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And now let us discuss a few heresies of yore

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posted on Apr, 2 2010 @ 03:27 PM
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Today I will steer free of the more well-known gnostics and look at few lesser-recognized movements from late antiquity and the early medieval.

1. Montanism


Montanism was an early Christian movement of the early 2nd century, named after its founder Montanus....Although orthodox Nicene Christianity prevailed against Montanism within a few generations, labeling it a heresy, the sect persisted in some isolated places into the 8th century.

The beliefs of Montanism contrasted with Orthodox Christianity in the following ways:

The belief that the prophecies of the Montanists superseded and fulfilled the doctrines proclaimed by the Apostles.

The encouragement of ecstatic prophesying, contrasting with the more sober and disciplined approach to theology dominant in Orthodox Christianity at the time and since.

The view that Christians who fell from grace could not be redeemed, also in contrast to the orthodox Christian view that contrition could lead to a sinner's restoration to the church.

A stronger emphasis on the avoidance of sin and church discipline than in Orthodox Christianity. They emphasized chastity, including forbidding remarriage, and even the dissolution of some marriages, in particular, their prophetesses abandoned their husbands.

Some of the Montanists were also "Quartodeciman" ("fourteeners"), preferring to celebrate Easter on the Hebrew calendar date of 14 Nisan, regardless of what day of the week it landed on. Orthodox Christians held that Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following 14 Nisan.

Montanus provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, which orthodox Christianity forbids.

Their prophets dyed their hair, stained their eyelids, and were allowed to play with tables and dice and lend on usury.


More at:
en.wikipedia.org...

2. Marcionism


Marcionism is an Early Christian dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144. Marcion believed Jesus Christ was the savior sent by God and Paul of Tarsus was his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and Yahweh. Marcionists believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament.


More at:
en.wikipedia.org...

3. Priscillianism


The foundation of the doctrines of the Priscillianists was Gnostic-Manichaean 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, and hence a conflict 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 which appeared to be like that of other men, and through His doctrine and His apparent death 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. Several of the apocryphal Scriptures were acknowledged to be 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 his famous work, "De mendacio" ("Of lies") in reaction to this doctrine.


More at:
en.wikipedia.org...

4. Simonianism


The Simonians were variously accused of using magic and theurgy, incantations and love-potions; declaring idolatry a matter of indifference that was neither good nor bad, proclaiming all sex to be perfect love, and altogether leading very disorderly, immoral lives. Eusebius[12] calls the Simonians the most immoral and depraved of mankind. In general, they were said to regard nothing in itself as good or bad by nature: it was not good works that made men blessed, in the next world, but the grace bestowed by Simon and Helena on those who followed them.

More at:
en.wikipedia.org...



[edit on 4/2/10 by silent thunder]



posted on Apr, 2 2010 @ 03:39 PM
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Originally posted by silent thunder



Marcionism is an Early Christian dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144. Marcion believed Jesus Christ was the savior sent by God and Paul of Tarsus was his chief apostle, but he rejected the Hebrew Bible and Yahweh. Marcionists believed that the wrathful Hebrew God was a separate and lower entity than the all-forgiving God of the New Testament.



I've often thought that many modern Christians come close to being unconscious Marcionites. The neglect of the OT and the dismissal of its "wrathful" God is not unknown today.



posted on Apr, 2 2010 @ 04:06 PM
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I would like to add to this.

Catharism

en.wikipedia.org...

"The Catholic Church regarded the sect as dangerously heretical. Faced with the rapid spread of the movement across the Languedoc region, the Church first sought peaceful attempts at conversion, undertaken by Dominicans. These were not very successful, and after the murder on 15 January 1208 of the papal legate Pierre de Castelnau by a knight in the employ of Count Raymond of Toulouse, the Church called for a crusade, which was carried out by knights from northern France and Germany and was known as the Albigensian Crusade. "

This is a particular sect I have been interested in for quite some time.

Extremely crazy histories all of this adds up to. Human society is nuts.


[edit on 2-4-2010 by muzzleflash]



posted on Apr, 2 2010 @ 04:29 PM
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A lot of casual christians who I talk to seem to assert Marcionism basically. Different dude, they say.



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