Serapion and the Gospel of Peter

Other memorials of Serapion’s literary labors are probably preserved by others, but only these have come down to us: those To Domnus, who had fallen away from faith in Christ at the time of the persecution to the self-made worship of the Jews; those To Pontius and Caricus, churchmen; other letters to other people; and another treatise he composed, On the So-called Gospel of Peter. [a] He wrote it to refute the falsehoods stated in that Gospel, because of certain people in the church at Rhossus who had drifted into heterodox teachings on the pretext of that writing. It is reasonable to quote brief passages from it, in which he sets out the opinion he held about the book. He writes as follows: [b]

“For we, brothers, receive both Peter and the other apostles as Christ; but the writings falsely put out in their names we reject, as men of experience, knowing that we did not receive such things. [c] For when I was with you, I supposed that all of you held to the right faith. Without going through the Gospel they put forward under the name of Peter, I said, ‘If this is the only thing that seems to make you petty-minded, let it be read.’ But now that I have learned from what has been told me that their mind was lurking in some heresy, I will hurry to come to you again. So, brothers, expect me soon. [d] But we, brothers, have grasped what kind of heresy Marcianus belonged to — he even contradicted himself, not understanding what he was saying — as you will learn from what has been written to you. [e] For we were able to borrow this very Gospel from others who had studied it, that is, from the successors of those who began it, whom we call Docetists, since most of its ideas belong to their teaching. So we were able to go through it, and we found that most of it agrees with the true teaching of the Savior, but some things have been added, which we have listed for you below.” So much for Serapion. [f]