ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
To our lord, most honored in all things, most devout father, Epiphanius the bishop, Acacius the presbyter and Paul the presbyter, archimandrites, greeting in the Lord.
The mere sight of your piety, father, would have sufficed, filling us with spiritual words and implanting such great longing for us in those who have had a share in beholding you in person.
But since the preceding report of a disciple of the Savior, proclaiming the fragrance of the sweetness of your words and deeds, presses us to be sated both in speech and in mind, we ought indeed to have come in person to receive a share of the grace given to you by God, as it was given to the apostles.
But since the journey was hindered by bodily illness and hardship, we were not able, coming ourselves and prostrating before your feet, to hear and learn the holy spiritual words that proceed from your mouth.
For we believe that, if we were worthy, having gone up and heard, we would be confirmed in the way of life that we have set before ourselves -- if indeed we are worthy to attain its goal.
Since, then, illness has overtaken us, we beseech your so great piety: do not begrudge sharing with us from what has truly been granted to you by the Savior.
For we confess -- not only we, but also all who hear -- that in this generation the Savior has raised you up for us as a new apostle and herald, a new John, to proclaim what ought to be observed by those who have set this course before themselves.
Since, then, our common brother Marcellus is pressed by so great a report and drawn by longing for your piety, being also of our own community, and since we have had him as a servant of so great a way, and he being newly catechized, we have entrusted to him this so great boldness of ours, sinners as we are, toward you, the disciple of the Savior.
And this we request: that you grant us a share of the things spoken by you to certain brothers for their instruction -- which for you, the righteous one, is no burden, but for us sinners, having received a share, will be cause to rejoice in the Lord.
We have heard that names have been given by your honored self to the heresies; of each of these religions we ask your piety to declare to us expressly which is the heresy.
May you continue strong in the Lord and cheerful in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit keep the throne given to you and the divine gift, until the crown that awaits you.
The letter written in reply to the presbyters Acacius and Paul and those with them, by the same Epiphanius, in response to what had been written to him by them concerning his writing a work against the heresies.
A proem, or preliminary discourse -- just as the ancient writers, in sketching out a title, would through a riddle indicate a suggestion of the whole subject-matter lying beneath it.
Hence we too, employing the same manner, offer you, beloved, this preface, summing up briefly the substance of your request concerning a work against the heresies.
For since we are about to declare to you the names of the heresies and to uncover their unlawful practices -- being, as it were, venoms and poisons -- and at the same time to apply along with these the antidotes, remedies for those who have been bitten and preventives for those about to fall into this, we are sketching out for lovers of the good this very proem, styling it a 'Panarion,' that is, a medicine chest for those bitten by wild beasts -- a work composed in three books, containing eighty heresies, which are riddles of beasts, or rather of creeping things.
And one thing after the eighty is the foundation of truth together with its teaching and saving work, and the holy Church, bride of Christ -- existing indeed from eternity, but revealed through the incarnate coming of Christ, in the succession of time, in the midst of the aforesaid heresies, and set forth by us as a reminder through the preaching of Christ; and again, after all the wickedness of these heresies, for the refreshment of those who have gone through the toil of the heresies by their reading, clearly declared by us with a summary account, according to the teaching of the apostles.
But be entreated, all you who lovingly peruse both the proem and the heresies that follow, and the defense on behalf of the truth, and the teaching of the truth, and the faith of the holy catholic Church, to forgive us -- being but men, who with labor and divine zeal have striven ambitiously to make our defense on behalf of piety -- if in wishing, according to our own ability, to make an overzealous defense of that all-holy and all-venerable Name, we have said anything excessive; since God grants pardon to those who seek what is beyond their power, seeing that for us the discourse is for the sake of truth, and the work for the sake of piety.
And be entreated further to forgive us if anywhere you find us -- even though it is not our custom to mock or ridicule anyone -- yet, on account of our zeal against the heresies and for the deterrence of readers, if somewhere, being provoked, we speak harshly, calling some deceivers, or charlatans, or wretches.
For it is this very necessity belonging to the arguments of the contest that prepares for us such labor, for the deterrence of readers, and so that we may show that their works and mysteries and teachings are utterly rejected by our mind -- that from the arguments and the sharpness of the refutation we may also demonstrate our own frankness, and turn some away from these very things, even by means of words that may seem harsher.
