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Early Church “Heresies”

Gnosticism

(from gnostikos, "learned", from Ancient Greek: γνῶσις gnōsis, knowledge) describes

a collection of ancient religions that taught that people should shun the material

world created by the demiurge and embrace the spiritual world. Gnostic ideas

influenced many ancient religions that teach that gnosis (variously interpreted as

knowledge, enlightenment, salvation, emancipation or 'oneness with God') may be

reached by practicing philanthropy to the point of personal poverty, sexual

abstinence (as far as possible for hearers, completely for initiates) and diligently

searching for wisdom by helping others. However, practices varied among those who

were Gnostic.

Marcionism

Marcion believed Jesus Christ was the saviour sent by God, and Paul of Tarsus was

his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and the God of Israel. Marcionists

believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-

forgiving God of the New Testament. This belief was in some ways similar to Gnostic

Christian theology; notably, both are dualistic, that is, they posit opposing gods,

forces, or principles: one higher, spiritual, and "good", and the other lower, material,

and "evil", in contrast to the orthodox Christian view that "evil" has no independent

existence, but is a privation or lack of "good", a view shared by the Jewish

theologian Moses Maimonides.

Marcionism, similar to Gnosticism, depicted the God of the Old Testament as a tyrant

or demiurge. Marcion was labeled a gnostic by Philip Schaff, while other scholars

have rejected that categorization. Marcion's canon consisted of eleven books: A

gospel consisting of ten sections from the Gospel of Luke edited by Marcion; and ten

of Paul's epistles. All other epistles and gospels of the 27 book New Testament

canon were rejected.[5] Paul's epistles enjoy a prominent position in the Marcionite

canon, since Paul is credited with correctly transmitting the universality of Jesus'

message. Other authors' epistles were rejected since they seemed to suggest that Jesus

had simply come to found a new sect within broader Judaism. Religious tribalism of

this sort seemed to echo Yahwism, and was thus regarded as a corruption of the

"Heavenly Father"'s teaching.

Marcionism was denounced by its opponents as heresy, and written against, notably

by Tertullian, in a five-book treatise Adversus Marcionem, written about 208.

Marcion's writings are lost, though they were widely read and numerous manuscripts

must have existed. Even so, many scholars (including Henry Wace) claim it is

possible to reconstruct and deduce a large part of ancient Marcionism through what

later critics, especially Tertullian, said concerning Marcion.

Montanism

Montanism was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to

by the name of its founder, Montanus, but originally known by its adherents as the

New Prophecy. It originated in Phrygia, a province of Asia Minor, and flourished

throughout the region, leading to the movement being referred to elsewhere as

"Cataphrygian" (meaning it was "from Phrygia") or simply as "Phrygian". It spread

rapidly to other regions in the Roman Empire at a time before Christianity was

generally tolerated or legal. It persisted in some isolated places into the 6th century.

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Although it came to be labelled a heresy, the movement held similar views about the

basic tenets of Christian doctrine to those of the wider Christian Church. It was a

prophetic movement that called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and

a more conservative personal ethic. Parallels have been drawn between Montanism

and modern-day movements such as Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement, and

the New Apostolic Reformation.

Because much of what is known about Montanism comes from anti-Montanist

sources, it is difficult to know what they actually believed and how those beliefs

differed from the Christian mainstream of the time. One source reports that

Montanists claimed their revelation direct from the Holy Spirit could supersede the

authority of Jesus or Paul or anyone else. The New Prophecy was also a diverse

movement, and what Montanists believed varied by location and time. Montanism

was particularly influenced by Johannine literature, especially the Gospel of Johnand

the Apocalypse of John (also known as the Book of Revelation). In John's Gospel,

Jesus promised to send the Paraclete or Holy Spirit, from which Montanists believed

their prophets derived inspiration. In the Apocalypse, John was taken by an angel to

the top of a mountain where he sees the New Jerusalem descend to earth. Montanus

identified this mountain as being located in Phrygia near Pepuza. Followers of the

New Prophecy called themselves spiritales ("spiritual people") in contrast to their

opponents whom they termed psychici ("carnal, natural people").

Arianism

Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius (ca. AD 250–336), a

Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of God the

Father to the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Arius asserted that the Son of God was a

subordinate entity to God the Father. Deemed a heretic by the Ecumenical First

Council of Nicaea of 325, Arius was later exonerated in 335 at the regional First

Synod of Tyre, and then, after his death, pronounced a heretic again at the

Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381. The Roman

Emperors Constantius II (337–361) and Valens(364–378) were Arians or Semi-

Arians.

The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was

created by—and is therefore distinct from—God the Father. This belief is grounded

in the Gospel of John (14:28) passage: "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I

am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the

Father, for the Father is greater than I."

Appolinarianism

Apollinarism or Apollinarianism was a view proposed by Apollinaris of

Laodicea (died 390) that Jesus could not have had a human mind; rather, that Jesus

had a human body and lower soul (the seat of the emotions) but a divine mind.

The Trinity had been recognized at the Council of Nicea in 325, but debate about

exactly what it meant continued. A rival to the more common belief that Jesus Christ

had two natures was monophysitism ("one nature"), the doctrine that Christ had only

one nature. Apollinarism and Eutychianism were two forms of monophysitism.

