a heresiarch, contemporary with the apostles, who ascribed the creation not to God, but to angels. He taught that Jesus Christ was the son of Joseph, and that circumcision ought to be retained under the gospel. He is looked upon as the head of the converted Jews, who raised in the church of Antioch the tumult of which St Luke has given the history in the 15th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Some authors ascribe the book of the Apocalypse to Cerinthus, adding, that he sent it forth under the name of St John, in order to give greater authority to his reveries touching Christ's reign upon earth.