ARABICI

ARABICI. – A heretical sect of the 2nd century, which developed in Arabia, especially in the region of Damascus. The name was given to its followers by St. Augustine (*De haeres.*, 83: PL 17, 46). Eusebius also mentions them (*Hist. eccles.*, VI, 37: PG 20, 597). Neither its founder nor its development is known. The doctrine of the A. was a kind of materialism. Misinterpreting a passage from *1 Tim.* (6:16), they taught that the body is the principal part of man and that the soul dies with the body, only to rise again with it; hence they were called *ψυχοθανάται* (psychothanatae). According to Nicephorus Callistus (*Hist. eccl.*, V, 23: PG 145, 1112), after some unsuccessful assemblies of bishops to combat them, Origen was summoned and is said to have triumphantly persuaded them to return to the Church.