Marcus, a native of Memphis in Egypt, came to Spain and taught Gnostic theories. Two of his followers, a Spanish woman named Agape and the rhetorician Helpidius, converted Priscillian,[1] who was a layman "of noble birth, of great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned through much reading, very ready at debate and discussion".[2] Through his oratorical gifts and reputation for extreme asceticism, Priscillian attracted a large following, including Helpidus and two bishops, Instantius and Salvianus.
They established a new sect as an oath-bound society, attracting the attention of the bishop Hyginus of Cordoba. Hyginus made his fears known to Hydatius, Bishop of Emerita, and Ithacius of Ossonoba. The bishops of Hispania and Aquitaine held a synod at Zaragoza in 380. Though summoned, the Priscillianists refused to appear. The synod pronounced sentence of excommunication against the four leaders, Instantius, Salvianus, Helpidius and Priscillian.[3]
Ithacius was chosen to enforce the synod's decrees, but he failed to bring the heretics to terms. In defiance Priscillian was ordained to the priesthood and appointed Bishop of Avila. Ithacius then appealed to the imperial authorities. The emperor Gratian issued a decree which deprived the Priscillianists of their churches and sentenced them to exile. Instantius, Salvianus and Priscillian proceeded to Rome to gain the aid of Pope Damasus I (also from Iberia) in having this sentence revoked. On their journey they were joined by many supporters from Gaul, including a large number of women mentioned in contemporary sources. Reports of improper behavior by their followers and benefactors – possibly fabricated – were circulated against them.[1]
Denied an audience by Pope Damasus, they went to Milan to make a similar request of St. Ambrose, but with the same result. They then resorted to intrigue and bribery at the Court with such success that they were not only freed from the sentence of exile, but permitted to regain possession of their churches in Hispania, where, under the patronage of the imperial officials, they enjoyed such power as to compel Ithacius to leave the country. He, in turn, appealed to Gratian, but before anything had been accomplished the emperor was murdered in Lyon, and Magnus Maximus had taken his place.[3]
Maximus treated the matter not as one of ecclesiastical rivalry, but as one of morality and society.[1] As he wished to curry favour with the orthodox bishops and to replenish his treasury through confiscations, the Emperor gave orders for a synod, which was held in Bordeaux in 384. Instantius was first tried and condemned to deposition. Priscillian appealed to the emperor at Trier. Ithacius acted as his accuser and was so vehement in his denunciations that St. Martin of Tours, who was then in Trier, intervened. After expressing his disapproval of bringing an ecclesiastical case before a civil tribunal, he obtained from the emperor a promise not to carry his condemnation to the extent of shedding blood.
After St Martin had left the city, the emperor appointed the prefect Evodius as judge. He found Priscillian and some others guilty of the crime of magic. This decision was reported to the emperor, who ordered the execution of Priscillian and several of his followers. The property of others was confiscated and they were banished. The conduct of Ithacius was severely criticized. St Martin, hearing what had taken place, returned to Trier and compelled the emperor to rescind an order to military tribunes, who were on their way to Iberia to extirpate the heresy. The Church did not invoke civil authority to punish heretics. The pope censured not only the actions of Ithacius but also that of the emperor. St Ambrose was equally stern in his denunciation of the case. Some of the Gallican bishops, who were in Trier under the leadership of Theognistus, broke off communion with Ithacius. He was subsequently deposed from his see by a synod of Hispanic bishops, and his friend and abettor Hydatius was compelled to resign.
After the executions of Priscillian and his followers by the emperor, however, the numbers and zeal of the heretics increased. In 400 another synod was held in Toledo to deal with this problem; many, including bishops Symphonius and Dictinnius, were reconciled to the Church through this synod. Dictinnius was the author of a book Libra (Scales), a moral treatise from the Priscillianist viewpoint. The upheaval in the Iberian Peninsula due to the invasion of the Vandals, the Alans and the Suevi aided the spread of Priscillianism. Paulus Orosius, a Gallaecian priest from northwest Hispania, wrote to St. Augustine (415 CE) to enlist his aid in combating the heresy. Pope Leo I at a later date took active steps for its repression and at his urgent insistence, councils were held in 446 and 447 at Astorga, Toledo and Braga. In spite of these efforts, the sect continued to spread during the fifth century. In the following century it began to decline. After the First Council of Braga (561), which specifically targeted its doctrines, it soon died out.
