Heresy: Difference between revisions
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* first found in Montanism, the idea that new prophets are or will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, outside of the Scriptural prophets | * first found in Montanism, the idea that new prophets are or will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, outside of the Scriptural prophets | ||
* generally charismatic movements (i,e. have a charismatic spiritual leader) | * generally charismatic movements (i,e. have a charismatic spiritual leader) | ||
''pertinacia'' | |||
* as defined by Pope Benedict XVI (while a Cardinal), ''pertinacia'' is "the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way"<ref>Ratzinger, Joseph (1993). ''The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood''. Ignatius Press. p. 88. | |||
See [[wikipedia:Heresy_in_the_Catholic_Church#Modern_Roman_Catholic_response_to_Protestantism|Heresy in the Catholic Church (wikipedia)]]</ref> | |||
==== rigorism ==== | ==== rigorism ==== | ||
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|Protestantism | |||
|16th | |||
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* Started by various anti-Church "reformers" of the 15th-17th centuries, Protestantism holds that salvation in Christ comes from ''belief'' in Christ alone (''sola fide''), as opposed to what they call "works", but which also thereby includes reason; | |||
* Protestantism also holds that belief can only be derived from Scripture (''sola scriptura''), so tradition, early Church teachings, and Church doctrine promulgated outside of the Bible are invalid; | |||
* as such, protestants do not believe in the Sacramental Economy, Holy Orders, priestly celibacy, the Papacy, the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, Church tradition and the Saints. | |||
|''pertinacia'' | |||
| colspan="2" |The heresies of Protestantism consist primarily of | |||
* denial of the Sacraments, the Magisterium of the Church, and of Transubstantiation (some Protestant churches do believe in the Eucharist) | |||
* rejection of Papal authority | |||
* self-exclusion from the Catholic Church | |||
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Latest revision as of 09:39, 1 November 2024
This page includes list of Heresies, schisms, and religions that counter certain core Catholic beliefs.
Definitions
excommunication
heresy
- means "against accepted or established standards"
- = denial of the orthodox faith or a core element of it
heretic
- one who practices a heresy
heterodoxy
- "hetero" (another, of the other) + dox = other opion
- note: the suffix -doxy comes from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept"
- "heresy" is from Greek hairesis for "taking for oneself"
orthodox / orthodoxy
- "ortho" (true, straight, right ) + doxa (opinion, praise) = "right opinion
- = "the right way", what it is accepted as Catholic belief
schism
- deviation from orthodoxy without full denial of it
- an offshoot belief or belief system
The Way
- early Christians referred to following Christ as "The Way"
First Council of Constantinople, 381
Establishment of orthodoxy was essential for a unified Church and organized belief system. The Church Fathers constantly struggled with false teachers. Paul mentions those who have left the Way, such as we see in 2 Timothy:
Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless, and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have deviated from the truth by saying that [the] resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some. Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands, bearing this inscription, “The Lord knows those who are his”; and, “Let everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord avoid evil.” (2 Tim 2:16-19) ... for Demas, enamored of the present world, deserted me and went to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. (2 Tim 4:10) ... Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.( 2 Tim 4:14)
As the Church organized and diversified, it became essential to establish orthodoxy. Constantine, the Roman emperor, was distressed by the divisions within the church, and organized Councils to sort out belief. From The Canons of the Council of Constantinople (AD 381), we can see the type of struggles Church leaders faced:
I. The faith of the Fathers who gathered in Nicaea of Bythinia should not be annulled. Rather it should continue to have authority, and every heresy (should be) anathematized, especially that of the Eunomians, or the Anomians, that of the Arians, or Eudoxians, that of the Semiarians, or Pneumatomachians, that of the Sabellians, that of the Marcellians, that of the Photinians, and that of the Apollinarians.
