FALSE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS
THROUGH OUT HISTORY
FIRST CENTURY
SECOND CENTURY
BASILIDIANS, CARPOCRATIANS, VALENTINIANS, MARCIONITES, CERDONIANS, EBIONITES, DOCETAE, MONTANISTS, ENCRATITES, ALOGI, MONARCHIANS, ADOPTIONIST, ADAMITES, ANTIDICOMARIANITES
THIRD CENTURY
TERTULLIANISTS, ORIGENISTS, NOVATIANS, MANICHEANS, MILLENARIANS
FOURTH CENTURY
DONATISTS, AUDAEANS, ARIANS, MACEDONIANS, MASSALIANS, AERIANS, APOLLINARISTS, PRISCILLIANISTS, JOVINIANS, VIGILANTIANS
FIFTH CENTURY
PELAGIANS, SEMIPELAGIANS, NESTORIANS, PREDESTINARIANS, MONOPHYSITES
SEVENTH CENTURY
EIGHTH CENTURY
NINTH CENTURY
ELEVENTH CENTURY
TWELFTH CENTURY
THIRTEENTH CENTURY
FOURTEENTH CENTURY
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
HUSSITES , ANABAPTISTS, OSIANDRISTS, ZWINGLIANS, PRESBYTERIANS, LUTHERANS, SACRAMENTARIANS, MENNONITES, EPISCOPALIANS OR ANGLICANS, CALVINISTS ,UNITARIANS, SOCINIANS, HUGUENOTS, REFORMED DUTCH, CONGREGATIONALISTS
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
NINETEENTH CENTURY
GERMAN REFORMED, DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, TRUE REFORMED DUTCH, HICKSITES, MORMONS, CATHOLIC APOSTOLICAL CHURCH, PERFECTIONISTS, ADVENTISTS, SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, SALVATION ARMY, CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS, OLD CATHOLICS, MODERNISTS, DOWIEITES, JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST, CHURCH OF CHRIST, HOLINESS CHURCHES, CHURCH OF GOD
TWENTIETH CENTURY
FIRST CENTURY
SIMONIANS: Followers of Simon Magus, a magician of Apostolic times who claimed to be a sort of emanation of the Eternal. Since he was the first to oppose the teachings of the Apostles he is sometimes called "The Father of Heretics". According to St. Justin, Simon came from Gitta in the country of the Samaritans. He was baptized a Christian, but his conversion was evidently not sincere as he attempted to purchase from the Apostles what he regarded as their magical power. Hence the word "simony" signifying traffic in sacred things. According to St. Ambrose, St. Augustin and others, Simon died in Rome as the result of an attempted ascent to heaven.
The Simonians denied free-will; taught that the world was created by angels; believed in the transmigration of souls, and denied the humanity of Jesus Christ.
CERINTHEIANS: Disciples of Cerinthus, a contemporary of St. John against whose errors on the divinity of Christ the Apostle is said by some to have written the Fourth Gospel. According to Theodoret, Cerinthus was an Egyptian. In Asia he founded a school and gathered about him a number of disciples. Of these we know almost nothing except that they flourished in Asia and Galatia.
The Cerinthians denied that God was the creator of the world; asserted that the Law of Moses was necessary for salvation; held that after the Resurrection Jesus Christ would establish a terrestrial kingdom where the just would spend a thousand years in the enjoyment of sensual pleasure; and denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.
SECOND CENTURY
BASILIDIANS: So-called after Basilides, a native of Alexandria who flourished under the Emperors Hadrian and Antonius Pius from about 120 to 140. Of his life we know nothing except that he had a son Isidore who followed in his footsteps. One of the maxim of Basilides was: "Know others, but let no one know you".
The Basilidians held fabulous views on the Deity; rejected Revelation and claimed the God of the Jews to be only an angel; held that angels created the world; denied the humanity and miracles of Jesus; denied the resurrection of the body , and believed that Simon of Cyrene was crucified in place of Christ who returned to His Father unharmed.
CARPOCRATIANS: Followers of Carpoerates, an Alexandrian philosopher, who flourished during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian (117-138). They are also called "gnostics", that is learned or enlightened.
The Carpocratians held that everyone has two souls; believed in the transmigration of souls; maintained that the world was created by angels; denied the divinity of Christ, and advocated the practice of immorality as a means of union with God.
VALENTINIANS: A sect named after Valentine, an Egyptian, who separated himself from the Church because he was disappointed in not obtaining a bishopric. He came to Rome during the pontificate of Hyginus (136-140) and remained until the pontificate of Anicetus (155-166). At first he abjured his errors but again embraced them, and persevered in them until his death, which occurred in Cyprus about 160. The religious system of Valentine was extremely comprehensive and the most widely diffused of all the forms of Gnosticism. His school was divided into two branches, the Oriental and the Italian. The former was spread through Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor; the latter in Rome, Italy and Southern Gaul.
Valentine invented an absurd genealogy of Eons and gods; denied that Mary was the Mother of God; taught justification by faith alone; held matter to be eternal, and denied free-will and the resurrection of the body.
MARCIONITES: Followers of Marcion, the son of the Bishop of Sinope in Pontus, born about 110. For some fault not definitely known to history he was excommunicated by his father. At this time it appears that he was suffragan bishop to his father, to whom he appealed for re-admission into the Church. Reconciliation being refused him, he traveled to Rome where he united with Cerdo and began propagating heretical doctrines. Tertullian relates in 207 that Marcion professed penitence and accepted as condition for his readmission into the Church that he should bring back to the fold those whom he had led astray. But he died before he could carry out his good intentions.
Marcion taught the existence of two gods, the one good and the other evil; denied the Incarnation of Christ, and rejected the Old Testament.
CERDONIANS: Disciples of Cerdo, a Syrian, who came to Rome about the year 139 under the pontificate of Hyginus (136-140).
He taught that there were two gods, one good, the other evil; denied the resurrection of the body, and prohibited marriage, wine and the eating of flesh.
EBIONITES: Followers of what modern critics hold to be a suppositious character know as Ebion. It is doubtful whether such a person ever existed.
The Ebionites denied the divinity of Christ; rejected all the New Testament except the Gospel of St. Matthew, which they mutilated; taught that some men were created by good angels, others by bad ones; considered St. Paul a heretic, and practiced free-love.
DOCETAE: According to Clement of Alexandria a distinct religious sect founded by one Julius Cassianus, about whom little in known except that he was a disciple of Valentine.
They practically denied the Incarnation of God in Christ Some affirmed the body of Christ to have been a mere deceptive appearance, others only denied its fleshly character, but the object of all was render the conceptions of Christ life on earth less material and more spiritual.
MONTANISTS: So-called after Montanus, a Phrygian who appears to have been a priest of Cybele. He was converted about the year 150 and soon after began to fall into fits of ecstacy and to utter "prophecies". Maximilla and Priscilla, who deserted their husbands and became "prophetesses". Expelled from the Church, Montanus set up for himself, organizing a body of preachers to be supported by the voluntary contributions of his followers. Eusebius says that he died miserably by hanging himself.
