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Victorinus Circa 281/291-370 A.D.

The Bridge Between Greek and Latin Neoplatonism

A Trinitarian Syncretist

“In Rome, Victorinus (d.c. A.D. 370), an African by birth and a teacher of rhetoric, translated some of the works of the earlier Neoplatonists into Latin, then at last moved from Neoplatonism into Christianity (Jerome, Illustrious Men 101).  Augustine (A.D. 354-430) read the translations of Victorinus and was deeply influenced by Neoplatonism as he likewise moved on (baptized in 387) into the Christian faith (Confessions 8.2).  He later declared that of all other philosophers “none come nearer to us than the Platonists” (City of God 8.5).  Likewise the Roman Christian theologian Boethius (c.A.D. 470-525), who wrote commentaries on works of Porphyry and translated Porphyry’s Isagoge, reflects Neoplatonism in his own major work On the Consolation of Philosophy.  Together Augustine and Boethius were mainly responsible for the introduction of Neoplatonic ideas into Latin Christianity.  Nevertheless Roman Neoplatonism as a school was at end by the latter part of the sixth century”  (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 184).

To Be  (the One) or to be (the Many)

That is the Mystery of the Trinity

“The name of Marius Victorinus is not a familiar one in the history of ideas or of education.  He was, nevertheless, an outstanding educator of the late Roman Empire and an important link in intellectual history with the periods that would follow.  He formed a new philosophical language, which was of great help to logicians [philosophers skilled in logic, i.e.; the science of formal reasoning, using principles of valid inference.  Paul refers to such reasoning as the use of clever words] and the metaphysicians [philosophers skilled in first principles, i.e.; ontology, the science or theory of being, cosmology, the science or theory of universal order, and epistemology, the science or theory of knowledge] of the Middle Ages.  Indeed, it has been said that he should have a place among those whom E. K. Rand has called the Founders of the Middle Ages.  Long passages from Victorinus were copied by Alcuin in his De fide and a citation from Victorinus appears in Hincmar, while, earlier, Boethius borrowed heavily from Victorinus.  Not only is he important in the history of Latin and Greek Neoplatonism by reason of his translation of the “Platonic books” significantly mentioned by Augustine [Confessions 7.9.13] -- books now believed to be treatises of Plotinus and Porphyry—but Victorinus also made use of traditional themes from the entire philosophical and religious tradition in new ways.  Philosopher and theologian, he affirmed the Neoplatonic distinction between, on the one hand, “To Be,” pure Act transcending every form, and, on the other, being, a subject receiving a determined form of “to be [the author comments in a footnote that “...Victorinus deserves special consideration for his pioneering exploitation of the substantive infinitive [to be as a direct derivative of To Be], a syntactical device especially important for the expression of philosophical and theological ideas.”]”  In asserting the direct derivation of the “to be” of beings [the Many, or the Father, Son and Holy Spirit] from the first “To Be [the One],” he transmitted through Boethius one of the great insights of medieval metaphysics [the great Chaldean Mystery of the One and the Many now packaged for the Latin mind!].  The importance Victorinus gave to existence and his effort to understand existence put him in touch with the Twentieth Century [by this she means Existentialism—a philosophic teaching that existence precedes essence.  By essence philosophers mean the purpose or function of a thing; function(s) which uniquely define(s) it; that without which it would not be what it is.  In existentialism, essence is self-defined.  Applied to the One—it means that the One has no preestablished nature but rather defines itself through its own freely chosen actions, thus when the One’s potentiality is actualized then and only then does it become the Many, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—i.e.; the Mystery of the Trinity]” (Clark, Marius Victorinus: Theological Treatises On The Trinity, pp. 3-4).

Sound familiar?  “There is one God, and that one God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  They are distinct, but not separate....Therefore, God is everything we can conceive of and more!” (Joseph W. Tkach Sr., July 27, 1993.)

