostic doctrine unifying both the traditions who want to send out the same message to the world.

Localization of the Pleroma: Where do the Gnostics stand?

If anyone had carefully read my posts I repeatedly assert that Pleroma has a local existence, what do I mean by that? Well, if you have read "On the meaning of the Pleroma" by J.B Lightfoot you would probably get an idea as to from where I'm coming from. I did gave a link in an another post to this work but I think most of them do not care to read it.

Thanks to J.B Lightfoot,

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On the meaning of the word Pleroma

"When we turn from Catholic Christianity to the Gnostic sects we find this term used, though (with one important exception) not in great frequency. Probably however, if the writings of the earlier Gnostics had been preserved, we should have found that it occupied a more important place than at present appears. One class of early Gnostics separated the spiritual being Christ from the man Jesus ; they supposed that the Christ entered Jesus at the time of His baptism and left him at the moment of His crucifixion. Thus the Christ was neither born as a man nor suffered as a man. In this way they obviated the difficulty, insuperable to the Gnostic mind, of conceiving the connexion between the highest spiritual agency and gross corporeal matter, which was involved in the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation and Passion, and which Gnostics of another type more effectually set aside by the theory of docetism, i.e. by assuming that the human body of our Lord was only a phantom body and not real flesh and blood.

Irenaeus represents the former class as teaching that 'Jesus was the receptacle of the Christ', and that the Christ 'descended upon him from heaven in the form of a dove and after He had declared (to mankind) the nameless Father, entered (again) into the pleroma imperceptibly and invisibly. Here no names are given. But in another passage he ascribes precisely the same doctrine, without however naming the pleroma, to Cerinthus. And in a third passage, which links together the other two, this same father, after mentioning this heresiarch, again alludes to the doctrine which maintained that the Christ, having descended on Jesus at his baptism, 'flew back again into His own pleroma' In this last passage indeed the opinions of Cerinthus are mentioned in connexion with those of other Gnostics, more especially the Valentinians, so that we cannot with any certainty attribute this expression to Cerinthus himself. But in the first passage the unnamed heretics who maintained this return of the Christ 'into the pleroma are expressly distinguished from the Valentinians ; and presumably therefore the allusion is to the Cerinthians, to whom the doctrine, though not the expression, is ascribed in the second passage. Thus there seems to be sufficient reason Connexion for attributing the use of the term to Cerinthus This indeed is probable of this use on other grounds. The term pleroma, we may presume, was common to St Paul and the Colossian heretics whom he controverts. To both alike it conveyed the same idea, the totality of the divine powers or attributes or Colossiaa agencies or manifestations. But after this the divergence begins. The heretics, maintained that a single divine power, a fraction of the pleroma, resided in our Lord : the Apostle urges on the contrary, that the whole pleroma has its abode in Him-. The doctrine of Cerinthus was a development of the Colossian heresy, as I have endeavoured to show above. He would therefore inherit the term pleroma from it. At the same time he seems to have given a poetical colouring to his doctrine, and so doing to have treated the pleroma as a locality, a higher spiritual region, from which this divine power, typified by the dove-like form, issued forth as on wings, and to which, taking flight again, it reascended before the Passion. If so, his language would prepare the way for the still more elaborate poetic imagery of the Valentinians, in which the pleroma, conceived as a locality, a region, an abode of the divine powers, is conspicuous.

The attitude of later Gnostics towards this term is widely divergent. The term The word is not, so far as I am aware, once mentioned in connexion with avoided by the system of Basilides. Indeed the nomenclature of this heresiarch, longs to a wholly different type ; and, as he altogether repudiated the doctrine of emanations*, it is not probable that he would have any fondness for a term which was almost inextricably entangled with this doctrine.

On the other hand with Valentinus and the Valentinians the doctrine of the pleroma was the very key-stone of their system; and, since at first in sight it is somewhat difficult to connect their use of the term with St Paul's, a few words on this subject may not be out of place.

Valentinus then dressed his system in a poetic imagery not unlike the myths of his master Plato. But a myth or story involves action, and action requires a scene of action. Hence the mysteries of theology and cosmogony and redemption call for a topographical representation, and the pleroraa appears not as an abstract idea, but as a locality.

