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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
pg. 3
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
pg. 4
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.
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