CERINTHIANS

Ancient heretics, the followers of Cerinthus. This man, who was a Jew by birth, attempted to form a new and singular system of doctrine and discipline, by combining the doctrines of Christ with the opinions and errors of the Jews and Gnostics. He taught that the Creator of the world, whom he considered also as the Sovereign and Lawgiver of the Jews, was a Being endued with the greatest virtues, and derived his birth from the Supreme God ; that this Being gradually degenerated from his former virtue; that, in consequence of this, the Supreme Being determined to destroy his empire, and, for that purpose, sent upon earth one of the ever happy and glorious æons whose name was Christ ; that this Christ chose for his habitation the person of Jesus , into whom he entered in the form of a dove, whilst Jesus was receiving baptism of John in the waters of Jordan; that Jesus , after this union with Christ , opposed the God of the Jews, at whose instigation he was seized and crucified by the Hebrew chiefs; that when Jesus was taken captive, Christ ascended on high, and the man Jesus alone was subjected to the pain of an ignominious death.