We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
The origins of the ‘montanist’ heresy are far from clear. This much is known, that it began in Phrygia (or Mysia) and that it must have originated before 172, when Montanus had his visions, and before 179, when the prophetess Maximilla is said to have died. It is also conjectured that ‘Montanism’, a name which does not occur before the fourth century, may have been a title attached to the heresy later, and that the earlier names ‘the New Prophecy’ and the ‘Phrygian or Kataphrygian heresy’ are more exact connotations for the movement. Of the two names I should prefer the first, for ‘the New Prophecy’ does not seem to have been a heresy in its beginnings: doctrinal aberrations came only in the later centuries. In view of these facts it is legitimate to ask whether ‘the New Prophecy’ was a Judeo-Christian group which broke off from the Church and still later became heretical, that is, that the movement existed in essence before the time of Montanus and his ladies but that it was only in his day that it became a separate movement.
page 145 note 1 See, for example, Faggiotto, A., L'eresia dei Frigi, Rome 1924, 4 f.Google Scholar, P. de Labriolle, La Crise Montaniste, and Les Sources de l'histoire du Montanisme, Paris 1913 (esp. 1–12Google Scholar of the first work); Schepelern, W., Der Montanismus und die Phrygischen Kulte, 1929, 1–7Google Scholar.
page 145 note 2 Labriolle, op. cit, 12.
page 145 note 3 Schepelern, op. cit., 3 f.
page 145 note 4 Ibid., 25 f., Faggiotto, op. cit., 8.
page 145 note 5 I do not think that anyone has suggested before that Montanism was a Jewish-Christian heresy but I have intimated this in ‘St. Paul the Philogamist’, New Testament Studies, xi (July 1965), 331–42.Google Scholar
page 145 note 6 Ramsay, W. M., Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, Oxford 1897, i. Part ii. 667 ff.Google Scholar
page 145 note 7 Ibid., 667 (Th. Reinach, Mom. Juives, 72n.)
page 142 note 8 Ramsay, op. cit., 673 f.
page 142 note 7 Ibid., 668.
page 146 note 1 Ramsay, op. cit., 669 (Josephus, Ant., xii. 148.)
page 146 note 2 Ibid., 672.
page 146 note 3 Ibid., 674.
page 146 note 4 Ibid., 674.
page 146 note 5 Ibid., 667 n.3. Acts xiii, xiv, xvi. 2, and 2 Tim. iii. 11. Iconium was originally Phrygian; its name was Kawania.
page 146 note 6 Col. ii. 16–19.
page 146 note 7 Ramsay, op. cit., 675.
page 146 note 8 I do not see any decisive link with Essenism. In suggesting a Jewish influence I argue against Schepelern (op. cit., 90–128), who finds purely pagan influence, for example, influence from the Phrygian Spring Festival (105); the taurobolium (113 f.); the weeping of Attis (127). Labriolle (La Crise Montaniste, 90) thinks these theories are exaggerated, despite the fact that Schepelern is in agreement with many scholars.
page 146 note 9 The Karaites are thought to belong to the eighth century A.D., but Naphtali Wieder (The Judean Scrolls and Karaism, London 1962)Google Scholar has convincingly shown similarities with the Judean Scrolls.
page 146 note 10 Soz., H.E., vii. 12, 18; Ps. Chrysostom, Ep. vii: P.G. lix. 747.
page 146 note 11 Ps. Chrys. (Schepelern op. cit., 49 f.) writes that there existed another heresy—Montanism—which continued to celebrate Easter with the Jews and which broke with the Church. They held the Pasch on the fourteenth of the first month (i.e. the seventh month according to the Asiatic Calendar) but not the fourteenth day of the moon. Ps. Chrys. continues: ‘Ich weiss nicht, woher sie diese Regel bekommen haben. Denn
page 149 note 1 Cf. the Therapeutae according to Philo, De Vit. Cont., i and iv.
page 149 note 2 Wieder, op. cit., 191.
page 149 note 3 Ibid., 191 f. Wieder remarks that Chrysostom found that it was a very old custom in his day and that he could not find a Christian origin. It might have originated in the service on the Great Sabbath preceding Easter. Yemenite Jews apparently visited the cemeteries to pray for rain (192).
page 149 note 4 Schepelern, op. cit., 54. Tert., De Jejun., i and xiii; De Mon., xv.
page 149 note 5 See Black, M. (The Scrolls and Christian Origins, London 1961, 15, 43, 58, 107Google Scholar) who speaks of the Rechabites with reference to the Jewish sectarians.
