THEO 300 – ECCLESIOLOGY AND SACRAMENTAL THEOLOGY

© PROF. ANTONIO C. CAYETANO

FACULTY, ARTS & SCIENCES DEPARTMENT
SAN PEDRO COLLEGE
DAVAO CITY
A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

1. GNOSTICISM.
• Gk.: Gnosis – knowledge
• Gnostics: adherents of Gnosticism
• Gnostics claimed that they have a special, salvific type
of knowledge
• It proclaimed its teachings, its rites and its practical
prescriptions to be divinely revealed and to have been
transmitted and preserved through some mysterious
tradition.
• It offered itself as an infallible means of salvation,
operating usually through magical rites and formulae.

• It offered itself not to all men, but – and this was one
secret of the movement’s attraction – to the select
band of the initiate few.
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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

1. GNOSTICISM.
• It viewed the world of matter as evil and the spirit alone
is good. Thus:
– The human body is deemed to be defiled and evil.
– Marriage is evil due to the mortal, bodily desires
(sexual desires and pleasures) that accompany
with it.
• As a consequence:
– The bodily resurrection of Jesus was denied.
– Marriage was condemned.
– Bodily or worldly pursuits were abhorred and
despised.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

1. GNOSTICISM.

HENRY CHADWICK (1992):

• Gnostics claimed to be Christian that represents the
secret tradition which Jesus had taught the apostles in
private.
• Gnostics collected saying of Jesus shape to fit their
own interpretation (like the Coptic Gospel of Thomas).
• Gnostics offered their adherents an alternative or rival
form of Christianity.
• Gnostic teachers claimed that their dualism explained
the origin of evil far better than the orthodox view that
the created world comes from a perfectly good and all-
powerful God.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

1. GNOSTICISM.
• In terms of practice and doctrine:
GOD, THE WORLD, AND MAN
– God is a flawed creator such that when he made
the universe and everything in it, what he made
was also flawed.

– The world is flawed because it was created in a

flawed manner, for which reason, the blame for the
world’s failings (sufferings and destructions) lies
not with humans, but with the creator.

– When God created man in his image, he shared

with man his being flawed.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

1. GNOSTICISM.
SALVATION
• Gnostics claimed that salvation is obtained only by
means of knowledge which can be derived through
enlightenment from the outside (the Gnostic teachers)
CONDUCT AND MORALITY
• Gnostics believed that commandments and rules are
not salvific as salvation is achieved only through
knowledge.
• Gnostics encouraged:
– non-attachment and non-conformity to the world, a
“being in the world, but not of the world.”
– respect for the freedom and dignity of other
beings.
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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

2. MARCIONISM.
• An Early Christian dualist belief system that originated
in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope in Rome around
the year 144.

• Its belief was first a reaction to the “contradicting God”

of the Old Testament and the New Testament

• It rejected the vengeful God of the Old Testament in

favor of the good God revealed in Jesus Christ.

• For Marcion, there were two Gods:

– The Demiurge: the lesser God who was the

creator of the visible world, jealous of his own
creature man and expelled him from Paradise and
thereby began the human sin and misery. 7
A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

2. MARCIONISM.
• For Marcion, there were two Gods:

– The Demiurge: the lesser God who was the

creator of the visible world, jealous of his own
creature man and expelled him from Paradise and
thereby began the human sin and misery.

– The Good God: from whom salvation come, and

who sent Jesus Christ to save men from the bond
of Demiurge.

– Jesus Christ was Himself really God but man in

appearance only, for matter is essentially evil, and
so He cannot take a body that was in reality evil.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

2. MARCIONISM.
• Marcion:
– was an advocate of a loving God.

– but cannot simply reconcile the “vindictive God” of

the Old Testament.

– found himself deviating from the true teaching of

the Church.

– absolutely equated the God of the Old Testament

as undeserving to be God because of the wars
and conflicts that were recorded in his name

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

2. MARCIONISM.
• For Marcion, there were two Gods:

– reduced Jesus as simply divine, and attributed his

humanity as merely an appearance due to the evil
that is inherent in every matter.

– made a radical call for the prohibition of marriage

“in consequence of his view of the body as part of
evil matter.”

– formulated his own canon of scripture from which

the whole of the Old Testament was excluded.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

3. MONTANISM.
• Montanus:
– claimed to have a special inspiration from the Holy
Spirit.

– proclaimed to his fellow-Christians, with ecstatic

behavior and in strange, obscure language that he
was a mouthpiece and prophet of the Holy Spirit,
who was now through him, to lead the Church to
all truth.

