RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Monarchianism Monasticism
homoousios. The doctrines of Sabellius were rejected by Marcellus of Ancyra (q.v.), who found no recognition of the Logos in Sabellianism, and consequently deemed that his fellow Monarchian had formed an incorrect concept of God. But his Monarchianism won few adherents. The times had changed; the consubstantiality of the Father and the Logos had been enunciated; and Monarchianism had become superfluous in the Church. The controversy of the two Dionysii, though properly a preliminary to Arianism, must be mentioned here, since the Sabellian tendencies in the Pentapolis led Dionysius of Alexandria to a rigid statement of his doctrine. The ambiguity of Origen's Christological terminology, however, is revealed in the formulas of his disciples Dionysius and Gregory Thaumaturgus, which contain passages susceptible of Monarchianistic interpretation, though, like Origen, both were bitter opponents of the Monarchian system. It must be borne in mind, however, that in the period between 250 and 320 there was a frequent tendency toward tritheism, while, on the other hand, there was a deep-seated mistrust of the Logos Christology as imperiling Monarchianism, so that Origen's followers felt themselves obliged to emphasize Monarchianistic tenets. In the second half of the third century the fluidity of all dogmatic concepts thus led to a condition of theological confusion. What Athanasius and later writers called Sabellianism was a comprehensive
term for various doctrinal systems, modified by philosophical concepts and the influence of Alexandrine theology. The bold attempt of Paul of Samosata to return to primitive tradition came too late; and the same judgment holds of the effort of Marcellus of Ancyra to abandon Alexandrine speculation as a whole and to solve the Christological problem by again taking up Biblical concepts and the theology of Irenams. The problem remained confined to the limits of Origen's theology, and here it met its fate. See Antiteinitakianism, § 2.
(Adolf Haenack.)
Bibliography: Consult the literature under Alogi, and under the sketches of the leaders named in the text, especially Epiphanius, Hippolytus, Irenaeus, and Philaster. Important are the works on the history of doctrine, especially: Harnack, Dogma, i. 196, 331, ii. passim, hi. 8-88, 93; K. R. Hagenbach, History of Christian Doctrines, i. 74, 160, 178, Edinburgh, 1880; I. A. Dorner, Die Lehre von der Person Christi, 4 vols., Stuttgart, 1846-56, Eng. transl., History of the Development of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ, 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1861-1863. Also the works on the church history of the period, e.g., Schaff, Christian Church, ii. 571-583; and Neander, Christian Church, i. 575 sqq., ii. passim. Consult also: L. Lange, Geschichte und Lehrbegriff der Unitarier vor der nicanischen Synode, Leipsic, 1831; F. D. E. Schleiermacher, Sammtliche Werke — Zur Theologie, vol. ii., 30 vols., Berlin, 1835- 1864; J. Schwane, Dogmengeschichte der vornicanischen Zeit, pp. 142-156, 199-203, Minister, 1862; H. Hagemann, Die rbmische Kirche in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, Freiburg, 1864; J. Bornemann, Die Taufe Christi, Leipsic, 1896; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, vols, i.-ii., Eng. transl,, vols, i.-iii.
I. Monasticism in the East. Ante-Nicene Practise (§ 1). Official Status (§ 2). The Motive (§3). Egyptian Origins; Anthony
Ammonius (§ 4). Other Egyptian Settlements (§ In Palestine and Syria (§ 6).
and
5).
MONASTICISM.
In Asia Minor (§ 7).
Later History of Oriental Monasticism (§ 8).
Relation to Church and State (§9). II. Monasticism in the West.
Beginnings in Italy, Gaul, and Germany (§ 1).
The Rules (§ 2). Relation to Civilization (§ 3). The Mendicant Orders (§ 4). Later Orders (§ 5). Monastic Attempts under Protestantism (§ 6).
I. Monasticism in the East: Monasticism is a
general term for the system of renunciation of life
in the world for that of devotion and asceticism.
A trace of the attitude which later characterized this
system may be found in the preference
i. Ante- given by Paul to the unmarried over Nicene the married state (I Cor. vii. 38, 40) and
Practise, in his counsel not to marry on account of the expected return of the Lord (verse 26). In the Roman church of the apostolic period there appeared an Encratite tendency which taught abstinence from meat and wine (Rom. xiv. 2, 21). The Acts, too, characterize the four daughters of Philip the deacon as virgins; and the book of Revelation designates as the " first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb " the hundred and forty-four thousand " which were not defiled with women " (xiv. 4). Hegesippus states that James, the Lord's brother, lived as a Nazarite in complete abstinence from meat and wine (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., II., xxiii.). The works of the apostolic fathers and apologists are full of references to both men and women who lived an ascetic life. Ignatius names as their motive for renunciation of marriage " respect for the body which is the Lord's," Athenagoras the hope of a higher reward in heaven. The claim of the
ascetics to the first rank in the church on earth, as the most perfect Christians, is early heard. Clement of Rome warns them not to boast, and Ignatius rebukes some who thought themselves more than the bishops. There was perfect freedom in the ascetic life in this early period. Some merely abstained from marriage, others from meat and wine as well. The renunciation of property did not always go with that of marriage; Cyprian (De habitu virginum, vii.) knew some consecrated virgins who still retained their own property. Some of them continued to live in their own houses, others lived in common in special dwellings called parthenones. The same is true of the male ascetics. Origen lived unmarried, without property, in constant prayer and meditation, abstaining from meat and wine and imposing the severest penances on himself; in fact, his life differed from that of later monks only in being passed in the midst of the world. A strict cloistral separation is not found in early asceticism, though a certain degree of retirement was required from women who adopted this life. The male ascetics passed from place to place after the manner of the apostles, " confirming the churches." Their self-denying activity and care for the sick and friendless during the persecution
Monasticism