6.12.1
XII. Τοῦ μὲν οὖν Σεραπίωνος τῆς περὶ λόγου ἀσκήσεως καὶ ἄλλα μὲν εἰκὸς σῴζεσθαι πα ἑτέροις ὑπομνήματα, εἰς ἡμᾶς δὲ μόνα κατῆλθε τὰ Πρὸς Δόμνον, ἐκπεπτωκότα τινὰ παρὰ τό τοῦ διωγμοῦ καιρὸν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεω ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαικὴν ἐθελοθρῃσκείαν, καὶ τὰ Πρὸς Πόντιον καὶ Καρικόν, ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς ἄνδρας, καὶ ἄλλαι πρὸς ἑτέρους ἐπιστολαί, ἕτερός τε συντεταγμένος αὐτῷ λόγος Περὶ τοῦ λεγομένου κατὰ Πέτρον εὐαγγελίου, ὃν πεποίηται ἀπελέγχων τὰ ψευδῶς ἐν αὐτῷ εἰρημένα διά τινας ἐν τῇ κατὰ Ῥωσσὸν παροικίᾳ προφάσει τῆς εἰρημένης γραφῆς εἰς ἑτεροδόξους διδασκαλίας ἀποκείλαντας· ἀφ’ οὗ εὔλογον βραχείας παραθέσθαι λέξεις, δι’ ὧν ἢν εἶχεν περὶ τοῦ βιβλίου γνώμην προτίθησι οὕτω γράφων· “ἡμεῖς γάρ, ἀδελφοί, καὶ Πέτρον καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀποστόλους ἀποδεχόμεθα ὡς Χριστόν, τὰ δὲ ὀνόματι αὐτῶν ψευδεπίγραφα ἔμπειροι παραιτούμεθα, γινώσκοντες ὅτι τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐ παρελάβομεν. ἐγὼ γὰρ γενόμενος παρ’ ὑμῖν ὑπενόουν τοὺς πάντας ὀρθῇ πίστει προφερόμενον καὶ μὴ διελθὼν τὸ ὑπ’ αὐτῶν προφερόμενον ὀνόματι Πέτρου εὐαγγέλιον, εἶπον ὅτι εἰ τοῦτό ἐστιν μόνον τὸ δοκοῦν ὑμῖν παρέχειν μικροψυχίαν, ἀναγινωσκέσθω· νῦν δὲ μαθὼν ὅτι αἱρέσει τινὶ ὁ νοῦς αὐτῶν ἐφώλευεν, ἐκ τῶν λεχθέντων μοι, σπουδόσω πάλιν γενέσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὥστε ἀδελφοί, προσδοκᾶτέ με ἐν τάχει. ἡμεῖς δέ ἀδελφοί, καταλαβόμενοι ὁποίας ἢν αἱρέσεως Μαρκιανός, <ὃς> καὶ ἑαυτῷ ἐναντιοῦτο, μὴ δ’ ἐλάλει, ἃ μαθήσεσθε ἐξ ὧν ὑμῖν ἐγράφη, ἐδυνήθημεν [γὰρ] παρ’ ἄλλων τῶν ἀσκησάντω ναὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, τοῦτ’ ἐστὶν παρὰ τῶν διαδόχων τῶν καταρξαμένων αὐτοῦ, οὓς Δοκητὰς καλοῦμεν (τὰ γὰρ πλείονα φρονήματα ἐκείνων ἐστὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας), χρησάμενοι παρ’ αὐτῶν διελθεῖν καὶ εὑρεῖν τὰ μὲν πλείονα τοῦ ὀρθοῦ λόγου τοῦ σωτῆρος, τινὰ δὲ προσδιεσταλμένα, ἃ καὶ ὑπετάξαμεν ὑμῖν.
XII. Now it is likely, indeed, that other memoirs, the fruit of Serapion's literary studies, are preserved by other persons, but there have come down to us only those addressed to Domnus, one who had fallen away from the faith of Christ, at the time of the persecution, to Jewish will-worship; and those to Pontius and Caricus, churchmen, and other letters to other persons; and another book has been composed by him, Concerning what is known as the Gospel of Peter, which he has written refuting false statements in it, because of certain persons in the community of Rhossus, who on the ground of the said writing turned aside into heterodox teachings. It will not be unreasonable to quote a short passage from this work, in which he puts forward the view he held about the book, writing as follows: “For our part, brethren, we receive both Peter and the other apostles as Christ, but the writings which falsely bear their names we reject, as men of experience, knowing that such were not handed down to us. For I myself, when I came among you, imagined that all of you clung to the true faith; and, without going through the Gospel put forward by them in the name of Peter, I said: If this is the only thing that seemingly causes captious feelings among you, let it be read. But since I have now learnt, from what has been told me, that their mind was lurking in some hole of heresy, I shall give diligence to come again to you; wherefore, brethren, expect me quickly. But we, brethren, gathering what sort of heresy Marcion belonged to (who used to contradict himself, not knowing what he was saying, as ye will learn from what has been written to you), were enabled by others who studied this very Gospel, that is, by the successors of those who began it, whom we call Docetae (for most of the ideas belong to their teaching), using [the material supplied] by them to go through it and discover that the greater part indeed was in accordance with the true teaching of the Saviour, but that some things were added, which also we place below for your benefit.”