At the end of the second century, Irenaeus of Lyon wrote that those who had apostatized from Christianity had “an unspeakable number of apocryphal and spurious writings, ” including gospels that“ they themselves have forged, to bewilder the minds of foolish men. ”
Otrā gadsimta beigās Lionas Irenejs rakstīja, ka tiem, kas ir atkrituši no kristietības, pieder ” milzum daudz apokrifu un viltotu tekstu ”, to vidū arī evaņģēliji, ko ” viņi paši sacerējuši, lai sajauktu prātu nejēgām ”.