Manichaeism
Manichaeism A heresy instituted in the 3rd century by a Persian dreamer variously named Mani, Manes, Manichaeus, who visioned himself a legate from God to introduce a religious and moral reformation. In the 4th and 5th centuries this heresy took a westward course and became dangerous to Christianity, finding a home especially in Proconsular Africa, […]
Macedonianism
So named from Macedonius, an Arian Bishop of Constantinople (342), whose followers denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. The Macedonians are usually identified with the Pneumatomachi, or Combators of the Holy Spirit. Unlike their founder the majority of the Macedonians admitted the consubstantiality of the Son. The heresy was combated by Athanasius, Basil, Gregory […]
Lollards
(Middle Dutch, Lollaerd, mumbler) The followers of John Wyclif, an heretical body flourishing in England in the 14th and 15th centuries, applied, however, in Flanders to certain heretics before it was used in England. The principal heresies of the Lollards were the denial of the authority of the Church, the repudiation of Transubstantiation, and the theory […]
Iconoclasm
(Greek: eikon, image, and klaein, to break) A heresy that disturbed the peace of the Eastern Church in the 8th and 9th centuries. It rejected both the use and the veneration of images. The first storm against images was raised by an Emperor, Leo the Isaurian, 726, and brought to an end by the Seventh General Council, […]
Hussites
A religious sect which arose in Southern Bohemia in the early 15th century; the followers of Hus; also known as Wycliffites, as they professed the teaching of Wyclif and as Utraquists, as their distinctive dogma was Utraquism, i.e., the necessity of receiving Communion under both species. The followers of Hus, venerating him as a holy martyr of […]
Ebionites
(possibly Aramean, ebionia, poor men) Term used to designate two early Christian sects infected with Judaistic and Gnostic errors. (1) Judaistic Ebionites upheld the observance of the Jewish Law; denied the Divinity and virgin birth of Christ; considered Saint Paul an apostate; and used only a Gospel according to Saint Matthew. (2) Ebionite Gnostics taught that matter is external, and […]
Dositheans
Followers of Dositheus, a Samaritan who formed a Gnostic-Judaistic sect, previous to Simon Magus. Although the name of Dositheus is often coupled with that of Simon Magus as the first of all heretics, we possess but scant information concerning him. He is not mentioned in Justin or Irenæus, but first occurs in Pseudo-Tertullian’s “Adv. Hær.”, a Latin […]
Donatists
A heretical and schismatical sect (311-411) who claimed that the validity of the sacraments depended on the moral character of the minister, and that sinners could not be members of the Church, and could not be tolerated by a true Church unless their sins were secret. The sect came into existence in Africa during the […]
Docetism
Docetism was an error with several variations concerning the nature of Christ. Generally, it taught that Jesus only appeared to have a body, that he was not really incarnate, (Greek, “dokeo” = “to seem”). This error developed out of the dualistic philosophy which viewed matter as inherently evil, that God could not be associated with […]
Docetae
(Greek: dokesis, semblance, appearance) A group of heretics who date back to Apostolic times. Their teaching, that Christ only “seemed” to be a man, to have been born, to have lived and suffered, sought to destroy the meaning and purpose of the doctrine of the Incarnation. Docetism, so far as is known, was always an accompaniment […]