Gnostic Elves?

Gnosis* in Elvish
Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo
In honour of the birthday of JRR Tolkien I thought I'd share with you my rationale for stating that his Elves are Gnostic. I am not questioning Professor Tolkien's Catholicism, merely stating that in his efforts in creating a language he furnished its imaginary speakers with a myth and a world-view which to my mind is decidedly in keeping with Gnosticism.

From the AINULINDALË:

There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.

So we have the Pleroma and emanations/Aeons ("offspring of his thought" ...)

To Melkor among the Ainur had been given the greatest gifts of power and knowledge, and he had a share in all the gifts of his brethren. He had gone often alone into the void places seeking the Imperishable Flame; for desire grew hot within him to bring into Being things of his own, and it seemed to him that Ilúvatar took no thought for the Void, and he was impatient of its emptiness. Yet he found not the Fire, for it is with Ilúvatar. But being alone he had begun to conceive thoughts of his own unlike those of his brethren.

Some of these thoughts he now wove into his music, and straightway discord arose about him, and many that sang nigh him grew despondent, and their thought was disturbed and their music faltered; but some began to attune their music to his rather than to the thought which they had at first. Then the discord of Melkor spread ever wider, and the melodies which had been heard before foundered in a sea of turbulent sound.

Enter the Demiurge, motivated by jealousy, inserting his own malevolent will into Creation.

From the VALAQUENTA:

The Great among these spirits the Elves name the Valar, the Powers of Arda, and Men have often called them gods. The Lords of the Valar are seven;

Like the Seven Archons over the earth, the klimax heptapulos.

Like the Cathars, the Elves fight "the long defeat"; their inevitable passing from a world in which they are strangers – with a reverent yet detached stewardship – to their true home on a distant shore. And given their talents for magic and alchemy (and their taste in Art Nouveau) I think we can count the Quende as part of our own. Happy Birthday, Professor!

A ná merye i turuhalmeri ar alya i vinya loa! Namárie, tenn' enomentielva.
*Here I've rendered the Greek word in Elvish script, the actual Quenya equivalent is "istya".