The term Antidicomarianites (ἀντιδικοµαριανῖται) literally means "opponents of Mary", from ἀντίδικ-ος adversary + Μαρία Mary.[1]
The Antidicomarianites were an ancient Eastern Christian sect which flourished in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries. The Ebionites were the first who maintained that Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary, not of God. This doctrine was controversial even to the sect's own adherents, and it was later modified so as to teach that; although Jesus was born of Mary through the Holy Ghost, afterwards Joseph and Mary lived in wedlock and had many other children. The sect denied the formula "ever-Virgin Mary" used in the Greek and Roman Liturgies. The earliest reference to this sect appears in Tertullian, and the doctrines taught by them are expressly mentioned by Origen (Homilia in Lucam, III, 940). The opinion is grounded in some expressions of Jesus quoted in the gospels, wherein he mentioned his brothers and sisters.[2] Today most Protestants share the conviction of the Antidocomarianites that Mary and Joseph had children of their own after the birth of Jesus.
Certain Arians, Eudoxius and Eunomius, were great supporters of the teaching. The sect attained its greatest development in Arabia towards the end of the fourth century. The name Antidicomarianites was specifically applied to it by St. Epiphanius, who wrote against them in an interesting letter giving the history of the doctrine and claiming proofs of its falsity (St. Epiphanius, Contra Hæres., lxxviii, 1033 sqq.).
| Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Antidicomarianites. |