Kerdon

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Addru Kerdon ( ancient Greek Κέρδων Kerdōn ) or Cerdo was an ancient Gnostic from the Roman province of Syria who came to Rome around 135 AD . He had greater influence there under the episcopate of Hyginus . Possibly he ran his own school as a teacher.

Live and act

There are no reliable and verifiable sources about his exact origin, his birth and his work . In general, most of the data on Kerdon is second-hand; so in Irenaeus of Lyons in the book Adversus haereses (Book 1, Chapter XXVII and Book III, Chapter IV); in Hippolytus of Rome the presumed author of Philosophumena (Book VII, Chapters 29 and 37); Theodoret of Cyrus in the Haereticarum fabularum compendium ( Aἱρετικῆς κακομυθίας ἐπιτομὴ "hαiretikēs kakomythias epitomē") (Book I, Chapter 24); Epiphanius of Cyprus in the treatise Πανάριον ( "Panarion", "medicine chest" against snake bites of heresy) and Tertullian in Adversus Marcionem . Irenaeus of Lyons can be considered as independent sources , in his Adversus haereses I, 27, 1; III, 4, 3, he did come back to Kerdon twice, as well as Hippolytus of Rome in his Refutatio omnium haeresium VII, 10. 37; X, 19th

Whether Markion was his immediate pupil and whether both knew each other personally or only influenced each other in a shared, intellectual space is also open.

Theological ideas

About Jesus Christ himself, Kerdon announced a view that was close to docetism , that Christ was only in the world as an illusion (in phantasmate) , was not born and only allegedly suffered (quasi passum) . He represented, as u. a. later similar to Marcion, the view that God proclaimed by the law (Halacha) and the prophets is not the Father of Jesus Christ. One god , according to Irenaeus, can be recognized, while the other is unknown; one is just, the other good.

“(…) The God proclaimed by Moses and the prophets is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; that one is recognizable, this one not; one is just just, the other good. "

- Irenaeus of Lyon : Adversus Haereses. I. 27, 1; quoted from Hans Jonas : Gnosis. The message of the strange god. 2nd edition, Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2018, ISBN 978-3-458-72008-9 , p. 171

In addition, Irenaeus brought the Gnostic Kerdon in connection with the Simonians, a Christian group that referred to its founder Simon Magus . A proximity to the views of Herakleon is also assumed in the scientific discussion.

According to Pseudo-Tertullian , Kerdon would have taught that Jesus Christ was not born of a virgin, was not born at all. As God's Son, he did not appear in substantia carnis . He existed in phantasmate , so he didn't have to suffer either. So in his work "Adversus omnes haereses" (Haer 6,1) an appendix to the work "De praescriptione haereticorum" by Tertullian .

Also Epiphanios of salamis testifies to the dodektische Christology of Kerdon in its "Πανάριον" (or "Panarion") (Pan. XLI 1.7 f).

Kerdon made a distinction between a deus malus and a deus bonus , which corresponded to the Gnostic difference (Pseudo-Tertullian Haer 6.1; Epphanios Pan XLI 1.3).

literature

  • Cerdonians . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 5 : Calhoun - Chatelaine . London 1910, p. 760 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  • Irenaeus of Lyons I, 27, Adversus Haereses. newadvent.org Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 27), Doctrines of Cerdo and Marcion in English
  • George Robert Stow Mead : Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. Theosophical Publishing Society, London 1900, p. 241; gnosis.org
  • William Smith : A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: Being a Continuation of "The Dictionary of the Bible". J. Murray, Boston 1877, pp. 445-446 books.google.de
  • Eugen Heinrich Schmitt : The Gnosis. Foundations of the worldview of a nobler culture . Volume 1: The Gnosis of Antiquity. Diederichs, Leipzig 1903, p. 508; Text archive - Internet Archive
  • Henry Wace, William Coleman Piercy: Cerdo, Gnostic teacher. on Wikisource. Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century . John Murray, London 1911. Full text on Wikisource (English)
  • Theodor Zahn : History of the New Testament Canon . Volume 1: The New Testament Before Origen . A. Deichert'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Erlangen / Leipzig 1889, pp. 455, 621, 627; archive.org

Web links

  • Wikisource: George Salmon : Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century / Cerdo [1]

References and comments

  1. ↑ so in Epiphanios of Salamis and Filastrius of Brescia
  2. ↑ Kurt Rudolph : The Gnosis. Nature and history of a religion of late antiquity. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, UTB 1577, ISBN 3-525-03273-0 , pp. 338-339
  3. ^ Gerhard May : Markion. Collected Essays. Supplement, Vol. 68 Irene Dingel (Ed.): Publications of the Institute for European History Mainz. Universal History Department. Von Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 978-3-8053-3593-5 , pp. 63–73 books.google.de
  4. ↑ Otto Pfleiderer : Das Urchristenthum, his writings and teachings. Vol. 2, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-11-160562-3 , p. 117 books.google.de
  5. ↑ Friedemann Steck (Ed.): Adolf Harnack: Marcion: The modern believer of the 2nd century, the first reformer. The Dorpater Preisschrift (1870). Critical edition of the handwritten copy. Vol. 149. Texts and studies on the history of early Christian literature, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020083-6 , p. 238
  6. ^ Sebastian Moll : At the Left Hand of Christ: The Arch-Heretic Marcion. Dissertation in English , The University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh 2009, pp. 51, 63–73, 107; core.ac.uk (PDF; 2.2 MB) 243 pages
  7. ↑ Ulrike Margarethe Salome Röhl: The Paulus student Markion. A critical examination of 2nd century anti-Judaism. Volume 8, Scientific articles from Tectum Verlag, Tectum, Marburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8288-3344-9 , pp. 278–282 ( books.google.de )
  8. ↑ Simon of Gittai (Jit, Qalqiliya ) or Simon of Samaria, in Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן Shim'on
  9. ^ Gerhard May : Markion. Collected Essays. Supplement, vol. 68 publications of the Institute for European History Mainz. Universal History Department. Von Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 978-3-8053-3593-5 , pp. 64-65 books.google.de
  10. ↑ Udo Schnelle : Antidocetic Christology in the Gospel of John. An investigation into the position of the fourth gospel in the Johannine school. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1987, ISBN 3-525-53823-5 , pp. 78-79
personal data
SURNAME Kerdon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adrru Kerdon; Κέρδων; Cerdo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Gnostic
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century or 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century