Here for another translation
Divinity of Christ
most but not all heresies come from misunderstandings or heterodoxic teachings about the nature of Christ
- as all man
- not divine, a prophet, not God
- or all God
- not man, thus only present in appearance not substance of a man
- implicates understanding of Mary
- Mother of God = gave birth to a man
- as a divine "vessel": = carried God not a man
- implicates belief in the Eucharist
- if Christ is all-man, or if Christ is all-God, then the Eucharist cannot be real
- because, either way, the bread and wine are only material and not divine
- if Christ is all-man, or if Christ is all-God, then the Eucharist cannot be real
Types of heresies and heretical beliefs
Examples of heretical views of Christ and the Trinity
Movement | Christ as God alone | Christ as Man alone | Christ as other |
---|---|---|---|
Adoptionism | Y | adopted by God | |
Dosceticism | Y | N | Christ existed in spirit only |
Gnosticism | Y | ||
Islam | Y | prophet | |
Modalism | Y | God in the form of Christ | |
Subordinationism | The Son is "subordinate" to the Father |
General categories of movements
- i.e., not a specific movement, but a type of heresy or belief that heretical movements adhered to or shared beliefs in
asceticism
- requires strict compliance with religious code
- adherence to self-mortification, including
- excessive fasting
- physical pain
- abstinence from pleasure, including
- alcohol
- sex
- material goods
- isolation or monasticism
- Asceticism may be practiced by orthodox believers, especially Saints
- but as a movement that requires strict adherence it becomes heretical
docetism
- believed that Christ was not mortal, did not actually die on the Cross
- believed that Christ's physical presence was illusionary
dualism
- belief in opposing forces or gods, generally good v. evil
- sometimes, as in Gnosticism, spiritual v. material
ecstaticism
- belief in behaviors inspired by the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues, surviving snake bites, and "out of body" worship
gnosticism
- denied the humanity of Christ
- loathed the material world, saw it as corrupt
- believed in a "secret wisdom" that was revealed only to followers
- came of Greek traditional religion mixed with Christianity
modalism
- belief in one God who has different "modes" but not different persons
- strict monotheism
Monarchianism
- = the general umbrella for Docestism and modalism
- denies the Trinity
- claims that God is one person only
- strict monotheism
"new prophesy"
- first found in Montanism, the idea that new prophets are or will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, outside of the Scriptural prophets
- generally charismatic movements (i,e. have a charismatic spiritual leader)
pertinacia
- as defined by Pope Benedict XVI (while a Cardinal), pertinacia is "the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way"[1]
rigorism
- extremely literal and/or strict adherence to dogma (beliefs, Scripture, etc.)
- does not allow for exceptions or circumstances
- ex. would consider all theft wrong without exception (such as dire need)
- may also ignore contradictory or qualifying dogma
- ex. sin v. forgiveness
subordinationism
- believed in the Trinity but that God the Father is supreme and the Son is subordinate to him
universalism
- belief that all people, and as extended by some, angels and creatures, will go to heaven
see
Heretical and Schismatic Movements from the Catholic perspective
Movement | Century | Belief | Category 1 | Category 2 | Heresy / Heterodoxy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Judaisers | 1st | Judaism required for Christians | |||
insisted upon adherence to Jewish Law, or that pagan converts must first become Jewish before becoming Christian | rigorism | New Covenant | |||
Marcianism | 2nd |
|
dualism | ||
Montanism | 2nd |
|
rigorism | ascetisism | "new prophesy" |
demanded purity for sacramental office | |||||
Pelagianism | 4th |
|
asceticism | rigorism | denied original sin |
Origenism | 3rd | denied persons of the Trinity; claimed the Son is subordinate to God | |||
Christ only divine, denies the Trinity | gnosticism | dualism | rejected the Old Testament | ||
| |||||
Christ the man was "adopted" by God | gnosticism | rejected the Trinity | |||
Various forms, but primarily believed the Jesus the man was not God but that God adopted Jesus at his birth and his spirit was returned to God at the Resurrection and Ascension | |||||
Prophesy | prophetic | ||||
"New Prophesy" movement adhered to Christian orthodoxy but focused on prophesy and revelations from the Holy Spirit | |||||
|
dualism
universalism |
||||
Novatianism | 3rd | no salvation for lapsi (apostates who denied Christ in face of oppression) | rigorism | asceticism | reconciliation impossible |
| |||||
Arianism | 3rd | Denied divinity of Christ | |||
Thought that Christ was created by God as a sort of divine creature and that he also had a human person but it becomes dualist because Christ is separate from God | |||||
Donatism | 4th-6th | sacramental office must be faultless | rigorism | asceticism | reconciliation impossible |
| |||||
Nestorianism | 5th | Christ human only | rejected the Trinity | ||
denied Mary as Mother of God; taught the "prosopic union" of Christ as divine and human as separate entities | |||||
Islam | 8th | strict monotheism | prophetic | docetism | denial of divinity of Christ |
Eastern Ortohdox | 9th | ||||
Manichaean | |||||
Cathars | |||||
Paulicians | |||||
Joachimites | 13th | cultish worship of the Holy Spirit | milleniarian | ||
followers of Joachim of Fiore who taught end-of-times millenarism that was to start in 1260 | |||||
Lollards | 15th | ||||
Prot-Protestants | 15th | Jan Hus, etc. who preceded and inspired later Protestants | |||
Protestantism | 16th |
|
pertinacia | The heresies of Protestantism consist primarily of
| |
Mormanism | 19th | asceticism | prophetic | ||
Jehovah's Witness | 19th | ||||
Universalism | late 18th-20th (Orijen in the early Church was accused of this heresy) | All people will be saved | universal salvation | ||
Belief that all people will, in the end, will find God's salvation; aside from contradicting the plain words of Chris, the belief ultimately reduces salvation to belief in Christ alone, regardless of one's other beliefs or actions. Universalism is a logical extension of Protestantism's sola fidelis, and makes clear why that tenant is so dangerous. | |||||
Modernism | 19th | ||||
Atheism | 20th |
Apostolic age
Judaizers
- held that to be a Christian one must first become a Jew and adhere to traditional Jewish (Mosaic) law
- such as circumcision, diet, etc.
