Foster—Irenaeus and the Non-Canonical Gospels 109Coptic version, whereas presumably Valentinian adherents where reading the text in
Greek. More significantly, it must be noted that the “fragments of a Sahidic version of
Gos. Truth found in NHC XII... seem to differ in several places from the text of NHC
I .”^15 While it may be debated whether the small fragments from NHC XII represent
an earlier version of the text or not, they at least suggest that more than one recension
of the text was in circulation. These factors need to be borne in mind when making
statements about Irenaeus’s knowledge of the Gospel of Truth on the basis of the shared
perspectives on the essentials of Valentinian teaching.
Irenaeus reports that the Valentinians “affirm it was that the ‘Saviour’—for they do
not please to call Him ‘Lord’—did no work in public during the space of thirty years”
(Hae r. 1.1.3). This preferred christological title accords with the usage in the Gospel of
Tr uth, “through the power of the Word that came forth from the pleroma, the one who
is in the thought and the mind of the Father, that is, the one who is addressed as the
Saviour, (that) being the name of the work he is to perform for the redemption of those
who were ignorant of the Father” (Gos. Truth, NHC I,3: 16.34—17.1).
Although an interesting parallel, this feature is hardly unique to the Gospel of Truth,
with the term “savior” being widespread as the preferred title in a number of Nag
Hammadi tractates. Irenaeus also shows a detailed knowledge of the emanation of the
Aeons. The cosmological scheme he describes speaks of thirty aeons which are divided
“into an Ogdoad, a Decad, and a Duodecad” (Hae r. I.1.3). However, Irenaeus states that
this advanced cosmology is known to only the “professing teachers” of the movements.
Therefore, it is unsurprising that this hidden knowledge is not revealed in the Gospel
of Tr uth, which may be some kind of introductory or “evangelistic” sermonic text. By
contrast, reference to terms such as “Duodecad” and “Decad” is a feature of other texts
such as A Valentinian Exposition (NHC XI,2: 22.1-30.38),^16 and also in a Sethian text,
the so-called “Untitled Text” of the Bruce Codex, which refers to the Decad.^17
Since Irenaeus possesses more detailed knowledge of the protology, cosmology,
and soteriology of Valentinianism than is provided in the Gospel of Truth, it is appar-
ent that he had other sources of knowledge, either written or orally transmitted to
him. Furthermore, since he does not directly cite from the text of the Gospel of Truth,
nor does he betray knowledge of any concept that is unique to that text, the case for
definitive dependence is far from being absolutely certain. Nonetheless, he does use
the title Gospel of Truth, which echoes the opening line of the text in NHC 1,3. This is
highly suggestive, by itself, of the possibility that Irenaeus had knowledge of some text-
form of this writing. Whether he had direct access to a written copy of the text, or had
learned of it through a secondhand mechanism, is unclear.
The Alpha-Beta Logion and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
After describing the cosmological speculations of the Valentinians, Irenaeus recounts
the teachings of one Marcus and his followers. The latter group are described as hav-
ing an impact on the local area of the Rhône valley of which Lyons was a major city
standing at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers (Hae r. I.13.7). One of the key
aspects of the teaching of the Marcosians, attributed to them by Irenaeus, is their mysti-
cal interpretation of letters and the use of gematria to find hidden meaning in various