Lucanus or Lucianus

Lucanus Or Lucianus a disciple of Marcion and the Gnostics, flourished in the latter part of the second century. He denied the reality of the body of Christ, as well as the immateriality and immortality of the soul. He regarded the souls of animals as of the same kind with those of men, and allowed the resurrection of the former. He is known to have been the author of numerous forgeries: among others, the History of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Protevangelion, or History of James, the Gospel of Nicodemus. He seems to have been the same heretic who is sometimes called Lucius, Leicius, Leucius, Lentitizs, Leontius, Lentius, Seleucus, Charinus, Nexocharides, and Leonides. — Farrar, Eccles. Dict. s.v. See Schaff, Ch. Hist. 1:245. SEE LUCIAN, ST.