The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Hermogenes the Heretic
fl. c. AD 180–200 (death unrecorded) · Christian painter of Carthage · Theologian of eternal matter · Carthage(?)
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Hermogenes the Heretic was
A painter by trade and a philosopher by ambition, who taught that God made the world not from nothing but from coeval, unbegotten matter — the source, in his account, of all evil. Theophilus of Antioch wrote against him first; Tertullian's Adversus Hermogenem finished the job with characteristic teeth. Distinct from the biblical Hermogenes who turned away from Paul.
Common questions
When was Hermogenes active?
Hermogenes the Heretic is dated fl. c. AD 180–200 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Hermogenes 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 Hermogenes write?
Hermogenes the Heretic has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: On Matter (his teaching). All are lost, known only from later citation.
Which early sources mention Hermogenes?
Hermogenes the Heretic is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Tertullian and Hippolytus of Rome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Hermogenes from?
The archive associates Hermogenes the Heretic with Carthage(?).
Writings (1)
On Matter (his teaching)
The painter-theologian's doctrine of co-eternal matter, known only through its refutersHis doctrine derived matter as coeternal with God — 'we are accustomed, for brevity's sake, to call him the painter.' (after Tertullian, Against Hermogenes 1)Lost — known only from later citation.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Against Hermogenes 1
c. AD 200He is a turbulent man, who takes loquacity for eloquence… he despises God's law in his painting, and marries oftener than he paints — preaching matter while he practises it.Tertullian · source text
Refutation of All Heresies VIII.17
c. AD 225Hermogenes said that God made all things out of matter coeval and unbegotten with himself — for God could not make the things that were made except out of what existed.Hippolytus of Rome · VIII.17 · 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
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Hermogenes.