BARSANIANI. – A Monophysite sect (v. MONOFISISMO) of the Acephali, who elected Barsanuphius (hence their name) as their leader, claiming to consecrate him bishop through the laying on of hands by a recently deceased bishop.
The B. accepted for communion the species consecrated by the patriarch Dioscorus, but in addition they sprinkled them with fine flour and, taking a little of it with the tip of the finger, brought it to their mouths. They received this communion only at Easter. From this fine flour, πεμβαλῶς, they also acquired the name of Semidalites. They did not make the oblation and neglected every other rite. In 815 they merged with the Jacobites.
BIBL.: Timotheus Const., De recept. haeret.: PG 86, 45; I. Damascenus, De haeret.: PG 94, 756 and note 63.
Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina