Collyridians: Marian devotion in Arabia (per Epiphanius)
c. c. 375 – c. 377
Place: arabia · coming soon
No coordinates. This node is on the timeline only.
Known ONLY from a hostile source (Panarion 78–79). That the group existed as described is disputed. A connection to Q 5:116 has been proposed but no named advocate was verified this turn, so scholars_for is left empty.
Epiphanius says women who came from Thrace into Arabia offered small cakes (kollyris) to Mary as if she were divine. Shoemaker argues the report is a hostile reading of genuine early Marian devotion of the kind described in the oldest Dormition narratives. Some modern discussions connect this group with Q 5:116, where Jesus is asked whether he told people to take him and his mother as gods.
People named here
- Epiphanius of Salamis
- Mary
Where scholars disagree
For
No names on this side.
Against
- Stephen J. Shoemaker — JECS 2008: the report reflects Marian liturgy (Dormition texts), not a separate 'goddess cult'
Links
Text and wording
Out
Qur'an, Sura 5 (al-Ma'ida): the Table and 'me and my mother as two gods'
Proposed background for Q 5:116 ('me and my mother as two gods'); no named advocate verified.
idea_parallel
scholarly hypothesis
Report and reading
In
Epiphanius, Panarion ('Medicine Chest' against 80 heresies)
The only source for the Collyridians, and a hostile one (Panarion 78–79).
reports
attested
Sources
- Stephen J. Shoemaker, 'Epiphanius of Salamis, the Kollyridians, and the Early Dormition Narratives', Journal of Early Christian Studies 16.3 (2008), 371–401
Johns Hopkins UP. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Wikipedia: Collyridianism
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Qur'an, Surat al-Ma'ida (5)
Quran.com. Accessed 2026-11-11.