Information about the Gnostic Schools of the 1st – 3rd Centuries in John Damascene's Work “On Heresies”

Abstract

Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn (c. 675, Damascus – 753, near Jerusalem), better known as John Damascene, was an Eastern theologian, who gained prominence for a number of polemical works that were directed, in particular, against the opponents of iconodulism within the Byzantium Empire. John became the first and only ecclesiastical author to be monikered after the place of his ministry without being ordained a bishop. Damascene is also known for loose retellings of "Against Heresies" by Irenaeus of Lyon and "Panarion" by Epiphanius of Salamis. Both re-narrations contain a number of unverifiable and contradictory statements. This paper examines the work “Περὶ αἱρέσεων”, also known as “Concerning Heresy”, by John Damascene within the context of research into the Gnostic schools of the 1st – 3d centuries AD. The study points out that this polemical work was primarily aimed at the challenges facing Orthodoxy at the time of its writing: the influence of the Nestorians and Monophysites, the growing influence of Islam, and iconodulism. As a source for the study of Gnosticism of the 1st – 3d centuries AD, “Concerning Heresy” is inapplicable because it doesn't properly reflect historical realities of Gnosticism period and contains inaccurate secondary information about the gnostic teachings and the views of its followers. Such a conclusion may be derived from the general disinterest that John Damascene expressed towards the gnostic dogma and school of thought.