The ''Athinganoi'' ( grc, Ἀθίγγανοι, singular ''Athinganos'', , Atsinganoi), were a

Manichean Manichaeism (; in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (AD ...

sect regarded as Judaizing heretics who lived in Phrygia and

Lycaonia Lycaonia (; el, Λυκαονία, ''Lykaonia''; tr, Likaonya) was a large region in the interior of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), north of the Taurus Mountains. It was bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west b ...

but were neither Hebrews nor Gentiles. They kept the Sabbath, but were not circumcised. They were Shomer nagia. Other sources mentioned that the Athinganoi were

Simonians The Simonians were a Gnostic sect of the 2nd century which regarded Simon Magus as its founder and traced its doctrines, known as Simonianism, back to him. The sect flourished in Syria, in various districts of Asia Minor and at Rome. In the 3rd ce ...

, and had nothing to do with the Manichean or Paulinic sect, and settled in the year of the East–West Schism in 1054 at Byzantium, and married Byzantine women, adopted Greek Orthodox Christianity and later assimilated in Slavic and Greek Population. In some studies the Athinganoi are described as remnants of the

Indo-Greeks The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern r ...

who left India in 400 AD at the time of

Migration period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roma ...

Name

The etymology of the word is not certain, but a common determination is a derivation in Greek for "(the) untouchables" (compare Indian

Chandala Chandala ( sa, चांडाल, caṇḍāla) is a Sanskrit word for someone who deals with disposal of corpses, and is a Hindu lower caste, traditionally considered to be untouchable. A female member of this caste is known as a ''Caṇ� ...

dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

), derived from a

privative alpha An alpha privative or, rarely, privative a (from Latin ', from Ancient Greek ) is the prefix ''a-'' or ''an-'' (before vowels) that is used in Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit and Greek and in words borrowed therefrom to express negat ...

prefix and the verb (, , "to touch"). The Manichean sect is mentioned in Soghdian sources.

Association with Romani people

The name , a later variant form of which is (), came to be associated with the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic Itinerant groups in Europe, itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have Ro ...

who first appeared in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

at the time. is the root word for "cigano", "çingene", "cigány", "zigeuner", "tzigan", "țigan", and "zingaro", words used to describe members of the

in various European languages. Today many of these words are still used in a derogatory sense, albeit others are the most common exonym for them in a given language. The idea of Roma as sorcerers also plays a part in the apparent confusion between the (the Roma), and the . The exact relationship between the and the Romani people remains uncertain. Historians, such as Rochow, have suggested three different explanations for the association: # The name may have been transferred from the Christian sect to the Romani people because both had gained a reputation for

fortune telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...

or because the Romani people were perceived to have adopted the religious practices of the sect. # The popular Greek name for the

, , may have been original and unrelated to the , with the association of the two groups in Byzantine writings was due to ignorance and confusion between superficially similar names. # The name may have been given to any itinerant people who came from abroad and were perceived to practice a different religion, with the term only later applying more narrowly to the Romani people.

Purported doctrines according to Christian polemicists

An earlier, and probably quite distinct, sect with the same name is refuted by Marcus Eremita, who seems to have been a disciple of St. John Chrysostom. They were regarded as Judaizing Heretics. About AD 600,

Timotheus Timotheus is a masculine male name. It is a latinized version of the Greek name (Timόtheos) mmeaning "one who honours God", from τιμή "honour" and θεός "god"., . The English version '' Timothy'' (and its variations) is a common name in ...

, Presbyter of Constantinople, in his book ''De receptione Haereticorum''

Cotelier Jean-Baptiste Cotelier or Cotelerius (born December, 1629, Nîmes; died 19 August 1686, Paris) was a Patristic scholar and Catholic theologian. Life His early education was under the personal direction of his father, at one time a Protestant mini ...

, "Monumenta eccles. Graeca", III, 392; P.G., LXXXVI, 34. adds at the end of his list of heretics who need rebaptism the Mandopolini, "now called . They live in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...

, and are neither Hebrews nor Gentiles. They keep the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as ...

, but are not circumcised. They will not touch any man. If food is offered to them, they ask for it to be placed on the ground; then they come and take it. They give to others with the same precautions".

References

Bibliography

* Joshua Starr: ''An Eastern Christian Sect: The Athinganoi''. In: Harvard Theological Review 29 (1936), 93-106. * Ilse Rochow: ''Die Häresie der Athinganer im 8. und 9. Jahrhundert und die Frage ihres Fortlebens''. In: Helga Köpstein, Friedhelm Winkelmann (eds.), ''Studien zum 8. und 9. Jahrhundert in Byzanz'', Berlin 1983 (= Berliner Byzantinistische Arbeiten, 51), 163-178. * Paul Speck: ''Die vermeintliche Häresie der Athinganoi''. In: Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 47 (1997), 37-50 {{Authority control Trinitarianism Former Christian denominations Heresy in Christianity in the Middle Ages Christian organizations established in the 9th century Melchizedek Byzantine Anatolia Christianity in the Byzantine Empire Greek words and phrases

Name

Association with Romani people

Purported doctrines according to Christian polemicists

See also

References

Bibliography