The Apologists · AD 130–180
Marcion of Sinope
c. 85 – c. 160 · Member of the Roman church, expelled AD 144 · Founder of a rival church · Sinope, Pontus → Rome
The Apologists
Who Marcion of Sinope was
A wealthy shipowner’s son from Pontus who came to Rome around 140, made the church a great donation, and then propounded the most radical challenge of the age: that the just, wrathful Creator of the Old Testament was a different and lesser being than the good, alien Father revealed in Jesus. He built the first Christian canon — a single expurgated Luke and ten Pauline letters, all the Jewish scripture cut away — and when Rome expelled him (returning his money) about 144, he organized a rival church so widespread that Justin marvelled it had spread “over every race of men.” Polycarp, meeting him, called him “the firstborn of Satan.” The mainstream church defined its own canon and its Creator-God partly in answer to him; his shadow made orthodoxy articulate.
Common questions
When did Marcion live?
Marcion of Sinope is dated c. 85 – c. 160 in the archive, which places Marcion in the Apologists (AD 130–180). 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 Marcion?
Marcion of Sinope is named in 5 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyon, Tertullian of Carthage and Hippolytus of Rome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Marcion from?
The archive associates Marcion of Sinope with Sinope, Pontus, Rome. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Marcion’s contemporaries?
The archive links Marcion of Sinope to 8 other figures, including Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin Martyr, Cerdo the Syrian and Tertullian of Carthage. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (5)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
First Apology 26
c. AD 155Marcion, a man of Pontus, who is even at this day alive, and teaching his disciples… has caused many of every nation to speak blasphemies, denying that God is the maker of all things in heaven and earth.Justin Martyr · 26 · source text
Against Heresies III.3.4
c. AD 180Polycarp himself, when Marcion once met him and said, ‘Dost thou know us?’ replied, ‘I do know thee, the firstborn of Satan.’Irenaeus of Lyon · III.3.4 · source text
Prescription against Heretics 30 ('Marcion of Pontus')
c. AD 200Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago.Tertullian of Carthage · Prescription 30 · source text
Refutation of All Heresies VII.29
c. AD 225Marcion, a native of Pontus, adopted as his doctrine two originating causes of the universe, alleging one of them to be a certain good principle, but the other an evil one.Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation VII.29 · source text
Panarion 42 (the great dossier, with his canon reconstructed)
c. AD 375Connected in the archive
People
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Justin Martyr
- Cerdo the Syrian
- Tertullian of Carthage
- Pius I of Rome
- Modestus
- Philip of Gortyna
- Rhodo of Asia
Events in this lifetime
- AD 95 · Domitian’s reprisals, AD 95
- AD 96 · Rome writes to Corinth: 1 Clement, AD 96
- AD 112 · Pliny writes Trajan, AD 112
- AD 117 · Symeon and Ignatius martyred, AD 117
- 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
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Marcion, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.