Heraclitus the Commentator

fl. c. AD 193–211 (death unrecorded) · Earliest commentator on the Pauline epistles · unknown

The Ante-Nicene Church

Who Heraclitus the Commentator was

A writer of the reigns of Commodus and Severus credited by Eusebius and Jerome with commentaries 'on the Apostle' — the earliest recorded verse-commentary on Paul, written while the ink of the New Testament canon was barely dry. The books are lost; the priority stands. Not the philosopher of Ephesus, seven centuries his senior.

Common questions

When was Heraclitus active?

Heraclitus the Commentator is dated fl. c. AD 193–211 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Heraclitus 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.

What did Heraclitus write?

Heraclitus the Commentator has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Commentaries on the Apostle. All are lost, known only from later citation.

Which early sources mention Heraclitus?

Heraclitus the Commentator is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Heraclitus from?

The archive associates Heraclitus the Commentator with unknown.

Writings (1)

Commentaries on the Apostle

The earliest commentary on the Pauline corpus

Heraclitus, in the reign of Commodus and Severus, wrote commentaries on the Apostle. (after Jerome, On Illustrious Men 46)

Lost — known only from later citation.

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Ecclesiastical History V.27 (the catalogue of writers under Commodus and Severus)

c. AD 325

There have come down to us a work of Heraclitus On the Apostle, and one of Maximus on the famous question of the origin of evil.

Eusebius of Caesarea · Ecclesiastical History V.27 · source text

On Illustrious Men 46

c. AD 393

Heraclitus, in the reign of Commodus and Severus, wrote commentaries on the Apostle.