How Far is Cerinthus 'the Heretic' from Philo the leader of Alexandrian Jewry?

[Secret Alias]

Irenaeus writes:

Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world was not made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all.

Isn't that what Philo believed except maybe about the part about 'ignorance' of the Most High? But even in that Cerinthus and Philo might have had common ground.

[MrMacSon]

Is this helpful? -

Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews by Robert Thurston, 1986; p. 139

[Ben C. Smith]

Is this helpful? -

Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews by Robert Thurston, 1986; p. 139

Nice article. Thanks for the link.

[Giuseppe]

Philo served the Jewish god, differently from Cerinthians.

[Jax]

Is this helpful? -

Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews by Robert Thurston, 1986; p. 139

I'm a little confused. Is the Book of Testimonies sited in the link actually hypothetical? https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1979-1_022.pdf

[Ben C. Smith]

Is this helpful? -

Philo and the Epistle to the Hebrews by Robert Thurston, 1986; p. 139

I'm a little confused. Is the Book of Testimonies sited in the link actually hypothetical? https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/1979-1_022.pdf

Yes. It is a catena hypothesized by J. Rendel Harris in Testimonies (part 1, part 2). Thurston refers to it in a previous article, as well.

[Secret Alias]

Philo served the Jewish god, differently from Cerinthians.

Do you see your inherent presuppositions? THE god (sing.) of the Jews. You've been preconditioned by Irenaeus and nothing will ever change your mind. But then there is Philo and your ears close and your mind closes. You won't go beyond your inherent assumptions.

[Giuseppe]

So the scholar Friedlander about Philo:

The Cainites venerated Cain as the divine power, rejected all moral conventions, and rejected the Law along with its God. And what, asks Friedlander, is 'Christian' about that? The Alexandrian school provides the most plausible link for the origin of this heresy. Indeed, the Cainite sect was already well known to Philo. Friedlander quotes in this connection On the Posterity and Exile of Cain. In this text 'Cain' is a symbol of heresy, and the specifics of the heresy represented by him are such that one can only conclude that Philo is arguing against a philosophizing sect characterized not only by construcfing myths contrary to the truth, but by gross antinomianism. Philo speaks against these heretics precisely as Irenaeus speaks against the Gnostics. There can be no doubt that the heretics combated by Philo are the forerunners of the Christian Gnostics later combated by the church fathers.

https://www.dhushara.com/book/consum/gnos/jgnos.htm

(my bold)

Alas a witness of true Gnostics !!!