Phantasiasts (from Greek
φαντασία, ''phantasia'', appearance, phantasm) was a label applied to several distinct
Christian heresies
Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.
In Western Christianity, heresy most commonly refers to those beliefs which were declared to ...
by their opponents in
late antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
. The term appears in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
writings mainly to refer to extreme forms of
Miaphysitism
Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the "Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and differs from the Chalcedonian positio ...
.
[Sergey Minov]
"Date and Provenance of the Syriac Cave of Treasures: A Reappraisal"
''Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies'' 20,1 (2017): 129–229, esp. at 141–145. The term evokes the second-century heresy of
Docetism
In the history of Christianity, docetism (from the grc-koi, δοκεῖν/δόκησις ''dokeĩn'' "to seem", ''dókēsis'' "apparition, phantom") is the heterodox doctrine that the phenomenon of Jesus, his historical and bodily existence, an ...
. Both movements were accused of denying the full reality of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
's humanity.
The first targets of the label were the
Eutychians
Eutychianism, also known as Real Monophysitism, refers to a set of Christian theological doctrines derived from the ideas of Eutyches of Constantinople (c. 380 – c. 456). Eutychianism is a monophysite understanding of how the human and divine ...
, the followers of
Eutyches
Eutyches ( grc, Εὐτυχής; c. 380c. 456) or Eutyches of Constantinople[Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...]
(451), Pope
Leo the Great castigates the ''phantasmatici Christiani'' (Christian phantasmatics) in a clear reference to the Eutychians. Moderate Miaphysites like
Timothy Aelurus
Pope Timothy II of Alexandria (died 477), also known as Timothy Ailuros (from Greek Αἴλουρος, "cat," because of his small build or in this case probably "weasel"), succeeded twice in supplanting the Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria.
...
,
Philoxenus of Mabbug Philoxenus of Mabbug (Syriac: , ') (died 523), also known as Xenaias and Philoxenus of Hierapolis, was one of the most notable Syriac prose writers and a vehement champion of Miaphysitism.
Early life
He was born, probably in the third quarter of ...
and
Severus of Antioch
Severus the Great of Antioch (Greek: Σεβῆρος; syr, ܣܘܝܪܝܘܣ ܕܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ), also known as Severus of Gaza or Crown of Syrians (Syriac: ܬܓܐ ܕܣܘܪܝܥܝܐ; Tagha d'Suryoye; Arabic: تاج السوريين; Taj al-Suriyyun ...
also labelled the Eutychians phantasiasts. One Miaphysite oath administered to those returning to Miaphysitism from heresy called for the abjuration of the Phantasiasts.
[ The use of the label Phantasiasts by both ]Dyophysite
In Christian theology, dyophysitism (Greek: δυοφυσιτισμός, from δυο (''dyo''), meaning "two" and φύσις (''physis''), meaning "nature") is the Christological position that two natures, divine and human, exist in the person of ...
s and moderate Miaphysites indicates the extreme nature of the position relative to orthodox theologies.
In the middle of the sixth century, the term Phantasiasts was applied to the Aphthartodocetae
The Aphthartodocetae (Greek , from ἄφθαρτος, ''aphthartos'', "incorruptible" and δοκεῖν, ''dokein'', "to seem"), also called Julianists or Phantasiasts by their opponents, were members of a 6th-century Non-Chalcedonian sect. Their l ...
, the followers of Julian of Halicarnassus
Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ίουλιανός Άλικαρνασσού, d. after 527), also known as Julian the Phantastiast, was an anti-Chalcedonian theologian who contested with Severus of Antioch over the ''phtharos'' of Christ. ...
, the theological foe of Severus of Antioch. It was in this sense that Patriarch Sergius I of Antioch used the term in the late 550s when writing to the Miaphysite bishops of Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
about receiving back those who had lapsed into the "heresy of Julian the Phantasiast". The poet George of Pisidia
George of Pisidia ( gr, Γεώργιος Πισίδης, ''Geōrgios Pisidēs''; Latinized as ''Pisida'') was a Byzantine poet, born in Pisidia, who flourished during the 7th century AD.
From his poems we learn he was a Pisidian by birth, and a ...
also describes Phanatasiasts in his poem celebrating the emperor Heraclius's campaign of 622 against the Persians.[
The term was also applied to the ]Gaianites
The Gaianites were a Julianist faction within the Egyptian miaphysite church between the sixth and ninth centuries.Theresia Hainthaler, "The Struggle between Chalcedonians and Anti-Chalcedonians", in ''Christ in Christian Tradition, Volume 2: Fro ...
(latter-day Aphthartodocetae) and in this sense was used into the ninth century.[Grillmeier and Hainthaler (1996), p. 48.]
References
{{reflist
Christian terminology
Heresy in ancient Christianity
Nature of Jesus Christ
Allegations