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
