Heresy of the Week: Ophitism

This week's heresy is the "parent" heresy to last week's heresy.

Ophitism (also known as Ophianism) was a 2nd century Gnosticism sect. From what little survives about their sect today, they regarded the serpent from the Garden of Eden as heroic, superior and preferable to Christ, and that the God of the Old Testament is the enemy. They also believed in the Monophysitism teaching that Christ did not exist in the flesh. They believed that Christ was an imitator of Moses’ serpent’s power. Like other Gnosticism-family sects, they believed in multiple heavens and that the Creator God was to be despised. They believed the ultimate Father was Bythos (meaning “Depth”) and from him came the Father of All (or First Man), Ennoia, the Son of Man (or Second Man) and the Holy Spirit (or First Woman). From the Spirit came water, darkness, the abyss and chaos. Both the First and Second Men became so enamored with the beauty of the Holy Spirit, the three generated a third man, Christ, the Incorruptible Light. The myth goes on to tell of the creation of the evil material world. More than any other Gnostic sect, it appears that Ophitism most closely follows the Bible in their story of creation, the fall and redemption.

Heresy of the Week: Monothelitism

Last week of the "mono" heresies--the final attempt at "compromise" that was, too, ultimately condemned as heretical.

Monothelitism was a 7^th century heresy originally conceptualized to be an olive branch to believers of Monophysitism.  There were two reiterations of this; the doctrine of one energy (Monoenergism) and the doctrine of one will (Monothelitism).  Ultimately, Monoenergism, Monophysitism and Monothelitism were condemned as heretical at the 680 Third Council of Constantinople.

Heresy of the Week: Monoenergism

Part two of this three week heresy series is the first attempt at "compromise" between the heresy of Monophysitism and orthodox Christianity.  We all know how well appeasement works, right?

Monoenergism is a 7^th century “compromise” heresy suggested to help heal the divide between Christians and Monophysitism.  The orthodox teaching is that Christ has two individual natures; Monophysitism teaches that there was only one nature in Christ, either divine or a synthesis of divine and human; Monoenergism attempted to bridge the gap through the vague term “energy”, saying that Christ had one “energy”.  Another attempt to solve this schism was through the introduction of Monothelitism, which also didn’t work, and was condemned along with Monoenergism and Monophysitism at the 680 Third Council of Constantinople.

Heresy of the Week: Monophysitism

This heresy begins a three week series on related heresy.  First up: one of the larger "ancient" heresies.

Monophysitism teaches that after the union of divine and human in the incarnation that there was only one nature in Christ—either divine (generally emphasized) or a synthesis of divine and human (as taught in Miaphysitism). This came into being after some rejected the 451 Council of Chalcedon, where Christ’s two natures were formally codified by the church. Members of the Oriental Orthodoxy Church, who believe in Miaphysitism, split from the main church over this distinction after the Council’s affirmation of two natures. Apollinarianism and Eutychianism are two major Monophystite heresies (although Apollinarianism predates Monophysitism), and Monophysitism is considered an overreaction in response to Nestorianism and their teaching that Christ was two separate people (the man and the divine), but really it is almost a better juxtaposition with Arianism’s denial of Christ’s divinity. It was condemned at the 680 Third Council of Constantinople, along with the two “compromised” composed as a “middle ground” to Monophysitism: Monoenergism and Monothelitism.

Heresy of the Week: Elcesaitism

Some heresies are very distinct.  Others borrow from all different branches of heresy and muddle them together.  This weeks heresy is one of the latter.

Elcesaitism (also known as Elchasaitism, Elkasitism, or Elkesaitism—the spelling depends upon who you are reading) was an early church Jewish-Christian heresy closely related to Ebionitism. From the little that was written about Elcesaites that survived, it appears they, too, believed in a Monophysitism-style angelology, claiming that the Son of God was a giant angel and His sister was the Holy Ghost, another giant angel. They believe, in a somewhat Gnosticism twist, that they had a special Gospel that fell out of the sky just for them and they reject many portions of the Bible, particularly the writings of the Apostles. There have also been connections made between this sect and Mandaeism.

Heresy of the Week: Apollinarianism

This week's heresy is one of the most detailed of which we still have surviving documentation.

Apollinarianism (also known as Apollinarism) is a 4th century heresy that teaches Jesus could not have had a human mind, but rather that Jesus had a human body and “lower soul” (the seat of emotions), but a Divine mind. Apollinaris, for whom this heresy is named, taught that the two natures simply couldn’t coexist, and so the “lesser form” (His human nature) gave way to the “greater form” (His Divine nature). This, along with Eutychianism, is a form of Monophysitism, which errantly teaches Christ only had one nature. Some at the time considered this an overreaction in response to Arianism, whose teachings were that Christ was simply not divine in nature. Polemianism and Antidicomarianism are considered to be “sub-Apollinarianism” heresies. At the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the followers of this heresy were accused of attempting to create a “tertium quid” (a “third thing” that is neither God nor Man). Apollinaris also taught in the same vein as Tertullian that the souls of men were propagated by other souls as well as their bodies (also known as Traducianism).

Heresy of the week: Cerdonianism

Next week's heresy will be "part two": Marcionism.  They are closely related enough I wanted to do them in a series, but distinct enough to not put them in the same post.

Cerdonianism is a Gnosticism sect founded by Cerdo in the 2nd century. Cerdo was the teacher of Marcion, who founded Marcionism. Very little is known about this sect, other than they held fairly typical Gnosticism beliefs—two “causes”, one perfectly good and one perfectly evil. The evil “cause” created the world and was the Old Testament Jewish God. Christ is the Son of the good “cause”, and He was sent here to oppose evil, but they deny his humanity (Monophysitism). As the body and all material things are evil, they were strict Asceticism followers and had a very severe moral system which must be closely followed for “salvation” (Legalism and Pelagianism).

