Antipopes

In Latin called antipapa. This is a person/man who claims to be the Bishop of Rome (or commonly, the Pope) & leader of the Catholic Church in opposition to the “officially” elected pontiff.

Between the 3rd & mid-15th centuries, antipopes were supported by factions within the Church itself & secular rulers. While there are modern claimants to the papacy that still take place, they’re rarely given serious consideration by either the public or the Church. Sometimes it was different which of 2 claimants should be Pope & antipope, like between Popes Leo VIII & Benedict V.

Hippolytus of Rome is commonly considered to be the earliest antipope. Hippolytus headed a separate group within the Church in Rome against Pope Callixtus I. Hippolytus was reconciled to Callixtus’ 2nd successor, Pope Pontian. Both he & Pontian are honored as saints by the Catholic Church with a shared feast day on August 13.

Eusebius quotes from an unnamed earlier writer the story of Natalius, a 3rd-century priest who accepted the bishopric of the Adoptionists, a heretical group in Rome. Natalius soon repented, & tearfully begged Pope Zephyrinus to receive him into Communion.

Novatian claimed the See of Rome in opposition to Pope Cornelius. If Natalius & Hippolytus were excluded because of the uncertainties about them, Novatian could then be said to be the 1st antipope.

The period in which antipopes was the most was during the struggles between the popes & the Holy Roman Emperors of the 11th & 12th centuries. The emperors frequently imposed their nominees to further their causes. The Pope sometimes sponsored rival imperial claimants (anti-kings) in Germany to overcome a particular emperor.

The Western Schism (which began in 1378, when French cardinals claimed that the election of Pope Urban VI was invalid), elected antipope Clement VII as a rival to the “Roman Pope,” leading eventually to 2 competing lines (because Clement VII moved back to Avignon) & the Pisan line.

The Pisan line, which began in 1409, was named after the town of Pisa (of Leaning Tower fame). This is where the Pisan Council had elected antipope Alexander V as a 3rd claimant. To end the schism, in May 1415, the Council of Constance deposed Antipope John XXIII of the Pisan line.

Pope Gregory XII of the Roman line resigned in July 1415. In 1417, the council also formally deposed Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon. But he absolutely refused to resign. (It’s kinda hard to have power when no one else recognizes said power!)

Afterwards, Pope Martin V was elected & was accepted everywhere except in the small & rapidly diminishing area of influence of Benedict XIII.

There have, officially, only been 6 Popes who’ve actually resigned the papacy:

• Pontian, 235, resigned while exiled in Roman salt mines
• John XVIII, 1009, quit after a financial deal or bribe
• Benedict IX, 1045, overwhelmed with the job
• Celestine V, 1294
• Gregory XII, 1415, quit to end the Western Schism
• Benedict XVI, 2013, quit due to failing health & old age

The Patriarch of Alexandria, the historical center of Christianity in Egypt since the Roman Empire, has historically also held the title of Pope, & as a result, a person who claims that title in direct opposition to a generally accepted Pope of Alexandria may be considered an antipope.

The title is simultaneously claimed by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Coptic Catholic Church, & the Melkite Catholic Church (the latter 2, while being in full communion/cooperation with Rome, still maintain the position of Patriarch of Alexander as a significant church leader).

In the modern day, with the rise of ecumenism & the recognition of Christianity’s complicated history, these 4 men typically don’t view 1 another as antipopes. But rather as successors to different lines of apostolic succession resulting from theological disputes in the 5th century.

There have been certain instances where the official declaration of an antipope has been deemed necessary. For example, in 2006, former lector of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Max Michel, who had previously formed the independent Archbishop of Egypt & the Middle East under the name Maximus I, effectively became an antipope of Alexandria.

His claims to the Alexandrian papacy were formally dismissed in a joint statement by both the Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III & Pope Theodore II of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Similarly, during the schism that happened in the Armenian Catholic Church in 1873, an election was held which voted Jacob Pahtarian into the position of Patriarch of the Patriarchate of Cilicia, which was in opposition to the Pope-appointed Patriarch, Andon Bedros IX Hassoun. Pahtarian was referred to by some as an “anti-Patriarch.”

Some scholars are less willing to refer to the “pretenders” as antipopes. As the term has historically been used in reference to those who claim to be the bishop of Rome, the apostolic successors to St. Peter. While the patriarchate of Alexandria originated with St. Mark.

Some sedevacantist conspiracy theorists consider the incumbent Pope to be the antipope. For various reasons, they believe the current Pope is illegitimate. Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic movement which holds that since the 1958 death of Pius XII the occupants of the Holy See aren’t valid Popes due to their espousal of 1 or more heresies & that, for lack of a valid Pope, the See of Rome is vacant.

For supporters of the Giuseppe Siri conspiracy theory, which holds that white smoke seen on the 1st day of the conclave (This is unheard of! White smoke during a conclave means a Pope has been elected. No Pope in the history of ever was elected on the 1st day!) was announcing the selection of Giuseppe Siri as Pope Gregory XVII until he was forced to stand down, the Pope that was elected in Siri’s place, John XXIII, was an antipope as Siri was still the lawfully elected Pope.

Similarly, for supporters of Benevacantism (the belief that Pope Benedict XVI didn’t validly resign), Pope Francis would be considered an antipope. A similar fringe theory, “Catholic survivantism,” states that Pope Paul VI (born 1897) is still alive. Thus, all successive Popes are antipopes. Believers of this “theory” also believe that the “Paul VI” that died in 1978 was an actor, & the real Paul IV is being held in prison.

