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 of Nyssa,
Gregory of Nazianzus, and condemned by the first Council of Constantinople
(381). Due to internal discord and the severity of the Theodosian Code the
sect soon disappeared from history. It was owing to some of the Latin
Fathers, in particular Jerome and Augustine, that the term "Macedonianism"
became the preferred designation for this heresy in the West.