Montanists (the New Prophecy)

Leaders

• Montanus
• Priscilla (Prisca)
• Maximilla
• Themiso
• Alexander
• Tertullian (adherent, Carthage)

Beliefs

The Paraclete promised in John spoke anew through the prophets Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla, sometimes in ecstatic first-person oracles. The movement stressed stricter discipline: more fasting, no second marriage, no flight from persecution, and readiness for martyrdom. Its teaching on God and Christ was generally orthodox, and it expected a New Jerusalem to descend at Pepuza.

Home bases

• Ardabau (where Montanus first prophesied)

  Unlocated, Mysia/Phrygia border, Turkey · 2nd

  Approximate location.

  The anonymous anti-Montanist writer quoted by Eusebius says Montanus first prophesied at Ardabau, a village in the Phrygian part of Mysia. Its location is unknown, so the coordinates here are only a regional marker near Pepuza.

• Pepuza (Montanist "New Jerusalem")

  Near Karayakuplu, Uşak, Turkey · 2nd–6th

  Pepuza, in Phrygia, and nearby Tymion were the places Montanus named 'Jerusalem', where the faithful were to gather. Pepuza later held the shrine and tombs of the movement's prophets and the seat of its patriarch. Field surveys led by William Tabbernee and Peter Lampe since 2000 identified the site in the Ulubey canyon near Karayakuplu.

• Carthage (Tertullian and the New Prophecy)

  Tunis area, Tunisia · 3rd–5th

  Tertullian embraced the New Prophecy around 207, and his later works (On Fasting, On Monogamy, On Modesty) are its main surviving insider writings. A group called the 'Tertullianists' still had a basilica in Carthage until Augustine's time, when they rejoined the Catholic church.

  

Spread

It began in Phrygia and spread across Asia Minor, to Rome (where a bishop nearly recognized it, according to Tertullian) and to Carthage. Bishops in Asia held what may be the first church synods to judge it. It persisted as a regional church in Phrygia with its own patriarch at Pepuza.

Books

• Oracles of Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla
• Tertullian's New Prophecy period works (On Fasting, On Monogamy, On Modesty, On the Soul, Against Praxeas)
• Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

What happened to it

Condemned by Asian synods and later by imperial law. Under Justinian (c. 550) John of Ephesus destroyed the shrine at Pepuza and burned the prophets' bones, and Procopius reports Montanists burning themselves in their churches rather than convert. The Carthaginian 'Tertullianists' rejoined the Catholic church in Augustine's time.

Hostile sources

• Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History V.14–19 (quoting the Anonymous and Apollonius) c. 313–325

  Hostile toward heresies; quotes earlier documents verbatim. NPNF translation (public domain).

• Epiphanius of Salamis. Panarion 48–49 c. 374–377

  Hostile and often careless with groups he never met; no public-domain English translation located (F. Williams translation is in copyright). Link is an overview, not the text.

• Hippolytus of Rome (attrib.). Refutation of All Heresies VIII.19; X.25–26 c. 222–235

  Hostile; ANF translation (public domain). Authorship disputed.

• Anonymous. Dialogue of a Montanist and an Orthodox 4th c.

  Hostile.

Their own words

• Montanus, Priscilla, Maximilla. Oracles (about 16–20 sayings preserved by opponents and Tertullian) 2nd c.

  Insider fragments.

• Tertullian (Montanist period). On Fasting; On Monogamy; On Modesty; On the Soul; Against Praxeas c. 207–220

  Insider; NewAdvent ANF translations (public domain).

Sources

• MontanistsConfessional source

  Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 (confessional). Accessed 2026-11-11.

• Montanism

  Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-11-11.