Epiphanius was "a man of earnest monastic pietj'', and of sincere Init illiberal zeal for orthodox^'. His good nature allowed him to be easil}- used as an in- strument for the passions of others, and his zeal was not according to knowledge. He is the patriarch of heresj-hunters. He identified Christianity with mo- nastic piety and ecclesiastical orthodoxy, and consid- ered it the great mission of his life to pursue the hydra of heresy into all its hiding-places. His learning was extensive, but ill digested. He understood five lan- guages— Hebrew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and a little Latin. Jerome, who knew but three languages, though he knew these far better than Epiphanius, calls him ttev- rdy\w(T(yo(;, the five-tongued ; and Rufinus reproach- fully saj's of him that he considered it his sacred duty to slander the great Origen in all languages and na- tions. He was lacking in knowledge of the world and of men, in sound judgment, and in critical discern- ment. He was possessed of a boundless credulity, now almost proverbial, causing innumerable errors and contradictions in his writings. His style is entirely destitute of beautj' or elegance ; still, his works are of considerable value as a storehouse of the history of an- cient heresies and of patristic polemics" (Schaff, Ilis- ioryofthii Christian Church, iii, § 1G9). Scaliger calls Epiplianius an ignorant man, who committed the great- est blunders, told the greatest falsehoods, and knew next to nothing about either Hebrew or Greek.
Hook (Eccles. Biography, iv, .5.' 3) cites Epiphanius as one of the writers to whom we can refer for proof of the errors of modern Piomanism, and for justification of the Reformation. Tor example, against invocation of saints, "Neither Elias (he saj-s), nor John, nor Thecla, nor any of the saints is to be worshipped. For that ancient error shall not prevail with us, that we should forsake the living God and worship the things that are made by him. For the}- worshipped and served the creature above the Creator, and beciane fools. For if he will not permit angels to be worship- ped, how- much more would he not have her who was born of Anna ? Let Maiy, therefore, be had in honor, but let the Lord be worshipped." Again he observes " that the creature cannot be worshipped without in- juring the true faith, and falling back to the errors of the ancient pagans, who forsook the worship of the true God to adore the creatui-e ; or without incurring the malediction spoken of by St. Paul — they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever; therefore God gave them up to vile affections." " Sed neque Helias, neque Joannes — ne- que quisquam sanctorum adoratur," etc. {IJar. 79 and 02). As decisive is his testiinon}- against the doctrine of a purgatorial state. " In the age to come (he says) there is no advantage of fasting, no call to repentance,
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no display of charity ; none are admitted after their departure hence, nor can we then correct what was be- fore amiss. There Lazarus goeth not to Dives, nor Dives to Lazarus; the garners are sealed, the combat finished, the crowns distributed. Those who liave not yet encountered have no more opportunity, and those who have conquered are not cast out. All is finish- ed after we have departed hence" {Ilcer. 59).
The extant writings of Epiphanius are the follow- ing, in the order in which thej' are given in the edition of his works by Petavius (Paris, 1622 ; Leipzig, 1082 ; and in Migne, Patrologia Grceca, vols, xli, xlii, xliii) :
1. Ylavartiov, Panarium (medicine-chest), a treatise against heresies. It was written at the request of two monks, named Paul and Acacius, belonging to a mon- astery near Berea, in Lower Syria. Prefixed to the work is a letter to these monks, which serves as a pref- ace. The whole work is divided into three books, which are subdivided into seven tomes or sections. The first book contains three of these subdivisions, and each of the others two. The whole includes an account of eighty heresies, twenty of which were be- fore Christ : 1, the Barbarians, from Adam to Noah ; 2, the Scj'tliians, from Nimrod to Terah ; 3, the Hel- lenists, including all who paid divine honors to the creature, including idolatrj'^ proper, and also the philo- sophical arts of Stoics, Platonists, Pythagoreans, Epi- cureans ; 4, the Samaritanism, arising from a mixture of Hellenism and Judaism, and including four sects; 5, the Judaaans (Judaism), including the seven sects of Sadducees, Scrihes, Pharisees, Hemerobaptists, Naza- renes, Essenes, and Herodians. Of Christian heresies he names the Simonians (followers of Simon Magus), the Basilidians, and other Gnostic sects. AYith the sixty-fourth heresy he begins his account of the here- sies of his own age, Origenism, Arianism. A critical work of great ability on the information given by Epi- phanius has been published by Lipsius, Zur Quellen- kritik des Epiphanius. It limits itself to heresies 13 to 57, which are mostly Gnostic sj'stems. Lipsius shows that Epiphanius, Philaster, and Pseudo-Tertul- lian made use of the same source, and that this source Avas the work of Hippolytus against 52 heresies called avvrayjia, which was still known to Photius.
2. ' AjKvotxJToc, Ancoratus {anchored), i. q. michor or defence of the faith, especially of the doctrine of the Trinity; so called "because," saj's Epiphanius, "I have collected, according to my slender abilities, all those passages of Scripture which are calculated to es- tablish our faith ; that this book may, like the anchor of a ship, establish believers in the orthodox fiiith, in the midst of the agitations and tempests of heresj\"