[Book] first and second and third -- which three books we have divided into seven volumes, and in each volume there lies a certain number of heresies and schisms, and altogether they are eighty in number, whose names and occasions are these:
Fourteenth, of the Scribes; fifteenth, of the Pharisees; sixteenth, of the Sadducees; seventeenth, of the Hemerobaptists; eighteenth, of the Ossaeans; nineteenth, of the Nasaraeans; twentieth, of the Herodians.
Out of these heresies, and subsequently in the succession of time, there appeared the saving dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ -- that is, his incarnate coming, and the evangelical teaching, and the proclamation of the kingdom -- which alone is the fountain of salvation, and the faith of truth of the catholic and apostolic and orthodox Church.
First, the Simonians; second, the Menandrians; third, the Saturnilians; fourth, the Basilidians; fifth, the Nicolaitans; sixth, the Gnostics, also called Stratiotics, the same being also called Phibionites, by some Secundians, by others Socratites, by others Zacchaeans, by some also called Coddians and Borborites and Barbelites; seventh, the Carpocratians; eighth, the Cerinthians, also called Merinthians; ninth, the Nazoraeans; tenth, the Ebionites; eleventh, the Valentinians; twelfth, the Secundians, to whom are joined Epiphanes and Isidore; thirteenth, the Ptolemaeans.
Fourteenth, the Marcosians; fifteenth, the Colorbasians; sixteenth, the Heracleonites; seventeenth, the Ophites; eighteenth, the Cainites; nineteenth, the Sethians; twentieth, the Archontics; twenty-first, the Cerdonians; twenty-second, the Marcionites; twenty-third, the Lucianists; twenty-fourth, the Apelleians; twenty-fifth, the Severians; twenty-sixth, the Tatianists.
Now these Tascodrugites were in turn divided among themselves: twenty-ninth, the Pepuzians, also called Priscillianists and Quintillianists, to whom are joined the Artotyrites; thirtieth, the Quartodecimans, who keep the Passover on one day of the year; thirty-first, the Alogi, who do not accept the Gospel and the Revelation of John; thirty-second, the Adamians; thirty-third, the Samsaeans, also called Elkesaites; thirty-fourth, the Theodotians; thirty-fifth, the Melchizedekians; thirty-sixth, the Bardesianists; thirty-seventh, the Noetians; thirty-eighth, the Valesians; thirty-ninth, the Cathari, also called Novatians; fortieth, the Angelics; forty-first, the Apostolics, also called Apotactics; forty-second, the Sabellians; forty-third, the Origenists, also called the Shameful-doers; forty-fourth, the Origenists, also called the followers of Adamantius.
Fiftieth, the schism of the Audians; fifty-first, the Photinians; fifty-second, the Marcellians; fifty-third, the Semi-Arians; fifty-fourth, the Pneumatomachi, also called Macedonians and disciples of Eleusius, who blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God; fifty-fifth, the Aerians; fifty-sixth, the Aetians, also called Anomoeans, to whom is joined Eunomius, or rather the Anomoean.
But returning again and dividing these according to book, I shall show in this my summary how many of these eighty heresies are in the first book, and successively in the second down to the third; and also, for each of the seven volumes arranged within the three books, how many heresies are contained in it.
In the first book there are three volumes, and forty-six heresies, together with the mother and original names of these -- I mean Barbarism, Scythism, Hellenism, Judaism, and Samaritanism.
The Simonians, the Menandrians, the Saturnilians, the Basilidians, the Nicolaitans, the Gnostics -- also called Stratiotics and Phibionites, the same being by some called Secundians, by others Socratites, by others called Zacchaeans, and Coddians, and Borborites, and Barbelites -- the Carpocratians, the Cerinthians, also called Merinthians, the Nazoraeans, the Ebionites, the Valentinians, the Secundians, to whom are joined Epiphanes and Isidore, the Ptolemaeans.
And in the first volume of the second book, being the fourth according to the sequence of numbering from the beginning, there are eighteen heresies, thus:
And the Tascodrugites divided off from those aforesaid: the Pepuzians, also called Priscillianists and Quintillianists, to whom are joined the Artotyrites; the Quartodecimans, who keep the Passover on one day of the year; the Alogi, who do not accept the Gospel of John and the Revelation; the Adamians; the Samsaeans, also called Elkesaites; the Theodotians; the Melchizedekians; the Bardesianists; the Noetians; the Valesians; the Cathari; the Angelics; the Apostolics, also called Apotactics, to whom are joined those called Sackcloth-wearers; the Sabellians; the Origenists, the Shameful-doers; the Origenists, the followers of Adamantius.
