Passages /
Book 3 /
Section 28
3.28.1
ΧΧVIII. κατὰ τοὺς δηλουμένους χρόνους ἐτέρας αἱρέσεως ἀρχηγὸν γενέσθαι Κήρινθον παρειλήφαμεν· Γάϊος, οὗ φωνὰς ἤδη πρότερον παρατέθειμαι, ἐν τῇ φερομένη αὐτοῦ ζητήσει ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ γράφει·
AI English cleanup, gpt-5.4-mini, 2026-05-24
XXVIII. We have received the tradition that at the time under discussion Cerinthus founded another heresy. Gaius, whose words I have quoted before, in the inquiry attributed to him writes as follows about Cerinthus: “Moreover, Cerinthus, who through revelations attributed to the writing of a great apostle, lyingly introduces portents to us as though shown him by angels, and says that after the resurrection the kingdom of Christ will be on earth and that humanity living in Jerusalem will again be the slave of lust and pleasure. He is the enemy of the scriptures of God and in his desire to deceive says that the marriage feast will last a thousand years.” Dionysius, too, who held the bishopric of the diocese of Alexandria in our time, in the second book of his Promises makes some remarks about the Apocalypse of John as though from ancient times and refers to the same Cerinthus in these words, “Cerinthus too, who founded the Cerinthian heresy named after him, wished to attach a name worthy of credit to his own invention, for the doctrine of his teaching was this, that the kingdom of Christ would be on earth, and being fond of his body and very carnal he dreamt of a future according to his own desires, given up to the indulgence of the flesh, that is, eating and drinking and marrying, and to those things which seem a euphemism for these things, feasts and sacrifices and the slaughter of victims.”
3.28.2
“Ἀλλὰ καὶ Κήρινθος ὁ δι’ ἀποκαλύψεων ὡς ὑπὸ ἀποστόλου μεγάλου γεγραμμένων τερατολογίας ἡμῖν ὡς δι’ ἀγγέλων αὐτῷ δεδειγμένας ψευδόμενος ἐπεισάγει, λέγων μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐπίγειον εἶναι τὸ βασίλειον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ πάλιν ἐπι- θυμίαις καὶ ἡδοναῖς ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν πολιτευομένην δουλεύειν. καὶ ἐχθρὸς ὑπάρχων ταῖς γραφαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀριθμὸν χιλιονταετίας ἐν γάμῳ ἑορτῆς, θέλων πλανᾶν, λέγει γίνεσθαι.”
AI English cleanup, gpt-5.4-mini, 2026-05-24
Dionysius said this, and Irenaeus in his first book Against Heresies quoted some of his more abominable errors, and in the third book has committed to writing a narrative which deserves not to be forgotten, stating how, according to the tradition of Polycarp, the apostle John once went into a bath-house to wash, but when he knew that Cerinthus was within, leapt out of the place and fled from the door, for he did not endure to be even under the same roof with him, and enjoined on those who were with him to do the same, saying, “Let us flee, lest the bath-house fall in, for Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.”
3.28.3
Καὶ Διονύσιος δέ, ὁ τῆς κατὰ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν παροικίας καθ’ ἡμᾶς τὴν ἐπιακοπὴν εἰληχώς, ἐν δευτέρῳ τῶν Ἐπαγγελιῶν περὶ τῆς Ἰωάννου Ἀποκαλύψεως εἰπών τινα ὡς ἐκ τῆς ἀνέκαθεν παραδόσεως, τοῦ αὐτοῦ μέμνηται ἀνδρὸς τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν·
No clean AI English text has been generated for this passage yet.
3.28.4
Κήρινθον δέ, τὸν καὶ τὴν ἀπ’ ἐκείνου κλῆθεν ααν Κηρινθιανὴν αἵρεσιν συστησάμενον, ἐπιφημίσαι θελήσαντα τῷ ἑαυτοῦ πλάσματι ὄνομα. τοῦτο γὰρ εἶναι τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ τὸ δόγμα, ἐπίγειον ἔαεαθαι τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλείαν, καὶ ὧν αὐτὸς ὠρέγετο, φιλοσώματος ὢν καὶ πάνυ σαρκικός, ἐν τούτοις ὀνειροπολεῖν ἔσεσθαι, γαστρὰς καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ γαστέρα πλησμοωαῖς, τοῦτ’ τοῦὶ αἰτίοις καὶ πότοις καὶ γάμοις καὶ δι’ ὧν εὐφημότερον ταῦτα ᾠήθη ποριεῖσθαι, ἑορταῖς καὶ θυσίαις καὶ ἱερείων αφαγαῖς.”
No clean AI English text has been generated for this passage yet.
3.28.5
Ταῦτα Δυσίαις ὁ δὲ Εἰρήναιος ἀπορρητοτέρασ δή τινας τοῦ αὐτοῦ ψευδοδοξίας ἐν πρώτῳ συγγράμματι τῶν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις προθείς, ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ καὶ ἱστορίαν οὐκ ἀξίαν λήθης τῆ γραφῇ παραδέδωκεν, ὡς ἐκ παραδόσεως Πολυκάρπου φάσκων Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀπόστολον εἰσελθεῖν ποτε ἐν βαλανείῳ, ὥστε λούσασθαι, γνόντα δὲ ἔνδον ὄντα τὸν Κήρινθον, ἀποπηδῆσαί τε τοῦ τόπου καὶ ἐκφυγεῖν θύραζε, μηδ’ ὑπομείναντα τὴν αὐτὴν αὐτῷ ὑποδῦναι στέγην, ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ παραινέσαι, φήσαντα “ φύγωμεν μὴ καὶ τὸ βαλανεῖον συμπέσῃ, ἔνδον ὄντος Κηρίνθου τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθροῦ.”
No clean AI English text has been generated for this passage yet.