CERINTHUS (c. A.D. Ion), a Christian heretic, known to St. John. Hippolytus (Hoer. vii. 33) credits him with an Egyptian training, but there can be no truth in the notice given by Epiph anius (Hoer. xxviii. 4) that Cerinthus had led the judaizing opposi tion against Paul at Jerusalem.
According to Irenaeus (Adv. haeres. I. 26 I), Cerinthus taught that the world had been made by angels, from one of whom the god of the Jews, the Israelites had received this imperfect law. The only New Testament writing which he accepted was a muti lated Gospel of Matthew. Jesus was the offspring of Joseph and Mary, and on Him at the baptism descended the Christ, the divine power, revealing the unknown Father, and endowing Him with miraculous power. This Christ left Jesus before the Passion and the resurrection. According to Philastrius and St. Epiphanius, Cerinthus admitted circumcision and the observance of the Sab bath. Gaius, the priest (c. 29o) and Dionysius of Alexandria (c. 340) accused him of a crude form of Chiliasm. Cerinthus is a blend of judaizing Christian and Gnostic.