Perhaps the most interesting thing about St. Turibius (Spanish bishop during the 400s) is the heresy he is most renowned for opposing: Priscillianism. In fact, it’s a heresy that I had never heard about before reading the Saints Calendar for April 16.

Priscillianism was named for a man named Priscillian, who conjured a very heady mix of Christianity, esoteric teachings, gnosticism, the zodiac, and light/dark dualism. From what I gather, Priscillian taught that human souls were created by the Deity of Light in order to defeat the forces of Darkness, but because of their lack of success (“fallenness”), human souls became trapped in physical bodies, stuck between the two kingdoms of Light and Darkness. The Savior came from the Kingdom of Light in a heavenly body that merely appeared to be an earthly one, in order to liberate these trapped human souls. Oh, and there’s more stuff about the 12 Patriarchs on one side and the 12 zodiac signs on the other, etc. etc. (Fascinatingly, some of the manuscripts of this particular heresy were preserved and are available for study today.)

Well, these heretics (so defined because they lost out to orthodoxy) took their “wacky beliefs” one step too far (beliefs being one thing, practices another): they concluded that if the material bodies of humans were not central to Christianity, that Jesus didn’t come to save the flesh, blood, and bones of people but their eternal souls, then there need be no distinctions in Christian worship and practice between males and females–just as Paul said in his Epistle to the Galatians, “In Christ there is neither male nor female.”

So… NO. This heresy was not harmless! It led to women and men praying together and participating in their faith communities on equal footing. Once this kind of things gets started, where does it end? Could women end up leading congregations? Be bishops? Even a pope?

Enter our man, Turibius. His main contribution was to call these Priscillians liars. Liars, liars, liars. Teachers of lies. Unacceptable lies.

Hmm….were the “lies” that stuff about Patriarchs and zodiacs? Or that women and men could be equals?