Montanus claimed to have received a new revelation from God, the Mosaic and Christian dispensations having failed. He prescribed at first two, and afterwards three, annual fasts of a week instead of one such fast; forbade all second marriages; refused restoration to all such as had been guilty of murder, adultery or idolatry; required the veiling of virgins in the assemblies of the Church. The novelty of Montanus’ teaching was not so much in the things themselves as his prescribing them under obedience to a new express revelation.
ENCRATITES: A religious sect supported by Tatian, a Christian apologist, who was born in Assyria about 110. Later he went to Rome where he taught rhetoric. He enjoyed the friendship of Justin Martyr and was converted by him to Christianity about 152. His work, "An Address to the Greek", is one of the earliest apologies directed against the pagan philosophers. After the death of Justin, about 167, Tatian returned to the East and adopted very strange ideas of the gnostic variety, identifying himself with the Encratites. One of his best known disciples was Severus, Bishop of Gabala in Spain, who added new life and strength to the sect as well as differed from his master in a few essential points. Due to him the Encaratites are sometimes called "Severians".
They held that matter was uncreated and eternal; attributed creation of some thing to God, but only through the instrumentality of an inferior Eon; denied the resurrection of the dead and free-will; rejected the Law of Moses; condemned matrimony, the use of flesh and wine and used only water in the Eucharistic rite. For this reason they are sometimes called "Aquarii."
ALOGI : The members of this sect rejected John’s authorship of the Fourth Gospel and the Apocalypse, and in general all writings in which the Logos is mentioned. Hence their name, which according to their enemies, also proclaimed them to be without reason. It is difficult to trace their origin to any one individual.
MONARCHIANS: The word "Monarchian" was first used by Tertulian as a nickname for a group of heretics known as Patripassionists in the West and Sabellians in the East, but was seldom used by theancients. In modern times it has been extended to include an earlier group of heretic known as Theodotians. Thus there are two branches of what are now known as Monarchians, the Theodotians and the group comprised of the Patripassionists and the Sabellians. These two branches are also sometimes classified as Dynamistic and Modalist Monarchians respectibely, and at other times are united under the single name of Antitrinitarians. Their founder was Praxeas, a native of Phrygia and an early anti-Montanist. He is known to us only through Tertullian’s book "Adversus Praxeam", where he is described as being inflated with pride as a Confessor of the Faith because he had spent a short time in prison. He was probably the first of the Monarchians to visit Rome, where he was well received by the Pope about 190-198, with whom he used his influence against the Montanists.
The Modalist Monarchians, the Monarchians properly so-called denied the Mystery of the Trinity, and held that God the Father and God the Son were one and the same person.
ADOPTIONIST: The sect originally called Theodotians after their leader, a leather-seller of Byzantium, who came to Rome under Pope Victor about 190-200, or earlier. In later years they have been called "Adoptionists", or, as stated under "Monarchians", are sometime classed as Dunamistic Monarchians, though they have no logical claim to the latter title. The Adoptionists denied the divinity of Christ and apparently made a distinction between Jesus and Christ.
ADAMITES: A very immoral sect whose origin is traced to a certain Prodicus. They rejected the worship of an invisible God; practiced idolatry condemned marriage and believed their church to be Paradise.
ANTIDICOMARIANITES:An eastern sect which has been so designated because they were opponents of Mary. It is difficult to trace their origin to any particular individual. They denied that Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Christ.
THIRD CENTURY
TERTULLIANISTS: A sect that flourished in Carthage for 200 years after the death of Tertullian, whom they claimed as their founder. This man was the most eminent Latin ecclesiastical writer of the early Church. He was born at Carthage about 160, was converted to Christianity and later ordained to the priesthood. His over-severe views and austerity caused him to break with the regular Church authorities and he fell into the errors of Montanism. He is famous for many works, apologetical, doctrinal and ethicopractical, and is considered the most fecund, original and powerful genius in all the history of Christian Latin literature. He was a priest for 40 years and died at a very advanced age.
The errors of Tertullian were a belief that the Church could not absolve adulterers; that those who married a second time were adulterers, and that it was not lawful to fly from persecution.
ORIGENISTS: Named after Origen, one of the most learned and spirited men of his time, born at Alexandria in 185. His father was St. Leonidas, the martyr, who had him educated in every branch of sacred and profane literature. So great was the zeal of Origen for Christianity that he besought his mother to allow him to join his father when he was in prison during the persecution that he too might shed his blood for Christ. His earlier years were devoted to intensive study and successful teaching, and as time went on his fame for learning and wisdom grew so that all the priests and doctors consulted him in any difficult matter. He was one of the most voluminous writers the world has ever seen. He was ordained to the priesthood at Caesarea, but the Bishop of Alexandria, provoke for some reason or other, refused to recognize him. In spite of his deposed and excommunicated by an Alexandria council. He success. During the persecution under Maximinus he fled to Cappadocia where he lived for two years. Under Gordianus he returned and continued his activities, but the suffering and torture he endured under the Decian persecution broke his strength, and he died at Tyre in 254.
Origen held that from their beginning all rational creatures were pure spirits; taught that after the universal restoration, which was to be accomplished by a second crucifixion of Christ, all, even the damned in hell, would be pure spirits; and believed that the blessed in heaven could be expelled from that abode for faults committed there. There errors were condemned by Second Council of Constantinople in 553.
NOVATIANS: A schismatical sect which took its name from Novatus (Novatian), a Roman priest who made himself anti-pope. He was a learned and eloquent man but of a melancholy temperament, and, according to St. Cyprian, was turbulent, seditious and avaricious. St. Cornelius states that Novatus was possessed by Satan for a season, apparently while a catechumen. He was baptized by aspersion as he lay on a bed of sickness, but apparently was never confirmed. How he became a priest is not clear. He was accused by Cornelius of cowardice during the persecution of Decius. At the beginning of 251 the persecution relaxed and St. Cornelius was elected Pope. Some days later Novatus set himself up as a rival pope and had himself consecrated bishop. A council of sixty bishops was assembled under Pope Cornelius before the end of 251 in which Novatus was excommunicated.
The Nobatians held that idolatry was an unpardonable sin, that confirmation was no sacrament, that mortal sins committed after baptism could not be forgiven; condemned second marriages, and refused Communion to those who had contracted them, even at the time of death.
MANICHEANS: Follower of Manes (Mani), a Persian, born in 216 in the village of Mardinu in Babylonia. IN 242 he stood before the people of his native village as a religious teacher, but being unsuccessful there, he lived the life of a wanderer for forty years. He announced himself as the "Messenger of the True God", and amongst Christians as the promised Paraclete. Returning to Persia, he mad a first a favorable impression upon the king, Ormuzd I. Ormuzd’s favor, however, as of little avail, as he occupied the Persian throne only a single year, and Bahram I, his successor, caused Manes to be crucified, had the corpse flayed, and the skin stuffed and hung up at the city gate as a terrifying spectacle to his followers, whom he persecuted with relentless severity. Manes’ death is fixed at about 276-277.