The Audians, being a schism; the Photinians; the Marcellians; the Semi-Arians; the Pneumatomachi, who blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God; the Aerians; that of Aetius the Anomoean, to whom was joined Eunomius, also called the Anomoean.
And in the second volume of the same third book, being the seventh volume according to the division of the numbering of the volumes which we mentioned, which is the seventh volume and the end of the work, there are four heresies, thus:
This is the summary and title of the whole work against the eighty heresies, and of the one defense on behalf of the truth of that one Church alone -- that is, the catholic and orthodox Church -- arranged in the three books laid out, and divided into seven volumes.
As I begin to declare and speak of faith and unbelief, right belief and heterodoxy, I shall call to mind the beginning and sequence of the foundation of the world, setting out not by my own power nor from my own reasonings, but as God, the Master of all and the merciful One, revealed to his own prophets, and through them deemed us worthy, so far as is possible for human nature, of the knowledge of the universe.
And as I set out to examine these matters, I find myself, first of all, engaged in no small struggle, but am greatly afraid, undertaking a task that is no ordinary one; and I call upon the holy God himself, and his only-begotten Child Jesus Christ, and his Holy Spirit, that he may illumine the mind of our lowliness unto the enlightenment of the knowledge concerning these things.
But we call upon the holy Master of all things to lay hold of our poverty and to breathe into us his Holy Spirit, so that we may compose nothing falsified in the writing of what we have promised.
And having asked for this very thing, knowing our own incapacity, we beseech him to grant it to us according to the measure of faith and in due proportion.
Let this be the understanding for the reader concerning every question: that these are the findings of the seasons and times, as much as our small mind, once trained, was able to grasp; and we by no means promise to treat of everything that is in the world.
For there are things unutterable as well as utterable, things beyond telling and not reducible to number, and, so far as it concerns human beings, unattainable, known only to the Master of all.
Our undertaking concerns the difference of opinions and forms of knowledge, of professions of faith in God and of unbelief, of heresies and of the ill-reputed human opinion sown in the world by men who have gone astray, from the time man was formed upon the earth until our own time, that is, the eleventh year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, and the seventh of Gratian.
Now, of the things concerning heresies and schisms that are about to come, through us, to the knowledge of our readers, some we know from love of learning, others we have grasped from hearsay, and to some we ourselves have been present with our own ears and eyes.
And of some we are confident that we can render the roots and the teachings from accurate report, while of others only a certain part of what occurs among them.
From these sources — this one through the treatises of ancient writers, that one through the report of men who confirmed our understanding with accuracy — we have come to know them.
And we have gathered together this whole undertaking not setting out on it of ourselves, nor having imposed ourselves upon it with promises that exceed our poor powers of speech.
For indeed this very treatise, which by God's will we have thought good to compose, was undertaken because men who love what is good, prodding our weakness now in one way and now in another, at different times and in different manners, have all but compelled us to proceed to this task, even as your Honor, writing through letters of exhortation, requested — O my most honored and most good-loving brothers, Acacius and Paul, fellow presbyters.
Since, then, having examined from every side, not without God, the sum of these requests, I have been deemed worthy to proceed to this task on account of the surpassing love of the servants of God, I shall begin to speak — not with elegance of words, nor with any glib utterances, but in simple dialect and simple speech, yet with accuracy in what is set forth in the discourse.
In the same manner we too, attempting to disclose the roots and opinions of the heresies, do so not for the harm of those who wish to read, but just as it was the earnest concern of the aforementioned writers not to make known the evil for its own sake, but for the fear and safety of human nature, so that people might know the fearful and deadly things, and might guard themselves beforehand and escape, with the power of God, by paying attention and not engaging with such poisonous creatures, whether they had happened upon them or been assailed by them through breath, bite, or mere sight — the same writers, taking thought for these same matters, likewise set forth beforehand remedies from roots and herbs for the undoing of the malice of the aforesaid reptiles — so also for us this labor is undertaken for the aversion of the aforesaid evils, and for your sakes, most beloved, that we may disclose the forms, venoms, and deadly bites of the fearful reptiles and beasts.
And in opposition to these, whatever we are able, briefly, in perhaps a word or two, we shall set forth in the manner of antidotes, so as to repel their venom, and to save, with the Lord's help, whoever is willing, whether he has fallen, by his own deliberate choice or unwillingly, into these same reptile-like teachings of the heresies.
