Montanism, also called Cataphrygian heresy, or New Prophecy, a heretical movement founded by the prophet Montanus that arose in the Christian church in Phrygia, Asia Minor, in the 2nd century. Subsequently it flourished in the West, principally in Carthage under the leadership of Tertullian in the 3rd century. It had almost died out in the 5th and 6th centuries, although some evidence indicates that it survived into the 9th century.
Male names: Gordias, Tartarus, Pelops (Philip), Midas, Montanus, Mygdon, Otreus, Herodotus, Lityerses, Anchurus, Agamemnon, Strabo, Eusebius, Pepuza, Quadratus, Ammia, Eleuterus, Apollinarius, Praxeas, Thraseas, Aretaon, Asius, Dymas, Priam, Croesus
Female Names: Damodice, Prisca, Priscilla, Maximilla, Cassandra, Hecabem Sibele, Quintilla
Dynasty Names: Phrygia, Gordian, Pepuza, Bruges, Trouan, Bagotios, Bagosyble
- In On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Tertullian wrote that the Holy Spirit through the New Prophecy cleared up the ambiguities of scripture.[48][49] The new prophecies did not contain new doctrinal content, but mandated strict ethical standards.[50] To the mainstream Christian Church, Montanists appeared to believe that the new prophecies superseded and fulfilled the doctrines proclaimed by the Apostles.[7]
- The Montanists were alleged to have believed in the power of apostles and prophets to forgive sins.[51] Adherents also believed that martyrs and confessors also possessed this power. The mainstream Church believed that God forgave sins through bishops and presbyters (and those martyrs recognized by legitimate ecclesiastical authority).
- Montanists recognized women as bishops and presbyters.
- Women and girls were forbidden to wear ornaments, and virgins were required to wear veils.
- It is alleged that some Montanists were nontrinitarian.
- An emphasis on ethical rigorism and asceticism. These included prohibitions against remarriage following divorce or the death of a spouse. They also emphasized keeping fasts strictly and added new fasts.
- Montanus provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, which orthodox writers claimed was promoting gluttony.
- 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. Mainstream Christians held that Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following 14 Nisan.
- However, uniformity in this matter had not yet been fully achieved when the Montanist movement began; Polycarp, for example, was a quartodeciman, and St. Irenaeus convinced Victor, then Bishop of Rome, to refrain from making the issue of the date of Easter a divisive one. Later, the Catholic Church established a fixed way of calculating Easter according to the Julian (and later the Gregorian) calendar.
Male names: Gordias, Tartarus, Pelops (Philip), Midas, Montanus, Mygdon, Otreus, Herodotus, Lityerses, Anchurus, Agamemnon, Strabo, Eusebius, Pepuza, Quadratus, Ammia, Eleuterus, Apollinarius, Praxeas, Thraseas, Aretaon, Asius, Dymas, Priam, Croesus
Female Names: Damodice, Prisca, Priscilla, Maximilla, Cassandra, Hecabem Sibele, Quintilla
Dynasty Names: Phrygia, Gordian, Pepuza, Bruges, Trouan, Bagotios, Bagosyble
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