ADELÔFAGI. — From the Greek ἀθήλως-φαγεῖν, “to eat secretly”: followers of a Christian sect about which only scant information remains. The a. had reached the conclusion, from their interpretation of certain biblical texts, that a Christian ought not to eat in the sight of others. It is uncertain whether they added Trinitarian errors to this extravagance. The Praedestinatus denies it (v. ARNOBIO il giovane); Filastrio affirms it (De haeres, LXXXVI: PL 12, 1198), asserting: “Hi de Patre et Filio bene sentiunt; de Spiritu autem non bene accipiunt, creatum credentes esse et factum Sanctum Spiritum, non Deum, sicut Scripturae nuntiant, et Ecclesia Catholica praedicat”.
BIBL.: V. HERMON, s. V. in DHG, I, cols. 530–31. Angelo Audino