page 149 note 6 Cf. Cyprian, Ep. lxiii.
page 149 note 7 Schepelern, op. cit., 54. Tert., De Jejun., xiv and De Oral., xviii.
page 149 note 8 The reference is to ‘one under a ban’. In b. M. K., 15b a mourner is forbidden to wash himself,’ … as it is written, and anoint not thyself with oil, and bathing is implied in anointing’. The mourner does not cohabit, but one ‘under a ban’ does.
page 149 note 9 Daniélou, Jean, Théologie du Judéo-Christianisme’, Tournai 1958, 426 f.Google Scholar
page 150 note 1 Ap. Eus., H.E., ii. 23. 5.
page 150 note 2 Wieder, op. cit., 79.
page 150 note 3 Ibid., 259.
page 150 note 4 Cf. 1 Cor. xiv, where there may be a similar situation.
page 150 note 5 Wieder, op. cit., 263.
page 150 note 6 Ibid., 50.
page 150 note 7 Ibid., 57.
page 150 note 8 Cf. 1 Cor. xi and xiv.
page 151 note 1 Cf. the scruples of the anonymous writer in Euseb., H.E., v. 16. 1–5.
page 151 note 2 Contra Celsum, vii. He says that there are several kinds of prophecy and that many with ease assume the conduct of inspired persons: ‘These are accustomed to say each for himself “I am God, I am the Son of God or I am the Divine Spirit”. They say that the world is about to perish, they predict fire falling on cities … to these prophecies are added strange, fanatical and unintelligible words …’.
page 151 note 3 See Johnson, A. R., Cultic Prophet in Ancient Israel, Cardiff 1944Google Scholar; Haider, A., Association of Cult Prophets among the Ancient Semites, 1945Google Scholar; Kuhn, C., The Prophets of Israel, Edinburgh 1960.Google Scholar
page 151 note 4 Cf. the ‘active’ (not passive) use of the word ‘Paraclete’ in 1 John ii. 1. My attention was drawn to this by Dr. Joseph Crehan, S.J.
page 151 note 5 Cf. Contra Celsum, vii. Also see Schepelern (op. cit., 154) who says that Celsus confused Jesus and the Paraclete, but even St. John gives the name Paraclete to both Jesus and the Spirit.
page 151 note 6 The Montanists eventually lapsed into Trinitarian heresies, but even before that it does not seem clear who was speaking through the prophets and prophetesses.
page 151 note 7 Eusebius, H.E., v. 16. 17.
page 151 note 8 Cf., for example, the evil spirit which came upon Saul.
page 152 note 1 Cf. Euseb., H.E., v. 16. 12–16 where the bishops try to refute the spirit in Maximilla.
page 152 note 2 Betz, O., Der Paraklet, Leiden 1963, 192Google Scholar. I owe this reference to Dr. A. R. C. Leaney of Nottingham University.
page 152 note 3 Philo, De Vit. Cont., ii. 11, 12.
page 152 note 4 Philo, De Vit. Cont., iii. 25.
page 152 note 5 Cf. the vision of the ‘sister’ who sees the soul, Tert., De Anima, ix.
page 152 note 6 Suggested by correspondence.
page 152 note 7 I Cor. xiv. 34.
page 152 note 8 Cf. also the daughters of Philip, Acts xxi. 9.
page 152 note 9 Cf. ‘St. Paul the Philogamist’, in New Testament Studies, xi. 334.
page 153 note 1 In I Cor. vii.
page 153 note 2 It must have been disappointed when Maximilla's prophecies were not realised.
page 153 note 3 It is tantalising that Tertullian's seven books De Ecstasi, a defence of the ecstatic speech of the Montanist prophets are lost. Cf. Altaner, B., Patrology, Edinburgh 1960, 178Google Scholar.
page 153 note 4 Hanson, R. P. C., ‘Notes on Tertullian's Interpretation of Scripture’, J. T.S., n.s. xii (1961), 273–9Google Scholar.
page 153 note 5 See Simon, Marcel, Recherches d'Histoire Judéo-Chrétienne, Paris 1962 30–87Google Scholar. See also, Tcherikover, Victor A., ‘The Decline of the Jewish Diaspora in Egypt in the Roman Period’, in Journal of Jewish Studies, xiv (1963), 1–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
page 153 note 6 Simon, op. cit., 31–3.
page 153 note 7 Ibid., 33.