Victorinus Priest of Isis and Osiris

“Born and married in Africa, Victorinus later moved to Italy.  ...He is first heard of around 350 [25 years after the Council of Nicaea I], in Rome, where his statue in the Forum of Trajan is a tribute to his eloquence and to the gratitude of the senators he taught.  He was steeped in Neoplatonism and was initiated into the mysteries of Osiris.  His exaggerated spiritual philosophy made him hostile to the body and therefore to the “Word made flesh,” ...In reading the Christian Scriptures, however, Victorinus discovered a deep harmony with his own philosophical ideas on the first principles [ontology, the science or theory of be(ing), cosmology, the science or theory of universal order, and epistemology, the science or theory of knowledge].  Apparently this reading of Scripture opened the mind and heart of Victorinus to receive the gift of faith in Christ as the Divine Son of God.  The year 356 has been declared the most likely date for this conversion, ... Victorinus’s Letter to Candidus was written around 359.  Victorinus lived under three Emperors:  Constantine, Constantius and Julian, disciple of the Neoplatonic philosopher, Iamblichus” (Clark, Marius Victorinus: Theological Treatises On The Trinity, p. 4).

“To understand Victorinus we must be aware of the traditions from which he emerged.  He stood at the crossroads of three different paths:  The traditions of classical Rome—Cicero, Virgil; the new trends in philosophic thought—Plotinus, Porphyry; the new positions of Christianity, with the crisis in conscience these brought for the Roman citizen.  The foundation of Constantinople, the new Christian Rome, reduced the rank of ancient Rome; in 357 the Senate of Constantinople became the equal of the Roman Senate.  Because these three paths meet in Victorinus, he became the leader of the spiritual movement of Platonic Christianity which gained its full strength between 380 and 415.  The whole Fourth Century was a century of conflict between pagan [Mystic or irrational] and [Platonic or rational] Christian culture: the renaissance of pagan culture, the birth of [Platonic] Christian culture.  In the pagan renaissance there was a joining of forces with the magical element in eastern Neoplatonism”  (Clark, Marius Victorinus: Theological Treatises On The Trinity, p. 4).

Proclus The Chaldean410-485 A.D.

“Proclus (A.D. 410-485) was the most important figure in the later Neoplatonism that began with Iamblichus.  Proclus was a Greek born in Constantinople (Byzantium), studied in Alexandria and with Plutarch and Syrianos in Athens, and became the head for the rest of his life of the Platonic academy at Athens (as the heir to this position and to distinguish him from others of the same name he is known as Proclus Diadochus, the “successor”).  Proclus wrote commentaries and an exegetical work (Platonic Theology) on Plato, essays (On Providence and Fate, and others), hymns (of which only a few survive), and major systematic texts (Elements of Physics; Elements of Theology)” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 182).

Marinus The Chaldean

Proclus’ Convert from Samaritan Judaism

“The pupil and immediate successor of Proclus in the academy at Athens was Marinus, who came from Neapolis (Shechem) [the ancient home of Simon Magus] in Palestine, and was a convert to Neoplatonism from Samaritan Judaism” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 182).

Proclus’ Great Admiration for Timaeus of Plato and Chaldean Oracles

“Marinus wrote a biography of Proclus, in which we are told that Proclus once said that if he could, out of all ancient books, he would leave current only the Timaeus of Plato and the Chaldean Oracles” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 182).

Proclus Worshipper of the Sun

“We are also given a description of the religious life of Proclus who, in addition to his heavy schedule of lecturing and writing, worshiped the sun three times a day, observed all the Egyptian holy days, and spent part of the night in prayer and praise” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 183).

Proclus’ Hymn to the Sun

“... In a Hymn to the Sun Proclus salutes the sun and prays:  Image of nature’s all-producing god, And the soul’s leader to the realms of light—Hear! and refine me from the stains of guilt; The supplication of my tears receive ... The punishments incurred by sin remit ... By thy pure law, dread evil’s constant foe, Direct my steps, and pour thy sacred light In rich abundance on my clouded soul” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 183).

