The Valentinians embraced a complex, and
almost incoherent, system.
1. Both Christ and Jesus were
aeons, though of different degrees; the one acting as the
rational soul, the other as the divine spirit of the Savior.
2. At the time of the passion, they both retired, and left
only a sensitive soul and a human body.
3. Even that body
was aethereal, and perhaps apparent.
—Such are the laborious conclusions of Mosheim. But I much doubt whether
the Latin translator understood Irenaeus, and whether
Irenaeus and the Valetinians understood themselves.