Editing Montanism (section)

==Beliefs==
Because much of what is known about Montanism comes from anti-Montanist sources, it is difficult to know what they actually believed and how those beliefs differed from the Christian mainstream of the time.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 1–3}} The New Prophecy was also a diverse movement, and what Montanists believed varied by location and time.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 118 note 5}} Montanism was particularly influenced by [[Johannine literature]], especially the [[Gospel of John]] and the [[Apocalypse of John]] (also known as the Book of Revelation).{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 20 note 21}}

In John's Gospel, Jesus promised to send the [[Paraclete]] or Holy Spirit, from which Montanists believed their prophets derived inspiration. In the Apocalypse, John was taken by an angel to the top of a mountain where he sees the [[New Jerusalem]] descend to earth. Montanus identified this mountain as being located in Phrygia near Pepuza.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 67}} Followers of the New Prophecy called themselves ''spiritales'' ("spiritual people") in contrast to their opponents whom they termed ''psychici'' ("carnal, natural people"{{request quotation|date=August 2021}}<!--for both the Latin term and the translation, since it's the combination of the two that is puzzling. I just don't see how ''psychici'' could have meant this; the root means 'soul', i.e. the opposite of what is stated. 'Carnal/natural' should have been ''physici'', IMO.-->).{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 110}}

===Ecstatic prophecy===
As the name "New Prophecy" implied, Montanism was a movement focused around prophecy, specifically the prophecies of the movement's founders which were believed to contain the Holy Spirit's revelation for the present age.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 68}} Prophecy itself was not controversial within 2nd-century Christian communities.<ref name=Ash >{{Citation |last=Ash |first=James L Jr |title=The Decline of Ecstatic Prophecy in the Early Church |journal=Theological Studies |volume=37 |number=2 |date=June 1976 |page=236|doi=10.1177/004056397603700202 |s2cid=53551663 }}.</ref>{{Sfn | Jerome | 385 | loc = Letter 41.2 | ps = : "we tell them [Montanists] that we do not so much reject prophecy—for this is attested by the passion of the Lord—as refuse to receive prophets whose utterances fail to accord with the Scriptures old and new".}} However, the New Prophecy, as described by [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], departed from Church tradition:{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 12, 37}}
{{blockquote|And he [Montanus] became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and [[Religious ecstasy|ecstasy]], he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning.|Eusebius of Caesarea<ref name=EccHist5.16.7>{{Citation |author=Eusebius of Caesarea |title=Ecclesiastical History |volume=5 |chapter=Chapter 16. The Circumstances related of Montanus and his False Prophets. |chapter-url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250105.htm |access-date=5 August 2022}}.</ref>}}
According to opponents, the Montanist prophets did not speak as messengers of God, but believed they became fully possessed by God and spoke as God.<ref name= "cathen" /> A prophetic utterance by Montanus described this possessed state: "Lo, the man is as a lyre, and I fly over him as a pick. The man sleepeth, while I watch." Thus, the Phrygians were seen as false prophets because they acted irrationally and were not in control of their senses.<ref name=Epiphanius48.3-4>Epiphanius, [[Panarion|''Against Heresies'']], 48.3–4.</ref>

A criticism of Montanism was that its followers claimed their revelation received directly from the Holy Spirit could supersede the authority of [[Jesus]] or [[Paul the Apostle]] or anyone else.<ref>[[Placher, William C.]] ''A History of Christian Theology: an introduction''. Westminster John Knox Press, 1983, p. 50.</ref> In some of his prophecies, Montanus apparently, and somewhat like the [[oracle]]s of the Greco-Roman world, spoke in the [[Grammatical person|first person]] as God: "I am the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 12}}

Many early Christians understood this to be Montanus claiming himself to be God. However, scholars agree that these words of Montanus exemplify the general practice of religious prophets to speak as the passive mouthpieces of the divine, and to claim divine inspiration (similar to modern prophets stating "Thus saith the Lord"). That practice occurred in Christian as well as in pagan circles with some degree of frequency.{{Sfn | Pelikan | 1956 | p = 101}}{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 93}}

