Epiphanius

Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/320-403) was the bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in Cyprus and one of the most influential heresy-hunters of the late fourth century. A learned ascetic who knew Greek, Syriac, Hebrew, Coptic, and Latin, he is best known for the Panarion ("Medicine Chest"), an encyclopedic catalogue refuting eighty heresies, and for the Ancoratus. A fierce defender of Nicene orthodoxy, he became a leading antagonist in the Origenist controversy, pressing Jerome and others to condemn Origen and clashing openly with John of Jerusalem and, late in life, with John Chrysostom at Constantinople. His correspondence circulated widely in late-antique theological circles, which is why he appears as a figure in the letter collections of Jerome, Basil of Caesarea, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Isidore of Pelusium.