​MONTANISM (mon′-) the religious system of Montanus, an inhabitant of a Phrygian village called Pepuza, who, about A. D. 171, proclaimed himself the Paraclete or Comforter promised by Jesus (see Paraclete). He multiplied fasts, forbade second marriages, did not permit churches to give absolution to those who had fallen into great sin, forbade all female ornaments, required virgins to be veiled. Jerome wrote against the Montanists, who continued till about the 6th century.