List of Christian heresies
The list below captures historical Christian groups that the Catholic Church viewed as heretical .
The following are not recorded:
- Christian communities still existing today,
- Christian churches ,
- heretical groups in other religions,
- other ideological groups and organizations such as B. the Freemasons .
In the right column (time) it is indicated when the relevant teaching was condemned as heretical.
| heresy | leader | description | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adamites | Adamites are sects whose goal is the restoration of innocence before the Fall or who claim to have achieved this goal. Accordingly, the Noachidic commandments (from a time after the fall of man) , the Ten Commandments and laws in general have no validity for the followers of these sects. In particular, they were said to practice ritual nudism . Early Christian Adamites are mentioned by Augustine , among others . In later times the brothers and sisters of the free spirit and groups of the Taborites were considered Adamite. | ||
| Adelphians | Adelphianer or Adelphier is another name for Messalians after their first leader Adelphius . | ||
| Adoptianism | Elipandus of Toledo | Taught that Christ was only a person who was, as it were, "adopted" by God when he was baptized in the Jordan . See also dynamic monarchianism . | from around 800 |
| Agonists | Latin agonistici "fighters" (from Greek ἀγῶν agon "fight") or also "soldiers of Christ" was a name for a subgroup of Donatists . | ||
| Albigensians | Derived from gens Albi (people of Albi) after the town of Albi in the south of France . Another name for Cathars . | ||
| Amalrican | Amalrich of Bena | Pantheistic-mystical belief group ( omnia unum, quia quidquid est, est Deus “all things are one, because whatever is is God”) in France. In 1210 followers of the doctrine were accused and executed, the doctrine was condemned in 1215 by the 4th Lateran Council . | between 1275 and 1325 |
| Antinomianism | Anti-nomianistic (Greek: ἀντί anti “against” and νόμος nomos “law”) is a point of view that considers violations of a religious law to be permitted or even necessary for the fulfillment of salvation. Antinomianism was seldom represented openly, mostly it was subordinated to the respective opponent. | ||
| Apotactic | Another name for the Apostle Brothers | ||
| Brothers and sisters of the free spirit | Pantheistic-mystical belief group of the 13th century, which also represented Adamite positions. She was close to the Amalricans and was condemned as heretical by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne in 1311. | 13th Century | |
| Circumcellions | A derogatory term coined by Augustine ( qui circum cellas vagantur " drifting around") for agonists . | ||
| Docetism | A doctrine represented by various early Christian, especially Gnostic groups, according to which Christ had no physical body, but only a pseudo- body, according to which he was crucified only apparently (Greek δοκεῖν dokein “seem”). | ||
| Donatists | Donatus of Carthage | The Donatists rejected the re- admission to the church of those who had fallen from the faith ( Lapsi ) during the persecution of Christians . Disputes over this question led to the Donatist Wars in North Africa in the 5th century, which ended with the suppression and persecution of Donatism. | 4th and 5th centuries |
| Duophysitism | Name of the Christological position allegedly represented by Nestorius . See Nestorianism . | ||
| Euchites | From Greek εὔχομαι euchomai ("to pray"). Another name for Messalians . | ||
| Enthusiasts | Another name for Messalians , derived from the Greek ἐνθουσιασμός ( enthousiasmós "possession by God", see also enthusiasm ), since they claimed to obtain visions of God or the Holy Spirit through persistent prayer and mystical dances. | ||
| Giovannali | Giovanni Martini | a Franciscan sect in Corsica, sometimes assigned to the Cathars, forcibly smashed after around 50 years of existence. |
14th Century |
| Hussites | Jan Hus | Various reformatory or revolutionary movements in Bohemia in the 15th century are referred to as Hussites . The main demands were lay preaching and the lay chalice and freedom from unjust secular rule and church rule. | 15th century |
| Jansenism | Cornelius Jansen | Jansenism was a movement particularly widespread in France in the Catholic Church of the 17th and 18th centuries, which invoked the doctrine of grace of Augustine and condemned it as heretical by several papal bulls . As a political movement, Jansenism was primarily an opposition to French absolutism and, as a result, was exposed to brutal persecution. | 17th and 18th centuries |
| Joachimites | Joachim of Fiore | Chiliastic movement that emerged in the 13th century around the Franciscans and other mendicant orders and based on the teachings of Joachim von Fiore . | |
| Kalixtiner | Jan Rokycana | Party of the Hussites . One of their demands was the lay chalice (Latin: calix ). | |
| Cathars | Name derived from the Greek καθαρός ( katharós "pure"). The Cathars were a very diverse lay movement, so one cannot speak of a uniform doctrine. A basic element is the dualistic world view: the material world is viewed as evil, this is opposed to the good embodied in God. They agree with the Bogumils and the Gnostics , which is why both movements have been considered to be the roots of the Cathar movement in the history of ideas. | from around 1140 | |
| Marcionism | Marcion | Marcion took the view that the God of Jewish tradition was an evil God ( Demiurge ) and not the father of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, he rejected the writings of the Tanakh from. He only recognized the Gospel of Luke and the Epistles of Paul as belonging to the Bible canon , which he believed he had to cleanse of “Jewish distortions”. | 2nd century |
| Messalians | Adelphius | The name of the sect, which comes from the Mesopotamian region of Asia Minor, means “praying” in Syriac . They believed that deliverance from sin could only be obtained through constant prayer. Anyone who had thereby come to see God's essence ( Ousia ) was henceforth free from sin and no longer subject to ecclesiastical discipline. The teaching of the Messalians was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431 . | |