- Through Divine intervention, St. Peter declared all food "clean"
- St. Paul argued that Christ had fulfilled the Old Testament, thereby superseding the Law
- while not negating it entirely, esp. Ten Commandments
Early Church age
Marcionism
- denied the Old Testament God
- held that Christ was divine only and only appeared as a Man, was not
Montanism
- or "New Prophesy"
- believed that God spoke to followers who were inspired by the Holy Spirit
- Montanus and his followers were known to "babble" while claiming to be filled with the Holy Spirit
- Montanus had two followers who also claimed gifts of prophesy, Prisca and Maximilla, two women who with Montanus claimed ecstatic visions
- they told followers to fast excessively in order to experience the same visions
- Montanus likely hung himself, as did Maximilla.
- afterwards, Prisca led the movement, which passed along to Quintilla, who claimed that Eve was heroic for having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge and followed the Hebrew prophetess Miriam (sister of Moses) as rationale for female priests
- the movement became a form of Gnosticism
Pelagianism
- Pelagius argued that when born humans are not subject to Original Sin
- and therefore had entire powers of a free will
- sin, therefore, was a choice and avoidable
- the movement fell into asceticism as way of proof of one's purity
Eastern Church
Filoque
- Eastern Orthodox church split with the Latin Church over the "filoque"
- source of the Schism of 1054
- over the Nicene Creed's statement that the "Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son"
- << todo
Medieval age
Cathars, Waldensians & the Medieval Inquisition
- The Cathar movement grew In the 1140s in Southern France, and the Waldensians around 1170 in northern Italy and Germany
- Catharism was gnostic dualistic, in that it saw the universe as a battle between Good (spiritual) and Evil (material), and was thus polytheistic
- the Albigensian Crusade defeated Cathar armies and the movement generally
- Waldensianism was a movement that denied the priesthood, holding that all Christians were among the "priesthood of all believers"
- as such, the Walendsians denied the Sacraments and the Church itself
- the inquisitions to combat these heretical movements were designed to halt mob violence and to bring an orderly judicial process to their accusations
- as well as to combat abuses of inquisitors by making them responsible to Church heirarchy
- during this time, if a person was found heretical and unrepentant, they were handed over to civil authorities who had the authority to execute them
Late Medieval & Enlightenment
Modern age
Modernism
- Pius IX and X warned of the dangers of modernism
Heresy in worldwide religions
While not "heretical movements," these main, worldwide religions share beliefs with Catholicism but disagree in such ways as to contradict Catholic faith:
Islam
- rejects Christ as God
- sees God as entirely one being, thus no persons of the Father, Son or Holy Spirit
- this view creates the problem of man's relationship to God as that of purely master and servant
- Islam grew out of Arabian culture and traditional religions mixed with elements of Judaism and Christianity
Hinduism
- similar to gnostic formulas of good v evil and that knowledge of God comes of intense religious practice or a privileged few
Judaism
- denies the Trinity
- rejects Christ as Messiah and God
- sees the coming Messiah as a man, like Saul or David (both called "Messiah" in the OT)
- has notions of the "spirit" but no explicit formulation of the Holy Spirit
- rejects Christ as Messiah and God
- while over the history of the Christian Church, there has been persecution of Jews, the Catholic Church never considered Jews heretical
- the most common example of persecution of the Jews is that of the Spanish Inquisition
Mormonism
- essentially polytheistic, and therefore extremely problematic as regards Christ
- has non-Biblical beliefs such as "saints" (members of the Mormon church) as gods (polytheism)
Protestantism
- Protestantism's core belief lies in 'sola scriptura' and 'sola fide', which hold that
- the only authority for Church dogma lies in the text of the Bible itself
- for this reason, Luther, for example, discarded the Dueteronomical books that contradicted his positions on Purgatory, the Saints, etc.
- belief alone leads to savlation ("justification by faith alone")
- which thereby negates the need for the Priesthood and the Sacraments
- the only authority for Church dogma lies in the text of the Bible itself
- various modern Protestant churches may reject core Catholic beliefs of
- Sacraments of Confirmation, Priestly Ordination, and the Eucharist
- the Real Presence of Christ at Mass, especially in the Eucharist
- the Saints
- Church tradition and accumulated wisdom through thinkers, Saints, and tradition
- especially in its early period, protestant movements were seen as not merely schismatic but heretical
- French protestants, for example, the Huguenots, were persecuted for heresy
- as protestant churches were given official sanction by local rulers, especially in Germany, the movement became political, thus leading to wars such as the Thirty Years War, which was a political as much as a religious war
Syllabus of Errors
See entry Syllabus of Errors for a catalog of "errors" and heresies written by Pope Pius IX in 1864.
Sources
- Heresy in Earliest Christianity | Bible Interp (arizona.edu)
- List of Christian heresies - Wikipedia
- Top 10 Heresies in the History of Christianity (fordham.edu)
- ↑ Ratzinger, Joseph (1993). The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood. Ignatius Press. p. 88. See Heresy in the Catholic Church (wikipedia)