What is Messalianism?

Answer

Messalianism was a Christian sect in Mesopotamia that existed from around AD 360 to about the ninth century. The name Messalian—one of many for the group—means “one who prays” in Syriac, as it also does in the Greek version of the name: Euchite. Their beliefs and practices were heavily influenced by Eastern mysticism.

Messalianism taught that, because of Adam’s original sin, every person was born with a demon that incited men to sin and that neither baptism nor the Lord’s Supper could expel. The Messalians even taught that Christ was born with a demon. The only means for removing the demon was fervent, constant prayer combined with an ascetic lifestyle. The Messalians had no jobs, only praying—or sleeping, as Theodoret quipped—and they lived by begging.

The asceticism would continue until the Messalian’s prayers produced a passionless state wherein the demon would escape the body through the spittle or mucus, or else as smoke in the form of a serpent. After that, sin was impossible. Because the passions of the body no longer ruled, rich food and luxurious living could not stir evil desires in the heart, so the necessity for an ascetic lifestyle was gone.

Messalianism also taught that the person in the passionless state was able to see the Trinity with his physical eyes. The three parts of the Godhead converged into one, uniting with worthy souls. Further, these “spiritual” people were viewed as almost divine in nature, seeing things invisible to ordinary men like spirits, demons, and prophetic visions.

The first recorded leader of Messalianism was Adelphius, so another name for the group was the Adelphians. Theodoret recorded that Flavian, the bishop of Antioch, invited the Messalian teachers to his city. The Messalians denied their doctrines and faulted their accusers with slander. Flavian then pretended to sympathize with Adelphius, convincing him that he had accepted his teachings.

I had found a like-minded ally and tricked him into revealing all his beliefs.

The Messalian leader was incriminated by his own words; he and his followers were defeated, excommunicated, and sent away from Syria to Pamphylia. They were not given the chance to retract their statements, as they desired, because no one believed in their sincerity. It is likely at this juncture that Flavian convened a synod against them, with the attendance of thirty clergy members. Messalianism was also denounced by a synod in Sida, Pamphylia, around the same period, approximately AD 390. In the following decades, numerous religious leaders from various parts of the ancient world, particularly in Ephesus and Alexandria, gathered and censured Messalianism.

Other figures within Messalianism included Lampetius, whose adherents were known as Lampetians. He is believed to have been the first Messalian to be ordained as a priest, by the bishop of Caesarea in 458. Eventually, he faced allegations of misconduct and Messalian customs, leading to his removal from the priesthood. The subsequent leader was Marcian, a moneychanger in the sixth century. Under his guidance, the group acquired another moniker: Marcianists. This new designation caused some confusion in the West as it was condemned in the East. Upon appeal, the pope declared Marcian orthodox since he could not ascertain the nature of the Marcianism heresy.

Regardless of the name used, Messalianism gradually faded away over time. It disappeared from sight until the emergence of the Bogomil heresy in the twelfth century.