– At first this message was received with some

doubts.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

3. MONTANISM.
• Montanus:

– when two women, Priscilla and Maximillia, joined

Montanus and, in similar ecstatic manner, uttered
their prophecies, while Montanus himself promised
his adherents a higher place in the approaching
heavenly Jerusalem, a wave of enthusiasm swept
away all hesitation.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

4. MANICHAENISM.
• Mani: a Persian priest
– had the deliberate plan to unite in a new religion
the best elements of the old.
– retained the ascetical practice of Gnosticism and
its attitude on matter a s evil.
– preached that there is a “fundamental battle
between good and evil, with opposing forces
struggling for the souls of humans”.
– claimed that all great religious teachers, Jesus
included, had to come to teach people about the
world of light and how they might struggle toward
it, largely y ascetical practices such as celibacy
and vegetarianism.

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A. HERESIES AGAINST THE EARLY CHURCH

4. MANICHAENISM.
• Mani: a Persian priest

– Rose to greater prominence when it won Saint

Augustine of Hippo as one its members.

– Augustine was converted to Christian faith and

turned him into an ultimate adversary of
Manichaenism and the great defender of Christian
practice and doctrine.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

APOLOGISTS

 dedicated Christian men who devoted their

lives for the propagation and defense of the
faith through their writings.

How did the Christian apologists respond to the

above-mentioned distortions of doctrines and the
division created by such heresies?

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

1. ST. CLEMENT OF ROME (30-100 A.D.).

• The 4th Pope of the Church, after Peter, Linus and

Anacletus.
• He wrote a letter to the Church at Corinth.
• He stood as an important figure after the time of the
Apostles.
• He was a great pastoral leader in the 1st century:
– His writings seek to defend and propagate the
Christian faith.
– His exhortation on the example of the martyrs as
exemplars of holiness and humility.
– His reminder to the Corinthians of the
commandment of love, and of the pursuit of good
works and virtues
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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

1. ST. CLEMENT OF ROME (30-100 A.D.).

• He was a great pastoral leader in the 1st century:

– His writings seek to defend and propagate the
Christian faith.
– His exhortation on the example of the martyrs as
exemplars of holiness and humility.
– His reminder to the Corinthians of the
commandment of love, and of the pursuit of good
works and virtues.
– His teaching on the order of ministers for the
Church as divinely vindicated.
– His admonition and call for repentance.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

2. ST. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA (65-155 A.D.).

• was in direct contact with the Apostles, or in direct link

to the Lord’s disciples.
• was a Bishop of Smyrna.
• wrote to the Church at Philippi on:
– the exhortation of virtue
– the practice of love, hope and patience
– the reminders for deacons, youths and virgins
– the duties of presbyters, and all Christians

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

2. ST. POLYCARP OF SMYRNA (65-155 A.D.).

• was betrayed by a servant.
• asked to denounce his faith in Jesus by his
persecutors.
• refused to revile Christ.
• stood unthreatened by torture and death.
• embraced martyrdom by being burned alive inside the
stadium before a multitude of people.
• His martyrdom was:
– well recorded by ancient writers
– considered as one of the most inspiring stories of
the early Christians that defied human persecution
and withstood the trial of faith, even the fearful test
of death.
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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

3. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (30-107 A.D.).

• born in Syria in the middle of the 1st century.

• succeeded Evodius as Bishop of Antioch.

• Originally pagan and influenced by philosophy, and as

such, he knew:
– The procedure of Stoic diatribe (a lecture or writing
on popular philosophical or moral ideas, and often
included self-sufficiency, self-control, and divine
providence).
– The sophistication of Asian rhetoric (primarily the
power of expressing strong emotions in striking
and appropriate language, thereby producing
conviction or persuasion).

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

3. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (30-107 A.D.).

• was arrested around 110 and taken under a military
escort to Rome.
• was executed by throwing him to the wild beast for
food.

• Fought against:

– The Judaizers: “Christians who felt that all

Christians, Gentile converts included, must follow
the Jewish law.”

– Docetism: a belief that Jesus did not really have a

body but only “seemed” to have one.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

3. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (30-107 A.D.).

• As an ardent believer of his vocation to Christ:

– emphasized the divine vindication of the Christians

as the new people of God who replaced the
“corrupt” Jews through Christ’s passion, death and
resurrection;

– stressed the superiority of the Christian faith;

– pointed out the contradiction of one’s confession to

Christ while refusing to let go of Judaism;

– promised the destiny of every Christian to “eternal

life in Christ.”

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

3. ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (30-107 A.D.).

• As an ardent believer of his vocation to Christ:

– criticized the Docetists as an “evil offshoot which

produces death-bearing fruit, whereof if any one
tastes, he instantly dies” because of their denial of
the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and his human
appearance.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

4. ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS (120-202 A.D.).

• was born in Smyrna

• was, in early youth, acquainted with Polycarp, the

illustrious bishop of the city.

• was best remembered as the apologist who notably

defended the Christian practice and doctrine.

