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Heracleon was a Gnostic who flourished about AD 175, probably in the south of Italy. He is the author of the earliest known commentary on a book that would eventually be included in the Christian New Testament with his commentary on the Gospel of John, although only fragmentary quotes survive. He is described by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 4.9) as the most esteemed (δοκιμώτατος) of the school of Valentinus; and, according to Origen (Comm. in S. Joann. t. ii. § 8, Opp. t. iv. p. 66), said to have been in personal contact (γνώριμος) with Valentinus himself. He is barely mentioned by Irenaeus (2.4.1) and by Tertullian (adv. Valent. 4). The common source of Philaster and Pseudo-Tertullian (i.e. probably the earlier treatise of Hippolytus) contained an article on Heracleon between those on Ptolemaeus and Secundus, and on Marcus and Colarbasus.
In his system he appears to have regarded the divine nature as a vast abyss in whose Pleroma were Aeons of different orders and/or degrees, emanations from the source of being. Midway between the supreme God and the material world was the Demiurge, who created the latter, and under whose jurisdiction the lower, animal soul of man proceeded after death, while his higher, celestial soul returned to the Pleroma whence at first it issued.[1]
He seems to have received the ordinary Christian scriptures; and Origen, who treats him as a notable exegete, has preserved fragments of Heracleon's commentary on the Gospel of John, while Clement of Alexandria quotes from him what appears to be a passage from a commentary on the Gospel of Luke. These writings have intensely mystical and allegorical interpretations of the text.[1]
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.