In his attempted deconstruction of the Catholic papacy, Jaenen questions the order of succession of the bishops of Rome and makes a startling comment regarding Eleutherius:

“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)

This casual assertion, offered without proof at the end of his comment, needs to be countered with evidence.

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 not reject Catholic teachings, he began to claim direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Sound familiar? He began claiming divine revelations 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 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 their writings might be considered unreliable in their polemic; however, confirmation of Montanus’ beliefs are verified by Tertullian 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.

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 initially considered themselves Catholic.

The RCC does not say private revelation can’t occur

Even if this was true, Monetarists were schismatic Catholics, not primordial 2×2s.

Point #2

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., p. 10

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical Histories, Book V, chapter XVI