The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Domninus
fl. c. AD 200 (death unrecorded) · Lapsed Christian · Addressee of Serapion of Antioch · Antioch
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Domninus was
A Christian who left the church for Jewish observance in a time of persecution, and to whom Serapion of Antioch addressed a treatise trying to bring him back. He is a rare thing in the archive: a named apostate rather than a martyr, a heretic or a schismatic — a category the corpus holds almost nothing in.
Named once in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History; no other ancient source names him.
Common questions
When was Domninus active?
Domninus is dated fl. c. AD 200 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Domninus in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Domninus?
Domninus is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Domninus from?
The archive associates Domninus with Antioch.
Who were Domninus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Domninus to 2 other figures, including Serapion of Antioch and Caricus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Ecclesiastical History VI.12.1
c. AD 325[Serapion of Antioch wrote to Domninus, who had fallen away in the time of persecution from faith in Christ to the Jewish will-worship.]Eusebius of Caesarea · Ecclesiastical History VI.12.1 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 135 · Bar Kokhba crushed; Aelia Capitolina, AD 135
- AD 144 · Marcion expelled at Rome, AD 144
- AD 156 · The New Prophecy erupts, AD 156
- AD 177 · Persecution at Lyon and Vienne, AD 177
- AD 180 · The Scillitan martyrs, AD 180
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Domninus.