For indeed, from the beginning, Adam, having been formed from the earth on the sixth day and having received the breath, was made alive; for it is not the case, as some suppose, that he was begun on the fifth day and completed on the sixth.
For the reasoning of those who say this is mistaken; he was simple and without malice, possessing no other name, holding no title derived from opinion, doctrine, or manner of life, but being called only Adam, which, being interpreted, means 'man.'
But as the tradition which has come down to us holds, it was from this point that evil contrivance began to occur in the world: at the beginning through the disobedience of Adam, then through the fratricide of Cain, and now, in the times of Jared and afterward, through sorcery and magic, licentiousness, adultery, and injustice.
And the just judgment of God, having brought a flood of water upon the inhabited world, blotted out all flesh, both of men and of the rest, but by his command preserved in an ark Noah, who had been well-pleasing before him and had found grace — that is, the aforesaid Noah himself and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, together with his own wife and the three wives of the three sons — so that eight human souls were saved in that ark from the water of the flood, along with every kind of beast and animal, cattle and the rest of the creatures upon the earth, for the re-establishment of the existence of all things in the world, of some two by two, and of others seven by seven.
For each man became a law to himself and walked according to his own opinion, just as is the usage in the Apostle, not only of Barbarism but also of the other periods.
For he says: 'In Christ Jesus there is neither barbarian, nor Scythian, nor Greek, nor Jew.' 'Barbarism' was then the name given to that period, during the ten generations of time.
After the flood, when Noah's ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat, between the Armenians and the Cardyaeans, on the mountain called Lubar, it was there that the first settlement of men took place after the flood; and there Noah the prophet planted a vineyard and became the founder of the place.
And to his sons — for Scripture no longer indicates that he himself begot children — children were born, and children's children, down to the fifth generation, over six hundred fifty-nine years, apart from Shem.
There was only impiety and piety, the law according to nature, and the error of each man's will according to nature, arising neither from teaching nor from the writings of authors; there was no Judaism, no Hellenism, no other heresy, but, so to speak, the faith now current, which has its citizenship in the present holy catholic Church of God, existing from the beginning and later revealed again.
For Adam, the first-formed, was fashioned uncircumcised, uncircumcised in the flesh, yet he was not an idolater, and he knew God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
What, then, was he, having neither circumcision nor worshiping idols, but showing that he bore, in a hidden way, the character of Christianity? So it is to be understood also in the case of Abel, of Seth, of Enosh, of Enoch, of Methuselah, of Noah, and of Eber, down to Abraham.
Faith held the image of Christianity, while unbelief held the character of impiety and lawlessness, contrary to the law according to nature, until the aforesaid time.
In the fifth generation after the flood, then, when mankind had already begun to multiply from the three sons of Noah, there arose, through the succession of children's children and their children, seventy-two in number, chieftains and heads in the world.
And extending themselves and advancing forward from Mount Lubar and the borders of Armenia, that is, of the region of Ararat, they came into the plain of Shinar, where they chose to settle.
For he scattered their tongues, and divided them from one into seventy-two, according to the number of the men found at that time; whence they were also called 'Meropes' on account of their divided speech, and a blast of winds overthrew the tower.
They were, then, scattered over the whole earth, to the right and to the left: some turning back to the place from which they had set out, others advancing forward toward the east, and others taking possession of Libya.
So too, if anyone should wish to grasp the precise facts concerning these matters, he would find how each of those who had advanced obtained his allotted portion in each particular homeland — how Mizraim inherited the portion of Egypt, Cush that of Ethiopia, Phut the regions of Axum, and Regma, Sabaktha, Thoyan, and Lud the territories bordering the land of the Garamantes.
And in order that I may not extend the composition of this preface here to great length, I shall return again to the matter in hand, and shall once more take up the sequence according to the succession.
Between the time of Eber and that of Peleg, then, and the building of the tower and of the first city founded after the flood, there arose at that very construction the beginning of a gathering together in council, and of tyranny.
However, as the precise account has it, this was the time of Nimrod the giant; yet the two of them, Nimrod and Zoroaster, are separated from one another by a great interval of time.
And Peleg begot Reu; Reu begot Serug, whose name is interpreted 'provocation,' from whom idolatry and Hellenism began among men, as the knowledge that has come down to us relates.