The Marcianists were a sect of Messalians founded by Marcian of Pontus in the sixth century. They were regarded as heretics by Chalcedonian Christians. [1]
Sophronius of Jerusalem, in his Synodical Letter, names their leader as Lampetius, a follower of Marcian. He is described as having a sect of his own, the Lampetianoi, by Timothy of Constantinople and Maximus the Confessor. [1] Timothy, writing probably towards 600, classifies the Messalians, Euchites, Enthusiasts, Choreuts, Adelphians and Eustathians as Marcianist sects. He says that Marcian was a moneychanger during the reigns of Justinian I (527–565) and Justin II (565–574). He does not name any contemporary event in connection with the Marcianists, possibly because the sect was extinct by his time. [2] Timothy's description of Marcianism shows that they rejected charity and believes that misfortune reflected a lack of the Holy Spirit:
They say neither to give alms to the beggar, nor to the widow, nor to the orphan, nor to those in difficult circumstances, nor to those afflicted with leprosy, nor to those who have encountered thieves, barbarian invasion or any other misfortune. Rather they should keep it all for themselves because those other (unfortunates) are really poor in the spirit. [3]
The name at least still existed as an accusation. In the 590s, John of Chalcedon and Athanasius of Isauria condemned for Marcianism fled from Constantinople to Rome to appeal their cases to Pope Gregory the Great. It is clear from Gregory's letters that the heresy of Marcianism was unknown in Rome. Gregory absolved John of heresy in 595 and Athanasius in 596, although had to first denounce a book in his possession containing Manichaean errors. [2] [4] The emperor Maurice was accused by a Constantinopolitan mob of being a Marcianist in 602, a fact recorded by both Theophylact Simocatta and Theophanes the Confessor. This accusation may have referred to the emperor's refusal to ransom captives from the war with the Avars in 598–599. [3]
The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, except for the Western Church, confirmed the Nicene Creed, expanding the doctrine thereof to produce the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and dealt with sundry other matters. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon.
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Semi-Arianism was a position regarding the relationship between God the Father and the Son of God, adopted by some 4th-century Christians. Though the doctrine modified the teachings of Arianism, it still rejected the doctrine that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, and of the same substance, or consubstantial, and was therefore considered to be heretical by many contemporary Christians.
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The Pneumatomachi, also known as Macedonians or Semi-Arians in Constantinople and the Tropici in Alexandria, were an anti-Nicene Creed sect which flourished in the regions adjacent to the Hellespont during the latter half of the fourth, and the beginning of the fifth centuries. They denied the godhood of the Holy Ghost, hence the Greek name Pneumatomachi or 'Combators against the Spirit'.
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
The Lateran Council of 649 was a synod held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran to condemn Monothelitism, a Christology espoused by many Eastern Christians, and Pope Honorius. The Council did not achieve ecumenical status in either East or West, but represented the first attempt of a pope to convene an ecumenical council independent of the Roman emperor.
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Timothy of Constantinople was a Chalcedonian Christian heresiologist and presbyter of the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. He wrote a treatise in Greek on Christian heresies from a Chalcedonian perspective, On Those Who Enter the Church, or On the Reception of Heretics. This pastoral work is best described as "a handbook on the procedure for admitting heretics to the church".