Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/212

 PNEUMATOMACHI

174

POETRY

Pneumatomachi (Macedonians), a heretical sect which flourished in the countries adjacent to the Hellespont during the latter half of the fourth, and the beginning of the fifth century. They denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, hence the name Pneu- matomachi (irt'ei'/iOTo/iixoO or Combators against the Spirit. Macedonius, their founder, was intruded into the See of Constantinople by the Arians (342 A. D.), and enthroned by Constantius, who had for the second time expelled Paul, the Catholic bishop. He is known in history for his persecution of Novatians and Catholics; as both maintained the consubstan- tiality of the Son with the leather. He not only ex- pelled those who refused to hold communion with him, but imprisoned some and brought others before the tribunals. In many cases he used torture to compel the unwilling to communicate, forced bap- tism on unbaptized women and children and de- stroyed many churches. At last his cruelty provoked a rebellion of the Novatians at Mantinium, in Paphlagonia, in which four imperial cohorts were de- feated and nearly all slain. His disinterment of the body of Const antine was looked upon as an indignity to the Protector of the Council of Nicsea, and led to a conflict between Arians and anti-Arians, which filled the church and neighbourhood with carnage. As the disinterment had taken place without the emperor's sanction, Macedonius fell into disgrace, and Con- stantius caused him to be deposed by the Acacian party and succeeded by Eudoxius in 360. This de- position, however, was not for doctrinal reasons, but on the ground that he had caused much bloodshed and had admitted to communion a deacon guilty of fornication. Macedonius continued for some time to live near Constantinople and cause trouble. He died about 364. It is thought that during these last years he formulated his rejection of the Divinity of the Holy Ghost and founded his sect. His intimacy with Eleusius of Cysicus makes this probable. Some scholars, however, reject the identification of Mace- donians and Pneumatomachians, apparently on in- sufficient grounds and against the authority of Socrates, a contemporary historian living at Con- stantinople. The Council of Nicaea had used all its energies in defending the Homoousion of the Son and with regard to the Spirit had already added the words: "We believe in the Holy Ghost" without any quali- fication. The Macedonians took advantage of the vagueness and hesitancy of expression in some of the early Fathers to justify and propagate their error. The majority of this sect were clearly orthodox on the Consubstantiality of the Son; they had sent a deputation from the Semi-Arian council of Lampsacus (364 A. D.) to Pope Libcrius, who after some hesita- tion acknowledged the soundness of their faith; but with regard to the Third Person, both pope and bishops were satisfied with the phrase: "We believe in the Holy Ghost." While hiding in the desert dur- ing his third exile, Athanasius learned from his friend Serapion of Thumis of a sect acknowledging Nica>a, and yet declaring the Holy Ghost a mere creature and a ministering angel (on the strength of Heb., i, 14). Athanasius wrote at once to Serapion in defence of the true Doctrine, and on his return from exile (362 a. d.) held a council at Alexandria which resulted in the first formal condemnation of the Pneumatomachi. A synodal letter was sent to the people of Antioch ad- vising them to require of all converts from Arianism a condemnation again.st "those who say that the Holy Spirit is a creature and separate from the essence of Chri.st. For those who while pretending to cite the faith confessed at Nica>a, venture to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, deny Arianism in words only, while in thought they return to it." Nevertheless, during the following decade the heresy seems to have gone on almost unchecked except in the Patriarchate of Antioch where at a synod held in 363 Meletius had

proclairned the orthodox faith. In the East the mov- ing spirit for the repression of the error was Amphi- lochius of Iconium, who in 374 besought St. Basil of Caesarea to write a treatise on the true doctrine con- cerning the Holy Ghost. This he did, and his treatise is the classical work on the subject (Ttpi toC iylov n. M. 32). It is possible that he influenced his brother Gregory of Nyssa to write his treatise against the Macedonians, of which only a part has come down to us and which_ appears to be based on the words: "Lord and life-giver who proceeds from the Father". These words, apparently taken from the Creed of Jerusalem, had been used by St. Epiphanius of Salamis in his "Ancoratus" when combating this error (374 a. d.). Amphilochius of Iconium, as Metropolitan of Lycaonia, wrote in concurrence with his bishops a synodal letter to the bishops of Lycia, which contains an excellent statement of the true doctrine (377 a. d.). In Constantinople (379) Gregory of Nazianzus pronounced his brilliant theo- logical oration on this subject. The West hkewise upheld the truth in a synod held in Illyria and men- tioned by Theodoret (H. E., IV, 8) and by Pope Damasus in his letter to Paulinus of Antioch. The heresy was condemned in the first Council of Con- stantinople, and internal divisions soon led to its extinction. Socrates (H. E., V, 24) states that a cer- tain Macedonian presbyter, Eutropius, held con- venticles of his own while others followed BLshop Carterius. Eustathius of Sebaste, Sabinus, and Eleu- sius of Cyricus seem to have been leaders whom the sect repudiated (for Eustathius, see Basil, Ep., CCLXIII, 3). In June 383 Theodosius tried by means of a conference to bring the Arian factions to submission. Eleusius handed in his symbol of faith as representing the Macedonians, as he had repre- sented them with Marcianus of Lampsacus at the Council of Constantinople. After this fruitless at- tempt at reconciliation the Macedonians with other heretics incurred all the severities of the Theodosian code and within a generation disappeared from his- tory. Socrates and Sozomus mention a certain Marathonius, made Bishop of Nicomedia by Mace- donius, who obtained such a leading position in the sect that they were often styled after him Mara- thonians. Through St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Damasus, and Rufinus, the name Macedonians be- came the customary designation in the West. No writings of Macedonius are extant, but Pneumato- machian writings are mentioned by Didymus the Blind, who wrote an excellent treatise on the Holy Ghost in thirty-six chapters (translated into Latin by St. Jerome at the command of Pope Damasus), and who refers in his later work (379) on the Trinity (II, 7, 8, 10) to some "Brief Expositions" of Macedonian doctrines which he possessed.

Loors. Eustathius von Sebaste (Halle, 189S); Schermann, Gotiheit d. H. Geist, n, d. griech. Vdterii d. IV Jahrh. (Leipzig, 1901); Fuller in Diet. Christ. Biagr., s. v.; Hergenroether, Hisloire de VEglise, II (Paris, 1901). 99.

J. P. Ahendzen.

Podlachia. See Lublin, Diocese of.

Poetry, Hebrew, of the Old Te.stament. — Since the Bible is divinely inspired, and thus becomes the "written word " of God, many devout souls are averse from handling it as literature. But such a view tends to lose sight of the second causes and human constit- uents without which, in fact. Holy Scripture has not been given to us. The Bible, as a concrete whole, is something definite in make, origin, time, and circum- stances, all of which must be taken into account if we desire to reach its true meaning. It is history and it is literature; it lies open consequently to investigation under these lights, and if they are neglected miscon- ceptions will follow. The fact that spiritual or super- natural influences have moulded phenomena does not withdraw from scientific inquiries anything which is