- The Filthy An heretical sect originating in Mesopotamia in
360. They denied that the Sacraments give grace and declared
that the only spiritual power is prayer. Prayer, they said,
drives out the evil spirit and brings into the soul the Holy
Spirit, and thus unites the soul to God, and gives perfect
control over the passions. The fervour of their prayers was
supposed to bring them into immediate contact with God; so they
neglected everything but prayer and conformed to the religious
and civil customs of a place only in order to escape
persecution. They said that after a period of constant prayer
they saw the Trinity; that the Three Divine Persons became one
and dwelt within them; and that they were then able to stamp
upon the evil spirits that they saw prowling about the world. On
account of their belief in their possession by the Holy Spirit,
they were called Enthusiasts (Greek: enthous, full of the god).
They were also called “Praying Folk” or Euchites from the Greek
translation (euchomai, pray), of their