THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Montanists — Phrygians and Cataphrygians— implythat the movement had a quasi-national character. Voluntarily placing himself in a state 2. Mon- of abstraction, Montanus is said to
tanus; His have proceeded to involuntary ecstacy, Mode of seeing in this suppression of self-con-
Prophecy. sciousness, and in his submission to the Godhead as a will-less instrument the proof of his perfect prophecy (see Ecstasy). This form of prophesying, however, was regarded as contrary to the custom of the Church, essentially different as it was from the prophecies recorded in the New Testament and the writings of the early Church. Moreover, the ecstatic utterances of Montanus must gradually have changed from what was customary in the Church. The Montanists appealed in support of their form of prophecy to the examples of ecstacy recorded in the Bible, yet at the same time claimed that their mode was a proof of the magnitude of the new revelation. It was, indeed, the completion of the law of Christ, and in it the promised Paraclete had appeared, since the time of full maturity had now replaced childhood (I Cor. xiii. li). The new prophecy, therefore, not only was a protest against suppression, but also claimed the right, in view of the approaching end of all things, to regulate life in the Church.
On the other hand, Montanistic prophecy made
no claim to reveal further the truths of salvation.
Whenever it touched on dogmatic problems, its
utterances were designed only to sup-
3. Charac- port the Church's tradition. The
teristics of practical trend of Montanism led it to Early defend the doctrine of the resurrec-
Montanism. tion of the dead and to develop a rich eschatology. The entire purpose, in iact, of the new prophecy was preparation for the approaching end, and expectation of this great event should determine the entire life of the Christian. Yet the new prophecy was seldom introduced by new forms; what had hitherto been voluntary now became duty. Thus, if the Church approved only first marriage and virginity, the Montanists regarded second marriages as impure and excluded those who contracted them. Sexual purity was a necessary condition for receiving revelations, and the voluntary fasts on the " station days " were extended from three to six in the afternoon and made obligatory. There were likewise zerophagia, or half fasts, consisting in abstinence from meat, soups, and juicy fruits, and " fasts proper," apparently kept at the same time as the public celebrations peculiar to the Montanists. Again, wherever the Church permitted a distinction between a laxer and a stricter rule, the Montanists invariably allowed only the latter, so that, for example, flight in persecution was forbidden and martyrdom was encouraged. All these requirements were made by the Paraclete because the last day was nigh, and marriage should no longer be contracted. Because of the shortness of the time, the Paraclete could annul the words of Paul as Christ had abrogated those of Moses. Even fasting was advocated by Tertullian (De jefunio, xii.) not for ascetic reasons, but as a preparation for the last day; while sinners must be excluded
from the Church that, as the pure bride of Christ, she might prepare to receive the bridegroom. In its consistency Montanism urged its followers to withdraw from their churches and assemble at Pepuza in Phrygia, which Montanus plainly considered the " wilderness " of Rev. xii. 14, that they might await the second advent. At the same time he arranged for a propaganda. As prophetesses he had Prisca (or Priscilla) and Maximilla, whose sayings, like those of Montanus himself, were collected by their followers into quasi-Gospels, even though such a proceeding was a deviation from the fundamental concepts of Montanism. Montanus also found valuable support in one Alcibiades (Miltiades?) and Theodotus, the latter being mockingly designated the first steward of the new prophecy (Eusebius, Hist, eccl., V., xvi. 14). A similar position was held somewhat later by a certain Themistion, while a martyr Alexander was also highly honored by the sect. The prophets were succeeded in the development of organized Montanism by the Genones, who assumed a place immediately after the patriarchs and above the bishops. While only a portion of the followers of Montanus could be emancipated from all their previous associations, all retained a close connection with Pepuza, where they sent representatives at the feast of the Paraclete (probably Whitsuntide), while those who could not attend took part in spirit by a common fast. The precise date of the formal organization of the Montanists as a distinct sect is uncertain. The adherents of the new prophecy sought to remain members of the Catholic Church, and 4. Catholic the Church hesitated long before she Opposition, definitely decided against them. There was much in common in Catholic and Montanist teaching — the ethical ideals of marital life, fasting, martyrdom, and the expectation of the last day — while a hasty rejection of prophecy was regarded as sin against the Holy Ghost (Didache,xi.7). Nevertheless, sharp opposition to the new prophecy soon arose, first headed by Apollonius (q.v., 2), and attempts were also made to exorcise both Prisca and Maximilla. Various synods of Asia Minor discussed the problem, filled with a vague dread of the new movement. The ecstatic aspect of the sect seems first to have aroused suspicion, and was attacked in a special polemic by Miltiades (q.v.), while the Alogi (q.v.) went to the extreme of denying the authenticity of all the Johannine writings because of the Montanist appeal to the Apocalypse and to the promise of the Paraclete in the Gospel of John. Yet even the antagonists of the Alogi assumed a position of hostility toward the new prophecy, and by the seventh decade of the second century the opposition to Montanism was evidently general. In the lifetime of Maximilla the antagonism had become intense, for she makes the Spirit lament that he was driven away like a wolf. For the ecstasy of the prophets the Montanists appealed to Gen. »i. 7 sqq.; Ps. cxvi. 11; and Acts x. 10, as well as to the prophecies recorded in Acts xv. 32, xxi. 11; and I Cor. xii. 28, and to John, the daughter of Philip, Ammia, and Quadra tus, while they based the right of prophetesses on Miriam and Deborah. Their opponents, on the other hand,