Heresy

Heresy = denial of the orthodox faith

Schism = deviation from orthodoxy without full denial of it

Orthodox = "the right way", what it is accepted, i.e. Catholic belief

This page includes list of Heresies and schisms

Definitions

orthodoxy

• "ortho" (true, straight, right ) + doxa (opinion, praise) = "right opinion

heterodoxy

• "hetero" (another, of the other) + dox = other opion
  • note: the suffix -doxy comes from PIE root *dek- "to take, accept"

heterodoxy

• "heresy", which means "against accepted or established standards"
• heresy is from Greek hairesis for "taking for oneself"

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

Heresies and Schisms

Types of heresies and heretical beliefs

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

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

• denies the Trinity
• claims that God is one person only
• strict monotheism

Mormanism

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

see

• List of heresies in the Catholic Church - Wikipedia

Islam

• rejects Christ as God

Judaism

• reject Christ as Messiah and God

Mormonism

• has non-Biblical beliefs such as "saints" (members of the Mormon church) as gods (polytheism)

Protestantism

• especially in the early period of the protestant movement was seen as not merely schismatic but heretical
• French protestants, for example, the Huguenots, were persecuted for heresy
• various modern Protestant churches may reject core Catholic beliefs of
  • Eucharist
  • Saints
  • Church tradition

Table of heretical and schismatic movements

>> todo: combine charts (1st one imported from S4S.wiki)

Movement	Christ as God alone	Christ as Man alone	Christ as other	Notes
Adoptionism	Y			believed the Jesus the man was not God but God adopted him at his birth; his spirit was returned to God at the Resurrection and Ascension
Doscetics	Y	N	Christ existed in spirit only	His physical presence was illusionary
Gnostics	Y			Gnostics had "secret knowledge" from an unknown God
Marcions			Christ was different from the Old Testament God
Montanism				"New Prophesy" movement adhered to Christian orthodoxy but focused on prophesy and revelations from the Holy Spirit
Rigorism				Novatian believed that no sinner should be allowed into a church; forbade remarriage

Heretical and Schismatic Movements from the Catholic perspective

Movement	Century	Belief	Category 1	Category 2	Heresy	Orthodoxy	Heterodoxy
Judaisers	1st	Judaism required for Christians			New Covenant	Belief in Christ	Jewish Law
Manachiasm						Belief in Christ
Donatism		Confession of faith required	asceticism		reconciliation impossible	Belief in Christ	Purity of sacramental office
Origenism
Pelagianism			asceticism		denied original sin	Belief in Christ
Marcionism		Christ only divine	gnosticism		rejected the Old Testament		held that Paul was the only true Apostle
Montanism	2nd		prophetic
Novationism	3rd		rigorism	asceticism			denied return of Lapsi (apostates) after the Decian persecution; his followers called themselves the "Church of the Pure"
Arianism	3rd	Denied divinity of Christ
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
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
Protestantism	16th
Mormanism	19th		asceticism	prophetic
Jehovah's Witness	19th
Modernism	19th
Atheism	20th

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Apostolic age

Judaizers

• held that to be a Christian one must first become a Jew and adhere to traditasdfional Jewish law

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

Modern age

Modernism

• Pius IX and X warned of the dangers of modernism