jan 1, 220 - Pseudo-Hippolytus

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Pseudo-Hippolytus describes the diverse and exclusivist nature of early Christian sects. He disputes all others’ claims to the gospels and apostolic succession (e.g. Paul) by arguing that all such deviant doctrines were plagiarized from the Greeks or other sources. He attests that for their part, the gnostics may not have considered the proto-orthodox totally condemned. Provides a seemingly chronological account of the Christian “heresies” of his day:
> Claims that gnosticism traces back to the Naassenes, who claimed to get their doctrine from James the Lord’s brother by way of his disciple Mariamne. The Peratae as a tritheistic sect that worshipped the serpent and Cain as earlier manifestations of Jesus. Sethians as also worshipping the serpent, writing voluminously, and describing the generation of the universe (and God) from primal forces of light, darkness, and spirit. A proto-gnostic Justinus, who merged Christian lore with Hellenic legends and the Book of Baruch.
> Following the Ophites were Simon Magus and Apsethus the Libyan, magicians who sought to be deified, along with Simon’s female companion who was claimed to be Helen reborn. Simon was ultimately buried alive at his own request in a (failed) attempt to rise on the third day. Valentinus as having merged the ideas of Simon with those of Plato and Pythagoras; the description of Valentinian cosmogony closely matches that of Irenaeus. The Valentinian schools split over the nature of Jesus’ body: animal (the school of Italy, Heracleon and Ptolemy) vs. spiritual (the school of the Orient, Axionicus and Bardaisan). Secundus and Ephiphanes as teachers whose system of emanation derives (but differs) from that of Valentinus. Marcus an adept in magic, who had a bishop working under him; his “many” followers as disputing the “presbyter” Irenaeus’ description of their system. Colarbasus as another follower of Valentinus.
> Basilides and Isidore teaching a gnostic doctrine said to trace back to Jesus’ secret lessons to Matthias. Saturnilus as a docetic gnostic and Encratite/ascetic, operating in the same period as Basilides; followed some ideas of Menander (a contemporary?). Marcion as a docetic Encratite, and his program of biblical antitheses. A modern Marcionite named Prepon having laid out the doctrine in a work to Bardaisan, introducing a third force called “justness” between the Marcionite powers of good and evil. Carpocrates as saying the world was made by angels and that Jesus was a man invested with divine power for having lived a pure life (Cerinthus teaching much the same); Carpocrates as branding the ears of followers. The Ebionites as agreeing with the prior two about Jesus’ life and ordering their own lives according to Jewish law. Theodotus of Byzantium arguing that Jesus was actually sinful prior to his baptism, at which point he was inhabited by God’s power. A second Theodotus arguing that Melchizedek is the greatest power, and that Jesus came in his likeness. Nicolaitans as derived from Nicolaus and having unrestrained lives and eating habits. Cerdon’s claim that the Old Testament God couldn’t be Jesus’ father (affirmed by Marcion, whose disciple Lucian continued in this vein). Apelles as a disciple of Marcion who uses the gospels, Paul’s letters, and revelations of a prophetess named Philumene, while rejecting Jewish scripture.
> The Docetae described as believing that Jesus was physically born of Mary, but then inhabited by a power from above (this is not actually Docetic doctrine). A Monoimus, a gnostic meditative. Tatian having developed a gnostic Encratism after being Justin’s student. Hermogenes a heretic for the singular idea that Jesus left his body in the sun during his ascent. The Montanists traced to the Phrygians, a sect that originally heeded two prophetesses named Priscilla and Maximilla before falling under the leadership of Montanus; they accept all Christian dogma but believe in ongoing and superior revelation from the Holy Spirit. Encratic practices described. The Cainites, Ophites, and Noachites as unworthy of elaboration.
> Noetus of Smyrna as having taught that Jesus and the Father were the same entity; Epigones as evangelizing this in Rome; Cleomenes as a modern proponent who was assisted in acquiring disciples by the Roman bishop of the time, Zephyrinus (under the influence of adviser and eventual successor Callistus). Callistus accused of manipulating factions and holding opinions from various of them, including those of a Sabellius and Theodotus. The doctrine of Noetus as taught by Callistus appealing to many (most?) Christians of the time (Callistians), as are his ideas of forgiveness for serious/sexual sins and his allowing the clergy to marry. This faction is opposed by Hippolytus personally and others. Alcibiades, a disciple of Elchasai, preaching in Rome and advocating a second baptism for the remission of even the most heinous sins (again opposed personally by Hippolytus). A Beron as having disavowed Valentinus and established a doctrine wherein the merger between God and Jesus created an entirely new nature that was neither divine nor mortal.

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