Topogra- The Valentinian system accordingly maps out the universe of things great regions, called respectively the pleroma and the kenoma, the 'fulness' and the 'void'. From a Christian point of view these may be described as the kingdoms of light and of darkness respectively. From Antithesis the side of Platonism, they are the regions of real and of phenomenal of pleroma existences — the world of eternal archetypes or ideas, and the world of material and sensible things. The identification of these two antitheses was rendered easy for the Gnostic ; because with him knowledge was one with morality and with salvation, and because also matter was absolutely bound up with evil. It is difficult to say whether the Platonism or the Christianity predominates in the Valentinian theology ; but the former at all events is especially prominent in their conception of the relations between the pleroma and tlie kenoma. The pleroma is the abode of the AEons, who are thirty in number. These AEons are successive emanations, of which the first pair sprang immediately from the pre-existent Bythus or Depth. This Bythus is deity in itself, the absolute first principle, as the name suggests ; the profound, unfathomable, limitless, of whom or of which nothing can be predicated and nothing known. Here again we have something like a local representation. The AEons or emanations are plainly the attributes and energies of deity ; they are, or they comprise, the eternal ideas or archetypes of the Platonic philosophy. In short they are deity relative, deity under self-imposed limitations, deity derived and divided up, as it were, so as at length to be conceivable.

The topographical relation of Bythus to the derived AEons was differently given in different developments of the Valentinian teaching. According to one representation he was outside the pleroma; others placed his abode within it, but even in this case he was separated from the rest by Horus {"Opos), a personified Boundary or Fence, whom none, not even the AEons themselves, could pass^ The former mode of representation might be thought to accord better with the imagery, at the same time that it is more accurate if regarded as the embodiment of a philosophical conception. Nevertheless the latter was the favourite mode of delineation; and it had at least this recommendation, that it combined in one all that is real, as opposed to all that is phenomenal. In this pleroma every existence which is supra-sensual and therefore true has its abode.

Separated from this celestial region by Horus, another Horus or Kerwma, Boundary, which, or who, like the former is impassable, lies the ' kenoma ' the region or void '—the kingdom of this world, the region of matter and material things, the land of shadow and darkness Here is the empire of the Demiurge or Creator, who is not a celestial Man at all, but was born in this very void over which he reigns. Here reside all those phenomenal, deceptive, transitory things, of which the eternal counterparts are found only in the pleroma.

It is in this antithesis that the Platonism of the Valentinian theory Platonism reaches its climax. All things are set off one against another in these two of this antithesis.

The swan on still St Mary's lake

Floats double, swan and shadow.

Not only have the thirty AEons their terrestrial counterparts; but their subdivisions also are represented in this lower region. The kenoma too has its ogdoad, its decad, its dodecad, like the pleroma. There is one Sophia in the supra-mundane region, and another in the mundane; there is one Christ who redeems the AEons in the spiritual world, and a second Christ who redeems mankind, or rather a portion of mankind, in the sensible world. There is an Aeon Man and another Aeon Ecclesia in the celestial kingdom, the ideal counterparts of the Human Race and the Christian Church in the terrestrial. Even individual men and women, as we shall see presently, have their archetypes in this higher sphere of intelligible being.

The localisation of the plerOma carried out in detail. 

The topographical conception of the pleroma moreover is carried out in the details of the imagery. The second Sophia, called also Achamoth, is the desire, the offspring, of her elder namesake, separated from her mother, cast out of the pleroma, and left ' stranded ' in the void beyond^, being prevented from returning by the inexorable Horus who guards the frontier of the supra-mundane kingdom. The second Christ — a being compounded of elements contributed by all the AEons— was sent down from the pleroma, first of all at the eve of creation to infuse something like order and to provide for a spiritual element in this lower world ; and secondly, when He united Himself with the man Jesus for the sake of redeeming those who were capable of redemption^. At the end of all things Sophia Achamoth, and with her the spiritual portion of mankind, shall be redeemed and received up into the pleroma, while the psychical portion will be left outside to form another kingdom under the dominion of their father the Demiurge. This redemption and ascension of Achamoth (by a perversion of a scriptural image) was represented as her espousals with the Saviour, the second Christ; and the pleroma, the scene of this happy union, was called the bridal-chamber Indeed the localisation of the pleroma is as complete as language can make it. The constant repetition of the words * within * and 'without', 'above' and 'beneath', in the development of this philosophical and religious myth still further impresses this local sense on the term^.

In this topographical representation the connexion of meaning in the word pleroma as employed by St Paul and by Valentinus respectively seems at first sight to be entirely lost. When we read of the contrast between the pleroma and the kenoma, the fullness and the void, we are naturally reminded of the plenum and the vacuum of physical speculations. The sense of pleroma, as expressing completeness and so denoting the aggregate or totality of the Divine powers, seems altogether to have disappeared. But in fact this antithesis of Keuwfia was, so far as we can make out, a mere afterthought, and appears to have been borrowed, as Irenaeus states, from the physical theories of Democritus and Epicurus^. It would naturally suggest itself both because the opposition of ifK-qpr^s and K€vos was obvious, and because the word Kevcofia materially assisted the imagery as a description of the kingdom of waste and shadow. But in itself it is a false antithesis. The true antithesis appears in another, and borrowed probably an earlier, term used to describe the mundane kingdom.

