The object of this article is to describe the social and theological
setting of primitive Montanism within second-century Asia in
order to account for its appearance and its subsequent condemnation.
According to an anonymous source employed by Eusebius the
prophecy appeared in the middle of the second century under the
leadership of a recent convert called Montanus, and the faithful of Asia
gathered and condemned the movement at its outset. Clearly this is a
propagandist account but we may accept its broad outlines none the less,
in that there was a prophetic movement in which Montanus was a prime
mover, and which failed to receive acceptance in the wider Asian
Church.
It should be made clear that this article restricts itself to the earliest
period of the prophecy and therefore to primary sources which are
directly germane to that period. These sources are both preserved by
Eusebius, and consist of an unnamed writer known as the anonymous,
and an otherwise unknown Apollonius. A further possibly ancient source
is employed by Epiphanius, but we shall observe below that its
understanding of prophecy is hardly consistent with a second-century
Asian origin, whereas both the anonymous and Apollonius reveal their
Asian provenance in their extant writings. Although there is a degree of
bias in the presentation of the charges, we should none the less accept
that
there is a factual basis behind the assertions of the opponents, and that
their opposition was motivated by a genuine belief that the prophecy did
not conform with the tradition and the succession of the Church.