Elchasai (Elxai)

When was Elchasai active?

Elchasai (Elxai) is dated fl. c. AD 100–120 (quasi-legendary) in the archive, which places Elchasai in the Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–130). 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 Elchasai?

Elchasai (Elxai) is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Salamis. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Elchasai from?

The archive associates Elchasai (Elxai) with Parthian borderlands.

Who were Elchasai’s contemporaries?

The archive links Elchasai (Elxai) to 2 other figures, including Hippolytus of Rome and Alcibiades of Apamea. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

He asserts that a certain righteous man, Elchasai, had received the book from Seres of Parthia — given by an angel whose height was twenty-four schoenoi… and with him a female, whose measurements accorded.

It rejects the apostle entirely, and they produce a certain book which they say fell from heaven.