The Apotactics or Apotactites (from the Greek ''apotassomai'', to renounce) were adherents of a
Christian heresy
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
In Western Christianity, heresy most commonly refers to those beliefs which were declared to ...
which sprang up in the third century and spread through the western and southern parts of
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
(present Anatolia, Asian Turkey).
History
What little is known of this sect is found in the writings of
Epiphanius of Salamis
Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He ...
,
who wrote that they called themselves Apotactics ("renunciators") because they scrupulously renounced all private property, believing that "a renunciation of property is necessary to salvation." They were also called Apostolics, because they attempted to follow the manner of life of the
Twelve Apostles
In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minis ...
, and they rejected marriage. They also abstained from wine and meat. The saint regards them as a branch of the
Tatian
Tatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, (; la, Tatianus; grc, Τατιανός; syc, ܛܛܝܢܘܣ; c. 120 – c. 180 AD) was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century.
Tatian's most influential wo ...
s, akin to the
Encratites
The Encratites ("self-controlled") were an ascetic 2nd-century sect of Christians who forbade marriage and counselled abstinence from meat. Eusebius says that Tatian was the author of this heresy. It has been supposed that it was these Gnostic Enc ...
and the
Cathari
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...
.
[''The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Books II and III'', trans. Frank Williams (Leiden: Brill, 1993)]
p. 114
/ref> Further, according to Epiphanius, "They boast of having no possessions, if you please, but they divide and harm God's holy church for no good reason, by depriving themselves of God's lovingkindness through their willful sort of worship. For they allow no readmission if one of them has lapsed, and when it comes to matrimony and the rest they agree with the sects mentioned above hat is, the Tatians, Encratites, and Cathari
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mech ...
And the Purists use only the canonical scriptures, but these people rely mostly on the so-called Acts of Andrew and Thomas, and have nothing to do with the ecclesiastical canon."[''Panarion'']
p. 115
/ref>
At the time when Epiphanius wrote, in the fourth century, they had become an insignificant sect, for in refuting them he says: "They live in a small area, around 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 empire ...
, Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian language, Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from th ...
and Pamphylia
Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north b ...
. Now what does this mean? Is the church exterminated from one end of the earth to the other? Will 'Their sound is gone out unto all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world,' no longer hold?"St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
and by St. John Damascene. They were condemned in the Code of Theodosius the Great as a branch of the dualist heresy of Manicheans
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 (A ...
.
References
Notes
*
Christian denominations established in the 3rd century
{{Christian-denomination-stub