wypustek magic montanism perpetua, Starożytność
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Magic, Montanism, Perpetua, and the Severan Persecution
Author(s): Andrzej Wypustek
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Aug., 1997), pp. 276-297
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Vigiliae Christianae.
 MAGIC, MONTANISM,
PERPETUA, AND
THE SEVERAN PERSECUTION
BY
ANDRZEJ
WYPUSTEK
Prior to
Decius,
that is before the Roman
Empire
had launched state
persecution
of
Christians,
the
repressive
measures
victimising
followers of
Christianity
were
usually
local and
spontaneous
outburstsof the heathen
mob,
or
they
were the result of the
policy
of
provincial governors
heed-
ing popular
incriminationsat most. This was the reason
why
the
popular
image
of Christians
among pagans
was of extreme
importance.
We should
appreciate
some additional factors which made accusations of this kind
more
dangerous
than
ever
in
the
times of
Emperor Severus,
at
the turn
of the second
century, inciting
the
persecution
in which
popular enmity
and official
repression
went hand in hand.
Septimus
Severushimselfwas ruthlesstowards
magicians,astrologers
and
prophetic
dreams.' The Severan
lawyerJulius
Paulus has left us an out-
line of
legislation afflicting
them
severely
at this time.2 Even those who
merely possessed magic
handbooks were threatened with the death sen-
tence.
Hitherto,
not the
magic knowledge
as
such,
but its
public display
and
practice by giving
advice were
punishable.
With
Severus,
the
very
sci-
entia
huius
artiswas liable to be
punished.3
The
range
of
repression
of those
accused of
magic
was extended.4There
was,
of
course,
no extermination
of
all involved in
magic.
Additional circumstanceswere
required
to
per-
secute
a
person
as a sorcerer.
Apuleius
was accused not
only
of
magic
doings
but of other crimes
as well. In the case of
Christians,
the counter-
part
of this "additional"crime would be
professing
a forbidden
religion
or
some other
alleged
offences
such
as,
for
example,
contumacia.
In cases of
such
"composite"
crime,
Imperial
officials could be
relentless,
especially
when an
agitated
heathen mob was
raging against
the
Christian wizards.
In 1931 a document was
found,
a circular directed
to the
arparoyol
of
two
Egyptian nomes,
probably Heptonomia
and
Arsinoite,
which con-
demned
nrEplepyia5
applied
to
acquire supernaturalknowledge by appeal-
?
Koninklijke Brill, Leiden,
1997
Vgliae
Christianae
51,
276-297
277
MAGIC, MONTANISM,
PERPETUA
ing
to
#avreiagrp6orots
,
divinationand relatedartifices
(rayyaviag,
as
hapax,
corrected
by
the editor to
Cayryavia,
sorcery).5
The document
was issued
by
the
prefect's
office.6In the same
year
Severus
paid
a
visit to
Egypt
and,
in all
likelihood,
ordered some doctrines of
magic
and
astrology
to be
removed from the
temples.7
A new form of Christian
faith,
Montanism
reached
ascendancy
in the
second half of the
2nd
century bringing
Christianscloser to the world of
those
superstitionesmagicae
in
pagan eyes.8 During
this time Montanism
reached its climax and
owing
to fervent
believers became
conspicuous
to
its
pagan
enemies. Pneumatic
inspiration,
mediumistic enhancements and
prophetic
tranceswere
experienced
not
only by
Montanus and his
prophet-
esses.
Apart
from
them,
and after their
time,
there were
many
Montanist
seers and visionaries
yielding
to their
pcvia.9
Montanistscalled themselves
njvevMaricoi
to
emphasise
the
importance
and
intensity
of their
spiritual
gifts.
This was
also,
it
seems,
the
spiritual
environmentof
Perpetua'sgroup.10
Tertullian'svisionarieswere reminiscentof the Montanist
trances.
