CATAFRIGI. — Under this name are generally designated the followers of Montanism (v. MONTERANO), so called because in Phrygia this movement had its cradle. In its diffusion, Montanism soon split into various groups with different denominations, according to the modifications introduced by leaders in the various factions.
There existed communities of Catafrigians in Rome headed by Proclus and Aeschines: the former had only the errors common to all Montanists, while the latter identified the Son with the Father. At Carthage, the Catafrigians recruited Tertullian, who later separated from them. In the West this movement did not constitute a serious danger. Greater vitality, however, was shown in the East, where the Catafrigian heresy continued to evolve in the 3rd and 4th centuries in various forms. There the Catafrigians had many names: Priscillians, Quintillianists, from the names of the two famous prophetesses Priscilla and Quintilla; Pepazians, from the locality of Pepaza, their principal center; Orthotyrites, because some of them used bread (ἄρτος) and cheese (τυρός) in the celebration of the Eucharist; Tascodrugites, because during prayer they touched with the index finger (τᾶς) the nose (δρῶς). Common to all these heretics was belief 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 Catafrigians almost completely disappeared only in the 6th century.