The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Theodotus the Cobbler
excommunicated c. AD 190 · Byzantine layman at Rome, excommunicated by Victor · Adoptionist heresiarch · Byzantium → Rome
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Theodotus the Cobbler was
The learned leather-worker of Byzantium who taught at Rome that Jesus was a 'mere man' empowered at his baptism — excommunicated by Victor, and made the arch-ancestor of adoptionism by the Little Labyrinth, which Eusebius quotes against his school's text-critical zeal.
Also listed in heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When did Theodotus live?
Theodotus the Cobbler is dated excommunicated c. AD 190 in the archive, which places Theodotus 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 Theodotus?
Theodotus the Cobbler is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Hippolytus of Rome, Anonymous (via Eusebius) and Epiphanius of Salamis. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Theodotus from?
The archive associates Theodotus the Cobbler with Byzantium, Rome. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Theodotus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Theodotus the Cobbler to 5 other figures, including Victor I of Rome, Artemon (Artemas), Natalius the Confessor and Theodotus the Banker. 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 VII.35
c. AD 225But there was a certain Theodotus, a native of Byzantium, who introduced a novel heresy, alleging that Jesus was a mere man.Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation VII.35 · source text
The Little Labyrinth, via Ecclesiastical History V.28
c. AD 325Victor excommunicated Theodotus the cobbler, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, who first declared that Christ was a mere man.Anonymous (via Eusebius) · V.28 · source text
Panarion 54
c. AD 375Connected 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 2 places the sources put Theodotus, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.