HERESIES AND TERMINOLOGIES IN PATROLOGY

ELUSIYAN FRANCIS

 HERESY: Heresy is an opinion or belief that contradicts an established religious teaching. It is a theological doctrine or system that is officially rejected and condemned as false by ecclesiastical authority. It is any religious doctrine opposed to the dogma of a particular church, and a false teaching against the church.

APOLOGIST: This is a title of honour bestowed on one well versed in Christian doctrine and capable of defending it against attacks. It refers to Christian writers of the second century who defended the doctrines of Christianity and they defended the accusations and charges leveled against the church. They are the early Christian writers of the 2^nd century who refuted the pagan accusations against the church.

ARIANISM: An influential heresy denying the divinity of Christ, originating with the Alexandrian priest Arius (circa 250-circa 336). Arianism maintained that the son of God was created by the father and was therefore neither co-eternal with the father, nor consubstantial.

MONOPHYSITISM: From the Greek “monos” meaning “one” and “physics” meaning “nature”; mono-physitism is an erroneous or heretical view concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. A Christological position that Christ has only one nature, as opposed to the chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human. There are two major doctrines that can indisputably be called Monophysite (Eutychianism and Apollnarianism).

NESTORIANISM: The doctrine that there were two separate persons, one human and one divine, in the incarnate Christ. It is named after Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople (428-31) and was maintained by some ancient churches of the Middle East. A small Nestorian church still exists in Iraq.

DUALISM: This is a doctrine that the world (or reality) consists of two basic, opposed, and irreducible principles of good and evil that account for all that exists. Dualism means the belief in two supreme opposed powers or gods, or sets of divine or demonic beings that caused the world to exist. Dualism is a view that reduces reality to two equally primordial and mutually opposed principles. This is a doctrine that asserts that the forces of good and evil are co-equal and co eternal.

AGNOSTICISM: The extreme view that knowledge of God is impossible, even with the aid of revelation, is the latest form of religious agnosticism, with special reference to theology, is a name for any theory which denies that it is possible for man to acquire knowledge of God. It may assume either a religious or anti-religious form, as it is confined to a criticism of rational knowledge or extended to a criticism of belief.

GNOSTICISM: A prominent heretical movement of the 2^nd century Christian church, partly of pre-Christian origin. Gnostic doctrine taught that the world was created and ruled by a lesser divinity, the demiurge and that Christ was an emissary of the remote supreme divine being, esotericknowledge (gnosis) of whom enabled the redemption of the human spirit.

MARCIONISM: Marcionism was an early heresy led by marcion who proposed the first canon of Christian texts. The proposed canon consisted of the Gospel of Luke and several of Paul’sepistles; however, marcion edited the writings by deleting any references that appeared to approve of the Old Testament and the creator God of the Jews. Marcionism thus rejected the Old Testament God, claiming that Jesus represented the true sovereign God who was different from the God of the Hebrew people.

DONATISM            

Donatism includes a group of extremist seets, mostly in North Africa that emphasized asceticism and they valued martyrdom and found lapses of faith(even under torture or threat of death) inexcusable. The heresy involved their contention that the sacraments required a priest of pure moral character to be effective and only the pure (who has no lapsed under persecution) should be allowed in the church. They were opposed by Augustine of Hippo.

PELAGIANISM

Pelagianism is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without special divine aid. This is named after British monk Pelagius(354-420) although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name, Pelagius taught that the human will as created with its abilities by God, was sufficient to live a sinless life.

TURAFICATI AND CERTIFICATI

Certificati to certify or to register that someone is heretical. To attest, witness, approve or even confirm to as the truth or meeting a standard. TURA it means food frankincense divination. While FICATI means; lesser degree exorcists etc. The two join together means lesser degrees of exorcism or medication.

EUTYCHIANISM

This is an extreme form of monophysism; it asserts that Jesus Christ has two natures before the hypostatic union which was fused into one at his incarnation. This heretic teaching affirms only the divine nature of Jesus and denies his human nature, thereby denying the title of our lady as “theotokos”. This doctrine holds that the human nature of Jesus was fully absorbed into his divine nature at incarnation. This is an extreme form of monophysism.

APOLINARIANISM

 This is a heretical teaching that in Jesus Christ a divine nature took the place of the rational human soul and mind or mind of Christ and that the body of Christ was a spiritualized and glorified form of humanity. This doctrine heed that the divine logos embodied in human flesh but that Jesus had only one nature, a fourth century heresy that asserts that Jesus had a human body and human soul but no human mind.

MONTANISM

 This is a doctrine that preaches moral and ascetical rigorism. This doctrine denies the power of the church to forgive sins. This doctrine claims to be the oracle of the Holy Spirit and a possessor of true charismatic qualities and they believe that post baptismal sins could not be forgiven.