| Monarchianism | A generic term coined by Tertullian (from the Greek μόνος monos: only; alone and ἄρχειν ) for anti-Trinitarian heresies. A distinction is made between dynamic and modalistic monarchianism, with the dynamic monarchianists regarding Christ as a person adopted by God and the modalistic monarchianists regarding God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as manifestations (modalities) of a unified person. | ||
| Monophysitism | Monophysitism (Greek μόνο mono "one" and φύσις physis "nature") is a christological position according to which Christ had only one nature, namely the divine, in contrast to that of the Christian churches since the Council of Chalcedon (with the exception of the ancient Oriental ) represented "doctrine of two natures". | from 451 | |
| Naassener | Another name for ophites . Derived from the Hebrew word for serpent ( naas ). | 2nd century | |
| Nestorianism | Nestorius | Nestorianism refers to a Christology attributed to Nestorius, according to which a divine and a human nature coexisted in Christ (Duophysitism). This teaching was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431. There is no evidence that Nestorius or his followers actually took such a position. What was essential for the anathema against Nestorius was rather that he rejected the use of the designation of Mary as Theotokos ( Theotokos ( Theotokos ) as an attribute of pagan goddesses. | from 431 |
| Nicolaitans | An early Christian sect attributed to the Gnostics was called the Nicolaitans. They were accused of sexual permissiveness and participation in the pagan sacrificial cult. A sect of that name is mentioned twice in Revelation . According to one opinion, the name is derived from the early church deacon Nikolaus . In the Middle Ages, Nikolait was a battle term for married clerics. In the 15th century, a group of the Taborites was also called the Nikolaiten after their founder Nilas. | ||
| Novatians | Novatian | Novatians are the followers of the antipope Novatian, whose opponent Cornelius was elected Bishop of Rome in 251 . Similar to the case of the Donatists in North Africa in the 4th century, the dispute over the treatment of those who fell from the faith under the persecution of Emperor Decius ( Lapsi ) became a peg for a power struggle within the church. Like Donatus, Novatian took the rigorous position in this dispute. Novatian and his followers were excommunicated in 251. Communities of his followers existed until the 5th century. | 3rd to 5th century |
| Ophites | Gnostic direction that was common in Egypt and Syria. For the Ophites the serpent of paradise was divine in nature. The name refers to the Greek word for snake ( ὄφις ophis ). | 2nd century | |
| Orebiten | Ambrož Hradecký | East Bohemian Hussite party , named after the mountain Oreb near Třebechovice pod Orebem in the Czech Republic. | from 1419 |
| Orphanites | Party of the Hussites . After the death of Jan Žižka , the name refers to the (Latin orphanitas ) "orphan" of his followers. | ||
| Patarenes | Patarines or godfather Riner , named after Pataria , a district in the medieval Milan , a center of poverty movement ( Humiliati and Pauperes Christ ), where there have been several bloody rebellions against authority and church. | 11th and 12th centuries | |
| Patripassianists | See modalistic monarchianism . | ||
| Pelagianism | Pelagius | Pelagius rejected the doctrine of original sin ( represented by Augustine , among others ) and took the view that it was possible for man to live without sin of his own accord and without the aid of divine grace ( posse sine peccato esse ). This doctrine was opposed by Augustine and condemned as heretical at the Council of Ephesus in 431 . | from 431 |
| Perates | Gnostic direction, which is attributed to the Ophites . The name derives from Perat, the Semitic name of the river Euphrates , from | ||
| Sabellianism | Sabellius | See modalistic monarchianism . | 3rd century |
| Semi-Pelagianism | Johannes Cassianus | Semipeligianism is a doctrine that was widespread in the 5th and 6th centuries, especially in southern Gaul, and which gave up the pelagiastic positions condemned at the Council of Ephesus , but insisted that man can turn to God by himself, life without Sin and perseverance in faith then require the grace of God. Semipeligianism was condemned as heretical at the Synod of Orange in 529 . The term semi-Peligianism ("half Peligianism") was first coined by Luis de Molina at the end of the 17th century . | 5th and 6th centuries |
| Subordinatianism | Origen | Christological doctrine, according to which Christ and God the Father are not of the same nature, but are subordinate to Christ and God the Father. This doctrine ( represented by Arius among others ) was rejected at the Council of Nicaea . | from 325 |
| Taborites | Party of the Hussites . Named after they founded the city Tabor , in turn, after the NT as the site of the Transfiguration of the Lord called Mount Tabor was named. | ||
| Utraquists | Another name for Kalixtiner . One of their demands was the lay chalice, i.e. the presentation of the Lord's Supper in both ways ( sub utraque ). | ||
| Valentinians | Valentinus | Valentinianism is a branch of gnosis that spread across large parts of the Roman Empire from the 2nd century onwards. Valentinian's doctrine states, among other things, that God is not the creator of the world, but that the creation of the material world is the (imperfect) work of Sophia , a demiurge thought to be feminine . The goal of the human soul is the liberation from the world of matter, for which not belief, but knowledge (gnosis) is necessary. |
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ In eminenti (1643), Cum occasione (1653) and Unigenitus Dei filius (1713)
- ↑ Rev 2,6 EU and Rev 2,15 EU
- ^ Hippolytos of Rome Refutatio omnium haeresium VII, 26.