===Other beliefs===
Other beliefs and practices (or alleged beliefs and practices) of Montanism are as follows:
* In ''On the Resurrection of the Flesh'', Tertullian wrote that the Holy Spirit through the New Prophecy cleared up the ambiguities of scripture.<ref name=TertullianRes>Tertullian, ''On the Resurrection of the Flesh'', 63.9.</ref>{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 111}} The new prophecies did not contain new doctrinal content, but mandated strict ethical standards.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 129}} To the mainstream Christian Church, Montanists appeared to believe that the new prophecies superseded and fulfilled the doctrines proclaimed by the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]].<ref name = "cathen">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Chapman |first=John |title=Montanists |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=10 |publisher=Robert Appleton |year=1911 |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10521a.htm |access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref>
* The Montanists were alleged to have believed in the power of apostles and prophets to forgive [[sin]]s.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 123}} Adherents also believed that [[Christian martyrs|martyrs]] and [[Confessor of the Faith|confessors]] also possessed this power. The mainstream Church believed that God forgave sins through [[bishop]]s and [[presbyter]]s (and those martyrs recognized by legitimate [[ecclesiastical]] authority).{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | p = 91}}
* Montanists recognized women as bishops and presbyters.<ref name=Epiphanius49.2.5>Epiphanius, [[Panarion|''Against Heresies'']], 49.2.5.</ref><ref>Kienzle, Beverly Mayne; Walker, Professor Pamela J.; Walker, Pamela J. (30 April 1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bPaxru2EMQgC&dq=montanism+women+preachers&pg=PA34 ''Women Preachers and Prophets Through Two Millennia of Christianity''.] University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-20922-0}}.</ref>
* Women and girls were forbidden to wear ornaments, and virgins were required to wear [[Christian head covering|veils]].<ref>{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Montanism}}</ref>
* There was a divide between [[Trinity|Trinitarian]] Montanists and [[Monarchian]] Montanists, both beliefs existing inside Montanism.<ref name=":22" />
* An emphasis on ethical rigorism and [[asceticism]]. These included prohibitions against remarriage following divorce or the death of a spouse. They also emphasized keeping [[fasts]] strictly and added new fasts.{{Sfn | Tabbernee | 2009 | pp = 13–15}}
* Montanus provided salaries for those who preached his doctrine, which orthodox writers claimed was promoting [[gluttony]].<ref>Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, 5, 18</ref>
* Some of the Montanists were also "[[Quartodeciman]]" ("fourteeners"), preferring to celebrate Easter on the Hebrew calendar date of 14 [[Nisan]], regardless of what day of the week it landed on. Mainstream Christians held that Easter should be commemorated on the Sunday following 14 Nisan.{{Sfn | Trevett | 1996 | p = 202}} However, uniformity in this matter had not yet been fully achieved when the Montanist movement began; [[Polycarp]], for example, was a quartodeciman, and St. [[Irenaeus]] convinced [[Pope Victor I|Victor]], then Bishop of Rome, to refrain from making the issue of the date of [[Easter#Date|Easter]] a divisive one.<ref>Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, 5, 23–25.</ref> Later, the Catholic Church established a fixed way of calculating Easter according to the Julian (and later the Gregorian) calendar.
* Montanists believed in [[premillennialism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Foster |first1=K. Neill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xaVvBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT14 |title=Essays on Premillennialism: A Modern Reaffirmation of an Ancient Doctrine |last2=Fessenden |first2=David E. |date=2007-02-01 |publisher=Moody Publishers |isbn=978-1-60066-959-0 |language=en}}</ref> 
* That the [[Lapsi (Christianity)|Lapsi]] cannot be restored back into fellowship.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pohle |first1=Rev Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3YkDwAAQBAJ&dq=Montanus+teachings&pg=PT2047 |title=Rev. Joseph Pohle Collection [9 Books] |last2=Press |first2=Aeterna |publisher=Aeterna Press |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Ecstatic]] form of worship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=III |first=H. W. Crocker |title=Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church |date=2009-02-25 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-307-56077-3 |language=en }}</ref>
* Limited distinction between the [[laity]] and the [[clergy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hierarchy of the Early Church |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/hierarchy-of-the-early-church |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Catholic Answers |quote=H. The Hierarchy as an Ecclesiastical Institution.—(I) The utterance of Tertullian (De exhort. cast. vii), declaring that the difference between the priests and the laity was due to ecclesiastical institution, and that therefore any layman in the absence of a priest could offer sacrifice, baptize, and act as priest, is based on Montanistic theories and contradicts earlier teachings of Tertullian (e.g., De baptismo, xvii). (2)}}</ref>
* Discouragement of [[infant baptism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Killen |first=W. D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-PzDwAAQBAJ&dq=Montanism+infant+baptism&pg=PA286 |title=The Ancient Church |date=2020-07-29 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7523-6403-3 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Geographical differences ===
It appears that North African Montanism and the form of Montanism in Anatolia had many differences. The Montanists in North Africa believed that the New Testament was the supreme rule of Christian life and theology, and bishops were successors of the apostles and held much similar theology as the [[Great Church]], while Montanus himself had different views.<ref name=":22">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Montanism}}</ref>