APOSTOLICI, or Apostolic Brethren, a name assumed by three different sects, which professed a close adherence to the doctrines and practice of the apostles. The earliest, known also as the Apotactici, were a branch of the Encratites, and came into existence in the 3d century. According to Epiphanius, their principles were communistic. The second sect of the name was formed in the district surrounding Cologne about the middle of the 12tn century. Its members were zealous reformers, rejecting the authority of the Pope and the rites and ceremonies of the church. It is not certain that they absolutely rejected marriage, though they preferred celibacy. Founding on the authority of St Paul, the celibates took spiritual sisters, with whom they lived in concubinage. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote against the sect, and some of its most prominent members being brought before the archbishop of Cologne were condemned to the flames. The third sect of Apostolici in chronological order was founded by Gerhard Segarelli, a mechanic of Parma, towards the close of the 13th century. Segarelli, who had sought admission unsuccessfully to the Franciscan order, was much impressed, it is said, by a picture of the apostles which hung in the Franciscan chapel at Parma. Becoming convinced that the much-needed reform of the church could only be effected by a return to the apostolic practice, he sought to establish a community in which the life of the apostles should be imitated as closely as possible. By slow degrees he gathered a considerable number of followers, chiefly from the lower orders, who went about from place to place clad in white robes, with long beards, dishevelled hair, and bare heads, accompanied by women whom they called their spiritual sisters. Like the other two sects of the same ...