Priscillianism
Priscillianism was a
History
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
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
Denied an audience by Pope Damasus, they went to Milan to make a similar request of
Maximus treated the matter not as one of ecclesiastical rivalry, but as one of morality and society.
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
Teaching
The Priscillianists taught a Gnostic doctrine of
These doctrines could be harmonized with the teaching of Scripture only by a complex system of
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
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
See also
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" [1].
- Fletcher, Richard A., St. James' Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmirez, Chapter 1 and passim: *Galicia, online at [2] a historical and geographical background to the building of the cathedral in Compostela
- Burras, Virginia, The Making of a Heretic, (University of California Press, 1995)
Notes
- ^ a b c Wace, Henry. "Priscillianus and Priscillianism, Priscillian". A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography, John Murray, London, 1911
- ^ Sulpicius Severus, Historia Sacra, II, 46
- ^ a b c Healy, Patrick. "Priscillianism." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 26 Oct. 2014
- ^ "Peregrinus". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 April 2018.