The Heresy of the Messalians

At this time the heresy of the Messalians also arose. Those who translate their name into Greek call them Euchites. [a] They also have another name, which arose naturally from what they do. Because they come under the influence of a certain demon, which they suppose to be the coming of the Holy Spirit, they are called Enthusiasts.

Men who have caught this plague in full shun manual labor as wicked. They give themselves over to idleness and call the fancies of their dreams prophecies. The leaders of this heresy were Dadoes, Sabbas, Adelphius, Hermas and Simeones, and others besides. They did not hold aloof from the communion of the church, claiming that the divine food neither helps nor harms: the food of which Christ our Master said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever.” [b] In trying to hide their unsoundness, they shamelessly deny it even after they have been convicted, and they disown men whose opinions agree with their own secret beliefs.

Under these circumstances Letoius, who was at the head of the church of Melitene, a man full of divine zeal, saw that many monasteries, or should I rather say robbers’ dens, had drunk deep of this disease. So he burned them, and drove the wolves out of the flock. [c] In the same way the illustrious Amphilochius, who had been entrusted with the metropolis of the Lycaonians and ruled the whole people, no sooner learned that this pestilence had invaded his diocese than he drove it out beyond his borders, and freed the flocks he tended from its infection. [d]

Flavian too, the far-famed high priest of the people of Antioch, learned that these men were living at Edessa and attacking with their own peculiar poison everyone they came in contact with. He sent a company of monks, brought them to Antioch, and convicted them, though they denied their heresy, in the following way. He said that their accusers were slandering them and the witnesses were giving false evidence. He greeted Adelphius, who was a very old man, with words of kindness, and had him take a seat beside him. Then he said: “We, venerable sir, who have lived to an advanced age, have a more accurate knowledge of human nature and of the tricks of the demons who oppose us, and we have learned by experience what the gift of grace is like. But these younger men have no clear knowledge of these matters, and cannot bear to listen to spiritual teaching. So tell me: in what sense do you say that the opposing spirit withdraws and the grace of the Holy Spirit comes upon a person?” The old man was won over by these words and poured out all his secret venom. He said that holy baptism brings no benefit to those who receive it, and that only earnest prayer drives out the demon who dwells within. For everyone born into the world inherits from the first father slavery to the demons, just as he inherits his nature. But when the demons are driven away, then the Holy Spirit comes, giving signs of his presence that can be perceived and seen, at once freeing the body from the impulse of the passions and wholly ridding the soul of its leaning toward the worse. As a result there is no further need of fasting to restrain the body, nor of teaching or training to bridle it and teach it to walk rightly. And the one who receives this gift is not only set free from the wanton motions of the body, but also clearly foresees things to come, and sees the Holy Trinity with his eyes. [e]

In this way the divine Flavian dug into the foul fountainhead and succeeded in laying its streams bare. Then he spoke to the wretched old man: “You who have grown old in evil days, your own mouth convicts you, not I, and your own lips testify against you.” Once their unsoundness had been exposed in this way, they were expelled from Syria, and withdrew to Pamphylia, which they filled with their pestilent doctrine. [f]