The 5th century monk Isidore of Pelusium was a contemporary of Cyril of Alexandria, to whom he directed at least 8 letters. I always wanted to get these translated, ever since I learned of them in Quasten’s Patrology, vol. 3, p.184. Today I went to my PDF of the Patrologia Graeca 78, and added bookmarks to them. One of these is letter 370. But my eye drifted to letter 371, to Pansophius, which turned out to be about the Marcionites!
Here’s the text and a quick translation:
(371) ΤΟΑʹ. ΠΑΝΣΟΦΙῼ.
Εἰ προΐσχεται ὁ τῆς Μαρκίωνος συνήγορος βλασφημίας, τὸ παρ’ ἐκείνοις ὀνομαζόμενον Εὐαγγέλιον, λαβὼν ἀνάγνωθι, καὶ εὑρήσεις εὐθὺς ἐν προοιμίοις τὴν ἀτοπίαν. Αὐτὴν γὰρ τὴν κατάγουσαν ἐπὶ Χριστὸν ἁπὸ Δαβὶδ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ γενεαλογίαν ἀπέτεμον• καὶ μικρὸν ὕστερον προϊὼν ἄλλην ὄψει κακόνοιαν. Ἀμείψαντες γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν, «Οὐκ ἦλθον, λέγοντος, καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας,» ἐποίησαν• Δοκεῖτε, ὅτι ἦλθον πληρῶσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας; Ἦλθον καταλῦσαι, ἀλλ’ οὐ πληρῶσαι. Ἐκ τούτων δὲ εἴσῃ, ὅπως ἔχθραν ταῖς δυσὶ Διαθήκαις κατασκευάζουσι, ξένον εἶναι τοῦ νόμου τὸν Χριστὸν σχεδιάσαντες.
If the advocate of Marcion promotes blasphemy, take up and read their so-called Gospel, and you will immediately find its absurdity in the opening passages. For they have cut out the actual genealogy that leads down to Christ from David and Abraham.
And proceeding a little further, you will see another instance of their malice. For they have altered the Lord’s words: “I did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”, and changed it to: “Do you think that I have come to fulfil the Law or the Prophets? I have come to abolish, and not to fulfil.”
From this, you will understand how they fabricate enmity between the two Testaments, having contrived to make Christ a stranger to the Law.
We don’t really think of Marcionites hanging around in the 430s AD. But as we know from the Life of Severus of Antioch by Zacharias Rhetor, even in the early 500s there was a fully operational pagan temple of Isis at Menouthis, less than 20 miles away from the seat of government at Alexandria, and now submerged under Abukir bay. Ancient societies were not like the tightly controlled societies of our own day, after all.
Not merely does Isidore know of followers of Marcion’s teachings, but he knows of someone promoting it. He also takes for granted that Marcion’s “Gospel” can be readily obtained at that late a date.
Fascinating!