MON TANISTS

Christian heretics, who sprung up about the year 171, in the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. They were so called from their leader, the heresiarch Montan us, a Phrygian by birth, whence they are sometimes styled Phrygians and Cataphrygians. Montan us, it is said, embraced Christianity in hopes of rising to the dignities of the Church. He pretended to inspiration, and gave out that the Holy Ghost had instructed him in several points which had not been revealed to the apostles. Priscilla and Max i mill a, two enthusiastic women of Phrygia, presently became his disciples, and in a short time he had a great number of followers. The bishops of Asia, being a embled together, condemned his prophecies, and excommunicated those who dispersed them. Afterwards, they wrote an account of what had pa ed to the Western Churches, where the pretended prophecies of Montan us and his followers were likewise condemned. The Mon tanists, finding themselves exposed to the censure of the whole Church, formed a schism, and set up a distinct society, under the direction of those who called themselves prophets. Montan us, in conjunction with Priscilla and Max i mill a, was at the head of the sect. These sectaries made no alteration in the creed. They only held that the Holy Spirit made Montan us his organ for delivering a more perfect form of discipline than that which was delivered by the apostles. They refused communion for ever to those who were guilty of notorious crimes, and believed that the bishops had no authority to reconcile them. They held it unlawful to fly in time of persecution. They condemned second marriages, allowed the di olution of marriage, and observed three Lents. The Mon tanists became separated into two branches, one of which were the disciples of Proclus, and the other of Æschines. The latter are charged with following the heterodoxy of Praxeas and Sabellius concerning the Trinity. The celebrated Tertullian was a Mon tanist.