Panarion in the context of "Heresiology"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Panarion in the context of "Heresiology"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Panarion

In early Christian heresiology, the Panarion (Koine Greek: Πανάριον, derived from Latin panarium, meaning "bread basket"), to which 16th-century Latin translations gave the name Adversus Haereses (Latin: "Against Heresies"), is the most important of the works of Epiphanius of Salamis. It was written in Koine Greek beginning in 374 or 375, and issued about three years later, as a treatise on heresies, with its title referring to the text as a "stock of remedies to offset the poisons of heresy." It treats 80 religious sects, either organized groups or philosophies, from the time of Adam to the latter part of the fourth century, detailing their histories, and rebutting their beliefs. The Panarion is an important source of information on the Jewish–Christian gospels, the Gospel of the Ebionites, and the Gospel of the Hebrews.

The treatise can be considered a sequel to the Ancoratus (374), which takes the form of a letter to the church of Syedra in Pamphylia, describing how the "barque" of the church can counteract the contrary winds of heretical thought, and become "anchored" (ἀγχυρωτός); hence the title of the work; the Ancoratus even outlines the content of the Panarion within its text.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Panarion in the context of Epiphanius of Salamis

Epiphanius of Salamis (Ancient Greek: Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churches, and some Presbyterians. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy. He is best known for composing the Panarion, a compendium of eighty heresies, which included also pagan religions and philosophical systems. There has been much controversy over how many of the quotations attributed to him by the Byzantine Iconoclasts were actually by him. Regardless of this, he was clearly strongly against some contemporary uses of images in the church.

↑ Return to Menu

Panarion in the context of Gospel of the Ebionites

The Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given by scholars to an apocryphal gospel extant only as seven brief quotations in a heresiology known as the Panarion, by Epiphanius of Salamis; he misidentified it as the "Hebrew" gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The quotations were embedded in a polemic to point out inconsistencies in the beliefs and practices of a Jewish Christian sect known as the Ebionites relative to Nicene orthodoxy.

The surviving fragments derive from a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels, composed in Greek with various expansions and abridgments reflecting the theology of the writer. Distinctive features include the absence of the virgin birth and of the genealogy of Jesus; an Adoptionist Christology, in which Jesus is chosen to be God's Son at the time of his Baptism; the abolition of the Jewish sacrifices by Jesus; and an advocacy of vegetarianism.

↑ Return to Menu