Messalianism (Euchites)

The Euchites or Messalians, from Syriac msallyana and Greek euchites, one who prays: a fourth-century movement from Mesopotamia into Asia Minor and Thrace, condemned at Side (383) and Ephesus (431), holding that perfection comes by ceaseless prayer alone and that God's essence can be perceived by the senses, so that sacraments and hierarchy are idle. Modern scholarship doubts a coherent sect existed behind the condemnations and reads the charge as the imperial church's friction with Syriac ascetic practice. In RENAISSANCE 3.0 the name Barlaam threw at the hesychasts: the heresy of praying, used as a paradiastole against men who prayed without ceasing.

· 370– · extinct · influence 5/10