For conclavists, the argument that the current Pope is illegitimate or an antipope (either wholly or sedeprivationally) is important as it lends their own claims & conclave legitimacy. The most common conclavist claim is that Pius XII was the last true Pope, & that all subsequent Popes are antipopes.

However, some place the date even earlier, with the Papacy ending with John XXIII. All these claims surround the reforms of Vatican II or the publication of the revised Roman Rite.

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Sethianism

The Sethians were 1 of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd & 3rd centuries AD. Along with Valentinianism & Basilidianism.

It was speculated to have originated in the 2nd century AD as a fusion of 2 distinct Hellenistic Judaic philosophies & was influenced by Christianity & Middle Platonism.

The Sethians (In Latin: Sethoitae) are 1st mentioned (alongside the Ophites) in the 2nd century by our boy, Irenaeus (who wasn’t Gnosticism’s friend) & in Pseudo-Tertullian texts. All later accounts appear to be largely lifted from Irenaeus. Hippolytus repeats info from Irenaeus.

According to Epiphanius of Salamis (circa 375), Sethians were found, in his time, only in Egypt & Palestine. But 50 years earlier, they had been found as far as Greater Armenia. Greater Armenia (a.k.a. the Armenian Empire) was an Armenian kingdom (in the ancient Near East) that existed from 331 BC to 428 AD, 758 years.

Philaster’s (4th century AD) Catalogue of Heresies puts the Ophites, Cainites, & Sethians as pre-Christian Jewish sects. However, since Sethians identified Seth with Christ (in the Second Logos of the Great Seth), Philaster’s belief that the Sethians had pre-Christian origins hasn’t found acceptance in later scholarship.

Sethianism claims that gnosis 1st descended upon Seth (3rd son of Adam & Eve), whose knowledge the Sethians regard as their origin.

Norea (who’s either Noah’s wife or Adam & Eve’s daughter) plays a role. As seen in Mandaeism & Manicheanism.

The Sethian cosmogonic myth (or their origin of the universe/cosmos) gives a prologue to Genesis & the rest of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Hebrew/Christian Bible). This presents a radical re-interpretation of the Orthodox Jewish conception of creation & the divine relation to reality. Their cosmogony is most famously in the Apocryphon of John, which describes an Unknown God.

From the “Unknown God” emanate aeons. This is a series of paired female & male beings. The 1st of these is Barbelo, who is a co-actor in the following emanations.

The aeons that result are representative of the various attributes of God, which are indiscernible when they aren’t abstracted from their origin. God & the aeons comprise the sum total of the spiritual universe, known as the Pleroma. Pleroma generally refers to the totality of divine powers.

In some versions of the myth, the aeon Sophia (knowledge) imitates God’s actions, performing an emanation of her own without the prior approval of the other aeons in the Pleroma. This results in a crisis within the Pleroma, leading to the appearance of Yaldabaoth.

This figure is commonly known as the demiurge (the “artisan” or “craftsman”) after the figure in Plato’s Timaeus. Sophia, at first, hides this being. But it escapes, stealing a portion of her divine power from her in the process.

Yaldabaoth uses this stolen power to create a material world imitating the divine Pleroma. To complete this task, he spawns a group of entities known collectively as Archons, the petty rulers & craftsmen of the physical world. Like him, they’re commonly depicted as zoomorphic, having animal heads.

At this stage, the events of the Sethian story start to cohere with the Genesis story everyone knows. The demiurge & his archontic associates fulfil the role of the Creator. In Genesis, the demiurge proclaims himself to be the only god, claiming that there weren’t any other gods better than him.

The demiurge unknowingly emanates a shadow ‘image’ of Adam, while unwittingly transferring the portion of power stolen from Sophia into the 1st physical human body. He then makes Eve from Adam’s rib in an attempt to isolate & regain the power that he’s lost.

By way of this, he tries to SA Eve, who then contains Sophia’s divine power. Several texts picture him as failing when Sophia’s spirit transplants itself into the Tree of Knowledge. The pair eat from the tree of the divine epignosis, guided by Christ appearing as an “eagle” above it to guide them to remember their true “nature above.”

Most surviving Sethian texts are preserved only in Coptic translation of the Greek original. Very little direct evidence of Gnostic teaching was available before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library.

We’ve posted a few of these texts. Check them out at your leisure:

• Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit
• Second Treatise of the Great Seth
• Pistis Sophia
• Gospel of Judas
• Manichaean Psalms of Heracleides

The Gospel of Judas is the most recently discovered Gnostic text. National Geographic (Yes, that National Geographic. You know, NatGeo, y’all!) published an English translation of it. Our founder has a VERY well-worn copy of this book. It’s well-worn because they’ve read it numerous times.

This text portrays Judas Iscariot as the “13th spirit/daemon,” who “exceeded” the evil sacrifices of the “man who clothed me (Jesus).”

Its reference to Barbelo & inclusion of material similar to the Apocryphon of John & other such texts connects the text to Barbeloite &/or Sethian Gnosticism.

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Couldn't post pictures for some rason, thus a little belated but anyway:
Finished a base of 3rd century Lanciarii skirmishers. There's much debate as to their actual role, arms and armament. Thus these are just my interpretation based, mostly, on the available figures.

Figures by https://www.aandaminiatures.co.uk

#wargaming #WarPainter #WargamingMiniatures #3rdCenturyAD #28mm #wargames #miniatures