According
to
Priscilla,
sexual continence allows one to see
visions and hear voices
which are as salutares
as occultas."Ecstatictrances
constitutedthe main rea-
son for dissensionbetween Montanistsand
Catholics.'2There are
multiple
indications that the nature of Montanism made this
heresy
much more
akin to the most
dangerous superstitions
of the
time. Even if it was
pos-
sible to
perceive
the faith of Clement of
Alexandria,
Origen
or Valentinus
in an unbiased
way,
the
performances
of the
New
Prophecyjust
could not
avoid such associations.
For
pagans, superstition
was
the
sign
of
delirium,
deliramentum.
Cicero
saw
the menace of
superstition
in
the influence it exercised over the
minds of
imbecilli,
who chanced
losing
their mental balance. To some
extent
super-
stitiosus
means
insanus,insaniens.'3
In the Acts
of
the Scillitan
Martyrs(8)
the
Roman
official
appeals:
nolite
huius
dementiae
esse
participes.'4
Montanism
per-
fectly
fitted this definition.Tertullianhimself
spoke
of the
Montanist
ecstasy
as
resembling
madness.15
Moreover,
pagans
could
easily
associate elements
of
the heretics' conduct with the most
dangerous
forms of
superstition,
that is
magic
and
soothsaying.
Characteristic
terminology
of Montanism
(xapli, &vva#tg,
nivev!a)
is
ubiquitous
in the
magical
papyri.
The
Spirit
spoke through
Maximilla:"I am
word,
and
spirit,
and
power."16
Montanus'
prophecy
is
explicit
at this
point:
"Neither
angel
nor
envoy,
but I the Lord
God the Father have come." It was
God who
spoke,
the
prophet
was
only
his
porte-parole.l7
Meanwhile,
sorcerers
pretended
to have so close a rela-
tionship
to the
gods
that
they
were able to achieve full unification
with
278
ANDRZEJ
WYPUSTEK
the
deity. They
boasted of their
prowess
in the
calling gods,
who
granted
them the
knowledge
of the future.
They
incited the
gods
to enter their
hearts,putting
themselvesor theirmedia into
ecstasy
or
trances.'8
Soothsayers
were
investigating
the future
by observingstars,
birdsor entrailsof
sacrifices,
and,
last but not
least, by personal,
inner revelation
during
mediumistic
trances: Sin veromore
vulgari
eumisti
propriemagum
existimant,
qui
communione
loquendi
quadam
vi cantaminum
polleat.'9
They
called
gods
and demons
by rhythmical
phrases
similar to
Montanist
prophecies.
The
similarity
of "'I am"' statementsin
the
magi-
cal
papyri, by
which sorcerers
assure us to be
the voice of
god
and of the
formulasin the Montanist
oracles,
is
striking.
"Kindermedien"were often
in use. At the same time Tertullian considered Christian children as the
best media of God's
inspiration
and
prophecy.20
This
opinion
was
espe-
cially
true of
Montanists,
who
brought
into
practice
the
prophecies by
Joel (2,
28: ... et iuvenesvisionesvidebunt..
.) concerning
the
pouring
of the
Spirit
at the end of time
(adduced by
the Montanist redactor of the Passio
Perpetuae
cumdeisimmortalibus
ad omnia
quae
velitincredibilia
1).21
Montanist
glossolalia
could
bring
about the same misunder-
standings
over the
magical
use of voces
magicae.22
Such
misunderstanding
is
echoed in the words of Celsus who
probably spoke
of Montanist seers
say-
ing:
"And each one
commonly
and
customarilysays:
'I am God' or 'a son
of
God,'
or 'a divine
spirit,'
and 'I have come. For the world is
already
perishing
and
you, gentlemen,
are ruined because of
your
offences. But I
want to save
you;
and
you
will
see me
coming again
with
heavenly power
(6vva,ul).
Blessed is he who has
worshipped
me
now,
but I will cast eter-
nal fire on all the others both
in
the cities
and in the
countryside.
