Montanus

In 1976, as a seminary student studying Church history, Montanus intrigued me. As little as is actually known about him, and as castigated as he was, and still is, by many Christians, he struck me as an important figure, even a true man of God. I said at the time that he was the one figure in Church history I would most like to meet and talk to. Now, as an aging pastor, I revisited the subject of Montanus, and once again, felt that he was a significant figure, one that must be considered if the truth about the development of Christianity is to be found. The many articles and books that historians and Churchmen have written about Montanus belie the fact that almost nothing is known about him. No one knows whether he was rich or poor, educated or unlearned, or even if he was a slave or a free man, for after the Roman Empire became Christian in AD 325, leaders of the Roman Universal Church destroyed whatever it could of Montanus. The scant information that remains comes only from his Christian adversaries, and their visceral, almost pathological hatred of Montanus makes their information suspect, to say the least. From their writings, however, the following facts seem certain: 1) Montanus began his ministry during the mid-second century. 2) He ministered in Phrygia, a territory within the Roman province of Asia, where "all" believers had rejected Paul's gospel before he died (2Tim. 1:15). 3) Two women worked closely with him, Maximilla and Priscilla (nicknamed Prisca). 4) He did not introduce any theological novelties. 5) He and those with him spoke in tongues and prophesied. 6) He financially supported other Spirit-filled ministers so that they could travel and preach the gospel. 7) Montanus and Maximilla established storehouses, possibly to care for the poor. 8) He repudiated and condemned the entire developing Christian religion. 9) Hippolytus hyperbolically said that Montanus and those with him wrote "an infinite number of books," which can only mean that they wrote many of them. Among academics, although no genuine historical facts provide a basis for the condemnation of Montanus, the slander and hatred refuse to die. The pitiless power of peer-pressure, or that of religious tradition, blurs the vision of even some of the most accomplished scholars, compelling them to join the chorus of other experts denouncing Montanus and perpetuating the agreed-upon assessment of him. For all the knowledge which Church historians possess––and they possess much and are to be respected for that––I have found among them no one who perceives what I believe to be Montanus' true significance. The New Testament bears undeniable witness to the fact that near the end of the age of the apostles, there was a great apostasy from the true gospel. The writings of second-century men who are considered "fathers of the Church" show that the apostasy continued in that century and beyond—if the truth of the gospel is understood. I believe that Montanus understood the gospel and saw the apostasy, and that it was his condemnation of the apostasy which brought upon him vicious condemnation from those who were in it. Were it but a few undistinguished scholars making derogatory statements about Montanus, the accusations might be dismissed as the product of unknowledgeable minds, but many accomplished experts in this field make such judgments of him. I believe they do so because their great knowledge is befogged by a spiritual blindness which renders their impressive intellect useless in coming to the knowledge of the truth (cf. 2Tim. 3:7). The fact that Montanus was so hated and slandered by Christian ministers in his day commends him to those who have truly heard from God and have suffer abuse at the hands of honorable Christians for doing so. True servants of God know what it is like to be hated for righteousness' sake. That is what I sensed in Montanus as a seminary student when I first learned about him, and that is why I am writing this book.