Catafrigians

CATAFRIGIANS. - Under this name are generally designated the followers of Montanism (v. MONTANUS), so called because in Phrygia this movement had its cradle. Nor in its diffusion did Montanism soon split into various groups, with different denominations, according to the modifications introduced by leaders in the various factions.

There existed communities of Cataphrygians at Rome headed by Proclus and Aeschines: the former had only the errors common to all Montanists, the latter instead identified the Son with the Father. At Carthage the Cataphrygians recruited Tertullian, who later detached himself from them. In the West this movement did not constitute a serious danger. It showed greater vitality instead in the East, where the Cataphrygian heresy continued to evolve in the 3rd and 4th centuries under various forms. There the Cataphrygians had multiple names: Priscillianists, Quintillianists, from the name of the two famous prophetesses Priscilla and Quintilla; Pepuzians, from the locality of Pepuza, their main center; Artotyrites, because some of them used bread (ἄρτος) and cheese (τυρός) in the celebration of the Eucharist; Tascodrugites, because during prayer they touched their nose (ἄρβυγος) with the index finger (τάσχος). In common these heretics had faith in the "New Prophecy," that is, in the revelation made by the Paraclete through Montanus, which, inculcating a severe asceticism, in expectation of the imminent parousia, came to complete the work of Christ. The Cataphrygians disappeared almost completely only in the 6th century.

Guglielmo Zannoni