The Priscillianists taught a Gnostic doctrine of dualism, a belief in the existence of two kingdoms, one of Light and one of Darkness. Angels and the souls of men were said to be severed from the substance of the Deity. Human souls were intended to conquer the Kingdom of Darkness, but fell and were imprisoned in material bodies. Thus both kingdoms were represented in man. Their conflict was symbolized on the side of Light by the Twelve Patriarchs, heavenly spirits, who corresponded to certain of man's powers, and on the side of Darkness by the Signs of the Zodiac, the symbols of matter and the lower kingdom. The salvation of man consists in liberation from the domination of matter. The twelve heavenly spirits having failed to accomplish their release, the Saviour came in a heavenly body that appeared to be like that of other men. Through His doctrine and His apparent death, he released the souls of the men from the influence of earthly matter.
These doctrines could be harmonized with the teaching of Scripture only by a complex system of exegesis, rejecting conventional interpretations and relying on personal inspiration. The Priscillians respected most of the Old Testament but rejected the Creation story. They believed that several of the apocryphal Scriptures were genuine and inspired. Because the Priscillians believe that matter and nature were evil, they became ascetics and fasted on Sundays and Christmas Day. Because their doctrines were esoteric and exoteric, and because it was believed that men in general could not understand the higher paths, the Priscillianists, or at least those of them who were enlightened, were permitted to tell lies for the sake of a holy end. Augustine wrote a famous work, Contra Mendacium ("Against Lying"), in reaction to this doctrine.
Writings and rediscovery
Some writings by Priscillian were accounted Orthodox and were not burned. For instance, he divided the Pauline epistles (including the Epistle to the Hebrews) into a series of texts based on their theological points and wrote an introduction to each section. These "canons" survived in a form edited by Peregrinus.[4] They contain a strong call to a life of personal piety and asceticism, including celibacy and abstinence from meat and wine. The charismatic gifts of all believers are equally affirmed. Study of scripture is urged. Priscillian placed considerable weight on the deuterocanonical books of the Bible, not as being inspired but as helpful in discerning truth and error; however, several of the books were considered to be genuine and inspired.[3]
It was long thought that all the writings of Priscillian himself had perished, but in 1885, Georg Schepss discovered at the University of Würzburg eleven genuine tracts, published as Priscilliani quae supersunt. Edited by Georg Schepss. (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, 18.) Vienna, 1889. Though they bear Priscillian's name, four describing Priscillian's trial appear to have been written by a close follower.
According to Raymond Brown'sEpistle of John, the source of the Comma Johanneum appears to be the Latin book Liber Apologeticus by Priscillian.
Athanasius I of Alexandria, also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th pope of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Church Father, the chief proponent of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.
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.
Pope Damasus I, known as Damasus of Rome, was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies, thus solidifying the faith of the Catholic Church, and encouraged production of the Vulgate Bible with his support for Jerome. He helped reconcile the relations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Antioch, and encouraged the veneration of martyrs.
Pope Siricius was the bishop of Rome from December 384 to his death. In response to inquiries from Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Siricius issued the Directa decretal, containing decrees of baptism, church discipline and other matters. His are the oldest completely preserved papal decretals. He is sometimes said to have been the first bishop of Rome to call himself pope.
The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, confirmed the original Nicene Creed, and condemned the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who held that the Virgin Mary may be called the Christotokos, "Christ-bearer" but not the Theotokos, "God-bearer". It met in June and July 431 at the Church of Mary in Ephesus in Anatolia.
Priscillian was a wealthy nobleman of Roman Hispania who promoted a strict form of Christian asceticism. He became bishop of Ávila in 380. Certain practices of his followers were denounced at the Council of Zaragoza in 380. Tensions between Priscillian and bishops opposed to his views continued, as well as political maneuvering by both sides. Around 385, Priscillian was charged with sorcery and executed by authority of the Emperor Maximus. The ascetic movement Priscillianism is named after him, and continued in Hispania and Gaul until the late 6th century. Tractates by Priscillian and close followers, which were thought lost, were discovered in 1885 and published in 1889.