Apollinaris' rejection that Christ had a human mind was considered an over-reaction

to Arianism and its teaching that Christ was not divine.[1]

Theodoret charged Apollinaris with confounding the persons of the Godhead, and

with giving in to the heretical ways of Sabellius. Basil of Caesarea accused him of

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abandoning the literal sense of the scripture, and taking up wholly with the allegorical

sense. His views were condemned in a Synod at Alexandria, under Athanasius of

Alexandria, in 362, and later subdivided into several different heresies, the main ones

of which were the Polemians and the Antidicomarianites.

It was declared to be a heresy in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople, since

Christ was officially depicted as fully human and fully God. Followers of

Apollinarianism were accused of attempting to create a tertium quid ("third thing,"

neither God nor man).

Apollinaris further taught, following Tertullian, that the souls of men were propagated

by other souls, as well as their bodies.

Pelagionism

Pelagianism is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that

mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special Divine aid. This

theological theory is named after Pelagius (354 420 or 440), although he denied, at

least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name.

The teachings of Pelagius are generally associated with the rejection of original

sin and the practise of infant baptism.

Nestorianism

Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of

Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius'

studies under Theodore of Mopsuestiaat the School of Antioch, emphasizes the

disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius' teachings

brought him into conflict with some other prominent church leaders, most notably Cyril

of Alexandria, who criticized especially his rejection of the title Theotokos ("Bringer

forth of God") for the Virgin Mary. Nestorius and his teachings were eventually

condemned as heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of

Chalcedon in 451, leading to the Nestorian Schism in which churches supporting

Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church. Afterward many of Nestorius'

supporters relocated to Sassanid Persia, where they affiliated with the local Christian

community, known as the Church of the East. Over the next decades the Church of

the East became increasingly Nestorian in doctrine, leading it to be known alternately

as the Nestorian Church.

Nestorianism is a form of dyophysitism, and can be seen as the antithesis

to monophysitism, which emerged in reaction to Nestorianism. Where Nestorianism

holds that Christ had two loosely-united natures, divine and human, monophysitism

holds that he had but a single nature, his human nature being absorbed into his

divinity. A brief definition of Nestorian Christology can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who

is not identical with the Son but personally united with the Son, who lives in him, is

one hypostasis and one nature: human."[1] Both Nestorianism and monophysitism

were condemned as heretical at the Council of Chalcedon. Monophysitism survived

and developed into the Miaphysitism of the modern Oriental Orthodox churches.

Following the exodus to Persia, scholars expanded on the teachings of Nestorius and

his mentors, particularly after the relocation of the School of Edessa to the Persian

city of Nisibis in 489 (where it became known as the School of Nisibis). Nestorianism

never again became prominent in the Roman Empire or later Europe, though the

diffusion of the Church of the East in and after the 7th century spread it widely

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across Asia. But not all churches affiliated with the Church of the East appear to have

followed Nestorian Christology; indeed, the modern Assyrian Church of the East,

which reveres Nestorius, does not follow all historically Nestorian doctrine.

Monophysitism

Monophysitism (/məˈnɒfɨsaɪtɨzəm/ or /məˈnɒfɨsɪtɨzəm/; Greek: monos meaning "only,

single" and physis meaning "nature"), is the Christological position that, after the

union of the divine and the human in the historical Incarnation, Jesus Christ, as the

incarnation of the eternal Son or Word (Logos) of God, had only a single "nature"

which was either divine or a synthesis of divine and human. Monophysitism is

contrasted to dyophysitism (or dia-, dio-, or duophysitism) which maintains that Christ

maintained two natures, one divine and one human, after the Incarnation.

Historically, Monophysitism (usually capitalized in this sense) refers primarily to the

position of those (especially in Egypt and to a lesser extent Syria) who rejected

the Council of Chalcedon in 451 (the Fourth Ecumenical Council). The moderate

members of this group, however, maintained a "Miaphysite" theology that became

that of the Oriental Orthodox churches. Many Oriental Orthodox reject the label

"Monophysite" even as a generic term, but it is extensively used in the historical

literature.

After the Council of Chalcedon, the Monophysite controversy (together with

institutional, political, and growing nationalistic factors) led to a lasting schism

between the Oriental Orthodox churches, on the one hand, and the Western and the

Eastern Orthodox churches on the other. The Christological conflict among

monophysitism, dyophysitism, and their subtle combinations and derivatives lasted

from the third through the eighth centuries and left its mark on all but the first two

Ecumenical Councils. The vast majority of Christians nowadays belong to the so-

called "Chalcedonian" churches. i.e. the Roman Catholic, Maronite, Eastern

Orthodox, and traditional Protestant churches (those that accept at least the first

four Ecumenical Councils); these churches have always considered monophysitism

to be heretical.

In the light of modern historical research and ecumenical discussions, the miaphysite

and Chalcedonian positions appear to differ mainly in their usage of the key term

"nature" (Greek: φύσις, phýsis, as used in the original texts of the relevant Ecumenical

Councils) rather than in the underlying Christology, but other smaller differences of

interpretation or emphasis may also exist. Intercommunion between the Oriental

Orthodox and various Chalcedonian churches has not yet been reestablished.