The Manicheans believed in a plurality of gods; rejected the Old Testament absolutely, and of the New they retained only what had been revised and redacted by Manes; they held that Christ had no real body; denied free-will; recognized no baptism or marriage; believed in the transmigration of souls, and held that each man had two souls.
MILLENARIANS: Advocates of an old heresy that was revived by Nipos (Nepos), Bishop of Egypt during the third century. His energy in defending the doctrines of this third century. His energy in defending the doctrines of this sect nearly brought about a schism in the Church, but unity was preserved by the Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
The fundamental idea of millenarianism may be set forth as follows. At the end of time Christ will return in all His splendor to gather together the just, to annihilate hostile powers, and to found a glorious kingdom on earth for the enjoyment of the highest spiritual and material blessings. He Himself will reign as its King, and all the just, including the Saints recalled to life, will participate in it. At the close of this kingdom the Saints will enter heaven with Christ, while the wicked, who have also been resuscitated, will be condemned to eternal damnation. The duration of this glorious reign of Christ with His Saints on earth is frequently given as 1000 years. Hence the name Millenarianism.
FOURTH CENTURY
DONATISTS: Heretical followers of Donatus the Great, an African Bishop, who played a prominent part in the Donatist schism (named after another Donatus) of the fourth century, which preceded and paved the way for the heresy of the same name. He succeeded Majorinus in 315 as Bishop of Carthage, and being a man of forceful character gave a great impetus to the Donatist movement. They held that the true Church consisted only of the elect, and declared baptism to be invalid unless conferred by a Donatist.
AUDAEANS: A sect that took its rise and name from Audaeus, a native of Mesopotamia, who was banished to Scythia in 338 and died about 370 in the country of the Goths. He incurred the enmity of the clergy by censuring their luxuries and vices. The Audaeans held that God has a human form, and taught erroneous opinions concerning the administration of the Sacrament of Penance.
ARIANS: The strongest heretical sect with which the early Church had to contend. Its leader was Arius, an Alexandrian priest, theologian and controversialist. Arius was ordained deacon by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, but was subsequently excommunicated by him for joining in with the Meletian schism. He later repented and was restored, being advanced to the priesthood and given sole charge of a Church. After some time he was excommunicated again for his heretical views. He was a rigorous ascetic, a persuasive speaker and ardent propagandist. Tall, gloomy, fanatical, with down-cast eyes and tangled hair, he went about singing his doctrines, which he had set to the music of the theaters. Before long they were being sung by priests, boatmen, bakers and all sorts of people. The first ecumenical council, that of Nicea, was convened to condemn the heresy. Arius was banished to Illyria but later succeeded in returning in order to replace Athanasius, his chief opponent, as Bishop of Alexandria, but the popular up-roar did not allow him actually to do so. He died in his errors. The Arians denied the divinity of Christ, and taught that God the Son was not eternal, Christ being made the partaker of the divine nature as a reward for the work of the redemption.
MACEDONIANS: The followers of Macedonius, who was intruded into the See of Constantinople by the Arians (342) , and enthroned by Constantius, who had for the second time expelled Paul, the Catholic Bishop. Macedonius is known in history for his most cruel persecution of the Catholics and Novatians. Subsequently he fell into disgrace. Constantius caused him to be deposed and succeeded by Eudoxius in 360. He died about 364. The Macedonians denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost.
MASSALIANS: A sect founded by a native of Mesopotamia named Adelphus. They were a kind of vagrant quietest. Sacraments they held to be useless, though harmless, the only spiritual power being prayer, by which one drove out the evil spirit which baptism had not expelled, received the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and arrived at union with God, becoming so perfect that the passion ceased to trouble. They disregarded regulations in the matter of fasting; wandered from place to place, and in summer were accustomed to sleep in the streets. They engaged in no occupations.
AERIANS: Adherents of Aerius, a priest ordained by Eustathius, Bishop of Sebaste (355) and placed over the hospital or asylum in that city. He soon fell out with Eustathius, began to preach a doctrine of his own and for a time had many followers. He insisted that there was no sacred character distinguishing bishops and priests from laymen taught that the observance of the feast of Easter was a Jewish superstition; that it was wrong to prescribe fasts or abstinence by law, and held that it was useless to pray for the dead.
APOLLINARISTS: The sect started by Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea. At first this prelate was highly esteemed by such men as St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and St. Jerome for his classical culture his biblical learning, his defense of Christianity and his loyalty to the Nicene faith. But later, having fallen into heresy, he failed to submit to the solemn condemnation of his doctrine by the Council of Constantinople in 381, and died in his error about 392.
Apollinaris taught that Christ had a human body and a human sensitive soul, but no human rational mind, the Divine Logus taking the place of this last; held that there were three different degrees of dignity in the Trinity itself; and maintained erroneous views on the Incarnation, on of which was that the Divine Substance of the Word was converted into flesh.
PRISCILLIANISTS: A sect originally founded by an Egyptian from Memphis by the name of Mark. One of his early disciples was Priscillian, a man of noble birth, great riches, bold, restless, eloquent, learned and ready at debate and discussion, who soon became leader of the sect which now bears his name. He was ordained to the priesthood and appointed Bishop of Avila by his heretical followers, among whom were two bishops. About 383 he was condemned to death. His errors were condemned in the Council of Saragossa by St. Damasus.
The Priscillianists held that angels and the souls of men were severed from the substance of the Deity; that Christ only appeared to be a man and that His death was only apparent; prohibited meat; rejected the narrative of creation in the Old Testament, and denied the Trinity.
JOVINIANS: Followers of Jovinianus, a monk for a while but subsequently an advocate of anti-ascetical tendencies. His views, promulgated mostly by writing, were condemned by Pope Siricius in a Council held at Rome in the year 390, and soon after in another Council held by St. Ambrose in Milan. In the end Jovinianus was exiled by the Emperor Theodosius, and after by Honorius, to Boas, a maritime town of Dalmatia, where he died in misery in the year 412.
He taught that a virgin, as such, is no better in the sight of God than a wife; held abstinence to be no better than the taking of food in the proper disposition; that a person baptized with the Spirit as well as with water cannot sin; that all sins are equal; that there is but one grade of punishment and one of reward in the future state, and denied the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
VIGILANTIANS: A sect started by Vigilantius, a Gallie writer and priest of the last years of the fourth century. He was born in Western Gaul and became an inn-keeper, but about 395, through the influence of Sulpicius Severus, was ordained to the priesthood. He went to visit St. Jerome and immediately quarreled with him on religious matters, accusing him of being a heretic. St. Jerome later refuted his errors.
Vigilantius condemned the veneration of images and relics; the invocation of the Saints; the celibacy of the clergy; and monasticism: and held it useless to pray for the dead.