In this earlier representation, which there is good reason for ascribing to Valentinus himself, it is called not Kevafia ' the void', * the deficiency, incompleteness '1. Moreover the common phraseology of this appears in Valentinian schools shows that the idea suggested by this opposition to theirs was not the original idea of the term. They speak of the whole aggregate of the AEons. And this (making allowance for the personification of the Aeons) corresponds exactly to its use in St Paul.

Again the teaching of the Valentinian schools supplies other uses which serve to illustrate its meaning. Not only does the supra-mundane kingdom as a whole bear this name, but each separate AEon, of which that shown kingdom is the aggregation, is likewise called a pleroraa This designation is given to an AEon, because it is the fullness, the perfection, of which its mundane counterpart is only a shadow and defective copy. Nor does the narrowing of the term stop here. There likewise dwells in this higher region a pleroma, or eternal archetype, not only of every comprehensive mundane power, but of each individual man; and to wed himself with this heavenly partner, this Divine ideal of himself, must be the study of his life. The profound moral significance which underlies the exaggerated Platonism and perverse exegesis of this conception will be at once apparent.

But the manner in which the theory was carried out is curiously illustrated by the commentary of the Valentinian Heracleon on our Lord's discourse with the Samaritan woman"*. This woman, such is his explanation, belongs to the spiritual portion of mankind. But she had had six husbands, or in other words she laid entangled herself with the material world, had defiled herself with sensuous things. The husband however, whom she now has, is not her husband; herein she has spoken rightly: the Saviour in fact means 'her partner from the pleroma'. Hence she is bidden to go and call him ; that is, she must find ' her pleroma, that coming to the Saviour visit him (or it), she may be able to obtain from Him the power and the union and the combination with her pleroma' {rfiv bvvap.iv Koi TTjv evcocriv koI ttjv avaKpacriv rffv Trpbs to irKr^papa avTTjs), * For', adds Heracleon, ' He did not speak of a mundane {KoaptKov) husband when He told her to call him, since He was not ignorant that she had no lawful husband'.

Impossible as it seems to us to reconcile the Valentinian system with the teaching of the Apostles, the Valentinians themselves felt no such difficulty. They intended their philosophy not to supersede or contradict Apostolic doctrine, but to supplement it and to explain it on philosophical principles. Hence the Canon of the Valentinians comprehended the Canon of Catholic Christianity in all its essential parts, though some Valentinian schools at all events supplemented it with Apocryphal writings. More particularly the Gospel of St John and the Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians were regarded with especial favour; and those passages which speak of the pleroma are quoted more than once in their writings to illustrate their teaching. By isolating a few words from the context and interpreting them wholly Without reference to their setting, and quote they had no difficulty in finding a confirmation of their views, where we see them in only an incongruity or even a contradiction. For instance, their second Christ — the redeemer of the spiritual element in the mundane world — was, views. as we saw, compacted of gifts contributed by all the Aeons of the pleroma. Hence he was called ' the common fruit of the pleroma', ' the fruit of all the pleroma'^, 'the most perfect beauty and constellation of the pleroma; hence also he was designated 'All' (natf) and 'All things' (navTay.

Accordingly, to this second Christ, not to the first, they applied these texts; Col. iii. 11 * And He is all things', Rom. xi. 36 'All things are unto Him and from Him are all things'. Col. ii. 9 ' In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead', Ephes. i. 10 ' To gather together in one all things in Christ through God '2. So too they styled him EvdoKrjTos, with a reference to Col. i. 19, because 'all the pleroma was pleased through Him to glorify the Father'^ And inasmuch as this second Christ was according to the Valentinian theory instrumental in the creation of the mundane powers, they quoted, or rather misquoted, as referring to this participation in the work of the Demiurge, the passage Col. i. 16 ' In Him were created all things, visible and invisible, thrones, deities, dominions'*. Indeed it seems clear that these adaptations were not always afterthoughts, but that in several instances at least their nomenclature was originally chosen for the sake of fitting the theory to isolated phrases and expressions in the Apostolic writings, however much it might conflict with the Apostolic doctrine in its main lines°. "

- St.Paul's Epistles to Colossians and to Philemon by J.B LightFoot.

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Saint Paul was right, all the pleroma(totality of divine powers or Aeons) of deity(Father) dwells in Christ and form his body and moreover this pleroma has a local existence, it locally exists just as it is said in the Gospel of Thomas - "The kingdom of God is spread out upon earth but men don't see it".

As anyone can see Christ is at the very heart of the doctrine of Valentinian theology it is ridiculous to assert that there is no special place for Christ in Valentinian theology or in gnosticism as a whole. Christ is at the very soul of their doctrine.