Primary source · Greek
Valentinus: the Fragments
Valentinus · c. AD 140–160
What this text is
Eight or so genuine fragments — homily lines, letters, and a psalm ('Harvest') — quoted by Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus. The teacher's own gentle, poetic voice survives solely inside hostile frames; the Coptic Gospel of Truth (Nag Hammadi I,3) is attributed to him by some modern scholars, a claim reported here, not asserted.
Public-domain translations
Working translation (fragments via Clement and Hippolytus)
From the beginning ye are immortal, and children of eternal life. (Fragment 4, via Stromateis IV.13) ... I see in spirit all things hanging, I perceive in spirit all things borne along. (the psalm 'Harvest', via Refutation VI.37)
Manuscript witnesses
Preserved in Clement, Stromateis (Florence, Laur. V 3)
11th c.The sole medieval carrier of the Stromateis carries most of the fragments.
Preserved in Hippolytus, Refutation (Paris, BnF suppl. gr. 464)
14th c.The one manuscript of Refutation books IV–X, recovered from Athos in 1842, carries the psalm.
Nag Hammadi Codex I ('Jung Codex')
4th c.The Coptic Gospel of Truth — a 4th-century book of a text some assign to Valentinus himself; the attribution is modern conjecture.
Provenance
Alexandria and Rome; preserved only in quotation by his refuters
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- The Gnostic ScripturesBentley Layton, 1987Critical translation of the fragments with the case for Valentinus's authorship of the Gospel of Truth.
- Valentinus Gnosticus? Untersuchungen zur valentinianischen GnosisChristoph Markschies, 1992The skeptical critical study — fragments only, attribution denied; the anti-bias control.