Origen’s References to Heracleon: A Quotation-Analytical Study of the Earliest Known Commentary on the Gospel of John

In this monograph, Carl Johan Berglund reassesses Origen’s references to the second-century philologist Heracleon, without presuming that Heracleon’s exegesis is determined by views described in heresiological sources or that every reference is equivalent to a verbatim quotation. The author uses variations in Origen’s attribution formulas to categorize almost two hundred references as either verbatim quotations, summaries, explanatory paraphrases, or mere assertions. Heracleon’s views are assessed by considering the over fifty quotations and seventy summaries so identified in a context of literature to which Heracleon refers - John, a gospel similar to Matthew’s, a collection of Pauline epistles, and the Preaching of Peter. The author concludes that Origen is likely to have inferred views he knew from his exegetical opponents (the heterodox and those who bring in the natures ) that were never expressed by Heracleon.