[aMorePerfectUnion]

“who died in Phrygia ca. A.D. 167:

‘”He that discerneth these things, every fellow-believer, let him pray for Abercius”

“Carved right in stone, the evidence of prayers for the dead.

..............

Here’s an even earlier reference to heresy...

Revelation 2-3:22

Churches practicing heresy. This before the heresy you note, so it is not surprising that there was heresy afterwards also. In fact, I do not believe the Church has ever been free of heresy from within or without.

[Antoninus]

Here’s an even earlier reference to heresy...

Ah. I will never comprehend the logic that is comfortable calling bishops who lived a generation or two from the Apostles "heretics" (such as Saint Abercius whose story is fascinating) while accepting and lauding strange and novel doctrines that erupted 1,500 years after the Apostles.

[Claud]

Churches practicing heresy. This before the heresy you note, so it is not surprising that there was heresy afterwards also. In fact, I do not believe the Church has ever been free of heresy from within or without.

Ok, but you seem to believe that this heresy was so absolutely total that it completely obliterated any trace of "orthodoxy" (as you define it) for 1500 years.

That is patently ridiculous. Even the most noxious heresies left plenty of traces--like people refuting them.