HEGESIPPUS. - He came under Pope Anicetus (in the time of Marcus Aurelius) from Palestine via Corinth, to Rome (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, 22, 3).
Author of 5 books of ἐνεφυλίζανα (perhaps = "notices") written around 180 (Eusebius, op. cit., II, 23, 3; IV, 22, 1). It was probably a book with an anti-heretical tendency. After the death of Simeon son of Clopas, successor of James the Just, seven heresies arise in the Church of Jerusalem "they destroy her innocence, which until then had remained virgin" (Eusebius, op. cit., IV, 22, 4 ff.; III, 32, 7). The appearance of the seven Gnostic sects (III, 32, 8) is dated to the era of Trajan. This construction of the history of early Christianity probably comes from a Jewish-Christian milieu. "E. cites the Gospel of the Hebrews (IV, 22, 8) and oral Jewish traditions (ibid.), so that for Eusebius E. himself is a Jewish-Christian (Eusebius, loc. cit.). Outside the Gospel of the Hebrews E. would also have cited the Syriac Gospel, perhaps the Diatessaron. The extracts from E.'s work in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History all deal with events among the Jewish-Christians. Thus
II, 23, 4 ff., speaks of the death of James, the brother of the Lord, probably already in legendary form. Another extract (III, 20, 1) deals with the relatives of Jesus brought before Domitian and a third with the death of Simeon son of Clopas (III, 32, 6, cf. IV, 22, 4). His historical construction is also presupposed in the pseudo-Clementine writings. The historicity of this construction is of doubtful value. E. has an interest in his256/7 in the different Churches, that is, in the tradition of pure doctrine (IV, 22, 3). That E. was the author of a list of the bishops of Rome is hardly likely. E. was known to Philip of Side and Stephen Gobarus; that Clement of Alexandria and Epiphanius read him is unlikely.
Bibliography2 works
Erik Peterson