DID GNOSTIC CONCEPTS INFLUENCE 2ND CENTURY CHRISTIAN THINKING?

MARCELLUS OF ANCYRA (circa 300 C.E.): “...MARCELLUS, A THEOLOGIAN OF THE 300'S, OBJECTED TO USING PERSONS IN THE FORMULA OF THE NATURE OF GOD. WHILE HE DID NOT PREVAIL ON THAT POINT IN THE NICENE CREED, YET HIS STING WAS THAT ( THE WHOLE CONCEPT ) - OF THREE PERSON IN ONE – SMACKED OF PAGANISM. His quote below goes far to explain why ( the trinity concept ) was ( not – explicitly utilized ) despite it being argued for in Tertullian, Justin Martyr and Origen. We find the following quote of Marcellus in A. Logan, “Marcellus of Ancyra (Pseudo-Anthimus [of Nicodemia (died-martyred circa 302 C.E.)]), '[To Theodore] On The Holy Church' [De Sancta Ecclesia]: Text, Translation and Commentary. Verses 8-9,” Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Volume 51, Pt. 1 (April 2000) at 95: “...Now with the heresy of the Ariomaniacs, which has corrupted the Church of God. … THESE THEN TEACH THREE HYPOSTASES, JUST AS VALENTINUS THE HERESIARCH FIRST INVENTED IN THE BOOK ENTITLED BY HIM 'ON THE THREE NATURES'. FOR HE WAS THE FIRST TO INVENT THREE HYPOSTASES AND THREE PERSONS OF THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT, and he is discovered to have filched this from Hermes and Plato...” - (Page 197, “Did Calvin Murder Servetus?” By Stanford Rives.)

[PERSONAL NOTE]: From a Thirteenth Century MSS found in the Ambrosian Library, Milan, – another version in a copy in Escorial

[PERSONAL NOTE]: Compare Marcellus fragment of his Letter to Julius

[PERSONAL NOTE]: Compare Eusebius Eccl. Theol. Book III. Chapters 4, 6. for Valentius use of “person” Gk., ( prospona )

[PERSONAL NOTE]: Compare Athanasius Tomus ad Antiochenos = they accept three hypostatic prosopa – rejecting Marcellus ideas

VALENTINUS: “...The FATHER uncovers his bosom, which is the HOLY SPIRIT, revealing his secret. His secret is his SON!...” (Valentinus. Gospel of Truth. Verse 17. English translation by Patterson Brown).

TRIMORPHIC PROTENNOIA (Nag Hammadi Library): ”...Now the Voice that originated from my Thought exists as THREE permanences: THE FATHER, THE MOTHER, THE SON. Existing perceptibly as Speech, it (Voice) has within it a Word endowed with every , and it has THREE masculinities, THREE powers, and THREE names. THEY EXIST IN THE MANNER OF THREE ... secretly within a silence of THE INEFFABLE ONE...” (from James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition. HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1990.)

BAXTER KRUGER: “...The Cappadocian fathers in formulating the Eastern doctrine of the Trinity did not pull perichoresis out of nowhere. The Trinity had already been put forward as such in the early second century by THE PRE-EMINENT GNOSTIC CHRISTIAN VALENTINUS. Perichoresis and coinherence which are the pillars of a true understanding of God, were an experiential reality for a great many people within primitive Christianity who understood the mystery of the Kingdom of God...Ironically, MARCELLUS OF ANCYRA one of the participants at the Council of Nicea was also concerned with what he saw as illegitimate Platonic and Hermetic influences within the Church at the time the Nicean Creed was being hammered out. MARCELLUS, arguing against the direction the Nicean Creed was being steered by the Cappadocian Fathers, warned that the three hypostases and three persons of Father Son and Holy Spirit were in fact a Platonic invention infiltrated into the Church by VALENTINUS!...” - “The Trinity and Perichoresis“ Baxter Kruger Perichoresis Organisation USA.
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“...Valentinus was the first to formulate a doctrine of the Trinity that looked anything like the profound understanding of the Cappadocian fathers. Valentinus clearly had an understanding of both coinherence and the hypostases of Father, Son and Holy Spirit...” – “Rehabilitating Valentinus” By Baxter Kruger Perichoresis Organisation USA.
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“...Thankfully last century saw the rediscovery of what is believed to be Valentinus 'Gospel of Truth' that gives us another perspective, and in it I see a man who prizes intimacy with God through Jesus Christ: [Qoute] “The Father reveals his bosom. - Now his bosom is the Holy Spirit. - He reveals what is hidden of him - what is hidden of him is his Son - so that through the mercies of the Father, the aeons may know him and cease laboring in search of the Father, resting there in him, knowing that this is the (final) rest.” [End Quote] – Valentinus Gospel of Truth...” – “Rehabilitating Valentinus” By Baxter Kruger Perichoresis Organisation USA.
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