Pasagians
- Note that the Pasagium were also a name given the Crusades.
Pasagians[1] were a religious sect, practicing the Christian heresy Passagianism, which appeared in Lombardy, part of northern Italy, in the late 12th or early 13th century, and possibly appearing much earlier in the East.[2]
The name, if from the Italian passagieri meaning birds of passage, is either suggestive of an emigration from another place, or their iterant lifestyle.[2]
The Summa contra haereticos, ascribed to Praepositinus of Cremona, describes the Pasagians as retaining the Old Testament rules on circumcision, kosher foods, and the Jewish holy days; in other words, they observed the Law of Moses except in respect to sacrifices, and thus also were given the name Circumcisi (q.v. Circumcision controversy in early Christianity).[2]
In their Christology they considered Christ the highest created being and a demiurge by whom all other creatures were brought into being. The Pasagians cited both the Old and New Testaments in support of their doctrine. As such, they were accused of preaching a form of subordinationism, teaching that Christ was a created being and less than the Father.[2]
As late as the eleventh century Cardinal Humbert of Mourmoutiers referred to a sect of Nazarenes, a Sabbath-keeping Christian body existing at that time.[3] Modern scholars believe it is the Pasagini who are referenced by Cardinal Humbert suggesting the Nazarene sect existed well into the eleventh century and before.
The Catholic writings of Bonacursus entitled "Against the Heretics" is the chief authority of their history.[2] It is believed that Gregorius of Bergamo, about 1250 CE, also wrote concerning the Nazarenes as the "Pasagini".[3]
