Cerinthus

Cerinthus (lived 2nd century), Christian heretic, considered a Gnostic by ancient Christian writers (see Gnosticism). He had a number of followers in Asia Minor. Because the teachings of Cerinthus are known only through the writings of hostile witnesses such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome, it is difficult to determine Cerinthus's ideas. He is said to have preached that the world was created by a subordinate deity, called a demiurge, or by angels, one of whom gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Cerinthus reportedly also taught that Jesus was the natural son of Mary and Joseph and that the spirit of God, called Christ, descended upon Jesus at his baptism and enabled him to work miracles and to proclaim the unknown Father but left Jesus before the Passion and the resurrection. In the 2nd century, when the Book of Revelation was suspect in some circles for its millenarian tendencies, the orthodox writer Gaius asserted that all the biblical writings attributed to John the Evangelist were really by Cerinthus. After this, it was generally believed that Cerinthus had espoused millenarian ideas (see Millennium; Revelation).