Montanus was the second century founder of
Montanism
Montanism (), known by its adherents as the New Prophecy, was an early Christian movement of the late 2nd century, later referred to by the name of its founder, Montanus. Montanism held views about the basic tenets of Christian theology simi ...
and a self proclaimed prophet. Montanus emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit, in a manner which set him apart from the
Great church
The term "Great Church" ( la, ecclesia magna) is used in the historiography of early Christianity to mean the period of about 180 to 313, between that of primitive Christianity and that of the legalization of the Christian religion in the Roman ...
.
Life
Only very little is known about the life of Montanus.
Montanus used to be a pagan priest but later converted into Christianity.
Montanus began his prophesying in a village called Ardabau, located 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 ...
. The date of when Montanus started prophesying is somewhere around 157–172, however the Church Fathers gave differing dates on the start of Montanism. During his life Montanus was assisted by two women,
Prisca
Priscilla is an English female given name adopted from Latin '' Prisca'', derived from ''priscus''. One suggestion is that it is intended to bestow long life on the bearer.
The name first appears in the New Testament of Christianity variously a ...
and
Maximilla
Maximilla was a prophetess and an early advocate of Montanism, a heretical Christian sect founded in the third century A.D. by Montanus. Some scholars believe that Maximilla and Priscilla, another prophet, were actually the co-founders of Montan ...
, who also claimed to have prophecies.
Teachings
The teachings of Montanism include:
# That a new age of prosperity would come, and New Jerusalem will soon be established in
Pepuza.
# One could marry only once.
# Abandoning marriage for spiritual reasons was allowed.
# Every true Christian had to have recognizable spiritual gifts.
# Martyrdom was encouraged and trying to escape was seen as bad
# The prophets could forgive sins.
# The church could never permit apostates, murderers and fornicators back.
# Opposition to
formalism
Formalism may refer to:
* Form (disambiguation)
* Formal (disambiguation)
* Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary
* Formalism (linguistics)
* Scien ...
in theology.
# A high emphasis on morality.
Impact
The influence of Montanus and
Marcion
Marcion of Sinope (; grc, Μαρκίων ; ) was an early Christian theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ who was an entirely new, alien god, distinct from the vengeful God of Israel who had created ...
helped to spur the early church to begin the process of developing the New Testament canon.
Montanus was heavily attacked by other early church theologians and seen as a heretic.
However,
Tertullian
Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...
adopted Montanism.
References
{{Montanism
Heresy in ancient Christianity
2nd-century Romans
Converts to Christianity from pagan religions
Montanism