Antidicomarianites (Antimarianites and Antimarians)

ANTIDICOMARIANITES (Antimarianites and Antimarians). - Heretics of the 4th century who followed the doctrines of Helvidius (v.) and Jovinian (v.), and who spread especially in Arabia.

These, as the name itself indicates, (ἀντιδίδος), opposed the cult of Mary, denying in particular, and against all the texts of the New Testament, her virginity before and after childbirth. Before childbirth, because they claimed that Jesus was born naturally, since it did not seem to them possible that from a virginal birth Jesus could have received a real body and a complete human nature alongside the divine nature, which moreover they explained in such a way as to make of Jesus a divinity subordinate to the Father. After childbirth, because they claimed that Mary had had other children, basing themselves erroneously on the Gospel which speaks of the "brothers of Jesus," that is, of his cousins. The a. as a separate sect that arose in the 4th century in Arabia, were refuted by Epiphanius in a letter addressed to them. Subsequently, that name was used to designate all those who denied the virginity of Mary, such as Helvidius and Jovinian, who in 389 were condemned by Pope Siricius, and their followers, who were combated by St. Ambrose, by St. Jerome and by St. Augustine. This heresy resurfaced in the 16th century among many followers of the Reformation, as Canisius attests.

Angelo Audino