Heracleon (1), a Gnostic described by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iv. 9, p. 595) as the most esteemed (δοκιμώτατος) of the school of Valentinus; and, according to Origen (Comm. in S. Joann. t. ii. § 8, Opp. t. iv. p. 66), said to have been in personal contact (γνώριμος) with Valentinus himself. He is barely mentioned by Irenaeus (ii. 41) and by Tertullian (adv. Valent. 4). The common source of Philaster and Pseudo-Tertullian (i.e. probably
the earlier treatise of Hippolytus) contained
an article on Heracleon between those on Ptolemaeus and Secundus, and on Marcus
and Colarbasus.
The chief interest that now attaches to Heracleon is that he is the earliest
commentator on the N.T. of whom we have knowledge. Origen, in the still extant portion of his commentary on St. John, quotes Heracleon nearly 50 times, usually controverting, occasionally accepting his expositions. We thus recover large sections of Heracleon's commentary on cc. i. ii. iv. and viii. of St John. There is reason to think that he wrote commentaries on St. Luke also. Clement of Alexandria (Strom. iv. 9) expressly quotes from Heracleon's exposition of Luke xii. 8; and another reference (25 Eclog. ex Script. Proph. p. 995) is in connexion with Luke iii. 16, 17, and so probably from an exposition of these verses. The fragments of Heracleon were collected by Grabe (Spicileg. ii. 85, etc.), and reprinted as an appendix to Massuet's, Stieren's, and Migne's editions of Irenaeus.