FIFTH CENTURY
PELAGIANS: Followers of the doctrines of Pelagius, about whom little is known. He is spoken of by several of his contemporaries as a Briton. In 409, to avoid Alaric’s siege of Rome, he escaped with his convert and pupil, Caelestius, to Northern Africa, and had gone from there to Palestine before the meeting of the Council of Carthage in 411, which condemned Caelestius. Pelagius is not heard of after 418, but there is a tradition that he was 70 years of age when he died in some obscure town in Palestine. He appears to have been a very good man (St. Augustin called him "saintly") , of more than common moral strictness and purity, if not a man of any great spiritual depth or intellectual grasp. He fell into heresy through contact with a Syrian priest named Rufinus; not, however Rufinus of Aquilea who disputed with St. Jerome.
The heretical doctrines of Pelagius, condemned at the Council of Ephesus, 431, were: Adam would have died if he had not sinned; Adam’s sin injured himself only, not the race; children are born as pure as Adam was before he fell; men neither die because Adam fell, nor rise again in consequence of Christ’s resurrection; unbaptized as well as baptized infants are saved; the Mosaic Law is as good a guide to heaven as the Gospel; even before Christ’s advent there were sinless men.
SEMIPELAGIANS: A sect traced to John Cassianus, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Victor, a celebrated and holy man, who, although never formally canonized, was venerated as a Saint, and whose name appears as such on the Greek Calendar. He was the first to introduce the rules of Eastern monasticism into the West. Being the son of wealthy parents, he received a good education. He first entered a monastery in Bethlehem but later withdrew into the Egyptian desert, being attracted by the holiness of the hermits there. During a visit to Rome he was elevated to the priesthood, and subsequently founded two monasteries at Marseilles, one of which he ruled as Abbot.
The errors of the Semipelagians were condemned in the year 432 by Pope Celestine I; in 529 by Pope Felix IV, in the Synod of Orange and the Synod of Valence, both of which Councils were confirmed by Pope Boniface II. These errors were: the beginning faith depends on man’s free-will, while faith itself and its increase depend absolutely upon God; nature has a certain claim to grace; final perseverance is not a special gift of grace but depends upon man’s own strength; some children die before baptism, and others after on account of the foreknowledge God possesses of the good or evil they would have done if they had lived; some are predestined to heaven, other to hell.
NESTORIANS: Nestorius, the founder of this sect, was born at Germanicia, Syria Euphoratensis. He was living as a priest and monk in the monastery of Euprepius near the walls, when he was chosen by the Emperor Theodosius II to be Patriarch of Constantinople. He enjoyed a great reputation for eloquence, and after his consecration in 428, displayed great zeal and energy in opposing heretics of his time. Towards the close of the same year his own doctrine was protested against, and later condemned by a Council. He refused to abide by this decision and was thrust out of his See by the Emperor. Nestorius retired to his monastery at Antioch, but a few years later was banished to the Oasis. He was at one time carried off by the Nubians in a raid, and was restored to the Thebaid with his hand and one rib broken. He died there about 451.
The heretical doctrines of the Nestorians were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431. They taught that there were two separate persons in Christ, one divine and the other human; and claimed that Mary was the mother of the human person only, not of the divine.
PREDESTINARIANS: A heresy which was defended by Lucidas, a priest of Gaul, towards the middle of the fifth century. About his life in other respects, history is silent. The heresy was condemned in 475 in the Council of Lyons.
Lucidas taught that God absolutely and positively predestined some to eternal death and others to eternal life, in such a manner that the latter have not to do anything in order to secure salvation, divine grace of itself carrying them on to their destiny; that Christ did not die for the non-elect, since they are destined for hell.
MONOPHYSITES: Sometimes called Eutychians, after Eutyches, their founder, who flourished during the fifth century and gave his name to an opinion to which his teaching and influence contributed little or nothing. He was not a learned man but very much respected and had influence. In 448 Eutyches was 70 years of age, and had been for 30 years archimandrite of a monastery outside the walls of Constantinople, where he ruled over 300 monks. He was a bitter opponent of Nestorianism and the other heresies. At a synod convened by St. Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople about 448, he accused Eusebius, Bishop of Dorylaeum, of teaching false doctrine, and the accused answered by launching a counter-charge of heresy against Eutyches. Not being able to answer satisfactorily he was condemned and exiled in 450.
The doctrines of the Monophysites, that Christ had only one nature, was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451.
SEVENTH CENTURY
MONOTHELITES: An heretical sect that owed its origin to Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who was assisted in great measure by Cyril (Cyrus), Bishop of Phasis and later Patriarch of Alexandria.
The doctrine of the Monothelites, who held that there were two natures, but only a divine will in Christ, was condemned by the Council of Constantinople in the year 680.
PAULICIANS: Constantine of Mananalis, called himself Silvanus, founded what appears to have been the first Paulician community at Kibossa, near Colonia in Armenia. He began to teach about 657. He wrote no books and taught that the New Testament, as he presented it, should be the only text used by his followers. After preaching for 27 years and having spread his sect into the Western part of Asia Minor, he was arrested by the Imperial authorities, tried for heresy and stoned to death.
The Paulicians believed in a plurality of Gods; held all matter to be bad; rejected the Old Testament; denied the Incarnation; held Christ to be an angel, and his real mother the heavenly Jerusalem: taught that faith in Christ saves from judgment; denied the sacraments and apparently believed in the transmigration of souls; condemned all exterior forms of religion and refused to honor the Cross since they maintained that Christ had not been crucified.
EIGHTH CENTURY
ICONOCLASTS: A sect stirred up and supported by Leo the Isaurian who used his influence and power Emperor to wage a bitter war against the veneration of sacred images of all kinds. This outbreak commenced about the year 723 and led to much violence.
The Iconoclasts held that the veneration of sacred images was idolatry. This error was condemned by thee Second Council of Nice in the year 787.
ADOPTIONISTS: A sect whose origin is attributed to Elipandus Archbishop of Toledo, Spain.
They held a double son ship in Christ; one by generation and nature, and the other by adoption and grace. Christ as God is indeed the Son of God by generation and nature, but Christ as man is Son of God only by adoption and grace. Hence they maintained "The Man Christ" to be the adoptive, and not the natural, Son of God.
NINTH CENTURY
GREEK-RUSSIAN: This independent church is the result of what is known in history as the "Greek Schism". Its origin dates from the time of Photius, a high official in the civil service of the Byzantine government, distinguished for his learning and literary taste. In 858, on the deposition of Ignatius, he was hurried through all the ecclesiastical degrees and installed by the Emperor Michael III as Patriarch of Constantinople. Pope Nicholas I objected to the irregularities of Photius’ elevation, and convoked a council at Rome which deposed and excommunicated him. Photius then gave the conflict a doctrinal turn and brought about conditions that paved the way for the Schism between the Eastern and Western Churches. Photius was deposed and sent into exile several times, the last being in 886, and a few years later died in an Armenian monastery. The schism commenced by him, although suppressed several times, continues to the present day.
The Greek Orthodox Church or, more correctly, the Orthodox Eastern Church, denies the supremacy of the Pope; holds that the Catholic Church erred in prescribing celibacy for the clergy, and teaches that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father alone.
