The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Epiphanius of Salamis
b. c. AD 310/320 near Eleutheropolis; d. at sea, May 403 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) · Monk · Bishop of Salamis · Heresiologist · Besanduk, Palestine → Salamis (Constantia), Cyprus
The Nicene Age
Who Epiphanius of Salamis was
The archive cites him forty-eight times and held no profile for him — the largest single gap in its own citing spine. He founded a monastery near Eleutheropolis and governed it some thirty years before being made bishop of Salamis about 365. Jerome called him Pentaglossos, the five-tongued, for his Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek and Latin. The Panarion catalogues eighty heresies and preserves, in quotation, whole Gnostic texts that would otherwise be lost — which is why a hostile author is one of the archive’s most valuable. He spent his last years hunting Origenists, and died at sea returning from the campaign against Chrysostom at Constantinople; Sozomen records him admitting there that he knew the Origenist books only by hearsay. Held at the archive’s AD 400 ceiling, as Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom are.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and desert fathers & mothers.
Common questions
When did Epiphanius live?
Epiphanius of Salamis is dated b. c. AD 310/320 near Eleutheropolis; d. at sea, May 403 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) in the archive, which places Epiphanius in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Epiphanius write?
Epiphanius of Salamis has 2 catalogued writings in the archive: Panarion (The Medicine Chest), against eighty heresies and Ancoratus · On Weights and Measures.
Which early sources mention Epiphanius?
Epiphanius of Salamis is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Jerome of Stridon and Sozomen. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Epiphanius from?
The archive associates Epiphanius of Salamis with Besanduk, Palestine, Salamis (Constantia), Cyprus. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (2)
Panarion (The Medicine Chest), against eighty heresies
c. AD 374–377[The single richest heresiological source of the fourth century, and the only witness to much of what it attacks.]Read the interlinear source text →
Ancoratus · On Weights and Measures
AD 374 and later[The Anchored One, on the faith; and the treatise on biblical measures, canon and versions.]
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Epistula 51 — Jerome’s Latin translation of Epiphanius’ own letter to John of Jerusalem
c. AD 394[Contains the Anablatha episode in Epiphanius’ own words: finding a curtain painted with an image of Christ or a saint, he tore it down and told them to use it as a pauper’s shroud.]Jerome of Stridon · Letter 51 · source text
Ecclesiastical History VIII.14–15 and VIII.40
c. AD 443[Sozomen records Epiphanius admitting at Constantinople that he had never read the Origenist books he condemned.]Sozomen · Ecclesiastical History VIII.40 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Epiphanius, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.