Proclus’ Great Influence upon Christian Thought

“The Neoplatonism enunciated at the height of the movement by Proclus in Athens was influential in the system of Christian thought set forth in a series of writings composed in the late fifth century and circulated under the name of Dionysios the Areopagite (Acts 17:34).  In these the unknown author, often considered the father of Christian mysticism, outlines the Celestial Hierarchy [the One] and the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy [the Many—both represent the ancient Chaldean worldview of heaven and earth.  This is the fountainhead of all subsequent Catholic Church doctrine of the hierarchy, see Human Rights in the Middle Ages by Ulhmann], treats the Divine Names [the sacred names of actual demons in high places] that contain the mystery of the divine being [the One], and in Mystical Theology describes the ascent of the soul [of the Many] to the vision of God [the Beatific Vision] (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 183).

“In spite of this positive relationship with some Christian thought, in A.D. 529 the academy at Athens was shut down by a decree of Justinian I, and Athenian Neoplatonism came to an end.  Some of its leaders, however, established themselves thereafter in Byzantium (Constantinople), where later Psellus (A.D. 1018-1079) was notable for his continuation of the ideas of Proclus”  (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, p. 183).

The Demise of the Alexandrian School 642 A.D.

“... in A.D. 415 and under Cyril archbishop of Alexandria (d. A.D. 444) Hypatia, the head of the Neoplatonic school at Alexandria and a lady of high attainment in literature and philosophy, was dragged from her carriage by a mob of fanatical Christians and murdered at the church called Caesareum (Socrates, Church History 7.15).  Finally, with the capture of the city by the Arabs in A.D. 642 the school was shut down. 

“The long line of thought from Orpheus to Pythagoras to Plato and on to Plato’s followers would, however, not end,...” (Finegan, Myth & Mystery, pp. 184-185).

The Philosophic (Chaldean) One

Notice the Philosophic Eternal Distinctions of Pater, Logos and Pneuma

in the Trinitarian Formulation 

“There are then (as the statement may run) three Persons (Hypostases) or real distinctions in the unity of the divine Nature or Substance [ousia], which is Love.

Notice the Philosophic Consubstantiality of the Logos in the Trinitarian Formulation

The Persons are co-equal, inasmuch as in each of them the divine Nature is one and undivided, and by each the collective divine attributes are shared.  As a ‘person’ in Trinitarian usage is more than a mere aspect of being, being a real ground of experience and function, each divine Person, while less than a separate individuality, possesses His own hypostatic character or characteristic property (...). 

Notice the Philosophic Logos of the Greeks in the Trinitarian Formulation 

The hypostatic characters of the Persons may be viewed from an internal and an external standpoint, i.e. with reference to the inner constitution of the Godhead or to the Godhead as related to the cosmos or world of manifestation.

Notice the Philosophic Eternal Generation of the Logos in the Trinitarian Formulation 

Viewed ab intra, the hypostatic character of the Father is ingeneration (...), of the Son; filiation, of the Spirit procession; wherefore, ‘the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.’ [Westminster Confession, ii,3]. 

Notice the Philosophic Double Procession from the Father and the Son in the Trinitarian Formulation

Viewed ab intra, the hypostatic character of the Father is ingeneration (...), of the Son; filiation, of the Spirit procession; wherefore, ‘the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.’ [Westminster Confession, ii, 3].

The Philosophic (Chaldean) Many

Viewed ab extra (for Love functions externally as well as internally, is centrifugal as well as centripetal [Cf. S.A. McDowall, Evolution and the Doctrine of the Trinity, Cambridge, 1918, p. 53 f.], the hypostatic character of the Father is made manifest in creation, whereby a world is provided for beings who should be capable of experiencing fellowship with the divine Love; the hypostatic character of the Son in redemption, whereby the alienating power of sin is overcome; and the hypostatic character of the Spirit in sanctification, whereby human nature is quickened and renewed and shaped to the divine likeness.  Yet, while this is said, as there is no separation in the unity of the Godhead, so the one God is manifested in the threefold work of creation, redemption, and sanctification; moreover, each of the Persons as sharing the divine attributes is active in the threefold work, if with varying stress of function.  Verily the doctrine of the Trinity exit in mysterium”  (Fulton, Trinity, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, pp. 459-460).

A P P E N D I X

Origin and History of the Magi

The year 2094 B.C. was critical in the developing history of the Middle East.  100 years (2194-2094 B.C.) after Shem began the re-conquest of the Middle East at Erech by routing the forces of Nimrod; the “reincarnated” Nimrod launched an expeditionary force against Erech.  That same year Horus opened a second front by leading an expedition into the territory of Shem and Japheth who had colonized the Danube Valley, the part of Europe we know today as Yugoslavia, Hungry, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria and Germany.

