be invaluable. Where, for instance, could he obtain more prudent and faithful advice than hers in the se- lection of widows to be placed upon the eleemosynary list of the Church, and of deaconesses for the ministry?" {Script. Biog. ii, 298). It seems more to our purpose to lay stress on this than on the theological learning of Priscilla. Yet Winer mentions a monograph De Pris- cilla, Aquila uxore, tamquam feminarum e gente Juda- icd eruditarum specimine, by G. G. Zeltner (Altorf, 1709). — Smith. See Aqlila.
Priscillian, the noted originator or propagator of a heretical body of Christians who bore his name, was the first heretic who was executed after the establishment of Christianity by the Roman state. He was a native of the Iberian peninsula, and of noble birth. He flour- ished in the second half of the 4th century, possessed much wealth, had great reputation for learning, and was generally revered for his severe austerity. What his early occupation was is not known. He first figures in history as the propagator of the heretical dogmas which a certain Egyptian called Marcus, from Mem- phis, came to Spain to teach there. Priscillian, by his personal influence, succeeded in spreading the heresy of Marcus all over Spain, making a number of prose- lytes of the female sex, convincing many priests, and even some bishops ; among others, two bishops, Instan- tius and Salvianus, who became zealous defenders of the imported doctrines, which were substantially those of the Manichceans (q. v.). He taught expressly the Dualism and the Docetism of that sect, and it is charged that he adopted the strictest ascetic austerities in regard to celibacy, etc., by which they had rendered themselves obnoxious even to the civil authorities in the East and in Africa. There is some doubt as to the precise doc- trines which Priscillian taught. As reported, his dog- mas are a strange mixture of Gnostic and Manichaaan absurdities combined with allegorical interpretations and mystical rhapsodies. He was also Sabellian in tendency in his rejection of a personal distinction in the Godhead, for he denied the reality of Christ's birth and incarnation. Among other things, he maintained that the visible universe was not the production of the Supreme Deity, but of some demon or malignant prin- ciple who derived his origin from chaos or darkness; he adopted the doctrine of ajons, or emanations from the di- vine nature ; he considered human bodies as compound- ed according to the twelve signs of the zodiac, and as prisons formed by the author of evil to enslave the mind; he also condemned marriage, and denied the res- urrection of the body. The rule of life and manners which the Priscillianists adopted was so rigid and se- vere that the charges of dissolute conduct brought against them by their enemies appear to be ground- less. That they were guilty of dissimulation, and deceived their adversaries by cunning stratagems in order to accomplish what they deemed a sacred pur- pose, is true. Their doctrine was, according to St. Au- gustine, that deception is allowed to hide one's faith, and to simulate Catholic belief ("jura, perjura, secretum prodere noli"). Neander (Ch. Hist, ii, 711) observes that the reproach of immorality rests on insufficient proofs. It is, however, a fact that at least a part of the Pris- cillianists were addicted to unnatural turpitudes, to which such a system must logically lead ; but there is no evidence that they avowed that lying and perjury were lawful under all circumstances.
The bishop Hyginus of Cordova was the first to en- ter the lists against this heresy, and he strove, although without success, to gain back to the orthodox Church the bishops Instantius and Salvianus. Hyginus ap- prised Idacius, the bishop of Merida, of the Priscillianic disorders; but the hot-blooded zeal of this prelate was still more unsuccessful, and so were the efforts of all the other Catholic bishops. The boldness of the heretics increased every day, and bishop Hyginus himself, dis- pleased with the severe measures inaugurated against them, became their protector. To arrest their progress,
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a synod was held in October. 380, at Saragossa, to which Instantius, Salvianus, Elpidius, and Priscillian were also invited. The heresiarchs failed to appear.
The bj 1 condemned their doctrines and resolved
upon measures to stop t li» ir expansion. Catholic women were prohibited from attending the Priscillian- i-t meetings; fasting on Sundays was interdicted; the anathema was launched againsl such as stayed from during the forty days of Lenl and the three weeks of Epiphany, <>r received the Eucharist in the Church without partaking al once of the sacrament :
u penally was pronounced against those who should assume the name and functions of teachers with- out episcopal approbation; and every clerk who Bhould, ..in ol pride and vanity, clothe himself in the monas- tical garment, was put under ban. The execution of the decrees againsl Priscillianists was committed to the bishop [thacius of Sosuba. No worse choice could pos- sibly have been made. Be was a mere voluptuary, and utterly destitute of all sense for spiritual things.
Excluded from the Church, the Priscillianists now took more decided measures for establishing them- selves, an.l they had the boldness even to cause the
ition of Priscillian as their bishop of Avilla by the bishops [nstantius and Salvianus. Of course, by this step the Spanish Catholic prelates were greatly imbittered, and the Idacius above mentioned, together with [thacius, bishop of Ossonova, who is represented by Sulpicius Severus as a troublesome zealot, wen. de- spatched to the emperor Gratian for the purpose of ob- taining an order of banishment against Priscillian, In- stantius, and Salvianus. Gratian having issued the rescript thus demanded, the three heresiarchs repaired to Rome, in order to vindicate themselves before pope Damasus. But the pope refused to justify them. Sal- vianus died at Rome, and bis two companions went to Milan, where they tried, as unsuccessfully, to per- sua ie St. Ambrose of their innocence. However, they i in bribing an influential functionary (magi-