ELEVENTH CENTURY
BOGOMILISTS: An heretical sect started by Basil, a monk and physician, who gathered about him twelve "apostles" and made his presence felt at Constantinople about the year 1118. The Emperor Alexis I, having received a frank exposition of the doctrine of this sect, demanded that they should retract their errors. Some who would not comply were thrown into prison, but Basil was condemned to death (1118) and burned.
They held that there two fundamental principles, one of good, the other of evil; taught that God the Father was incorporeal but had a human appearance; that He had two sons, one of whom had creative power; that man has two creators; rejected the Old Testament in parts; did away with baptism by water; denied the Real Presence; condemned marriage; rejected images, and prohibited the eating of meat.
BERENGARIANS: Followers of Berengarius, who was born at Tours about 999. He received a good education, became distinguished for learning and intelligence, and soon had a considerable following. Later he became Archdeacon of Angers. Errors crept into his doctrine which were condemned by the Church in numerous Councils, and Berengarius himself was for a while imprisoned. He retracted these, however, before his retirement to St. Cosme, near Tours, where he died in union with the Church in the year 1088.
Berengarius taught that the Body and Blood of Christ were really present in the Holy Eucharist, but only by a spiritual or intellectual presence; that the substance of bread and the substance of wine remain unchanged in their nature, but by consecration become spiritually the very Body and Blood of Christ.
TWELFTH CENTURY
PETROBROSIANS: Followers of a monk, Peter de Bruis, who, tired of the restraint of the cloister, apostatized, and fled to the province of Arles, where, about 1118, he began to preach his errors Twenty years later the populace of St. Gilles, near Nimes, exasperated by his burning of cross, cast him into the flames.
He rejected the baptism of infants; condemned altars and churches; prohibited the veneration of the Cross; rejected the Mass and Holy Eucharist; and denied the utility of prayers for the dead. These errors were all condemned by the Second Council of the Lateran in 1139.
HENRICIANS: So-called after Henry of Lausanne, a cluniac monk who left his monastery and began to preach to the people. He joined in with the Petrobrosians in Provence, was arrested and confined to a cell as a heretic. Subsequently release, he was again arrested and died in prison in 1149.
His doctrine mainly insisted upon personal responsibility as opposed to authority in religious matters and the rejection of the rites and authority of the Church.
WALDENSES: Founded by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant of Lyons, who carried out literally the counsel of Christ: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor". In 1176 he completed the distribution of all his earthly possessions and took a vow of poverty shortly afterwards. This action of his created a great stir in Lyons and he soon had imitators, many of whom began to preach in the streets. They soon fell into error an were condemned as heretics by numerous synods and councils, but especially by the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179.
Their errors were: the Catholic Church erred in accepting temporal property; they condemned tithes; believed in only two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist; held that layman could absolve from sin, but that a sinful priest could not; rejected indulgences, fasts and all the ceremonies of the Church; made no distinction between mortal and venial sins; claimed the veneration of sacred images to be idolatry, and condemned all oaths to be unlawful.
THIRTEENTH CENTURY
ALBIGENSES: Traced to one Constantine of Samosata and so-called because they first spread themselves in the city of Albi, or that part of Gaul called Albigensum, and subsequently in the Province of Toulouse. The errors of all other heresies were joined in this one sect. They were condemned in numerous synods, and especially by the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179.
They believed in tow Gods; held only the New Testament to be inspired; reject infant baptism; declared marriage sinful; that it was wrong to obey and support the clergy; held that everyone has the power to forgive sins; denied the Trinity, Incarnation, Redemption and the Sacraments; declared all penance useless, and held that an unworthy priest lost the power of consecrating the Holy Eucharist.
FRATICELLI: One sect by this name may be traced to Gherardo Segarelli, a laboring man Parma, who organized his followers as an "apostolic order", and made considerable noise in upper Italy. From 1260 to 1307. Another such sect was started by tow apostate Franciscan Friars, Peter of Macerata and Peter of Fossombrone.
In general these heretics held that there were tow churches, one carnal, the other spiritual; that only the spiritual church has the true Scriptures and divine power, and that in them alone was the Gospel of Jesus Christ fulfilled. They were condemned in 1318 by a Bull of Pope John XXII.
FLAGELLANTS: A sect which was the offspring of an ill-judged piety and can not be traced to any one individual.
The advocated excessive self-flagellation; confessed sins to laymen; believed that penance helped the damned; denied the Sacraments, and taught that one month’s penance was necessary for the forgiveness of sins. They were formally condemned as heretics by Pope Clement VI (1342-1352).
FOURTEENTH CENTURY
LOLLARDS: The name applied to the followers of John Whclif, who was born at Ipreswel (now Hispwell) near Richmond, Yourkshire, England, probably some years earlier than 1324. He studied at Oxford and in 1356 began to publish his works. His doctrines were condemned in 1382 by a synod of twelve theologians, and two years later Wyclif died. He was formally declared a heretic by the Council of Constance (1414-1418).
The Lollards held that the universe and God are one; that creation was an emanation of God; believed in predestination; denied the Real Presence; held the veneration of sacred images to be unlawful, and rejected the episcopacy of the Church.
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
HUSSITES: Founded by Peter Chelczicky, a layman of the Bohemian nobility.
They denied the doctrine of Transubstantiation; rejected tradition and held the Bible to be the only guide to heaven.
ANABAPTISTS: Nicholas Stork, a weaver (d. 1525), and Thomas Munzer, a Lutheran preacher and priest (c. 1490-1525), made, at the time of the so-called reformation, the first attacks on infant baptism, and thus launched the Anabaptist movement.
They denied the validity of infant baptism; practiced communism and polygamy; and condemned oaths and warfare as unlawful.
OSIANDRISTS: Disciples of a German reformer, Andreas Osiander, who was born Dec. 19, 1498, at Gunzenhausen, near Nuremberg. His real name was Hosemann. He was educated at Ingolstadt and Wittenberg, and became a preacher at Nuremberg in 1522, where he was conspicuously active in introducing the Protestant Reformation.
He taught that Christ was the justifier of mankind, not according to the human, but according to the divine nature.
ZWINGLIANS: Disciples of Ulric Zwingli, a contemporary of Luther, born at Wildhaus, Canton of St. Gall, Jan. 1 1484. In 1506 he became parish priest at Glarus, and later began preaching erroneous doctrines. In 1524 he married. He was killed in 1531 in the religious strife he had helped to stir up.
The Zwinglians believed in predestination; that marriage was suited to all; that it was presumption to take a vow of chastity; denied the authority of the Pope, free-will, the Sacraments, good works, purgatory and the forgiveness of sin.
PRESBYTERIANS: A religious denomination that owes its formation to John Knox, who was born at Gifford, East Lothian, Scotland, in 1505. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1530. In 1542 he sided with Protestant movement, and thereafter, until his death at Edinburgh in 1572, was most active in attacking the Catholic Church.