page 153 note 8 Ibid., 35, 38–40 f.
page 153 note 9 Ibid., 34.
page 153 note 10 Ibid., 35.
page 153 note 11 Ibid., 33.
page 154 note 1 Simon, op. cit., 33. See also Frend, W. H. C., ‘The Seniores Laici and the Origins of the Church in North Africa’, J.T.S., n.s. xii (1961) 280–4Google Scholar, who points out the effect of Jewish-Christianity and Judaism on the organisation and discipline of the Church in North Africa.
page 154 note 2 Simon, op. cit., 54–7.
page 154 note 3 Thus we find a difference between St. Paul's eschatological approach to ‘celibacy’ and remarriage and Tertullian's condemnation of remarriage for all time.
page 154 note 4 Adversus Judaeos, ix–xiv is thought to be spurious. In chapters i–viii there is a mild apology for Christianity over against Judaism—mild compared, for example, with works like the Epistle of Barnabas. Tertullian states in Adv. Jud. that one need not keep the Mosaic Law. His attitude is different in De Jejun. It might be possible that Adv. Jud. was written in two parts, one when Tertullian was more favourable to Judaism.
page 154 note 5 The present writer had thought of producing some statistics on this point but, on reflexion, decided that they would prove little, since quotations from Scripture depend so much on the subject-matter under discussion.
page 154 note 6 It is worth remarking here the observation of Dr. Simon (op. cit., 10–15) that the Fall of Jerusalem reinforced the hopes of the Jews concerning a New Jerusalem which would take the place of the old one that was destined to pass away. The belief described by Dr. Simon is not unlike the expectation of the Asiatic ‘New Prophecy’.
page 155 note 1 L. Finkelstein dates Akiba c. A.D. 40–137 (see his essay, ‘Akiba’, in Great Jewish Personalities, ed. Noveck, Simon, London 1962, 121–52Google Scholar). Tertullian died after A.D. 220.
page 155 note 2 Simon, op. cit., 48. See the references there given.
page 155 note 3 b.Yeb. 62 b : ‘… R. Akiba had twelve thousand pairs of disciples …’.
page 153 note 4 See Finkelstein, op. cit., 141.
page 153 note 5 In his earlier works Tertullian does not insist on surrender.
page 155 note 6 See Num. R., xix. 6–8.
page 155 note 7 See above, 154.
page 155 note 8 Adv. Marc, ii. 19–21. In the same context Tertullian mentions the prohibition of the gathering of sticks (Num. xv. 32): this is reminiscent of Gen. R., xi. 2.
page 155 note 9 Num. R., xiv. 1. 565.
page 156 note 1 Daube, D., The Exodus Pattern in the Bible, Oxford 1965, 55–61Google Scholar.
page 156 note 2 Adv. Marc, ii. 20.
page 156 note 3 De Anima, v. 2.
page 156 note 4 De Anima, xxv.
page 156 note 5 For an account of the Stoic philosophy of the soul see Arnold, E. Vernon, Roman Stoicism, London 1958, 238–72.Google Scholar
page 156 note 6 Gen. R., xxiv. 10–11.
page 156 note 7 See, for example, Lev. xvii. 11, 14.
page 156 note 8 Cf. Arnold, op. cit., 243 f. Tertullian does not mention fire as a constituent ‘part’ of the soul.
page 156 note 9 De Anima, xlv.
page 156 note 10 Arnold, op. cit., 261.
page 156 note 11 Deut. R., ii. 37.
page 156 note 12 De Anima, iii. 3.
page 157 note 1 One may, for example, contrast Tertullian's work with the De Resurrectione of Athenagoras, who gives only one of these arguments.
page 157 note 2 De Resur., xi. Cf. b.Ber. 15b: ‘as the womb takes in and gives forth, so the grave takes in and will give forth again’.
page 157 note 3 Ibid., xii. Cf. b.Shab. 88b and b.Ber. 60b, where the prayers on walking are particularly instructive.
page 157 note 4 Cf. Gen. R., xix. 4–5.
page 157 note 5 W. A. L. Elmslie, The Mishna on Idolatria, Aboda Zara, Cambridge Texts and Studies (vii. 2 1911), xxiv.
page 157 note 6 Apparently a Moorish prince appointed by Trajan.
page 157 note 7 See b.Sot. 49b.
page 157 note 8 De Jejun., ii.
page 157 note 9 Ibid., iv.
page 157 note 10 Ibid.
page 158 note 1 Wieder, op. cit, 116–18.
