ERACLEONE. - Heretic, head of the Italian school of the Valentinians (c. 120-80). Fragments of his commentary on the Gospel of St. John have been transmitted to us in Origen’s commentary, and two fragments by Clement of Alexandria, Strom., IV, 71, and Eclog. proph., 25, 1. His doctrine was similar to that of Tolomeo (Ireneo, Advers. haer., I, 1-9) and sought to mitigate the heresies of Valentinian doctrine in the Eastern school (Excerpta ex Theodoto).
In his exegesis of the Gospel of St. John he shows knowledge of early Christian literature (frg. 21: Kerrygma Petri; frg. 12: Testimonia; cf. Tertulliano, Adv. Indues, 14; frg. 38: chiliastic traditions) and of Platonic and Stoic philosophy. At the centre of his doctrine is the Valentinian myth of the fallen spirit which, through Christ, recovers awareness of its transcendent origin. E. seeks to find this myth in the allegorical exegesis of the Gospel (the Samaritan woman as image of Sophia, the centurion of the Demiurge). Epifanio (Haer., 36, 2) attributes to E. the rite of the Gnostic Marco, concerning the ascent of souls after death (anointing with water and oil), which in Ireneo (Advers. haer., I, 21, 5) is attributed to an anonymous group. On what grounds cannot be said. Epifanio’s information concerning E. inspires no confidence.