CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Cerinthus
Encyclopedia
Summa
Fathers
Bible
Library
Catholic Encyclopedia
> Cerinthus
Cerinthus
Please help support the mission of New Advent
and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...
(Greek
Kerinthos
).
Gnostic-Ebionite
heretic
, contemporary with
St. John
; against whose
errors
on the divinity of
Christ
the
Apostle
is said to have written the
Fourth Gospel
We possess no information concerning this early sectary which reaches back to his own times. The first mention of his name and description of his doctrines occur in
St. Irenaeus
(Adv. Haer., I, c. xxvi; III, c. iii, c. xi), written about 170. Further information is gathered from
Presbyter Caius
(c. 210) as quoted by
Eusebius
Church History
III.28.2
).
Hippolytus
, in "Philosophoumena", VII, 33 (c. 230), practically transcribes
Irenaeus
. Cerinthus is referred to by Pseudo-Tertullian in "Adv. Omnes Haeres", written about 240. A fragment of
Dionysius of Alexandria
, taken from "De Promissionibus", written about 250, is given by
Eusebius
after his quotation from Caius. The most detailed account is given by
St. Epiphanius
(Adv. Haeres", xxviii, written about 390), which, however, on account of its date and character must be used with some caution. A good summary is given by Theodoret ("Haer. Fab.", II, 3, written about 450). Cerinthus was an
Egyptian
, and if not by race a
Jew
, at least he was
circumcised
. The exact date of his birth and his death are unknown. In
Asia
he founded a
school
and gathered disciples. No writings of any kind have come down to us. Cerinthus's doctrines were a strange mixture of
Gnosticism
Judaism
, Chiliasm, and
Ebionitism
. He admitted one Supreme Being; but the world was produced by a distinct and far inferior power. He does not identify this Creator or
Demiurgos
with the
Jehovah
of the
Old Testament
. Not
Jehovah
but the
angels
have both made the world and given the
law
. These creator-angels were
ignorant
of the
existence of the Supreme God
. The Jewish law was most sacred, and
salvation
to be obtained by obedience to its
precepts
. Cerinthus distinguished between
Jesus
and
Christ
Jesus
was mere man, though eminent in
holiness
. He suffered and died and was
raised from the dead
, or, as some say Cerinthus taught, He will be raised from the dead at the Last Day and all
men
will
rise
with Him. At the moment of
baptism
, Christ or the Holy Ghost was sent by the
Highest God
, and dwelt in
Jesus
teaching Him, what not even the
angels
knew
, the Unknown God. This union between
Jesus
and Christ continues till the Passion, when
Jesus
suffers alone and Christ returns to
heaven
. Cerinthus believed in a
happy
millennium which would be realized here on earth previous to the
resurrection
and the spiritual
kingdom of God
in
heaven
Scarcely anything is known of Cerinthus's disciples; they seem soon to have fused with the Nazareans and
Ebionites
and exercised little influence on the bulk of
Christendom
, except perhaps through the Pseudo-Clementines, the product of
Cerinthian
and
Ebionite
circles. They flourished most in
Asia
and Galatia.
Sources
Bareille, in Dict. de Theol. Cath., s.v.; Duchesne, Hist. ancienne de L'Église (Paris, 1907); Dict. of Christ. Biogr.; Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Cent. (1875); Davidson, Introductions to N. Test. (1894), I, 345; II, 245-6; Kunze, De Hist. Gnosticismi Fontibus (Leipzig, 1894).
About this page
APA citation.
Arendzen, J.
(1908).
Cerinthus.
In
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
MLA citation.
Arendzen, John.
"Cerinthus."
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Vol. 3.
New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1908.
.
Transcription.
This article was transcribed for New Advent by William D. Neville.
Ecclesiastical approbation.
Nihil Obstat.
November 1, 1908. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information.
The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster
at
newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.
Copyright © 2026 by
New Advent LLC
. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT