former. All forms of idolatry, especially those of Greece and Rome, are essentially anthropomorphic and anthropopathic. The classical divinities are in character simply deified men and women. The Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan religions teach that God is a Spirit, and thus elevate him above the reach of materialistic and sensual conceptions and representations. But within the Christian church anthropomorphism appeared from time to time as an isolated opinion or as the tenet of a party. Tertullian is often charged with it, because he ascribed to God a body (Adv. Prax. c. 7: "Quis enim negabit, Deum corpus esse, etsi Deus Spiritus est? Spiritus enim corpus sui generis in effigie"). But he probably identified corporeality with substantiality, and hence he maintained that everything real had a body of some kind (de Carne Chr. c. 11: "Omne quod est, corpus est sui generis, nihil est incorporale, nisi quod non est"). The pseudo-Clementine Homilies (xvii. 2 seq.) teach that God, in order to be an object of love, must be the highest beauty, and consequently have a body, since there is no beauty without form; nor could we pray to a God Who was mere spirit. (Cf. Baur, Vorlesungen über die Dogmengeschichte, vol. i. p. 412.) In the middle of the 4th cent. Audius, or Audaeus, of Syria, a bold censor of the luxury and vices of the clergy, and an irregularly consecrated bishop, founded a strictly ascetic sect, which were called Audians or Anthropomorphites, and maintained themselves, in spite of repeated persecution, till the close of the 5th cent. He started from a literal interpretation of Gen. i. 28, and reasoned from the nature of man to the nature of God, Whose image he was (Epiphanius, Haer. 70; Theod. H. E. iv. 9; Walch, Ketzerhistorie, iii. 300). During the Origenistic controversies towards the end of the 4th cent., anthropomorphism was held independently by many Egyptian monks in the Scetic desert, who, with Pachomius at their head, were the most violent opponents of the spiritualistic theology of Origen, and were likewise called Anthropomorphites; they felt the need of material conceptions in their prayers and ascetic exercises. Theophilus of Alexandria, formerly an admirer of Origen, became his bitter opponent, and expelled the Origenists from Egypt, but nevertheless he rejected the Anthropomorphism of the anti-Origenistic monks (Ep. Pastr. for 399). In the present century Anthropomorphism has been revived by the Mormons, who conceive God as an intelligent material being, with body, members, and passions, and unable to occupy two distinct places at once. [P.S.] Antidikomarianitae (Ἀντιδικομαριανίται = Adversaries of Mary: Epiph. Haer. lxxxix.). The name given to those in Arabia in the latter part of the 4th cent. who (in opposition to the Κολλυριδιάνιδες) maintained the novel supposition advanced at that time by Bonosus of Sadica, and by Helvidius, that "our Lord's brethren" were children borne by the Blessed Virgin to Joseph after our Lord's birth. The controversy arose out of the then prevailing reverence for virginity, which in its extreme form had led certain women, originally from Thrace, but dwelling in Arabia, to celebrate |
an idolatrous festival in honour of the Virgin, by taking certain cakes (κολλύριδες) about in chariots, and then solemnly offering them to her and consuming them, in imitation of the Lord's Supper, or (more probably) of the pagan worship of Ceres. The reaction from this superstition led to the existence of the sect spoken of in this article, which, contemporaneously with the controversy carried on by St. Jerome and by others against Helvidius and Bonosus, the literary supporters of the hypothesis, was led to endeavour to cut away all pretence for the Collyridian superstition by adopting their view and so denying its very groundwork. The controversy itself is discussed in Smith's D. B. (4 vols. 1893) under Brothers and James, and in Murray's Illus. B. D. (1908) under James. For its literary history, see under Helvidius, Hieronymus. [A.W.H.] Antiochus (1), bp. of Ptolemais, c. A.D. 401. To display his oratorical powers in a wider field he left Ptolemais and settled at Constantinople, where his fine voice and appropriate action, together with the eloquent and perspicuous character of his discourses, soon attracted large auditories, by whom, like his great contemporary John, he was surnamed "The Golden-mouthed." Having amassed considerable wealth, he returned to his deserted see, where he employed his leisure in composing a long treatise "against avarice." He took a zealous part in the proceedings against Chrysostom, and is reckoned by Palladius among his bitterest enemies. He died in the reign of Arcadius, before A.D. 408, and, according to Nicephorus, his end, like that of all the enemies of Chrysostom, was miserable. A homily on The Cure of the Blind Man is also mentioned. With the exception of a sentence quoted by Theodoret, Dial. 2, and a longer fragment given in the Catena on St. John, xix. p. 443, his works have perished (Socr. vi. 11; Soz. viii. 10; Niceph. xiii. 26; Gennadius in Catalog.; Pallad. Dialog. p. 49; Fabr. Bibl. Gk. ix. 259). [E.V.] Antipopes, claimants to the popedom in opposition to the lawful popes. There were seven such during the first six centuries, some owing their elevation to the existence of conflicting parties at Rome, others intruded into the see by the civil power. A fuller account of them, with the authorities, is given under their respective names—viz. Novatianus; Felix; Ursinus (or Ursicinus); Eulalius; Laurentius; Dioscorus; Vigilius. [J. B—Y.] Antoninus, Pius, emperor, A.D. 138‒161. The character of this prince as loving righteousness and mercy, choosing rather, in his own noble words, "to save the life of one citizen than to slay a thousand foes," shewed itself, as in other things, so also in his treatment of the Christians of the empire. Hadrian had checked the tendency to persecution by imposing severe penalties on false accusers (Just. Mart. Apol. i. c. 68). In some way or other, Antoninus was led to adopt a policy which was even more favourable to them (Xiphilin. Epit. Dion. Cass. 1, 70, p. 1173). Melito, writing his Apologia to Marcus Aurelius (Eus. H. E. iv. 26), speaks of edicts which Antoninus had issued, forbidding any new and violent measures against the Christians. A |
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ANTIDIKOMARIANITAE
ANTONINUS, PIUS
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