Catholic Church against Collyridian Polytheists and Antidicomarian, Modern Protestants (Heretics) revived these heresies (Both are Collyrdianism and Antidicomarian)
Who are Collyridians?
St. Epiphanius of Salamis had condemned Mary Worshipping as an Idolatry and Polytheism as on Panarion during his life.
The existence of the obscure sect of the Collyridians, whom St. Epiphanius (d. 403) denounces for their sacrificial offering of cakes to Mary, may fairly be held to prove that even before the Council of Ephesus there was a popular veneration for the Virgin Mother which threatened to run extravagant lengths. Hence Epiphanius laid down the rule: "Let Mary be held in honour. Let the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be adored, but let no one adore Mary" (ten Marian medeis prosknueito).
" There are certain women in largely-pagan Arabia syncretised indigenous beliefs with the worship of Virgin Mary and offered little cakes or bread-rolls. The cakes were called collyris (Greek: κολλυρίς) and are the source of the name Collyridians. And this cult was originated in Thrace and Scythia.
Let no one eat of the error which has arisen on St. Mary’s account. Even though ‘The tree is lovely’ it is not for food; and even though Mary is all fair, and is holy and held in honor, she is not to be worshiped. She is Theotokos (Mother of God), but She isn't goddess. That error which views Mary as goddess, this is contradicted with our Church which taught that God is One and just The Holy Trinity who should be worshipped.
But again, these women are “renewing the potion for Fortune and preparing the table for the demon and not for God,” as the Scripture says, “And the women grind flour, and their sons gather wood to make cakes for the host of heaven.” Such women should be silenced by Jeremiah, and not frighten the world. They must not say, ‘We honor the queen of heaven.’ " [Source: The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book II and III. Against Collyridians, p. 627]
Collyridians or Philomarianites, as from what St. Epiphanius said, they are pagans who claimed themselves as Virgin Mary followers but they copied devotion to the Virgin with Isis the goddess who was a false god or myth. These Arabian women always preserved their polytheistic beliefs because they didn't understand what the meaning is The Childrens of God on Hebrew Bible, is that Son of God literally same with God begets a Son like Human or not on biological or literally like human, or is that If Virgin Mary begets Son of God meaning is she a goddess? The Simple Answer is No, Virgin Mary begets Son of God (Jesus Christ, The Word of God) on Human Nature (because The Body of Christ and his Humanity Soul are Human Nature), not Divine Nature (Source : Hær., lxxix, in P.G., XLI, 740). Because The Word of God who was begotten by God The Father is One with Father and has no beginning, with other word, Virgin Mary was created by The Word of God who was used by God The Father himself through The Holy Spirit. So, Jesus as The Word of God created The Virgin Mary but later He incarnated himself was made flesh (His Human Nature was created, it's different with His Divine Nature who was The Creator) when he was womb of Virgin Mary. These Arabian tribes who lived from 3th century until 7th century didn't have many knowledge as what Israelites saw and knew about The Childrens of God which was viewed as metaphora, because Arab Pagans in Arabian Peninsula had no more knowledge about it.
What the link between Collyridianism and Modern Heretics like Protestants?
About Collyridianism, the sect which worships Mary as a goddess, for today there are some Neo-Collyridians who have Protestantism backgrounds, including Mormonism and Zahng Gil-Jah Sect which named itself as "World Mission Society Church of God".
From Protestantism, Neo-Collyridianism was born in its age. Mormonism has Joseph Smith who was a Non-Denominational with Methodist Background, who believed Mary is a goddess or with other word which draws her status as higher than that, as Heavenly Mother.
We will show many proof from Mormonism with Protestant Backgrounds which view Mary as goddess and wife of God The Father :
Brigham Young (Mormonism's 2nd president-prophet): “The Father came down and begat him, the same as we do now…” [The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, vol. 1, p. 321; February 16, 1849, Salt Lake City] (As citedhere by McKeever and Shafovaloff) = Condemned by Catholic Church according to what St. Epiphanius said on Panarion.
The Mormon like " Apostle " Orson Pratt said on "The Seer" In October 1853 : Inasmuch as God was the first husband to her, it may be that He only gave her to be the wife of Joseph while in this mortal state, and that He intended after the resurrection to again take her as one of his wives to raise up immortal spirits in eternity. So, Mary was one of many goddess who was an eternal polygamous wife of God.
We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His First Born, and another being upon the earth by whom He begat the tabernacle of Jesus." = Condemned by Catholic Church according to what St. Epiphanius said on Panarion.
Brigham Young (Mormonism's 2nd president-prophet): “Now Remember from this time forth, and forever, that Jesus Christ was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. … When the Virgin Mary conceived the Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost… What a learned idea' Jesus, our elder brother was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden, and who is our Father in heaven.” [Journal of Discourses, vol. 1:8] = Condemned by Catholic Church according to what St. Epiphanius said on Panarion.
• Joseph Fielding Smith (Mormonism's 10th president-prophet): “CHRIST NOT BEGOTTEN OF THE HOLY GHOST … Christ was begotten of God. He was not born without the aid of Man, and that Man was God! ... They tell us the Book of Mormon states that Jesus was begotten of the Holy Ghost. I challenge that statement.” [Doctrines of Salvation, Vol. 1:18] = Condemned by Catholic Church according to what St. Epiphanius said on Panarion.
