Theudas (teacher of Valentinus)

Theudas was the name of a Christian Gnostic thinker, who was said to be a secret disciple of Paul the Apostle. He went on to teach Valentinus (Gnostic). The source of this connection is the testimony of Valentinius' followers, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Origen.

It has been proposed by some that he was the Theudas mentioned in the Bible. But this would be impossible given the many possible Theudas in that time. More over, the Theudas mentioned in the Bible is said to have died in the 1st century around 46 AD, and the Theudas who taught Valentinus must have come after Paul necessarily, since Valentinus lived in 2nd century. This places the Theudas of Valentinus firmly within the 2nd century.

Possibly, this Christian Theudas was influenced by a secret blending of Paul’s own mysticism deriving from oral Jewish tradition known to him in his original position, the revelation of Jesus Christ given to his disciples in secret known to Paul ( Mark 4:11 ), as portrayed in Book of Revelation (since Valentinus taught the “Name of God” of 30 letters to his closest disciple, Marcus, and Book of Revelation depicts this name in 30 figures), and the Greek influence coming from Paul, after spending time with Dionysus the Areopagite who became Bishop of Athens, but originally an astronomer (student of the cosmos), gifted Platonic philosopher, judge of the court at Areopagus, and a rich man of Athens, who followed Paul for 4 years, just before Paul wrote the letters where he speaks in quasi-Gnostic tone, showcasing knowledge of “rulers” (from Greek Archon), “God of this age” (in pair with a figure of Demiurge, the “God of the world” until he comes to an end as Paul says), three heavens (in pair with Hebdomad, Ogdoad, and Fullness), the body/name of God (the Pleroma), the (inner) cross, the mysteries of resurrection, and the general secretive mystery ( 1 Corinthians 2:6 ).

But we don’t really know anything of Theudas himself, apart from the teachings of Valentinians. History is blind and silent on this matter. At much, we can speculate the origin of this Theudas, being native of Egypt or Greece, possibly from lower Egypt (where Valentinus came from), or southern Greece.