And
men who have not become
acquainted
with their own
recompenses
will
repent
in vain and
groan;
but
I
will
protect
foreverthose
who have
obeyed
me'
[...].
After
they
have brandishedthese
words,
they subsequently
add
words that are
unintelligible,
and
frenzied,
and
totally
obscure,
whose
mean-
ing
no
intelligent person
could
discover,
for
they
are obscure and void of
meaning,
but
they
afford
opportunity
to
every
fool or sorcerer
(yorltSI)
to
appropriate
what was said
concerninganything
in whatever
way
he wishes."23
Furthermore,
in the
magical papyri
we find numerous
recipes
command-
ing
renouncement of meat for the
purpose
of some rituals.
The same concerned
sexual life. Here the Montanistswere close to
super-
stitioalso
as
they propagated
ieiunia
propria
and
enjoined
sexual
abstinence,
both
requisite
to
procure
visions and
appearances,precisely
like the
magi-
cians did.24
Moreover,
in
popular imagination
human
sacrifice
was the
reg-
ular crime of sorcerers.
Philostratus,
Tertullian's
contemporary,
describes
279
MAGIC, MONTANISM,
PERPETUA
Apollonius
of
Tyana being
accused of
killing
a child for
divination,
and
the same
is
told about
Didius
Julianus.25
We are thus
dealing
with a clear
associationof
soothsaying(prophecy?),
human sacrificeand
magic.26Owing
to one of the later
heresiologists
we know that Tertullian had to defend
Montanists
against
this kind of Catholic slander.27Around the
year
200
Christians themselves accused Montanist
prophets
of
accepting payments
and
gifts
for their
spiritual
services which made them more akin to sor-
cerers.28
Firmilian of Caesarea
gives
us a vivid
picture
of the
figure
of a charis-
matic,
heretic woman in
Cappadocia (c. 230).
She came forth in times of
frequent earthquakes
and other
catastrophes.
These natural
disasters led
to the
persecution
of
Christians,
accused of
causing
such
afflictions.The
prophetess
claimed to be ecstatic and
promised
to make the
earth trem-
ble.
In the
depths
of winter she would walk barefooted
through
frozen
snow,
without
injury
or even
concern
for
her health. She would
say
that
she
was
hurrying
to
Judea
and
Jerusalem,
purporting
to have come from
there.2
Up
to
the
beginning
of
our
century
most scholars connected this
female miracle-workerwith Montanism. P. de
Labriolle,
the
great
con-
noisseur
of
heresy,
was
sceptical
about her
identity
as a Montanist vision-
ary.
In his
opinion
the hint
of
the march to
Jerusalem
in Palestine
put
this woman outside the Montanist
community
which had its
holy
centre
in
Pepuza.30
One can
argue
for
a
differentview. On these
grounds
Tertullian
himself could not have been a Montanist. He does not mention
Pepuza.
He believed in the
heavenly city descending
in
Judea,
as it was
foretold
in the Bible.3'Like the
majority
of
heresies,
Montanism was not
homoge-
nous in time and
space.
It was
multiform,
and the cult of
the
holy city
in
Asia Minor is not the best criterion for
defining
what
is and what is not
Montanist.In
any case,
Firnilian'saccountshowsthe
behaviourof Christians
as
being
at least close to the
heresy.
And
again, causing earthquakes
and
shaking
the elements are the kinds of activities
commonly
ascribed to sor-
cerers,
as are all the tricks similar to those
she boasted of
performing
or
those that were ascribed to
her,
such
as
walking through
fire,
touching
glowing
coals and
walking
on water.32
Eusebiusmentioned the
widespread
report
that the Montanist
wonder-workerTheodotus was once lifted
up
into heaven.33
It is not accidental that we find
important
information
concerning
the
place
of black
magic
in the
popular imagination
and in
the civic life of
Roman cities in a new-found
inscription
from
Ephesus engraved
at the
time when Montanism
originated,
i.e. in the 160's. It
contains an oracle
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