Against the Collyridians, who make offerings to Mary: the fifty-ninth, or seventy-ninth, heresy.
1. Next after this a heresy has come to notice of which we already made brief mention in the one before it, in the letter written to Arabia about Mary. This heresy too has again appeared in Arabia, come from Thrace and the upper parts of Scythia, and has been reported to us; and it too is found ridiculous and full of mockery by people of sense. We shall begin to search it out and to describe it, for it will be judged a matter of simple-mindedness rather than understanding, as others like it were.
For just as those above, who chose to think these things, sow harmful suspicions in people’s minds through their insult to Mary, so these, leaning to the other side, are caught at the far extreme of harm; so that the saying of some of the outside philosophers is fulfilled in them too: “extremes are equal.” For the harm is equal in both these heresies: the one belittles the holy Virgin, the other glorifies her beyond what is due.
Who are those who teach this, but women? For the female sex is easily led astray, unsteady and of low understanding. For this too the devil has seen fit to vomit forth through women: as above the laughable teachings came through Quintilla, Maximilla and Priscilla, so also here. Certain women decorate a barber’s chair, that is, a square seat, spread a linen cloth over it, and on a set day of the year, for some days, they set out bread and offer it in the name of Mary; and all of them partake of the bread. We discussed this in part in the letter to Arabia itself.
Now we shall speak of it plainly and, having asked God’s help, set out as best we can the arguments that overturn it, so that, cutting out the roots of this idol-making heresy, we may by God’s help put an end to such madness in some.
PG prints Μακαρότητες; the editor’s note corrects it to αἱ ἀκρότητες (“extremes”), which the translation follows. What Epiphanius says of women here is his own polemic, not the Church’s teaching.
Greek text (PG 42, cols. 740 C–741 A)
Κατὰ Κολλυριδιανῶν, τῶν τῇ Μαρίᾳ προσφερόντων, πεντηκοστὴ ἐνάτη, ἡ καὶ ἑπτακοστὴ ἐνάτη.
Αʹ. Ἑξῆς δὲ ταύτῃ εἰς φήμην πέφηνεν αἵρεσις, περὶ ἧς ἤδη ὑπεμνήσαμεν ὀλίγῳ ἐν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης διὰ τῆς εἰς Ἀραβίαν γραφείσης ἐπιστολῆς, τῆς περὶ τῆς Μαρίας ἐχούσης. Καὶ αὕτη δὲ ἡ αἵρεσις πάλιν ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ ἀπὸ τῆς Θρᾴκης καὶ τῶν ἄνω μερῶν τῆς Σκυθίας ἀνεδείχθη, καὶ εἰς ἡμῶν ἀκοὰς ἀνηνέχθη· ἥτις ἐστὶ καὶ αὕτη γελοῖος καὶ χλεύης ἔμπλεως παρὰ τοῖς συνετοῖς εὑρισκομένη. Ἀρξόμεθα περὶ αὐτῆς φωρᾶσαι, καὶ τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν διηγήσασθαι. Εὐηθείας γὰρ μᾶλλον κριθήσεται ἤπερ συνέσεως αὕτη· καθὼς καὶ ἄλλαι ὁμοῖαι ταύτῃ ἦσαν.
Ὡς γὰρ ἄνω πολὺ διὰ τῆς πρὸς Μαρίαν ὕβρεως οἱ δόξαντες ταῦτα ὑπονοεῖν βλαβερὰς ὑπονοίας σπείρουσι λογισμοῖς ἀνθρώπων· οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον μέρος κλίναντες, ἐν ἀκρότητι βλάβης καταλαμβάνοντες· ὅπως κἀκεῖνο τὸ παρά τισι τῶν ἔξωθεν φιλοσόφων ᾀδόμενον, καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς πληρωθήσεται ἐν τῷ λέγειν· Μακαρότητες ἰσότητες. Ἴση γὰρ ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοτέραις ταύταις ταῖς αἱρέσεσιν ἡ βλάβη· τῶν μὲν κατευτελιζόντων τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον, τῶν δὲ πάλιν ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον δοξαζόντων.
Οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ τοῦτο διδάσκοντες τίνες εἰσὶν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ γυναῖκες; Γυναικῶν γὰρ τὸ γένος εὐόλισθον, σφαλερὸν δὲ καὶ ταπεινὸν τῷ φρονήματι. Καὶ αὐτὸ γὰρ ἔδοξεν ἀπὸ γυναικῶν ὁ διάβολος ἐξεμεῖν· ὡς καὶ ἄνω παρὰ Κυϊντίλλῃ, καὶ Μαξιμίλλῃ, καὶ Πρισκίλλῃ περιγέλαστα τὰ διδάγματα, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα. Τινὲς γὰρ γυναῖκες κουρικόν τινα κοσμοῦσαι, ἤτοι δίφρον τετράγωνον, ἁπλώσασαι ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ὀθόνην ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τινὶ φανερᾷ τοῦ ἔτους, ἐν ἡμέραις τισὶν ἄρτον προτιθέασι, καὶ ἀναφέρουσιν εἰς ὄνομα τῆς Μαρίας. Αἱ πᾶσαι δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄρτου μεταλαμβάνουσιν· ὡς ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ εἰς τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἐπιστολῇ γράφοντες ἐκ μέρους περὶ τούτου διελέχθημεν.
Νῦν δὲ σαφῶς τὰ περὶ αὐτῆς λέξομεν, καὶ τὰς κατ᾽ αὐτῆς ἀνατροπάς, Θεὸν αἰτησάμενοι, κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν παραθησόμεθα, ὅπως, τῆς εἰδωλοποιοῦ ταύτης αἱρέσεως τὰς ῥίζας ἐκτεμόντες, ἀπό τινων τὴν τοιαύτην λύσσαν καταλῦσαι ἐν Θεῷ δυνηθῶμεν.
Migne, Patrologia Graeca 42 (Paris, 1863), public domain.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Translation: Catena Fidei (2026), CC BY 4.0, from the Greek of Migne, Patrologia Graeca 42 (Paris, 1863), public domain (CC BY).