Pneumatomachianism (Macedonianism)
The Spirit-fighters who denied the third person his full divinity
Pneumatomachianism, also called Macedonianism, denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. Its adherents, the Pneumatomachi or "Spirit-fighters," were condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 381. The orthodox response affirmed the Spirit's full divinity within the Trinity, a confession shared across the traditions and expressed in the Creed's profession of the Spirit as Lord and giver of life.
How it traveled
- De Spiritu SanctoCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379challenges
- The LettersCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379applies
- The Second Ecumenical Council: The First Council of ConstantinopleConstantinople (Istanbul) · 381challenges
- Select Orations of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390explains
- Select Letters of Saint Gregory NazianzenNazianzus · 390challenges
- On the Holy SpiritNyssa · 395explains
- Against EunomiusNyssa · 395challenges
- On the Holy SpiritMilan · 397challenges
- Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious MenBethlehem · 420challenges
- The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates ScholasticusConstantinople (Istanbul) · 439explains
- The Ecclesiastical History of SozomenConstantinople (Istanbul) · 450explains
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458explains
- The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the GreatRome · 604challenges
Key passages(20)
Thus far then the majesty of the Spirit is demonstrated by the evidence of our opponents, but in what follows the limpid waters of devotion are once more defiled by the mud of heresy. For he says of t
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On the Holy Spirit. Against the Followers of Macedonius. Macedonius had been a very eminent Semi-Arian doctor. He was deposed from the See of Constantinople, A.D. 360: and it was actually the influe
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“Whether or not the Macedonians explicitly denied the Divinity of the Holy Ghost is uncertain; but they viewed Him as essentially separate from, and external to, the One Indivisible Godhead. The ‘Nice
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Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen · Gregory of Nazianzus
S. Gregory makes this explanation because there were certain heretics who taught that our Lord at His Ascension laid aside His Humanity. It is said that this was held by certain Manichæans, who based
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The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon XCV. Those who from the heretics come over to orthodoxy, and to the number of those who should be saved, we receive according to the following order and custom. Arians, Macedonians, Novatians,
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The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen · Sozomen
Chapter XXVII.—Macedonius, after his Rejection from his See, blasphemes against the Holy Spirit; Propagation of his Heresy through the Instrumentality of Marathonius and Others. The spirit of innovat
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The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret · Theodoret of Cyrus
As to who this Paulinus was, and when this confession was sent to him, there has been some confusion. Theodoret has been supposed to write “bishop of Thessalonica,” and then has been found fault with
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The Second Ecumenical Council: The First Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon VII. Those who from heresy turn to orthodoxy, and to the portion of those who are being saved, we receive according to the following method and custom: Arians, and Macedonians, and Sabbatians,
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De Spiritu Sancto · Basil of Caesarea
Chapter X. Against those who say that it is not right to rank the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son. 24. But we must proceed to attack our opponents, in the endeavour to confute those “opposit
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De Spiritu Sancto · Basil of Caesarea
Chapter XXIV. Proof of the absurdity of the refusal to glorify the Spirit, from the comparison of things glorified in creation. 55. Furthermore man is “crowned with glory and honour,” Ps. viii. 5.
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Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men · Jerome
Chapter XVI. Faustinus the presbyter wrote to Queen Flaccilla seven books Against the Arians and Macedonians, arguing and convicting them by the testimonies of the very Scriptures which they used, in
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λαμβανόμενον πιστὸς. 2 Tim. ii. 13. What means, then, this lowering and this expanding of their soul, on the part of these men who are enthusiastic for the Father’s honour, and grant to the Son an e
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These destroyers of the Spirit’s glory, who relegate Him to a subject world, must tell us of what thing that unction is the symbol. It not a symbol of the Kingship? And what? Do they not believe in th
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Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen · Gregory of Nazianzus
Oration XLI. On Pentecost. It is uncertain to what year the following Oration belongs. It was, however, certainly delivered at Constantinople; the Benedictine Editors think in the year 381, in which
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The Second Ecumenical Council: The First Council of Constantinople · The Ecumenical Councils
Canons of the One Hundred and Fifty Fathers who assembled at Constantinople during the Consulate of those Illustrious Men, Flavius Eucherius and Flavius Evagrius on the VII of the Ides of July. Such
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De Spiritu Sancto · Basil of Caesarea
Chapter XVII. Against those who say that the Holy Ghost is not to be numbered with, but numbered under, the Father and the Son. Wherein moreover there is a summary notice of the faith concerning righ
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De Spiritu Sancto · Basil of Caesarea
Chapter XXI. Proof from Scripture that the Spirit is called Lord. 52. But why get an unfair victory for our argument by fighting over these undignified questions, when it is within our power to prov
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John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith · John of Damascus
For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heavenHe sent His Word and healed themThou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are createdBy the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by
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On the Holy Spirit · Ambrose of Milan
57. First, we understand that he called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of the Lord. Then, since he mentioned first the Holy Spirit and added: “Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God,” you must necessari
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Select Letters of Saint Gregory Nazianzen · Gregory of Nazianzus
To Nectarius, Bishop of Constantinople. (Ep. CCII.) The Care of God, which throughout the time before us guarded the Churches, seems to have utterly forsaken this present life. And my soul is immerse
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