Heresies of the Week: Ebionitism and Psilanthropism

A continuation of Adoptionism-related heresies...

Ebionitism (coming from a word meaning “the poor” in Hebrew) refers to a Jewish Christian heretical sect of the early church. They regard Jesus as the Messiah and insist that it is still necessary to follow all Jewish laws, traditions and rites (a Legalism heresy). They rejected the writings of Paul as “apostate”. As suggested by their name, they put a high premium on voluntary poverty. Some scholars differentiate Ebionites from groups such as the Nazarenes or Messianic Jews, other considered them the same. Ebionites believe in a Monophysitism-style angelology, claiming that Christ is a great archangel who was incarnated in Jesus and then adopted as the Son of God (quasi-Adoptionism and Psilanthropism). 

Psilanthropism is sometimes used to describe Ebionitism, and is considered part of the Adoptionism family of heresies. It teaches that Jesus is “merely human” and is the literal son of two human parents (coming from the Greek for “plain human” or “mere human”). Modern iterations of this heresy include the Unitarian Church (Unitarianism) and the Unification Church.

Heresy of the Week: Nestorianism

Like many other heresies, this week's heresy attempts to use human reason to understand the divine.  That which seems illogical to us would very likely make more sense if we had a grasp of infinite knowledge, but since we don't, many like to try and understand that which we simply can't--and that need to "know" often leads to the creation of heresies. 

Nestorianism is a 5th century heresy that states there is no union or intermixing or touching of the two natures of Christ. This was declared a heresy at both the 431 First Council of Ephesus and the 451 Council of Chalcedon. Some individual churches broke off after this to form the Church of the East (not the same as the Eastern Orthodox Church, also known as the Assyrian Church). Nestorianism is seen as the antithesis of Monophysitism. Nestorianism teaches that Jesus and the Christ are two separate beings, loosely united in one nature: human. This was a heretical rational attempt to explain and understand the incarnation of the Divine into humanity. He also challenged the title of “Theotokos” (“bringer forth of God”) for the Virgin Mary, saying such a title denies Jesus’ full humanity. His suggested replacement was “Christotokos” (“bringer forth of Christ”). Nestorian opponents viewed this as an Adoptionism-like heresy. Nestorianism survived well into the 14th century.

Heresy of the Week: Bardaisanitism

Sorry for the delay this week--the life of motherhood...

This week's heresy is considered to be a basis for two of the most well-known Gnostic sects--Valentinianism and Manichaeism.

Bardaisanitism (also known as Bardesanitism) is a 2nd and 3rd century Gnosticism heresy. They believed that the good God gave man absolute free will to work out his own Salvation through gnosis, and who allowed the world to be good and evil, light and dark. Even inanimate objects were considered to have a measure of liberty or freedom. Ultimately for salvation, light must overcome dark in whatever man or object. They believe that in 6,000 years from when they lived, the world would end and be replaced by a world without evil. They believed the sun, moon, planets and starts were also living beings. Astrology and the Zodiac were of importance to them. They believe that the Holy Ghost is feminine. They also denied that Christ had a body (Monophysitism), and held a Docetist view that Christ was not born of a woman. Bardaisanitism was considered influential over Valentinianism and then Manichaeism. They were considered to be obscene and overtly sexual.

Heresy of the Week: Docetism

This week's heresy takes parts from Adoptionism and Gnosticism.  I suppose they get props for creativity.

Docetism is a heresy of the Monophysitism family that purports Jesus only seemed to be human, but that His human body was only a phantasm—that His body was either absent or illusory. Docetists deny Jesus’ humanity, and were condemned as heretical at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. There are essentially two kinds of Docetists: one believes that Christ was so divine, He could not have had a body since God lacks a material body, and therefore He cannot have physically suffered; the other says that Jesus was a man, but Christ a separate entity who entered Jesus at the Baptism and left Him upon His death on the cross (quasi-Adoptionism). The dualistic, and therefore Gnosticism, side of Docetism was that matter is evil and God would not stoop to be clothed in something evil (more in line with the first kind of Docetism), and that God, being perfect and infinite, could not suffer and therefore, even if He had a human body, He could not have been made to suffer and die for our sins (more in line with the second kind of Docetism).

Heresy of the Week: Eutychianism and Miaphysitism

Because they are related, this week's heresy is a two-for-one: Eutychianism and Miaphysitism.  Both are subsets of Monophysitism, which, as the name might suggest, are heresies that teach Christ only having one nature (sometimes Divine, sometimes Human, and for a variety of reasons or by different means).

Eutychianism is a Monophysitism heresy. This sect teaches that the human nature of Christ was overcome by the divine aspects, or that His human nature was unlike the rest of humanity—it was often stressed that the unity of Christ’s nature was to such an extent that His divinity consumed His humanity. Eutyches (for whom this heresy is named) said that Christ was of two natures, but not in two natures (i.e. that he was homoousian with the Father, but not homoousian with His humanity). Eutychianism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, where the Chalcedonian Creed was written to counter the Eutychian and Miaphysitism heresies. This reaction by the Council lead to the schism with the Oriental Orthodoxy Church.

Miaphysitism is a moderate form of Monophysitism (teaching that both natures are merged into one, rather than that the divine subsumes the human). After the 451 Council of Chalcedon, where the two natures of Christ were affirmed, this belief caused a split with the Oriental Orthodoxy Church (other issues, including political, were also at play), who still practice Miaphysitism today (although they object to that term being used to describe them).