APELLE. — Disciple of Marcion from whom he separated, going for a time to Alexandria and later returning to Rome. He wrote a large volume of Syllogisms to prove the falsity of Moses and published the revelations of a certain Philomena, probably his own disciple. He was already old when, under Commodus, he engaged in a public debate with Rhodo, a disciple of Tatian (Eusebius, Hist. ecc., V, 13). According to the Praedestinatus, 22, he was also opposed by Origen.
A. admitted only one God, good, who created the angelic world. One of these angels is the demiurge who created, in the image of the higher one, this lower world of matter; but his work was so defective that he abandoned it and prayed God to provide for its correction. Thus Jesus was sent, who at the end of the ages will renew the whole world. According to some, the demiurge would be for A. the angel of fire learned by Moses, and therefore the God of Israel Himself. He succeeds in attracting the souls of men down from heaven with the allurements of material food and fixing them in the flesh.