Horus led the first Assyrian and Elamite migrations into Europe in the year of 2094.  The Assyrians were his kinsmen, the Elamites were his slaves.  This expeditionary force swept up the Mesopotamian Valley, into Asia Minor and up the Danube into Europe.  At some point Horus turned west toward what is today France and Belgium and settled in the uncolonized areas of Western Europe.  Horus ruled in Western Europe until 2048 at which time he was forced to return to Mesopotamia due to the activities of his duplicitous mother Semiramis.  Horus or Zames relinquished personal dominion over Western Europe to his son Magus and returned to Assyrian Mesopotamia.  Following is a short listing of the dynasty Horus founded in Western Europe as preserved by Aylett Sammes in his work:  Britannia Antiqua Illustrata: or, the Antiquities of Ancient Britain.  London, 1676. 

Thus, the rulers of early France and Belgium were Assyrians of the line of Asshur, Semiramis and Horus.  The Celts were Assyrian and not Aramean Goths. The main settlements of Chaldean Hebrews was centered around the Danube in the region of Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. 

The Magi show up in Near Eastern history in the 900’s B.C. as the sixth tribe of the Medes.  “The Old Persian word magu, rendered in Greek by magos, is of uncertain etymology.  It may originally have meant “member of the tribe,” as in the Avestan compound magu-tbish (“hostile to a member of the tribe”).  This meaning would have been further restricted, among the Medes, to “member of the priestly tribe” and perhaps to “priest” (Benveniste, 1938; Boyce, 1982).  The term is probably of Median origin, given that Herodotus mentions the “Magoi” as one of the six tribes of the Medes.”  (Eliade, Magi, The Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 9, p. 79.)

In 612 B.C., the Medes and their Chaldean confederates toppled the Assyrian Empire forever.  The new Median Empire stretched from an area running just below the Black Sea in Asia Minor to the Indus Valley of India, while the confederate Babylonian Empire straddled the ancient Fertile Crescent!  With this conquest came the ancient Magi of the Medes.  The Roman Geographer Strabo attests to the numeric strength and influence of these Chaldean and Magian priests of the Kingdom of Pontus well down into the period of the Roman Empire and its long rule over Asia Minor. 

Rulers of Middle Eastern Empires at the time of Plato

The White Canaanites of Arcadius

Arcadius, one of the white sons of Canaan, was migrating toward the Grecian peninsula.  These sons of Arcadius were the original Greeks!  Arcadius is the father of the Arkites (Gen 10:17).  The Arcadians migrated toward Greece beginning in 2189 B.C. arriving in Arcadia Peloponnese by 2063 B.C., founding Sicyon, the oldest city-state in Greece.

King list of Aegialea (Sicyon)

     Aegialeus                    52     2063-2011    Eber-father of Hebrews

      Europs                         45     2011-1966

      Telchin                        20     1966-1946

      Apis                            25     1946-1921

      Thelxion                      52     1921-1869

      Aegydrus                     34     1869-1835    Argos founded in 1858

                                                                         Line of Agamemnon

Tiras, son of Japheth.  His white descendants settled Thrace.

Javan Father of the “Hellenistic” Greeks

Javan, son of Japheth.  His white descendants settled in Greece in 2189 B.C.  “but from Javan, Ionia, and all the Grecians are derived.  ...Of the three sons of Javan also, the son of Japhet, Elisa gave name to the Eliseans, who were his subjects; they are now the Aeolians” (Josephus Bk I, Ch V, p.40).  They lived in a large part of east-central Greece before 1150 B.C.  “Toward the end of the 1100’s, other Greeks called Dorians [Midianites] invaded Aeolian territory, and many Aeolians moved to the western coast of Asia Minor, the nearby islands of Lesbos and Tenedos.  The coastal district was known as Aeolis”  (Aeolians, World Book Encyclopedia).

© Carl D. Franklin

September 16, 1993

June 5, 1996

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