Primary Source XLIX: An Excerpt from St. Epiphanius' Panarion

St. Epiphanius ranks among the most important and well-known saints of Cyprus. Ordained as Bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in the 4th century, he was a steadfast defender of (o)rthodox Christian practice and belief. In fact "Epiphanius was respected not only for his piety and rectitude but for his learning. Churches far from Cyprus consulted him on doctrinal issues."

In this dramatization, we hear an excerpt from The Panarion -- a theological treatise written by St. Epiphanius himself. Also known as the "Medicine Chest," the Panarion addresses 80 heresies, many emerging in the post-Nicene period. The excerpt featured here is from Against the Severians, a sect that vigorously rejected marriage and, at least according to The Panarion, viewed women as creations of Satan. Christians have wrestled with what it means to live in a body. Some saw the body as part of God’s good creation--maybe damaged after the Fall, but still good at its core. Others, though, thought the body just got in the way of drawing close to God. In this passage, he pushes back hard against their ideas.

The Panarion stands out as a key historical source. It gives us a window into the mess of competing beliefs among early Christians, and it even lets us peek at what religion looked like in Late Antique Cyprus. Next month I welcome Dr. Young Kim to discuss the impact Cypriots made in forming early Christian thought and the foundations of Early Christianity in Cyprus!