The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Noetus of Smyrna
fl. c. 200 (death unrecorded) · Presbyter of Smyrna, expelled · Modalist heresiarch · Smyrna
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Noetus of Smyrna was
A teacher of Smyrna, one of the earliest modalist monarchians, who held that if Christ is God he must be the Father himself — so that it was the Father who was born, suffered, and died (the “Patripassian” error). Hippolytus reports that when the presbyters of Smyrna examined him he first denied, then defended the teaching, claiming to honour the one God; he was excommunicated. His disciple Epigonus carried the doctrine to Rome, where it fed into Sabellianism. Answered in Hippolytus’s Against Noetus, he is the eastern headwater of the modalist stream.
Also listed in heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When was Noetus active?
Noetus of Smyrna is dated fl. c. 200 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Noetus 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.
Which early sources mention Noetus?
Noetus of Smyrna is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Hippolytus of Rome and Epiphanius of Salamis. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Noetus from?
The archive associates Noetus of Smyrna with Smyrna.
Who were Noetus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Noetus of Smyrna to 5 other figures, including Sabellius, Hippolytus of Rome, Praxeas and Epigonus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Refutation of All Heresies IX.7–10 (the heresy traced from Smyrna to Rome)
c. AD 225There has appeared one, Noetus by name, and by birth a native of Smyrna. This person introduced a heresy from the tenets of Heraclitus.Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation IX.7 · source text
Against Noetus 1
c. AD 225Noetus… said that Christ was the Father Himself, and that the Father Himself was born, and suffered, and died. When the blessed presbyters heard this, they summoned him and examined him.Hippolytus of Rome · source text
Panarion 57
c. AD 375Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- 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
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Noetus.