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Why did Montanists expect the heavenly Jerusalem to descend at Pepuza?

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millennialism Vision of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, from the Bamberg Apocalypse, c. 1000–20; in the Bamberg State Library, Germany (MS. 140).

Montanists expected the heavenly Jerusalem to descend near the Phrygian village of Pepuza because they believed that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent and that the Holy Spirit was manifesting a final revelation through their prophets, including Montanus, Priscilla, and Maximilla.12

Convinced by these prophetic utterances that the New Jerusalem mentioned in the Revelation to John would soon appear on Earth, many followers abandoned their communities to gather in the plain between the villages of Pepuza and Tymion in Phrygia. This expectation served as a central pillar of their movement, driving them to adopt a strict moral rigorism to purify themselves in preparation for the end of the world. Pepuza subsequently became the seat of government for the Montanist sect after they were excommunicated by the orthodox church.12