The Presbyterians believe in predestination; deny the authority of the Pope, free-will, the Sacraments, purgatory, good works and the forgiveness of sin.
LUTHERANS: The name of an heretical sect founded by Martin Luther, who was born at Eisleben, Germany, Nov. 10, 1483; attended a Catholic Latin school at Mansfeld, and in 1497, when fourteen years old, entered another Catholic University of Erfurt in Thuringia, in 1501, where he became a Master of Philosophy at the age of twenty. On July 17, 1505 he entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, and in 1507 was ordained a Catholic priest. In 1508 he was made professor of philosophy at the new Catholic University of Wittenberg, visited Rome in 1510 or 1511 on business of his Order, and sometime after his return began to lecture on the Scriptures. On Oct. 31, 1517 he nailed his 95 theses against indulgences to the door of the church in Wittenberg. On Sept. 21, 1520 he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Later he married an ex-nun, Catherine von Bora, and finally died in 1546.
Luther denied tradition; the divine authority of the Papacy; that councils were infallible; that original justice was a supernatural gift; that human nature remained essentially the same in its powers after the fall of Adam; that man, after the fall, can produce any good works; held that man sins in whatever he does; that the sins of the just are covered by faith and not done away with; maintained that all works of sinners are sins; denied free-will; all the Sacraments except Baptism and the Eucharist; transubstantiation; the Sacrifice of the Mass; purgatory and the utility of praying to the Saints; he maintained that vows are made to the devil; that concupiscence is invincible; that the sensual instincts are irrepressible, and held that the gratification of sexual propensities is as natural and inexorable as the performance of any of the physiological necessities of our being.
Lutheranism in general and all the Protestant sects that developed from it were condemned by the Council of Treat (1545-1563).
SACRAMENTARIANS: A sect started by Andreas Karlstadt, whose real name was Andreas Rudolf Bodenstein, at first a friend, but later an opponent of Luther. He was born at Karlstadt, Franconia, about 1480. After a stormy career, during which he was driven out of Saxony several times, and after much wandering about preaching Protestantism, he settled down as professor of theology at Bazel, where he died in 1541.
The Sacramentarians rejected the doctrine of a corpora presence in the Holy Eucharist, but admitted the spiritual presence of Christ.
MENNONITES: Founded by Menno Simons, who was born in 1492, at Witmarsum in Friesland, and ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1516. He became an Anabaptist elder in 1536, and during the rest of his life devoted himself to the sect that now bears his name. He died in 1559 at Wustenfelde in Hostein.
The Mennonites condemned infant baptism; oaths law suit; civil office holding; the bearing of arms; the Sacraments; and held a doctrine of non-resistance to violence.
EPISCOPALIANS: Members of the Church of England, which was founded by Henry VIII and established as the national church of that country in 1534 by an act of Parliament. Henry decided to establish his own church because the Catholic Church would not allow him to divorce his wife and remarry. In his Bull "Apostolicae Curae" published Sept. 18 1896, Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican Order to be invalid.
The Anglicans, as they are commonly called, believe in justification by faith alone ; hold that the Bible is sufficient for salvation and that it is to be interpreted privately; deny the supremacy of the Pope and hold the King supreme in spiritual matters; deny the doctrine of Transubstantiation, purgatory, and condemn the Veneration of the Saints.
CALVINISTS: Disciples of John Calvin, who was born at Noyor in Picardy, France, on July 10, 1509. He was undoubtedly the greatest of Protestant divines. He preached and taught his heretical doctrines until he died at Geneva, May 27, 1564.
Calvin held the doctrine of predestination; denied the supremacy of the Pope; free-will; good works; purgatory; the Sacraments; and the forgiveness of sin.
UNITARIANS: Martin Cellarius is commonly regarded as the first writer of the Unitarian movement. He was born in 1499 and, although a friend of Luther, differed from him on the fundamental position of the authority of Scripture. Is death occurred in 1564.
The Unitarians deny the divinity of Christ; accept or reject the Bible according to private judgement; deny the doctrine of Atonement and original sin; reject all but two of the Sacraments and deny the grace-conferring power and necessity even of these.
SOCINIANS: A sect which owes its origin to Laelius and Faustus Socinus. Laelius, born in 1525, was a priest of Sienna and intimate friend of Calvin. He was forced to flee to Poland at one time, but appears to have spent most of his life at Zurich. He died in 1562. Faustus, born in 1539, was a nephew of Laelius, and it is to him that the sect bearing his name owes its individuality. After his uncle’s death he succeeded in reuniting and reorganizing the Socinians who had scattered. He died in 1604.
The Socinians insisted on private judgment and the free use of reason; rejected authority, and some went so far as to reject all natural religion; discarded mysteries; denied Adam to have been endowed with peculiar gifts; set aside the doctrine of original sin; admitted only two sacraments; rejected baptism, and denied the existence of hell, holding the wicked to be annihilated.
HUGUENOTS: The name commonly given to the French Protestants who owe their origin to a great extent to William Farel. This man was born of a noble family at Fareaux, near Gap, Dauphine, in the year 1489. He was a friend of Calvin, studied in Paris, and later became a Professor in the College Le Moine, and was distinguished for his zeal for the Catholic Church. Contract with the Waldenses infected him with erroneous ideas, and he was soon involved in the Protestant movement. He died at Neuchatel, Sept. 13, 1565.
The Huguenots held the doctrine of predestination; denied the supremacy of the Pope; free-will; good works; purgatory; the Sacraments and forgiveness of sin.
REFORMED DUTCH: Guido de Bres, a Dutch reformer of Brabant, together with others, wrote in 1561 the statement of faith, called the Belgic Confession, which formed the doctrinal foundation of the Reformed Dutch Church.
These heretics believed in predestination; denied the supremacy of the Pope; free-will; the Sacraments; good works; purgatory; the forgiveness of sin, and considered the Scriptures the only rule of faith.
CONGREGATIONALISTS: Organized by Robert Browne, who was born of a good family in Rutlandshire, England, in 1550. He studied at Cambridge, and in 1580 began a propaganda against the Anglican State Church, which brought him many followers but compelled him to migrate to Holland.
The Congregationalists hold the doctrine of predestination; deny free-will; good works purgatory; the Sacrament and forgiveness of sin.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
BAPTISTS: Founded by John Smith, at one time pastor of a church at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England, that had separated from the Church of England. About 1606, to escape persecution, he and his flock emigrated to Amsterdam. Smith died in 1612.
Taught only baptism of immersion t be valid; predestination; denied free-will; good works ;purgatory; the Sacraments, and the forgiveness of sin.
JANSENISTS: Cornelius Jansenius was born Oct. 28, 1585, of a Catholic family in the village of Accoi (near Leerdam), Holland. He made most of his studies at Louvain, and later occupied the chair of exegesis at the same institution of learning, where he acquired considerable renown. In 1635 he was appointed Bishop of Ypres. He lived and died a member of the Catholic Church, but it was from his writings, published after his death, that Jansenism took its rise. The Jansenists deny free-will and the possiblity of resisting grace.
