Collyridianism (a word which comes from the Greek signifying "a little loaf") was a faith practiced between 350 and 450AD. The main source of information about the Collyridian sect comes from their strongest opponent, Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, who wrote about the sect in about 375AD in his most important apologetic work Panarion. According to him, women in Pagan Arabia created indigenous beliefs composed of both Catholic and Pagan rituals and beliefs, and fused them into a new religion where they worshiped Mary as a Great Goddess.

"Some women decorate a sort of bench or rectangular litter, spreading a linen cloth over it, on an annual feast day, placing on it a loaf and offering it up in the name of Mary; then all communicate in that loaf [...]"

(Panarion 79)

Mentioning of Collyridians can also be found in the Book of Jeremiah:

The children gather firewood, the men build fires, and the women mix dough to bake cakes for the goddess they call the Queen of Heaven.

(Jeremiah 7:18)

"We will offer incense to our Goddess, the Queen of Heaven, and we will pour out wine offerings to Her [...] Ever since we stopped sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and stopped pouring out wine offerings to Her, we have had nothing, and our people have died in war and of starvation."

(Jeremiah 44:17-18)

Little else is known of the ancient sect.