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Pleroma (πλήρωμα, literally "fullness") generally refers to the totality of divine powers. It is used in Christian theological contexts, especially in Gnosticism. The term also appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, which is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. The word is used 17 times in the New Testament. The word literally means "fullness", from the verb (πληρόω, "to fill"), from (πλήρης, "full"). The word itself is a relative term, capable of many shades of meaning, according to the subject with which it is joined and the antithesis to which it is contrasted. It denotes the result of the action of the verb pleroun; but pleroun is either to fill up an empty thing (e.g. ), or to complete an incomplete thing (e.g. ); and the verbal substantive in -ma may express either the objective accusative after the verb, 'the thing filled or completed,' or the cognate accusative, 'the state of fulness or completion, the fulfilment, the full amount,' resulting from the action of the verb (, , , ). It may emphasize totality in contrast to its constituent parts; or fullness in contrast to emptiness (kenoma); or completeness in contrast to incompleteness or deficiency ( , ; ). A further ambiguity arises when it is joined with a genitive, which may be either subjective or objective, the fulness which one thing gives to another, or that which it receives from another. In its semi-technical application it is applied primarily to the perfection of God, the fulness of His Being, 'the aggregate of the Divine attributes, virtues, energies': this is used quite absolutely in (), but further defined as , 'the whole completeness of the Divine nature,' in , as , 'the whole (moral) perfection which is characteristic of God,' in . Secondarily, this same pleroma is transferred to Christ; it was embodied permanently in Him at the Incarnation (); it still dwells permanently in His glorified Body, (); it is (), the complete, moral, and intellectual perfection to which Christians aspire and with which they are filled (, . Cf.

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Related concepts (17)

Valentinianism

Valentinianism was one of the major Gnostic Christian movements. Founded by Valentinus in the 2nd century AD, its influence spread widely, not just within Rome but also from Northwest Africa to Egypt through to Asia Minor and Syria in the East. Later in the movement's history it broke into an Eastern and a Western school. Disciples of Valentinus continued to be active into the 4th century AD, after the Roman Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica (380 AD), which declared Nicene Christianity as the State church of the Roman Empire.

Pleroma

Valentinus (Gnostic)

Valentinus (Greek: Οὐαλεντῖνος), also spelled Valentinius; AD 100 – 180, was the best known and, for a time, most successful early Christian Gnostic theologian. He founded his school in Rome. According to Tertullian, Valentinus was a candidate for bishop but started his own group when another was chosen. Valentinus produced a variety of writings, of which for the most part only fragments quoted by his opponents survive. However, it has recently been argued that Valentinus's lost letter to Agathapous, quoted by Clement of Alexandria, is in fact Letter 366 of Pseudo-Basil.