Heresies Are Still With Us

21 September 2026  Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13

The Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

“…eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  

(Ephesians 4:3)

None of the heresies or divisions that have ever plagued the Church were ever simply stamped out. They were worn down, and eventually faded away, because of the consistent, persistent witness of believers.

Arianism taught that God the Father is utterly unique, all-powerful, and unapproachable. Jesus was created out of nothing, but was not co-eternal with God the Father, nor of the same substance. If that were true, then no one, not even Jesus, could ever have true communion with God, because He is too high up, and too far away.

The thing that has undone heresies finally has always been the consistent, persistent witness of believers – faithful Christians who know what Holy Scripture says, why it says it, and how to testify to that teaching with energy, intelligence, imagination and love.

Arianism was officially condemned by the Council of Nicaea (which gave us the Nicene Creed), and after the places where Arians lived were conquered by the Muslims in the 7th century, the Arians who fled were worn down over time by the witness of faithful Catholics, repeating and believing the Nicene Creed.

Donatism began as a result of the persecutions of Diocletian in the third century, and taught that Christians who caved to the persecutors should be shunned, and could not serve as priests or bishops. St. Agustine taught that if the validity of a sacrament was undone by the sin of the celebrant, then no one could ever be confident of divine grace or their own salvation. The Donatists were worn down over time by the invasions of the Vandals, and the witness of the Church, taught by Augustine and others, that the validity of a sacrament comes from Jesus, not from priests.

Montanism was the view that the Holy Spirit is still speaking, and so adding to and correcting the teaching of the scriptures. It taught that Jesus’ work of salvation is incomplete, that the grace of Christ is insufficient for Christian living, and needs to be augmented by those to whom the Spirit is still speaking. It was condemned by the Church, but persisted in some places until the 9th century when it faded away by the persistent witness that the grace of Christ really is sufficient for all things.

Gnosticism was the view that there is a hidden, perfect Supreme Being, but that the physical world was created by a lesser, flawed, and ignorant deity that they called the Demiurge. The Gnostics believed that they had a “divine spark” originating from the Supreme Being, and so they knew better than the Demiurge and all its followers. Gnosticism has waxed and waned across the centuries, and has emerged again in our time in the variety of movements known as “Wokeism.” The “Woke” believe that they have privileged access to truth, and that they are therefore justified in overriding things like freedom of  speech and  freedom of religion, and in “canceling” people and things they disapprove of.

All the heresies the Church has ever faced were never simply crushed, and the recent visitation of Gnosticism will not be either. Official condemnations have played a role, as has the teaching of some of our greatest saints. But the thing that has undone heresies finally has always been the consistent, persistent witness of believers – faithful Christians who know what Holy Scripture says, why it says it, and how to testify to that teaching with energy, intelligence, imagination and love. Faithful Churches in our time, as in every other, are only faithful to the extent that they are serious about the faith formation of all their members, especially adults. That is the most effective way to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).