In his attempt to delegitimize of the Catholic papacy, Jaenen questions the order of succession of the bishops of Rome and makes a startling comment regarding Eleutherius. This casual assertion, offered without proof at the end of his comment, needs to be countered with evidence even if the reader is not predisposed to accept papal authority:

“Irenaeus makes Clement (who may have been the apostle mentioned in the NT) the third incumbent, but Tertullian makes him the first incumbent.  Clement in his epistle never represented himself as a bishop, but as an itinerant apostle, and appears to regard the office of bishop and presbyter as one and the same.  As for Eleutherius, he was a Montanist, not a Catholic.” (243)

Montanus was a former pagan from the area that is now modern-day Turkey, possibly from the cult of Cybele, who converted to Christianity in the 2nd Century. Although he did initially not reject Catholic teachings, he began to claim direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit, a familiar refrain that has been echoed throughout the centuries. Even more dramatically, he began claiming divine inspiration through ecstatic episodes of revelation, believing himself to be, as McGoldrick puts it, “a lyre upon which the Holy Spirit played” (10), and that the gift of prophecy had been handed down to him from Quadratus and the prophetess Ammia of Phrygia. He believed that the Apostles themselves had not received the full measure of the Holy Spirit which had, for unknown reasons, been uniquely bestowed upon him. This is obviously in direct contradiction to the promise of Christ to the Twelve, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth” (Jn 16:13). Later in John’s gospel, in only the second time in history that God breathed on man, Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:21-22).

Eusebius and Hippolytus both opposed him, and so their writings might be considered unreliable in their polemic; however, confirmation of Montanus’ beliefs are verified by Tertullian of Carthage who was more than sympathetic. Montanus was accompanied by two “prophetesses” named Priscilla and Maxmilla. Eusebius described his bizarre behavior as follows:

“[He] was carried away in spirit and wrought up into a certain kind of frenzy…raving and speaking strange things and proclaiming what was contrary to the institutions that had prevailed in the church as handed down…from the earliest times”

The growth of the Montanists was greatly aided by the influential writing of Tertullian, who was a Carthaginian lawyer fluent in both Greek and Latin. Tertullian was disappointed by the moral laxity of his fellow Christians, tending to favor a more rigorous and ascetic faith. He tried to get the Catholic Church’s endorsement of the Montanists, and there is some indication that Pope Eleutherius initially considered it and had drafted some letters of approval. However, after input from Iraeneus of Lyon, Eleutherius withdrew the acceptance, much to Tertullian’s dismay as documented in his letter Adversus Praxean, written around 213 AD.

Tertullian continued with the Montanists and by at least 212 A.D. he had formally joined the movement which provided him “with a vehicle by which to promote his stern, morally demanding version of Christianity, which evidently, was a reaction against the gross immorality that had characterized his life as a pagan” (McGoldrick, p. 14)

It should be noted that the Montanists considered themselves Catholic; however, in as their “new revelations” collided with scriptural authority they drifted into uncharted waters with their extreme asceticism, wild prophesying and heretical views on the nature of the Trinity. They also elevated their own prophets over traditional church leaders, challenging the established authority. It was their claim to continuous, divine revelation that was one of the driving forces for the church to realize the need for an official, closed boundary of scripture to test and reject false teachings.

Following its excommunication by the bishops of Asia Minor in the late second century, Montanism continued as an independent movement in the East and gained a significant foothold in Carthage, where Tertullian was its most prominent adherent. While its influence had largely waned by the fifth and sixth centuries, remnants of the Montanist movement survived for several centuries thereafter. This “remnant" element was likely too tempting for Jaenen to not incorporate into his tenuous “chain of [spiritual] witnesses” throughout Christian history.

It needs to be said here that the Catholic Church does not deny the possibility or existence of private revelation. Rather, it explicitly teaches that “throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church.” (CCC 67). The Church distinguishes such revelations from the definitive public revelation given in Christ and transmitted through Scripture and Tradition. While private revelations can occurs, they do not belong to the deposit of faith and cannot add to or correct Christian doctrine, however, they may help the faithful “live more fully” the Gospel in particular historical circumstances.

So, Pope Eleutherius was not a Montanist. They had almost died out by the 5th–6th century, though some remnants survived into the 9th century. Augustine, writing around 428 AD in his De haeresibus says that Tertullian subsequently formed his own sect, not surprisingly known as Tertullianists. Being a radical moral rigorist he eventually found the Montanists too lax or was horrified by exaggerated, borderline blasphemous claims being made about the movement's founder. And so, the pattern of claiming personal revelation from the Holy Spirit to form separatist groups established an early pattern of fragmentation within the church that continues today, including with the example of the 2×2 Fellowship.

Jaenan, C.J. The apostles’ doctrine and fellowship: a documentary history of the early church and restorationist movements. Legas Publishing. 2003. ISBN 1-894508-48-3

J.E. McGoldrick (1994). Baptist successionism: a crucial crusade in baptist history. Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical Histories, Book V, chapter XVI

Tertullian. Adversus Praxean. Translated by Peter Holmes. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.)

Augustine, De haeresibus ad Quodvultdeus. ed. John Rotelle, translated by Roland J. Teske, New City Press 1995. part of the series Works of Saint Augustine: a Translation for the 21st Century issued under the auspices of the Augustinian Historical Institute. Part I, volume 18

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 67.