UNIVERSALISTS: The earliest exponent of the doctrine of Universalism was probably Samuel Gorton, a New England mystic, who aired his views as early as 1636. The belief did not receive definite organization, however until 1750, when James Relly organized a Universalist church in London, to which he ministered until his death, some thirty years later.
They deny the divinity of Christ; believe in the universal salvation of all; deny the Sacraments; free-will; good works, and the doctrine of the Trinity.
MUFFLETONIANS: John Reeve (1608-1658) and Lodowicke Muggleton (1609-1698), obscure journeymen tailors, who claimed to have the spirit of prophecy, propagated their views in London about the year 1651, and launched this sect. They denied the Trinity; claimed the devil became incarnate in Eve, and humanized the Deity.
QUAKERS: Started by George Fox, the son of a well-to-do weaver, born at Fenny Drayton, in Leicestershire, England, in July, 1624. He was apprenticed to a shoe-maker at an early age and received very little education. Disgusted with the vanity of the world, he cut himself off from it, brooded for years, and while in this melancholy state conceived the imaginings of his own distorted mind to be new revelations, which he began to preach in 1647.
He believed every man to have an "inner light" which was his only guide; rejected almost everything external in religion; condemned oaths, art, music, the drama, the bearing of arms, etc.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
MORAVIANS: Organized by Nikolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinaindorn (1700-1760). Born at Dresden, he was a very pious and religious man. An ordained minister in the Lutheran Church, he purchased and estate in Berthelsdorf, Germany and built up a quietistic community. Later he began travelling about establishing communities and instilling into them old Moravian doctrines.
The Moravians consider the Scriptures the only rule of faith shun discussion on the Trinity, the Fall, Original Sin, although they admit these doctrines; hold a doctrine of "Total Depravity", and admit only two sacraments.
METHODISTS: Founded by John Wesley, who was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, June 17, 1703. He was ordained a clergyman of the Anglican Church in 1728, and in 1736, when he visited Savannah in Georgia, came into contact with Moravian doctrines. He organized the first Methodist Society in 1739. Shortly after he left the Anglican Communion and organized his own church.
The Methodist doctrine is borrowed from the Anglicans and Calvanists. They hold Scripture to be the sole and sufficient rule of belief and practice; teach justification by faith alone, although the practice of good works is commended; condemn works of supererogation; admit only two sacraments; condemn the invocation of the Saints and the veneration of sacred images and relics; and deny purgatory.
SHAKERS : Jane Wardley, with the help of her brother James, organized this sect in England in the year 1747. Later they were joined by Ann Lee, of Manchester, who claimed to be Christ in His second reincarnation. She came to America in 1774.
They deny Christ in worship and substitute in His place "The Highest Good, wherever it may be found:" esteem virginity; confess sins to an elder of the same sex and before a witness; believe in a continuous revelation; practice communism, but exclude married people.
SWEDENBORGIANS: Disciples of Emmanuel Swedenborg, who was born at Stockholm, Jan. 29, 1688. Up to 1745 he was an engineer, skilled in mathematics and the physical sciences. Then he became a theological writer. He was endowed with extraordinary talents, and claimed to have received new revelations from God He died in London, March 29,1772.
The Swedenborgians hold that as the Christian religion succeeded the Jewish, so the Swedenborgian supplements the Christian; deny the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity; deny original sins; reject monasticism; deny the resurrection of the body; and claim the Last Judgment was held in 1757 in Swedenborg’s presence; believe angels and devils to be former members of the human race.
MICHAELIANS: Organized by John M. Hahn, a Swabian Theosophist, who was born at Altdorf in 1758, had "visions" at 17, 20 and 22 years of age, and then began to proclaim his beliefs. He died in 1819.
He taught a double fall of man: that the work of Christ is not merely for, but within man; denied hell, and believed in the final salvation of all
NINETEENTH CENTURY
GERMAN REFORMED: Reformed churches in general are those that began with the doctrine of Luther, then embraced those of Zwingli, and finally swerved towards Calvinism. As a result they are infected with the errors of all these false teachers.
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST: Sometimes called "Campbellites" after Thomas Campbell, of Bethany, Va., who with his son, Alexander, was their founder in 1809. He had been a Presbyterian and then a Baptist before starting his own sect. He taught that the Bible was the only rule of faith; that the Old Testament was binding only on the Jews; and denied the Eucharist.Campbell's son, Alexander, took up his father's work and became a leader in religious reform and a champion of popular democracy. In the 1820s he began an association with a like-minded reformer named Barton Stone. In 1832 the movements associated with these two men merged to form what they called the Christian Church(Disciples of Christ).
TRUE REFORMED DUTCH: Organized by Sol Froeligh, a Dutch clergyman, who led a secession movement in the Reformed Dutch Church in 1822. He held that the Reformed Dutch Church had become erroneous in doctrine, corrupt in practice, and lax in discipline. During recent years the sect has almost died out.
HICKSITES: Founded by Elias Hicks (1748-1830), and American minister of the Society of Friends (Quakers), who became leader of a faction in the Society in 1817, and broke away from the main body in 1828. He denied the divinity of Christ, the Atonement, and the Trinity.
MORMONS: Organized by Joseph Smith, the son of a Vermont farmer, and born in that State Dec. 23, 1805. He claimed to have received a new revelation in 1827, which resulted in the "Book of Mormon", published at Palmyra, N.Y., in March 1830. Smith was killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill., on June 27, 1844, and Brigham Young succeeded him as leader of the sect.
The Mormons have a wrong conception of the fall of man, apparently holding Adam’s sin to have been one of lust; believe God endowed with a body of flesh and bone; hold matter to have existed spiritually before creation; the bond of marriage to be eternal; and believe in a happy Millennium on this earth.
CATHOLIC APOSTOLICAL CHURCH: Sometimes called Irvingites after their founder, Edward Irving, and eloquent and distinguished Scottish clergyman, born in 1792. At one time he was a Presbyterian minister, but being accused of heresy, was ejected from the church. He died a Glasgow in 1834, the sect bearing his name having been formed in 1831.
The Irvingites repudiate the doctrine os Transubstantiation; hold that by a new out-pouring of God through the Holy Ghost the prophetic and apostolic offices have been re-established.
PERFECTIONISTS: Founded by John H. Noyes, who was born at Brattleboro, Vt. in 1811. At one time he was a Congregationalist minister, but organized his own sect in 1845. Being forced to flee to Canada to escape prosecution on account of his marriage system, he died there in 1886. He taught equality of the sexes and community of goods.
