This week's heresy broadcast

[Liberator]

Valentinus & The Valentinians. Besides being a poetic genius and an ethereal philosopher, Valentinus was the Gnostic who allegedly almost became Pope and might have changed the course of the Church in history. He and his followers created some of the most beautiful, unifying theology of early Christianity, including the concept of the Trinity, a redeemed Demiurge, and a positive view of the cosmos. We evoke their amazing contribution to Christian thought before they were crushed under the fury of Orthodoxy in the Fourth Century.

Astral Guestâ€" Einar Thomassen, author of ‘The Spiritual Seed: The Church of the Valentinians’ and one of the original translators of the Nag Hammadi Library.

Topics Discussed:

--Separating the legend from the history of Valentinus of Alexandria.
--Understanding the softer, poetic and yet astral Gnosticism of the Valentinians (and the different schools within this Gnostic sect).
--Evidence stating that Valentinus received his theology from the Syrian Christian viewpoint and not Alexandria.
--Finally understanding what exactly was the Sacrament of the Bridal Chamber.
--Why did Valentinus consider the Apostle Paul the Elvis of the ancient times?
--Like most Gnostic Schools, how not everyone receives salvation and why.
--Why faith was as important as gnosis to the Valentinians.
--How Valentinus radically saw the death and resurrection of the Christ.

And much more!

Just go to www.thegodabovegod.com/. The program is broadcast all weekend long. Listen to it at your convenience.

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[♫anna♫]

The Cathars were also influenced by Gnocticism..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism
When i was in France i visited Mont Segur and Beziers and paid tribute in a symbolic way to these "heretics"!

[Liberator]

Yes. It has never gone away, even if some manifestations have been pretty weird. It's hard to tell how many literally believed in matter=bad spirit=good and how many really believed that it was far less a difference of essence than of perception. There are two official Gnostic churches but Ecclesiastica Gnostica use a version of the old Roman Latin liturgies and I can't see any good reason for doing that at all.