ANTIDICOMARIANITI (antimarianiti e antimariani). - Heretics of the 4th century Elvidio (v.) Gioviniano (v.), and spread especially in Arabia.
These, as their very name indicates, (ἀντιδίδος), opposed the cult of Maria, denying in particular, and contrary to all the texts of the New Testament, her virginity before and after childbirth. Before childbirth, because they maintained that Gesù had been born naturally, since it did not seem to them
possible that, from a virginal birth, Gesù 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 Gesù a divinity subordinate to the Father. After childbirth, because they maintained that Maria had had other children, erroneously basing themselves on the Gospel, which speaks of the “brothers of Gesù,” that is, his cousins. The a., as a distinct sect arising in 4th-century Arabia, were refuted by Epifanio in a letter addressed to them. Subsequently, all those who denied the virginity of Maria were designated by that name, such as Elvidio and Gioviniano, who in 389 were condemned by Pope Siricio, and their followers, who were opposed by St. Ambrogio, St. Girolamo, and St. Agostino. This heresy reappeared in the 16th century among many followers of the Reformation, as Canisio attests.