Abstract

This article proposes a new hypothesis regarding the background and religious activity of the fourth-century Christian community of Collyridians, to which Epiphanius of Salamis dedicated an entire chapter of his "Panarion". Epiphanius provides only a few details about the origin of this sect, but even this limited amount of data betrays authenticity. The heterodoxy of the Collyridians has rarely been examined in the scope of the wider religious, cultural and social-historical frameworks pertaining to Roman and Early Christian history. This context includes not only the issues of Mariology, but also women’s religious service, non-Christian religious landscapes, and travel and pilgrimage in Late Antiquity. Epiphanius’ account has been observed through the combined contextual, social-historical and philological lenses. In order to elucidate the origin and character of the Collyridian ritual practice, this essay has paid more attention to both the original geographical setting and the later movement of this sect, pointing to their ultimate religious destination. Our main thesis is that the Collyridians fled from Thrace and Scythia to Roman Arabia under the Gothic persecution of Christians. In the aftermath of this event, they performed their pilgrimage at the most ancient "locus sanctus" pertaining to the Virgin Mary in Judea, known as Kathisma, and situated halfway from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.