Marcion

Every report about Marcion comes from an opponent. Justin, who wrote at Rome while Marcion was still alive, calls him “a man of Pontus” who taught his disciples to believe in a god greater than the creator (Justin, First Apology 26). Irenaeus says that he flourished when Anicetus was bishop of Rome (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.4.3) and describes his Gospel as a cut-down Luke (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.27.2). Tertullian, two generations later, calls him a shipmaster, says that he gave money to the Roman church and had it returned when he was expelled, and adds that he sought to be reconciled before he died (Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics 30). Tertullian also refers to a letter of Marcion’s own, now lost, as proof that he had first shared the faith of the church (Tertullian, Against Marcion 1.1).

Churches that named him or his followers as their founders outlived him; Tertullian, early in the third century, speaks of them as still existing (Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.5). See Marcion Breaks with the Roman Church.