a. and sb. [f. Cerinthus + -IAN.] A. adj. Of or pertaining to the teaching of Cerinthus, one of the earliest heresiarchs of the Christian Church (c. A.D. 88), who attempted to unite Christianity with a mixture of Gnosticism and Judaism, the main peculiarity being the assumption that Jesus was a man and the Christ an æon who entered into Jesus. B. sb. An adherent of the teaching of Cerinthus.
1576. Hanmer, Aunc. Eccl. Hist. (1585), 57. Cerinthus, founder of the Cerinthian heresie.
1585–7. T. Rogers, 39 Art. (1607), 48. They … which either deny or impugn the Deity of our Saviour, as did the Cerinthians.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1882), 766. Any Cerinthian attempt to distinguish between Jesus the man of sorrows and Christ the risen Lord.
