Almericians or Amauricians, a short-lived sect of the thirteenth century, which derived its name from Amalric (Almeric or Amauric, of Bena), a theo- logian whose doctrines (approaching to Pantheism) were prohibited and condemned at Paris by a public decree in the year 1204. The followers of Almeric, after his death, led by David of Dinanto (q. v.), car- ried his doctrines out to their full consequences. Re- specting the Trinity, they held and taught that the power of the Father had continued only during the Mosaic dispensation, that of the Son twelve hundred years after his incarnation ; and that in the thirteenth century the age of the Holy Ghost commenced, in which all sacraments and external worship were to be abolished, and the salvation of Christians was to be accomplished entirely by the internal operation of the Holy Spirit, without any external acts of religion. "Although an abstract speculative system was not calculated in that age to spread among the laity, yet, through the element of mysticism, these doctrines were diffused quite widely among the people. Books ; unfolding the system and its practical aims were writ- ! ten in French, and widely circulated. Pantheism, with ail its practical consequences, was more plainly expressed than Amalric had probably ever intended or expected. The members of the sect were claimed to be subjects in which the incarnation of the Holy Ghost was begun. Ca;sarius of Heisterbach charges the sect with teaching that God had spoken in Ovid as well as in Augustin; that the only heaven and the only hell are in the present life ; that those who pro- I
fess the true knowledge no longer need faith or hope ; they have attained already to the true resurrection, the true Paradise, the real heaven; that he who lives in mortal sin has hell in his mouth, but that it is much the same thing as having a rotten tooth in the mouth. The sect opposed the worship of saints as idolatry, called the ruling church Babylon, and the pope Anti- Christ" (Neander, Ch. History, iv, 448). See Hahn, Gesch. derPasagur, etc. (Stuttgart, 1850, Svo). A gold- smith by the name of William of Aria was the prophet of the sect. He claimed to be one of seven personages in which the Holy Ghost was to incarnate himself, and, besides many other prophecies, predicted to the king of France that the French empire would embrace the entire globe. As many of the followers of Amalric concealed their doctrines, commissioners were sent out into several French dioceses to discover them by pro- fessing adhesion to the views of Amalric. In 1209 fourteen of the foremost followers of Amalric were summoned before a Council of Paris, sentenced, and delivered over to the secular arm. They were kept imprisoned until the return of King Philip Augustus, when, on Dec. 20, 1210, ten of them were burned and two exiled. The council again condemned the works of Amalric, together with those of David of Dinanto, with all books of theology written in the vulgar lan- guage, and the metaphysical works of Aristotle. The physical works of Aristotle were prohibited for three years. In 1215 the fourth general council of the Lat- crans again condemned Amalric and his followers. In many instances it is difficult to determine which doc- trines belong to Amalric himself and which to his fol- lowers. Some of the latter, it is certain, had very loose notions of morality. The sect of the Free Spirit owes its origin chiefly to the impulse given by Amal- ric.—Neander, Ch. Hist, iv, 446 sq. ; Mosheim, Ch. Hist. cent, xiii, pt. ii, ch. v, § 12; Hahn, in Stud. u. Krit. 1846, p. 184; Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines, ii, 127. See Amalric.
Almeyda, Francisco de, a Portuguese theolo- gian, was born at Lisbon, July 31, 1701. He gained a great reputation as a writer on ecclesiastical law, and, on May 13, 1728, became a member of the Poyal Academy. He wrote several learned works on the (rigin and ecclesiastical law of the churches of the Iberian Peninsula, the most important of which is en- titled Aparatopara a disc'plina e ritos ecclesiasticos de Portugal (Lisbon, 4 vols. 1735-87, 4to).— Hoefer, Biog. Generate, ii, 193.
A]mici, Pietro Camillo, an Italian oratorian, was born at Brescia, Nov. 2, 1714, died Dec. £0, 1779. He wrote, among other books, Rejlexions Critiques on the celebrated work of Febronius (q. v.), Dp Statu Ecclesue. Some of his works have not yet been published, among them one, entitled Meditations sur la vie et sur les ecriis de Fr. Paoli Surp>. — Hoefer, Biog. Generate, ii, 193.
Almighty. See Shaddai; Attributes; Om- nipotence.
Almo'dad (Heb. Almodad' , nnirlpX, signif. un- known; Sept. 'EXfiwdaS, Vulg. Elmcdad, Josephus 'EXpoCaSor, Ant. i, 6, 4), the first named of the thir- teen "sons" of Joktan (Gen. x, 26 ; 1 Chron. i, 20), doubtless founder of an Arabian tribe. B.C. post 2384. See Arabia. The ancient interpreters afford no light as to the location of the tribe, either simply retaining the name (Sept., Vulg., Syr., Samar.), or giving fanciful etymological paraphrases (Saad., Pseu- dojon.). Syncellus (p. 46) understands the inhabi- tants of India (IvCm). Bochart {Phahg, ii, 16) sup- poses the Allummotee ('AWovpaiCJTat) of Ptolemy (vi, 7, 24) to be meant; a people in the middle of Arabia Felix, near the sources of the river Lar, which emp- ties into the Persian Gulf. The early Arabian gene- alogies contain the name Modad {At- I eing the Arabic article) as that of at least two kings of the Jorbamida] reigning in Hejaz (Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur