Valentinus (100-160), was born in a small town in northern Egypt, and moved to Alexandria as a child. There he received a Greek education and became a disciple of Theudas, who himself had been a student of St Paul the Apostle.

He went to Rome about 136, and became a popular teacher – so much so that when the papal chair became vacant in 157, he was a favoured contender – and certainly himself expected to win the position. When St Anicetus won instead, Valentinus left Rome in a huff for Cyprus.

Once ensconced in that island, he began to spread teachings that he claimed were secret doctrines of St Paul, passed on to Theudas. These were something of a riff on Gnosticism and Neoplatonism – a good deity named Bythos emanating spiritual beings, the Aeons, in a higher realm. Owing to a cosmic mishap, the lowest of these beings created the physical world, in which we find our souls entrapped. Christ came to liberate us from this trap.