In modern scholarly research there seems to be a consensus that Ireneaus’ Adversus Haereses 1,6,3 should be interpreted in connection with the ascetic practice of syneisaktism (“spiritual marriage”). Ireneaus writes that some Valentinians who “pretend at first to live in chastity with them as with sisters, have been proved in the course of time to be in the wrong, when the sister gives birth to a child of her brother” (own translation). At first sight this sentence indeed seems to describe a practice in which the living together in chastity is the central focus and a link with syneisaktism is therefore not far-fetched.
In my paper, however, I will present another interpretation. By looking to the context of the passage and by looking to other primary sources and modern literature, it will be possible to prove that the paragraph in question is a polemical reproach that does not find any firm ground in the range of thoughts really held by this Gnostic movement. In contrast with the pagans (the material beings) and the other Christians (the psychical beings), Valentinians saw themselves as pneumatic beings whose duty it was to spread the pneumatic seed as soon as possible by sexual reproduction. If a Valentinian would not do that, he would outrageously delay the coming of the end of times. This meant, however, no permission to licentiousness because pneumatic beings should be above carnal desires and sexual intercourse should always take place in a marriage. What is certain is that Valentinians saw asceticism reserved for the psychical beings, not for themselves.
By taking a profound look at the range of thoughts of Valentinianism, I want to show thus that Ireneaus’ Adversus Haereses 1,6,3 is a polemical reproach on which one should not rely if one wants to investigate the history of syneisaktism.
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