Part 12 (1/2)

literature cited in McGifferts notes. The sayings of Monta.n.u.s, Maximilla, and Priscilla are collected in Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte_, 591 _ff._ See also Hippolytus, _Refut._, X, 25_f._ [= X, 21, ANF.]

(_a_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16:7. (MSG, 20:463.)

For Eusebius, see 3.

There is said to be a certain village named Ardabau, in Mysia, on the borders of Phrygia. There, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a recent convert, Monta.n.u.s by namewho, in his boundless desire for leaders.h.i.+p, gave the adversary opportunity against himfirst became inspired; and falling into a sort of frenzy and ecstasy raved and began to babble and utter strange sounds, prophesying in a manner contrary to the traditional and constant custom of the Church from the beginning. And he stirred up, besides, two women [Maximilla and Priscilla], and filled them with the false spirit, so that they talked frantically, at unseasonable times, and in a strange manner, like the person already mentioned. And the arrogant spirit taught them to revile the universal and entire Church under heaven, because the spirit of false prophecy received from it neither honor nor entrance into it; for the faithful in Asia met often and in many places throughout Asia to consider this matter and to examine the recent utterances, and they p.r.o.nounced them profane and rejected the heresy, and thus these persons were expelled from the Church and shut out from the communion.

(_b_) Apollonius, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 18. (MSG, 20:475.)

Apollonius was possibly bishop of Ephesus. His work against the Montanists, which appears to have been written about 197, was one of the princ.i.p.al sources for Eusebius in his account of the Montanists. Only fragments of his work have been preserved.

This is he who taught the dissolution of marriages; who laid down laws for fasting; who named Pepuza and Tymion (which were small cities in Phrygia) Jerusalem, desiring to gather people to them from everywhere; who appointed collectors of money; who devised the receiving of gifts under the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, so that by gluttony the teaching of his doctrine might prevail.

(_c_) Hippolytus, _Refut._, VIII, 19. (MSG, 16:3356.)

For Hippolytus, see 19, _c_.

But there are others who are themselves in nature more heretical than the Quartodecimans. These are Phrygians by birth and they have been deceived, having been overcome by certain women called Priscilla and Maximilla; and they hold these for prophetesses, saying that in them the Paraclete Spirit dwelt; and they likewise glorify one Monta.n.u.s before these women as a prophet. So, having endless books of these people, they go astray, and they neither judge their statements by reason nor pay attention to those who are able to judge. But they behave without judgment in the faith they place in them, saying they have learned something more through them than from the law and the prophets and the Gospels. But they glorify these women above the Apostles and every gift, so that some of them presume to say that there was something more in them than in Christ. These confess G.o.d the Father of the universe and creator of all things, like the Church, and all that the Gospel witnesses concerning Christ, but invent new fasts and feasts and meals of dry food and meals of radishes, saying that thus they were taught by their women. And some of them agree with the heresy of the Noetians and say that the Father is very Son, and that this One became subject to birth and suffering and death.

Chapter III. The Defence Against Heresy

The Church first met the various dangerous heresies which distracted it in the second century by councils or gatherings of bishops ( 26). Although it was not difficult to bring about a condemnation of novel and manifestly erroneous doctrine, there was need of fixed norms and definite authorities to which to appeal. This was found in the apostolic tradition, which could be more clearly determined by reference to the continuity of the apostolic office, or the episcopate, and especially to the succession of bishops in the churches founded by Apostles ( 27), the apostolic witness to the truth, or the more precise determination of what writings should be regarded as apostolic, or the canon of the New Testament ( 28); and the apostolic faith, which was regarded as summed up in the Apostles Creed ( 29). These norms of orthodoxy seem to have been generally established as authoritative somewhat earlier in the West than in the East. The result was that Gnosticism was rapidly expelled from the Church, though in some forms it lingered for centuries ( 30), and that the Church, becoming organized around the episcopate, a.s.sumed by degrees a rigid hierarchical const.i.tution ( 31).

26. The Beginnings of Councils as a Defence against Heresy

Ecclesiastical councils were the first defence against heresy. As the Church had not as yet attained its hierarchical const.i.tution and the autonomy of the local church still persisted, these councils had little more than the combined authority of the several members composing them.

They had, as yet, only moral force, and did not speak for the Church officially. With the development of the episcopal const.i.tution, the councils gained rapidly in authority.

Additional source material: See Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16 (given above, 25, _a_), V, 24; Tertullian, _De Jejun._, 13 (given below, 38).

(_a_) _Libellus Synodicus_, Man. I, 723.

For a discussion of the credibility of the _Libellus Synodicus_, a compilation of the ninth century, see Hefele, _History of the Councils_, 1.

A holy and provincial synod was held at Hierapolis in Asia by Apollinarius, the most holy bishop of that city, and twenty-six other bishops. In this synod Monta.n.u.s and Maximilla, the false prophets, and at the same time, Theodotus the tanner, were condemned and expelled. A holy and local synod was gathered under the most holy Bishop Sotas of Anchialus(51) and twelve other bishops, who condemned and rejected Theodotus the tanner and Monta.n.u.s together with Maximilla.