certain Christian heretics, who sprang up about the year 171, in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. They were so called from their leader, the heresiarch Montanus, a Phrygian by birth; and hence they are sometimes styled Phrygians and Cataphyrgians. Montanus, it is said, embraced Christianity in hopes of rising to the dignities of the church. He pretended to inspiration, and gave out that the Holy Ghost had instructed him in several points, which had not been revealed to the apostles. Priscilla and Maximilla, two enthusiastic women of Phrygia, presently became his disciples; and in a short time he had a great number of followers. The bishops of Asia being assembled together, condemned his prophecies, and excommunicated all those who dispersed them. The Montanists, finding themselves exposed to the censure of the whole church, formed a schism, and set up a distinct society under the direction of those who called themselves prophets. Montanus, in conjunction with Priscilla and Maximilla, was at the head of the sect. These sectaries made no alteration in the creed. They only held that the Holy Spirit appointed Montanus his organ for delivering a more perfect form of discipline than that which had been delivered by the apostles. They refused communion for ever to those who were guilty of notorious crimes, and believed that the bishops had no authority to reconcile them. They held it unlawful to fly in time of persecution. They condemned second marriages, allowed the dissolution of marriage, and observed three tests. The Montanists afterwards became separated into two branches; one of which consisted of the disciples of Proclus and the other of those of Æschines. The latter are charged with following the heterodoxy of Praxes and Sabellius concerning the Trinity.