Chapter XXV.—The Heresy of Cerdon.
But one Cerdon878 Irenæus, i. 27; Eusebius (who here gives Irenæus’ Greek), Hist. Ecclesiast., iv. 2; Epiphanius, c. xli.; Theodoret, Hær. Fab., i. 24; and Philastrius, c. xliv. himself also, taking occasion in like manner from these (heretics) and Simon, affirms that the God preached by Moses and the prophets was not Father of Jesus Christ. For (he contends) that this (Father) had been known, whereas that the Father of Christ879 Hippolytus follows Irenæus but introduces some alterations. was unknown, and that the former was just, but the latter good. And Marcion corroborated the tenet of this (heretic) in the work which he attempted to write, and which he styled Antitheses.880 ᾽Αντιθέσεις. This is the emendation proposed by the Abbe Cruice. The textual reading is ἀντιπαραθέσεις (comparisons). And he was in the habit, (in this book,) of uttering whatever slanders suggested themselves to his mind against the Creator of the universe. In a similar manner likewise (acted) Lucian,881 See [ut supra, p. 353], Tertullian, Præscript., c. li., and Epiphanius, Hær., c. xliii. the disciple of this (heretic).
[37] Κέρδων δέ τις, καὶ αὐτὸς [τὰς] ἀφορμὰς ὁμοίως παρὰ τούτων λαβὼν καὶ Σίμωνος, λέγει τὸν ὑπὸ Μωσέως καὶ προφητῶν κεκηρυγμένον θεὸν μὴ εἶναι πατέρα Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ: τοῦτον μὲν γὰρ ἐγνῶσθαι, τὸν δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πατέρα εἶναι ἄγνωστον: καὶ τὸν μὲν εἶναι δίκαιον, τὸν δὲ ἀγαθόν. τούτου δὲ τὸ δόγμα ἐκράτυνε Μαρκίων, τάς τε ἀντιπαραθέσεις ἐπιχειρήσας καὶ ὅσα αὐτῷ ἔδοξεν εἰς τὸ τὸν ἁπάντων δημιουργὸν δυσφημῆσαι. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Λουκιανὸς ὁ τούτου μαθητής.