EGESIPPO. — He came to Rome from Palestine by way of Corinth under Pope Anicetus (in the time of Marcus Aurelius) (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 work with an anti-heretical tendency. After the death of Simeon Cleopas, successor of James the Just, seven heresies arose in the Church of Jerusalem, “destroying her innocence, which until then had remained a virgin” (Eusebius, op. cit., IV, 22, 4 ff.; III, 32, 7). The appearance of the Gnostic sects (III, 32, 8) is dated to the time of Trajan. This construction of the history of primitive Christianity probably came from a Judeo-Christian milieu. “E. cites the Gospel of the Hebrews (IV, 22, 8) and Jewish oral traditions (ibid.), so that for Eusebius E. himself is a Judeo-Christian (Eusebius, loc. cit.). Apart from the Gospel of the Hebrews, E. may also have cited the Syrian Gospel, perhaps the Diatessaron. The excerpts from E.’s work in Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History all concern events among the Judeo-Christians. Thus
II, 23, 4 ff., speaks of the death of James, the brother of the Lord, probably already in legendary form. Another excerpt (III, 20, 1) concerns the relatives of Jesus brought before Domitian, and a third the death of Simeon Cleopas (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. was interested in his256/7 in the various Churches, that is, in the tradition of the pure doctrine (IV, 22, 3). That E. was the author of a list of the bishops of Rome is very unlikely. E. was known to Philip of Side and Stephen Gobarus; it is improbable that Clement of Alexandria and Epiphanius had read him.