EARLY HERESIES: The Collyridians and Antidicomarianites (c. 200-400 AD)

Within Christian communities, one of the most controversial topics is that of Marian devotions and the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the salvation of Christians. While it is indeed true that the vast majority of the international Christian community hold the Blessed Virgin Mary in high esteem as the Theotokos, or Mother of God, she is not held out to be a deity in any type of way but rather as a spiritual guide that would lead them to the triune God. Now you may wonder, if Christians have been holding Mary in high esteem from the very beginning, were there ever people who took it way too far and rather crossed the line by seeing her as a goddess? The answer is yes, and for that we have to go back to the first 500 years of Christianity to the days of the Early Church. Sometime between 350 and 450 AD, there existed an early, albeit sparsely documented, sect that reportedly worshiped the Virgin Mary and gave her offerings.

Virgin and Child in Glory, by Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (c. 1650).

From the little documentation that we have on this sect, they were called the Collyridians which meant “cake-eating sect”. Byzantine Monk Leontius of Byzantium alternatively called them “philomarianites”, which in Greek means “Mary-lovers”. This sect was said to consist mainly of females led by priestesses who syncretized indigenous pagan goddess cult customs with Catholicism wherein during their liturgies, they offered cakes or bread-rolls, which they called kolluris (ko-lyris), as a sacrifice or offering to the Virgin Mary rather than giving themselves spiritually (or any monetary offerings for that matter) as a sacrifice to the triune God in orthodox Nicene Christianity. St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis once documented that the members of this sect, which he said were from Thrace, would adorn a chair or square throne, spread a linen cloth over it, and they would offer up a sacrifice of bread rolls in the name of the Virgin Mary and then partake of this bread. St. Epiphanius criticized this sect in his important 4th century work, Panarion, accusing them of idolatry and violating the first Two Commandments - “Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself a Graven Image of anything that is in Heaven above, bow down to them or serve them”. He further wrote that while the Virgin Mary was beautiful, holy and worthy of praise, Christians could not give her adoration or worship as that was reserved for God alone.

The Collyridians were not the only Marian extremist group that existed, as there were also the Antidicomarians, who flourished between 200 and 400 AD, who were on the completely opposite extreme, that denied the Virgin Mary any type of special role or recognition and even denied her perpetual virginity. They even went so far as to initially teach that Jesus Christ was solely the son of Mary and of Joseph. They later modified this position accepting that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, as believed by orthodox Nicene Christianity, but that later Mary and Joseph went on to have intercourse after Christ’s birth and that Mary birthed several other children, of which there is absolutely no proof in the Bible. Perhaps the most significant quotes from St. Epiphanius on the role of Mary is this - “to not honor the saints beyond their due” and to “honor Mary, but let the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be worshiped”. Ultimately the Collyridians and Antidicomarians did disappear from the historical record, and rather the Virgin Mary continues to rightfully be venerated as an important and noble figure in Christian history, rather than as a goddess as the Collyridians saw her or as an unimportant and insignificant figure as the Antidicomarians saw her. Whatever you think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, her role as the Mother of Jesus Christ, makes her a very important historical and religious figure whose Son ultimately changed the world morally, philosophically and culturally for the better.

For further reading, you can read the following articles from Catholic Answers:

Madrid, P. (1994, 10/1). Collyridianism. Catholic Answers. Retrieved at https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/collyridianism

Shipman, A.J. (N.D.). Antidicomarianites. (citing Catholic Encyclopedia). Catholic Answers. Retrieved at https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/antidicomarianites