Pope Eleuterus - Catholic Reactions To The Montanist Movement

Catholic Reactions To The Montanist Movement

The Montanist movement, which originated in Asia Minor, made its way to Rome and Gaul in the second half of the 2nd century, around the reign of Eleuterus. Its nature did not diverge so much from the orthodoxy of the time for it to initially be labeled heresy. During the violent persecution at Lyon, in 177, local confessors wrote from their prison concerning the new movement to the Asiatic and Phrygian communities, and also to Pope Eleuterus. The bearer of their letter to the pope was the presbyter Irenaeus, soon to become Bishop of Lyon. It appears from statements of Eusebius concerning these letters that the Christians of Lyon, though opposed to the Montanist movement, advocated patience and pleaded for the preservation of ecclesiastical unity.

Exactly when the Roman Catholic Church took its definite stand against Montanism is not known with any certainty. It would seem from Tertullian's account (adv. Praxeam, I) that a Roman bishop did send some conciliatory letters to the Montanists, but these letters, says Tertullian, were subsequently recalled. He probably refers to Pope Eleuterus, who long hesitated, but after a conscientious and thorough study of the situation, is supposed to have declared against the Montanists. At Rome, the Gnostics and Marcionites continued to preach against the Catholic Church. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Eleutherius a decree that no kind of food should be despised by Christians (Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christianis repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est). Possibly he did issue such an edict against the Gnostics and Montanists; it is also possible that on his own responsibility the writer of the Liber Pontificalis attributed to this pope a similar decree current about the year 500.