From what we know above, Who is Brigham Young?
Brigham Young was reported having a strict Puritan-style Christian upbringing. He was a Puritan before He became a Reformed Methodist. After Young converted to the Reformed Methodist Church in 1824 after studying the Bible, Upon joining the Methodists, he insisted on being baptized by immersion rather than by their normal practice of sprinkling which was used by Puritan. After meeting Joseph Smith, Young joined the Church of Christ in April 9, 1832. He was baptized by Eleazer Miller. Young's siblings and their spouses were baptized that year or the year afterwards. From what we also know about Young's Baptism himself, we can conclude that Young had rejected One Baptism as from what Ephesians 4 said " One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all." As Pope St. Stephen I had condemned Novatian Heresy, if we imagine if only Pope St. Stephen I still alive today, He will condemn Brigham Young as Heretic who denied One Baptism as what Antipope Novatian did.
And then Zahng Gil-Jah who has Adventist Background on her life with her husband. Zahng Gil-Jah with Ahn Sahng-hong, both are claimed as God The Mother and God The Father. Zahng Gil-Jah who was believed by her followers as Incarnation of Virgin Mary, was claimed as God The Mother or Heavenly Mother. While Ahn Sahng-Hong was claimed as God The Father by his followers.
Zahng Gil-Jah's Church with name " World Mission Society Church of God" always teaches if there is God The Father and God The Son, obviously there is a goddess namely God The Mother besides God The Father and God The Son. This is ridiculous because they are seems like Arab Pagans who lived in Arabian Peninsula before the false prophet Muhammad was born.
In throughout History, many Protestant Heretic generally reject for respect or honour to Virgin Mary as from what they have embraced Antidicomarian. Many of them who reject Perpetual Virginity and then her Immaculate with many interpretation which mislead their views about Virgin Mary. But strangely enough from many Protestant denominations, we can see there are some Protestant who embraced Collyridianism and contradicted with other Protestants generally each one another.
Cause from this all is free interpretation from Sola Scriptura from what Luther taught when He want to reform Catholic Church with 95 theses.
Uniquely, There are some Hindus who embraced Brahmanism or Polytheistic Hinduism who adore Virgin Mary as goddess who tramples Shiva the false god until he will be killed by Virgin Mary. This is strange and unique, maybe this is collaboration between Vatican II sect which embraces Lutheran and Reformed Theology on Mass and Polytheistic Pantheism from Hinduism.
What Catholics should do to Virgin Mary if Virgin Mary is not goddess and Catholic Church condemns what is Mary worshipping, if There is no god but The Holy Trinity?
Although St. Epiphanius of Salamis had debated and countered Collyridians, St. Epiphanius had abounds in the praises of the Virgin Mother, and he believed that there was some mysterious dispensation with regard to her death implied in the words of Revelations 12:14: "And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the desert unto her place." Certain it is, in any case, that such Fathers as St. Ambrose and St. Jerome, partly inspired with admiration for the ascetic ideals of a life of virginity and partly groping their way to a clearer understanding of all that was involved in the mystery of the Incarnation, began to speak of the Blessed Virgin as the model of all virtue and the ideal of sinlessness. Several striking passages of this kind have been collected.
- "In heaven", St. Ambrose tells us, "she leads the choirs of virgin souls; with her the consecrated virgins will one day be numbered."
- St. Jerome (Ep. xxxix, Migne, P.L., XXII, 472) already foreshadows that conception of Mary as mother of the human race which was to animate so powerfully the devotion of a later age.
- St. Augustine, in a famous passage (De nat. et gratis, 36) proclaims Mary's unique privilege of sinlessness
- In St. Gregory Nazianzen's sermon on the martyr St. Cyprian (P.G., XXXV, 1181) we have an account of the maiden Justina, who invoked the Blessed Virgin to preserve her virginity.
- The Syrian Fathers never tire of extolling the sinlessness of Mary. St. Ephraem considers no terms of eulogy too high to describe the excellence of Mary's grace and sanctity: "Most holy Lady, Mother of God, alone most pure in soul and body, alone exceeding all perfection of purity ...., alone made in thy entirety the home of all the graces of the Most Holy Spirit, and hence exceeding beyond all compare even the angelic virtues in purity and sanctity of soul and body . . . . my Lady most holy, all-pure, all-immaculate, all-stainless, all-undefiled, all-incorrupt, all-inviolate spotless robe of Him Who clothes Himself with light as with a garment . . . flower unfading, purple woven by God, alone most immaculate" ("Precationes ad Deiparam" in Opp. Graec. Lat., III, 524-37. Refers to Luke 1:26-28).
- St. Basil the Great in his hymn, " All of creation rejoices, O Lady full of grace, the order of angels and the human race together, a hallowed temple, a spiritual paradise. God became incarnate from you, the pride of the virgins, and became a child, He Who is God from all ages. For He made your womb a throne for Himself broader than the heavens. In you O Lady full of grace, all of creation rejoices in you! Glory to you! ... “and every righteous spirit made perfect in the faith, ESPECIALLY for our most holy, pure, blessed and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.”
From many proof from Church Fathers above, we can conclude that Earliest Church challenged and against Antidicomarian and Church Fathers always taught that Virgin Mary should be honoured as Our Lady and should be respected as what Catholic Church teaches with Hyperdulia Concept.
