CORRUPTICOLÆ, a sect who rose out of the Monophysites in Egypt about the year 519, under their chief Severus, the pretended patriarch of Alexandria.

Their distinguishing doctrine, whence they derived their name, was, that the body of Jesus Christ was corruptible; that the fathers had owned it; and that to deny it was to deny the truth of our Saviour's passion.

On the other hand, Julian of Halicarnassus, another Eutychian, a fugitive, as well as Severus, in Alexandria, maintained that the body of Jesus Christ had been always incorruptible; that to say it was corruptible, was to make a distinction between Jesus Christ and the Word, and by consequence to make two natures in Jesus Christ.

The people of Alexandria were divided between the two opinions; and the partisans of Severus were called corrupticolaræ, q.d. worshippers of something corruptible: sometimes they were denominated corruptibles; and the adherents of Julian incorruptibles or phantasiastæ.

The clergy and secular powers favoured the first; the monks and the people the latter.