• wrote his great work entitled: Adversus Heresus

(Against Heresies), which condemned and refuted the
theological and moral errors of Gnosticism.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

4. ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS (120-202 A.D.).

• labored to dispel the exclusive claim of the Gnostics in
receiving a special revelation from God
– by ably pointing out that what they preached as
“salvific revelation by God” was not rooted in the
teachings of the Apostles but a fruit of their
intellectual distortions and tailored to cater their
own agenda as “exclusive recipients” of God’s
salvation.
• laid the ground of Scripture and Tradition as an acid
test for the veracity of the truth:
– against those who deviate from the Church; and
– against those individuals who protect and
perpetuate their own interest in the guise of
religious devotion and the pursuit of man’s
salvation. 25
B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

5. ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (114-165A.D.).

• was born in Flavia Neapolis, a city of Samaria (the
modern Nablous) at about 114 A.D.
• converted from paganism.
• found his peace in the hope offered by Christian faith.
• was impressed with:
– the extraordinary fearlessness which the
Christians displayed in the presence of death; and
– the grandeur, stability and truth of the teachings of
the Old Testament.
• acted as evangelist, taking every opportunity to
proclaim the Gospel as the only safe and certain
philosophy, the only way to salvation.

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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

5. ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (114-165 A.D.).

• wrote: two Apologies and Dialogue with Trypho.

SUMMARY OF APOLOGIES
• opened with a Christian address: R. Emperor Titus
Aelius Adrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, et.
al.
• demanded justice from the persecutions that
Christians suffered.

• proved the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old

Testament in the life and person of Jesus Christ.

• closed by describing the life of the Christians centered

on the practice of Baptism, Eucharist, and its weekly
worship.
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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

5. ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (114-165 A.D.).

SUMMARY OF THE DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO

• was a fascinating and an engaging conversation

between Justin and Trypho about matters pertaining to
the Jews and the Christians:
– started with an intellectual inquiry on their
philosophies;
– progressed in its emphasis on the primacy of
Christ as the fulfilled prophecy;
– highlighted the new role of the Christians in God’s
plan of salvation; and
– ended with an exhortation for the conversion of the
Jews to Christ in order to be saved.
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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

6. TERTULLIAN (145-220 A.D.).

• QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLORENS TERTULLIANUS

• was most remembered by his strong character and
pure brilliance for the Church’s defence against
heresies.
• was the first great Latin Christian writer
• wrote extensively as he was a brilliant writer whose
literary abilities sometimes outstripped his
arguments.

• created much Latin theological terminology.

• was fond of arguing with heretics from a legalistic
viewpoint due to his legal background.
• was the father of the African Church.
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B. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: THE APOLOGISTS

6. TERTULLIAN (145-220 A.D.).

• was truly a fighter against faulty reasoning and

divisive false teachings.
• produced:
– a number of apologetical writings against Marcion,
paganism and heresy; and
– a systematic exposition of Christian doctrine.
• but, deviated from the Church whom he dearly loved
and greatly defended.
• abandoned the Church for Montanism.

• became the villain of the Christian Church.

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C. CONCLUSION

• CATHOLIC CHURCH THEN:

– is not immune from attack of heretical teachings and
false claims by certain persons and groups (the
Gnostics, Marcionists, Montanists and Manichaens).
– the above-mentioned attack and false claims had put
to the test the veracity and wisdom of the teachings
of the Church throughout the centuries.
– through her apologists grounded and defended
herself against these heresies:
 by making use of the sources of her teachings,
namely, Apostolic Tradition and the Sacred
Scripture; and
 under the guidance of the Magisterium (the official
teaching authority of the Church).

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C. CONCLUSION

• THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TODAY:

– is confronted with new challenges:
 a very pluralistic world.
 Growing culture of relativism (the doctrine that
knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to
culture, society, or historical context, and are not
absolute) and subjectivism (the doctrine that
knowledge is merely subjective and that there is
no external or objective truth).

 Truth at times becomes a matter of personal

judgment and a business of subjective preference
aggravated by the contagious influence of mass
media and the internet.

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C. CONCLUSION

• CATHOLIC CHURCH TODAY:

– continues to play her mission as the instrument and

vanguard of the truth even if it appears to be
unpopular and her position for the truth is always
non-negotiable.

– remains consistent to be guided by the Sacred

Scripture, Apostolic Tradition and Magisterium in her
own prayer and discernment.

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C. CONCLUSION

• OUR CHALLENGE TODAY – WE ARE CALLED:

– To examine the basis of our belief, or our share of

doubt and unbelief.

– To repel that which is heretical to our faith, while we

show a docile, listening heart to the truth.

– To guard ourselves from the deception of relativism

and the temptation of pure subjectivism in our choices.

– To commit and dedicate ourselves to the truth.

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