Pelagius was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accused of heresy at the synod of Jerusalem in 415 and his doctrines were harshly criticized by Augustine of Hippo, especially the Pelagian views about mankind's good nature and individual responsibility for choosing asceticism. Pelagius especially stressed the freedom of human will. Very little is known about the personal life and career of Pelagius.
Hydatius, also spelled Idacius was a late Western Roman writer and clergyman. The bishop of Aquae Flaviae in the Roman province of Gallaecia, he was the author of a chronicle of his own times that provides us with our best evidence for the history of Hispania in the 5th century.
Dioscorus I, also known as Dioscorus the Great, was the pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark who was deposed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. He was recognized as patriarch by the Coptic Church until his death. He died in Gangra, Paphlagonia, in September 454. He is venerated as a saint by the Coptic and other Oriental Orthodox Churches.
This is a historical timeline of the Iberian Peninsula during the period of the post-Imperial kingdoms.
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
Gaul was an important early center of Latin Christianity during late antiquity and the Merovingian period. By the middle of the 3rd century, there were several churches organized in Roman Gaul, and soon after the cessation of persecution, the bishops of the Latin world assembled at Arles in AD 314. The Church of Gaul passed through three crises in the late Roman period, Arianism, Priscillianism and Pelagianism. Under Merovingian rule, a number of "Frankish synods" were held, marking a particularly Germanic development in the Western Church. A model for the following Frankish synods was set by Clovis I, who organized the First Council of Orléans (511).
The Edict of Thessalonica, issued on 27 February AD 380 by Theodosius I, made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. It condemned other Christian creeds such as Arianism as heresies of "foolish madmen," and authorized their punishment.
Christianity in late antiquity traces Christianity during the Christian Roman Empire — the period from the rise of Christianity under Emperor Constantine, until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The end-date of this period varies because the transition to the sub-Roman period occurred gradually and at different times in different areas. One may generally date late ancient Christianity as lasting to the late 6th century and the re-conquests under Justinian of the Byzantine Empire, though a more traditional end-date is 476, the year in which Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus, traditionally considered the last western emperor.
Traditionally in Christianity, orthodoxy and heresy have been viewed in relation to the "orthodoxy" as an authentic lineage of tradition. Other forms of Christianity were viewed as deviant streams of thought and therefore "heterodox", or heretical. This view was challenged by the publication of Walter Bauer's Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum in 1934. Bauer endeavored to rethink Early Christianity historically, independent from the views of the current church. He stated that the 2nd-century church was very diverse and included many "heretical" groups that had an equal claim to apostolic tradition. Bauer interpreted the struggle between the orthodox and heterodox to be the "mainstream" Church of Rome struggling to attain dominance. He presented Edessa and Egypt as places where the "orthodoxy" of Rome had little influence during the 2nd century. As he saw it, the theological thought of the "Orient" at the time would later be labeled "heresy". The response by modern scholars has been mixed. Some scholars clearly support Bauer's conclusions and others express concerns about his "attacking [of] orthodox sources with inquisitional zeal and exploiting to a nearly absurd extent the argument from silence." However, modern scholars have critiqued and updated Bauer's model.
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries, flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries, when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire.
Felix of Trier was bishop of Trier from around 386 to 398.
Britto of Trier was bishop of Trier.
The Council of Toledo of 447 was the second Council of Toledo. It was a national council held against the Priscillianists, as called for by Pope Leo I. Nineteen bishops participated in the council, which condemned the heresy and the followers of Priscillian and affirmed the earlier First Council of Toledo, on which its Creed is based. It gave a profession of faith against all heretics with 18 anathemas attached against the doctrines of Priscillian. The council is notable for its successful subduing of Priscillianism, expressing a definition of dyophysitism before the Council of Chalcedon, its affirmation of the First Council of Toledo, and being the first known western council to include the "filioque" in its creed, following in the doctrine from Pope Leo I.
References
McKenna, Stephen, "Priscillianism and Pagan Survivals in Spain", in Paganism and Pagan Survivals in Spain up to the Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom
Henry Chadwick's landmark book Priscillian of Avila: The Occult and the Charismatic in the Early Church, (Oxford University Press, 1975)
"Liber Apologeticus" .
Fletcher, Richard A., St. James' Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmirez, Chapter 1 and passim: *Galicia, online at a historical and geographical background to the building of the cathedral in Compostela
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