Monogenes

See also: monogènes

Latin

Etymology

Substantivised epithet from the Ancient Greek μονογενής (monogenḗs, “only-begotten”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /moˈno.ɡe.neːs/, [mɔˈnɔɡɛneːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /moˈno.d͡ʒe.nes/, [moˈnɔːd͡ʒenes]

Proper noun

Monogenēs m sg (genitive Monogenis); third declension

1. (Late Latin, Valentinianism) an Aeon of the Decad, forming a syzygy with Macaria (in translation, glossed “Only-Begotten”)
   • AD 207–211, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (author), Mark Timothy Riley (editor, translator), Adversus Valentinianos in Q. S. Fl. Tertulliani adversus Valentinianos: Text, translation, and commentary (PhD dissertation, February 1971), Text, chapter vii, page 33:

     ita et ipse Pater dicitur et initium omnium et proprie Monogenes; atquin non proprie siquidem non solus agnoscitur. nam cum illo processit et femina cui Veritas nomen. Monogenes quia prior genitus quanto congruentius Protogenes vocaretur.

     Consequently, he himself is called "Father" and "Beginning of the universe" and (as his proper name) "Monogenes" (i.e., only begotten), though not properly since he is not the only legitimate child. Another was born at the same time, a female whose name is Truth and for that reason, Monogenes might have been named Protogenes much more aptly as being the first born. — ibidem (Translation), page 83

   • ibidem, chapter viii, pages 34–35:

     reddo nunc nomina quos decuriam dixi: Bythios et Mixis, Ageratos et Henosis, Autophyes et Hedone, Acinetos et Syncrasis, Monogenes et Macaria.

     I will enter the names of the ten I mentioned: Bythios (Profound) and Mixis (Mixture), Ageratos (Unaging) and Henosis (Union), Autophyes (Essential Nature) and Hedone (Pleasure), Acinetos (Unmoved) and Syncrasis (Commixture), Monogenes (Only-Begotten) and Macaria (Happiness). — ibidem, page 85

   • ibidem, chapter x, page 39:

     ibi demum pater motus aliquando quem supra diximus Horon per Monogenem Nun in haec promit in imagine sua femina-marem, quia et de patris sexu ita variant.

     This Horos, who was sent through the agency-of Monogenes-Nus, is in the Father's image, i.e., both masculine and feminine; thus the Valentinians are at odds even about the Father's sex. — ibidem, pages 88–89

   • ibidem, chapter xi, page 40:

     igitur post Enthymesin extorrem et matrem eius Sophiam coniugi reducem ille iterum Monogenes ille Nus, otiosus plane de Patris cura atque prospectu, solidandis rebus et Pleromati muniendo iamque figendo ne qua eiusmodi rursus concussio incuteret, novam excludit copulationem, Christum et Spiritum Sanctum, turpissimam putem duorum masculorum--aut femina erit Spiritus Sanctus et vulneratur a femina masculus. munus enim his datur unum: procurare concinnationem Aeonum et ab eius officii societate duae scholae protinus, duae cathedrae, inauguratio quaedam dividendae doctrinae Valentini. Christi erat inducere Aeonas naturam coniugiorum--vides quam rem plane--et Innati coniectationem et idoneos efficere generandi in se agnitionem Patris, quod capere eum non sit neque comprehendere non visu denique non auditu compotiri eius nisi per Monogenem.

     Now after Sophia's Enthymesis is exiled and she herself restored to her mate, that famous Monogenes, or Nus, at leisure now and dismissed from his attentions and attendance on the Father, decides to consolidate matters and to fortify and stabilize the Pleroma so that no such upheaval can shake it again. To do so he knocks out another pair, Christ and the Holy Spirit. (I should think this pairing of two males immoral; but perhaps the Holy Spirit is female and the male is crucified by the female.) These two have one duty--to stabilize the aeons. From the association of these two in this duty, two schools arise, two pulpits and the beginning (of sorts) of a division in the Valentinian teachings. Christ's duty was to teach the aeons the nature of their marriages--you see what sort of affair this was of course--to teach them how to form some idea of the unbegotten, and to make them capable of generating in themselves knowledge of the Father, knowledge, namely, that they can not get an idea of him or understand him--nor can they see or hear him--except by the help of Monogenes. — ibidem, pages 89–90

   • ibidem, chapter xxxiii, page 67:

     ex duabus facillime prolatum secundum coniugium Monogenem et Veritatem, ad imaginem quidem Cogitationis feminam Veritatem, ad imaginem Voluntatis marem Monogenem.

     From the two, however, Monogenes and Truth were quite easily procreated in marriage; Truth in the image of the female Thought, Monogenes in the image of the male Will. — ibidem, page 115

Declension

Third-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Monogenēs
genitive	Monogenis
dative	Monogenī
accusative	Monogenem
ablative	Monogene
vocative	Monogenēs

References

• “mŏnŏgĕnēs”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• mŏnŏgĕnēs in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette: “992/3”