Collyridianism

The heresy of Collyridianism was an early fourth century heretical movement in Arabia whose adherents worshipped the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus as a goddess.  Little is known about the sect except what is described by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion, published in approximately 376 AD.  The heresy takes it’s name from the bread sacrifice that the sect would offer to Mary, which were in the form of small cakes called collyris (Greek: κολλυρις).

Because the movement was only a local Arabian phenomenon and never reached the level to generate a universal controversy, it was never formally condemned by a council or decree.  However, it did stand in direct conflict with the Church’s condemnation of idolatry and the Church’s teaching that the veneration offered to Our Lady is offered with the full awareness that she is still a creature of God, not God himself in person.  Epiphanius emphasized that this conduct was condemned by the Catholic Church in his criticism of the sect and the movement has all but disappeared from history.

Source: Saint Epiphanius (2013) [c. 375]. The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: De fide. Books II and III. Translated by Williams, Frank. Leiden: Brill

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