The Tascodrugites[a] (Greek: Τασκοδρούγιται, Taskodrougitai;[b] Latin Tascodrugitae, Tascodrugi) were a sect active in Galatia in the fourth and fifth centuries AD, and possibly as late as the ninth.
The term Tascodrugites is a nickname referring to their custom during prayer to place a finger to the nose or mouth, at the same time observing the profoundest silence.
[5][d] Joshua Katz suggests that Epiphanios erred in his translation and that the first element should be read as Celtic *tasko-, "badger", making the name of the sect mean "badger-snouts".
[4] In his view, these phonologically similar words for badger and mole were widely borrowed as a pair into various languages, and sometimes used interchangeably since both referred to [fossorial animals with long noses.
In Galatian, the heretics could thus be referred to indiscriminately as "badger-noses" or "mole-noses", giving rise to two similar and interchangeable but etymologically distinct names.
[3] The Passalorynchites (Passalorinchitae, Passalorynchitae) are mentioned by Philastrius, Jerome and Augustine, who proposes the alternative name Dactylorynchitae from Greek δάκτυλος, daktulos, finger.
[3] Theodoret says that the Tascodrugites ridiculed the sacraments (refusing baptism), rejected the creeds and repudiated all divine revelation, including the Bible.
Although sometimes connected with Phrygian paganism, they are better identified as a late sect continuing an apocalyptic tendency more common in early Christianity.