On Illustrious Men

41. Serapion the bishop

XLI. SERAPION THE BISHOP erapion,1 ordained bishop of Antioch in the eleventh year of the emperor Commodus, wrote a letter to Caricus and Pontius concerning the heresy of Montanus, to which he added the following:2 2. “In order that you may know that the folly of this false teaching, that is, of the new prophecy, is abominated by the whole world, I send you the letter of the most blessed Apollinaris , who was bishop of Hierapolis in Asia.”3 3. He also composed a work directed To Domnus, who had lapsed into Judaism4 in the time of persecution, and another book, On the so-called Gospel attributed to Peter, to the church of Rhossos in Cilicia, which had deviated to heresy as a result of reading it.5 4. Certain other short letters of his are read pertaining to the ascetical life.6 notes 1. Eus., h.e. 5.19.1: “bishop after Maximinius.” 2. h.e. 5.19.2–4, abbreviated here. See R. E. Heine, The Montanist Oracles and Testimonia, PatMS 14, 154–55. 3. Apollinaris: h.e. 5.19.1; cf. DVI 26. 4. Ad Domnum: h.e. 6.12.1: Jerome has translated as ad Iudaeos Eusebius’s words, eij~ th;n Ioudaivkhn ejqeloqrh/skeivan (cf. Col 2.23). 5. See h.e. 6.12.2–6, where we get a long excerpt. On Gospel of Peter, cf. Q 1, 114; E. Junod, “Eusèbe de Césarée, Serapion d’Antioche et l’Évangile de Pierre. D’un Evangile à un Pseudepigraphe,” RSLR 24 (1988): 3–16. Marcianus was the leader of a Docetist sect in Rhossos: cf. h.e. 6.12.5, not quoted in DVI. 6. Based on h.e. 6.12.1, which reads: “Now it is likely that other memoirs also, the fruit of Serapion’s literary studies (th`~ peri; lovgou ajskhvsew~) are preserved by other persons (par j e Ôteroi`~).” references Q 1, 114, 283–84 — TLG 1670 — CPG 1333–34 — Cath 13, 1126–27, G. Mathon — DSp 14, 643–52, D. Dufrasne — EECh 2, 768, A. Hamman — LThK 9, 682, E. Hammerschmidt — NCE 13, 105–6, J. Quasten — NCE 66 ST. JEROME ...