sb. and a. Also 7 -ean. [See def.]
A. sb. A follower of the Egyptian theologian Valentinus (fl. c. 150), founder of a Gnostic sect.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. iii. 497. The sect of Valentynyanys, whiche helden that Crist took no thing of Maries bodi.
1565. Stapleton, trans. Staphylus’ Apol., 168 b. The conflictes of Irenee with the Valentinians.
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 2. As the olde Heretiques the Valentinians did.
1616. Bullokar, Eng. Expos., Valentinians, certaine heretikes … who held opinion that our Sauiour receiued not his flesh of the blessed virgin Mary.
1702. trans. Le Clerc’s Prim. Fathers, 15. The Valentinians … learned what they said concerning the Generation of their Æones, of Hesiod.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., IV. 540, note. The Valentinians embraced a complex, and almost incoherent, system.
1833. A. Crichton, Hist. Arabia, I. v. 216. Sabellians, Valentinians, and a host of obscurer sects, all rose up in the theological arena.
1874. W. R. Cassels, Supernatural Relig., II. II. x. 221. The Valentinians differed materially among themselves regarding certain points.
B. adj. Adhering or belonging to the Gnostic sect instituted by the heresiarch Valentinus; taught or disseminated by Valentinus or his followers.
1579. Fulke, Conf. Sanders, 585. Yet came that estimation of the crosse from the Valentinian heretikes.
1674. Hickman, Quinquart. Hist. (ed. 2), 56. I found that there were Valentinian Anabaptists in those days.
1702. Echard, Eccl. Hist. (1710), 554. And now he made many converts, particularly Ambrosius, noted for the Valentinian heresie.
1832. W. Palmer, Orig. Liturg., I. 149. As a sufficient means of proving the falsehood of the Valentinian doctrines.
1874. W. R. Cassels, Supernatural Relig., II. II. x. 214. He calls him the most noted man of the Valentinian school.
Hence Valentinianism, the doctrine or creed of Valentinus and his followers.
1875. Lightfoot, Comm. Col., 331, note. The later Basilideans apparently influenced by Valentinianism superadded to the teaching of their founder.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 768. The word is tainted with Valentinianism.