ADVENTISTS: Members of a number of related Protestant denominations that stress the doctrine of the imminent second coming of Christ. Adventism received its clearest definition and most earnest support under the leadership of an American Baptist preacher, William Miller. Miller and his followers, known initially as Millerites, proclaimed that the second coming would occur between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. The failure of this prediction was called the First Disappointment, and many left the movement. Following this, a second date—Oct. 22, 1844—was set, and many Adventists disposed of their property in anticipation of the event. The movement was widely ridiculed after the day passed uneventfully. Thereafter many Adventists lost faith and returned to their former churches. Those remaining split into four main bodies, which still continue to flourish: Seventh-day Adventists
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS:By far the largest group of Adventists is the Seventh-day Adventists, with more than 3.3 million members worldwide in 1980. The church originated between 1844 and 1855 under the leadership of three American Millerites, Joseph Bates (1792–1872) and James (1821–81) and Ellen White (1827–1915), but was not formally organized until 1863. Two tenets are prominent in the church’s theology: belief in the visible, personal second coming of Christ at an early but indefinite date and the observance of Saturday as the Sabbath. Members accept the Bible as their sole religious authority, placing special trust in the literal interpretation of prophetic passages. They hold that grace alone is sufficient for salvation; they administer baptism by immersion and practice foot washing in connection with observance of the Lord’s Supper.
SALVATION ARMY: Organized by William Booth (1829-1912), born in Nottingham, England. At first a Methodist evangelist, in 1865 he organized a quasi-military society to promote a revival of religion among the masses. The Salvation Army is evangelic a in doctrine and aims to harmonize with all churches.
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS: The popular name of the "Church of Christ, Scientist", which was founded in 1876 at Boston, Mass., by the late Mrs. Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy.
The great hobby of the idea that there is really such a thing as matter sickness, sin, and the consequences of the same; they deny the Blessed Trinity; the divinity of Christ; the creation of man; the maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the future resurrection of all men as well as the Resurrection of Christ; they brand original sin, death and hell as delusions; and consider angels to be, not spirits, but only divine messages.
OLD CATHOLICS: The sect organized in German speaking countries to combat the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Its rise may be traced from the excommunication of Ignatz von Dollinger, historian, priest and theologian, on Apr. 18, 1871, for refusing to accept the dogma of Infallibility. They deny the Infallibility of the Pope.
MODERNISTS: An heretical movement of modern times that attempted to explain the faith by rationalizing it. The errors of this attempt were condemned by Pope Pius X. The system of the Modernists embraces the errors of all preceding heresies.
DOWIEITES: Followers of John Alexander Dowie, who was born in Edinburgh in 1847. At one time he was an ordained clergyman of the Congregationalist denomination in South Australia. In 1882 he established an independent tabernacle in Melbourne, and took up faith healing. He came to the United States in 1888, and in 1896 organized a "church", which, in 1906, suspended him for fraud, tyranny and polygamous tendencies. He was evidently insane when he died in 1907.
Dowieites deny the efficacy of Baptism as well as its necessity; believe that it is sinful to have recourse to a physician in time of sickness, relying on faith-cures; they deny the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the doctrine of Christ.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES: Founded in 1872 by Charles Taze Russell, Former Congregationalist. Succeeded by Judge Rutherford, a Missouri lawyer in 1916. The witnesses deny the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and the Immortality of the Human Soul. Satan is Master on Earth, where he organized the visible part of his empire by founding churches, the great capitalistic organization and civil societies. Characteristics practices flow naturally from their doctrines, such as refusing to bear arms, salute the flag, and participate in the affairs of the secular governments.
CHURCH OF GOD IN CHRIST: Protestant, Holiness denomination organized by two Baptists, C. P. Jones (1865–1949) and C. H. Mason (1866–1961), in Arkansas in 1895 and incorporated in 1897. It is one of the Pentecostal churches. Like other Holiness and Pentecostal groups, the church emphasizes sanctification, or holiness, which is deemed essential to salvation. The theology of the church is Trinitarian; the Bible is the chief religious authority and is interpreted literally. Ordinances include baptism by immersion, the Lord’s Supper, and foot washing. Speaking in tongues is considered the sign of baptism by the Holy Ghost.
CHURCH OF CHRIST: any of several Pentecostal churches that developed in the U.S. South from the late 19th- and early 20th-century Latter Rain revival, based on a belief that a second rain of the gifts of the Holy Spirit would occur similar to that of the first Christian Pentecost. They adhere to an ultraconservative theology, by which they regard the state of holiness as a work of grace subsequent to conversion or justification, and practice "speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance."The revival began in the Great Smoky Mountains (northwest Georgia and eastern Tennessee) in 1886 under the leadership of R.G. Spurling and his son, who were Baptists, and W.F. Bryant, a Methodist. Members of the revival were organized into the Christian Union, changed their name to the Holiness Church (1902) and later to the Church of God (1907). In 1909 A.J. Tomlinson, an American Bible Society agent, was elected general overseer.Splits began to occur in 1917, when the Chattanooga congregation seceded and took the name of the Original Church of God, Inc. Other divisions followed and numerous independent groups were formed.HOLINESS CHURCHES: fundamentalist Protestant bodies that developed from Methodism and hold as their distinguishing feature the doctrine that holiness, or sanctification of the individual, occurs by a second act of grace that follows justification and is supplementary to it. The experience of holiness is also referred to as the second blessing. The National Holiness Movement came into being shortly after the American Civil War. Originally a protest movement within Methodism, it opposed the Methodist falling away from the emphasis on sanctification that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had developed. He had stressed original sin and justification by faith and added that the individual may be assured of forgiveness by a direct experience of the spirit, called sanctification, which he regarded as the step leading to Christian perfection.The major representatives of the Holiness movement (excluding Pentecostal denominations) are the Church of the Nazarene and the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.).
CHURCH OF GOD: name of more than 200 independent religious bodies in the U.S. The majority of them are Adventist, Holiness, or Pentecostal denominations. originated about 1880 as a movement within existing churches to promote Christian unity. The founders were interested in relieving the church at large of what they believed was over-ecclesiasticism and restrictive organization and in reaffirming the New Testament as the true standard of faith and life.
TWENTIETH CENTURY
PENTECOSTAL: What is sometimes called classical Pentecostalism grew out of the late 19th century Holiness Movement in the United States. The Holiness preacher Charles Fox Parham began preaching (1901) to his Topeka congregation that speaking in tongues was objective evidence of baptism in the Spirit. After the Los Angeles mission of Parham's Apostolic Faith sect became the center of a great revival (1906) the movement quickly spread around the world. Over the next two decades the movement split along doctrinal and racial lines. Of the many Pentecostalist denominations in the United States today, characterized by belief in the experience of holiness or Christian perfection. This perfection is climaxed by an "infilling of the Holy Spirit," as evidenced by "speaking in tongues," ecstatic utterances frequently unintelligible to listeners,
UNITED UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION: Protestant church in the United States formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Unitarian Universalist Church of America. Having shared some common concerns and positions throughout the 19th and 20th cent., the two churches formed a Council of Liberal Churches in 1953 as a preliminary step to merger. The convention in May, 1961, at which the merger was approved by delegates from both churches, adopted a constitution for the merged church and elected Dana McLean Greeley, formerly Unitarian president, the first president of the new association. The principal purpose of the merger was to link the churches' headquarters organizations and to enable them to speak as one on social and political questions. The church has about 141,000 members (1991)