a sect or community of ascetics said to have been founded by Valens of Bacatha Metrocomia, an episcopal city spoken of by Epiphanius and Nicetas as being in "Arabia beyond Jordan." They were said by Epiphanius to hold some Gnostic opinions, and by St. John of Damascus to be profligate Antinomians. They practiced self-mutilation, and enforced the practice on all their adherents. See Epiphanius, De Haeresibus, 58; St. John of Damascus, De Haeresibus, 58.