Hymenaeus
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
- mentioned by St. Paul together with Alexander in 1 Timothy 1:20, and together with Philetus in 2 Timothy 2:17 - was one of the heretics of the apostolic age. Among other things, he denied the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which at that time was a stumbling block to many pagans (Acts 17:32). The apostle directly calls him an apostate and blasphemer and says that his teaching and that of his followers spreads like a cancer and infects believers. He therefore found it necessary to exclude them from the society of the faithful and deliver them to Satan.