16
Letter to Flora
Ptolemy
P
tolemy was Valentinos's disciple and apparently succeeded him in
the school sometime after 160. He was called the greatest system-
atic theologian of the school. He was also an allegorical exegete of
the Gospel of John. Ptolemy's letter is addressed to "dear sister Flora," Flora
presumably being an educated Christian woman who will receive the theolo-
gian's lessons on questions of Mosaic law. After the salutation, however, there
is no indication that Flora is a real person. She may represent the Christian
church in Rome or simply individual Christian readers who may be per-
suaded by the broader speculation of a Valentinian gnostic.
The letter speaks, especially at the be ginning, as a fellow Christian mak-
ing distinctions between the validity of the law in the Hebrew Bible—origi-
nally designed for the Jews, who could not abide by pure law—and the New
Testament. Eventually the path of instruction leads to a strong endorsement
of the gnostic perfect god over his biblical adversary, who is the maker of
the universe and the demiurge. The savior came to earth, it becomes clear, to
complete his spiritual regeneration. He was not a messenger of the creator
god but an emanation of the father of all. Throughout the persuasive letter,
however, the author presents Valentinian gnostic ideas as completely concor-
dant with Christianity.
Ptolemy tells Flora that the law in the five books of Moses has three
parts by three authors. There is the pure law of god in the form of the ten