It does seem vague. If we're wondering whether the activity of someone started after 138 or before 138, I don't think this resolves that question. If we're wondering whether Marcion was alive after 138, we might already have better evidence of this from Justin.Tertullian wrote in "The Prescription against Heretics":
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ian11.htmlWhere was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago,--in the reign of Antoninus for the most part,--and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus, until on account of their ever restless curiosity,with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled. Marcion, indeed, [went] with the two hundred sesterces which which he had brought into the church, and, when banished at last to a permanent excommunication, they scattered abroad the poisons of their doctrines. Afterwards, it is true, Marcion professed repentance, and agreed to the conditions granted to him--that he should receive reconciliation if he restored to the church all the others whom he had been training for perdition: he was prevented, however, by death.
"In the reign of Antoninus for the most part" is vague. Antoninus was Emperor from 138 to 161 CE. Eleutherus was Bishop of Rome starting in the 170s CE.
Another ambiguity is the way this canvasses several such men (and their alleged philosophical muses) together.
I'm not sure we can use this to claim that Marcion himself lived to be under the episcopate of Eleutherus. Actually I'm not sure if we can say that about Valentinus either, but that's a separate question.
Statistics: Posted by Peter Kirby — Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:16 pm