Catholic.id

Mary & the SaintsIntermediate

Has the Church ever condemned a Marian devotion as idolatrous?

Mary & the Saints

The short answer

Yes. In the fourth and fifth centuries the Collyridians treated Mary as a goddess, offering her a sacrifice of bread in their liturgies. St. Epiphanius of Salamis defended the orthodox position against them in his Panarion.

Collyridianism

This heresy of the fourth to fifth centuries treated the Virgin Mary as a goddess, offering her a bread sacrifice in its liturgies.

The response

St. Epiphanius of Salamis was the primary defender of the orthodox position, in his work the Panarion.