Epiphanius of Salamis

4th century Christian bishop and saint

b. c. 315 · d. May 403

2nd Archbishop of Cyprus · c. 368–c. 403

Offices

Epiphanius of Salamis was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churches, and some Presbyterians. He gained a reputation as a strong defender of orthodoxy. He is best known for composing the Panarion, a compendium of eighty heresies, which also included pagan religions and philosophical systems. There has been much controversy over how many of the quotations attributed to him by the Byzantine Iconoclasts were actually by him. Regardless of this, he was clearly strongly against some contemporary uses of images in the church.

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How we know

Recorded as a historical figure.

  • De Viris Illustribus 2 claims — DVI 114; Epiphanius writes the Panarion
  • Ecclesiastical History 1 claim — HE 6.10
  • Oriens Christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus 1 claim — Oriens Christianus II, col. 1043 sqq. — Ecclesia Cypri

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