Apostolic Brethren

The Apostolic Brethren were a Christian sect that emerged in Parma, Italy, around 1260, founded by Gerard Segarelli. Their primary aim was to restore the apostolic way of life by emphasizing repentance and poverty, influenced by the mystic Joachim of Fiore. This group, also known as Apotactici or "abstainers," sought to re-establish the primitive church's practices through strict adherence to continence and poverty.

Earlier groups of Apostolics appeared in Anatolia around the 3rd century, characterized by extreme austerity, renunciation of property, and marriage. In the 12th century, similar itinerant preachers in Europe condemned marriage, meat consumption, and infant baptism, while criticizing the church's worldliness and denying priestly authority. The Apostolic Brethren faced condemnation from Popes Honorius IV and Nicholas IV, and Segarelli was burned at the stake in 1300. Under Fra Dolcino, the sect became openly heretical and anticlerical, with its power ultimately broken in 1307. Many of their doctrines were later adopted by the Anabaptists during the Protestant Reformation.1