COLLIRIDIANI

COLLIRIDIANS. — Under this name St. Epiphanius condemned certain women who had introduced from Thrace into Arabia the practice of particular rites in honor of the Virgin Mary, the principal element of which consisted in the sacrifice of a loaf of bread, which the women offering it then divided among themselves. Epiphanius censures their conduct for the twofold reason that women must not take upon themselves the task of offering a sacrifice, and because the Virgin is to be honored, but sacrifice is due to God alone (cf. St. Epiphanius, Hacres., 78, 79). Mario Scaduto