Valentinus was a "2nd century AD), Egyptian religious philosopher, founder of Roman and Alexandrian schools of Gnosticism, a system of religious dualism (belief in rival deities of good and evil) with a doctrine of salvation by gnosis, or esoteric knowledge. Valentinian communities, founded by his disciples, provided the major challenge to 2nd- and 3rd-century Christian theology."
"Valentinus studied philosophy at Alexandria. His disciples claimed that he had been educated by Theodas, a purported pupil of St. Paul, and was baptized a Christian. According to documentary fragments of 2nd- and 3rd-century theologians Valentinus moved to Rome c. 136, during the time of Pope St. Hyginus (c. 136-140), and exercised influence there for some 25 years, expounding his synthesis of Christian and oriental Gnostic teaching. Aspiring to be bishop of Rome, he left the Christian community when he was passed over for that office c. 140."
"On abandoning Rome for Cyprus c. 160, and possibly Alexandria, Valentinus continued to develop his system of mythically derived religious philosophy."
"The Valentinian system developed into Eastern and Western forms in greater complexity, although the earlier structure was similar to Pauline mystical theology, with its emphasis on the instrumentality of Christ's death and resurrection in effecting Christian deliverance."
     - Encyclopaedia Britannica

"Till we all come in unity of the faith, and of the gnosis of the Son of God, unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
     - Ephesians 4:13

Paul's theology had its roots in Jewish mysticism.

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature [Or 'our flesh'] and following its desires and thoughts..."
     - Ephesians 2:1-3a (New International Version)

"And you, hath he quickened, who were the dead in trespasses and sins; In which times past ye walked according to the Aeon of this cosmos, according to the Archon of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience; Among whom also we all had our manner of life in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind...."
     - Ephesians 2:1-3a

"'Aeon' has many meanings in Greek, including age, space, or a spiritual being governing a vast space or dimension either in the heavens (Pleroma) or below."
"According to the Valentinian school of theology (which inherited its teaching from Paul), the Aeon of this cosmos refers to a usurper god, called the demiurge (Greek: artificer or fabricator)."
"'Archon' is the Greek word for ruler, and 'the power of the air' is identified with the devil by Valentinian theologians....The Archon who rules the devil was known in the first and second century under many names, including Ialdabaoth, Saclas (fool) or Sammael."
     - The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

"But if our gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost. In whom the god of this aeon [age] hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
     - 2 Corinthians 4: 3-4

"Second-century Valentinian theologians claimed that, according to Paul, portions of the Mosaic code and the Old Testament contained ordinances which derived from this usurper god and not from the Highest God, whom they identified as the Father of Jesus."
     - The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

"However, we speak wisdom [Sophia] among them that are perfect; yet not the wisdom of this age [aeon], nor of the archons of this age, that come to naught; But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before [in the presence of] the Aeons [Divine Beings dwelling with the Father in the Pleroma] unto glory; which none of the archons of this age knew for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
     - 1 Corinthians 6-8

"According to scholar Elaine Pagels, the hidden wisdom of Paul related to 'the secret mystery of Sophia', i.e., to the passion, fall, and restoration of Sophia (the world and universal Soul), the pattern for the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ."
     - The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

In a process which is sarcastically compared to that of the Eleusinian mysteries, the Valentinians:

"...First beset all access to their group with tormenting conditions, and they require a long initiation before they enroll their members, even instruction for five years for their adept students, so that they may educate their opinions by this suspension of full knowledge, and, apparently, raise the value of their mysteries in proportion to the longing for them which they have created. Then follows the duty of silence..."
     - Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos

Hyperlinks

·Early Christian Beliefs
·The Feminine Soul
·Hermes Trismegistus
·The Secret Knowledge