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-'''[http://www.inheaven.name/jesus-wallpaper/images/god-the-father%20(14).jpg] [http://alfalfastudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/heart_the_Sacred_Heart_of_christ.jpg]''' This is my page for developing new articles before posting them.
+:''Note: this contributor has permanently withdrawn from Conservapedia.
-All praise, honor and glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. <br> Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. <br> Saint Joseph, son of David, terror of demons, pray for us. <br> Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all of the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
-''Semper fidelis!'' --[[User:Dataclarifier|Dataclarifier]] ([[User talk:Dataclarifier|talk]]) 07:09, 12 November 2019 (EST)
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-==Diffs==
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-==Development==
-Bogomil: Bogomilism
-Bogomil, member of a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect called Bogomilism (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Богомилство, romanized: Bogomilstvo; Serbo-Croatian: Bogumilstvo / Богумилство) founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century that flourished in the Balkans between the 10th and 15th centuries. It most probably arose in what is today the region of Macedonia as a response to the social stratification that occurred with the introduction of feudalism and as a form of political movement and opposition to the Bulgarian state and the church.
-The origin of the Bogomils is not clear. Our information about them comes almost entirely from their opponents. The extant sources discussing the sect say variously that they derived their doctrines from the Messalians, the Paulicians, or the Manichaeans.<ref>Sources for this article are listed in the External links, below. The linked sources listed there cite references to verifiable scholarly research for their assertions. The reader is referred to these sources for immediately accessible verification, in the stead of a posting of a multitude of detailed citations throughout this article. Reading of each of the linked sources listed here is strongly recommended, coupled with independent consulting of the referent sources of research cited by these sources as personal verification of their authenticity and accuracy.</ref>
-Name
-Etymology
-The term Bogomil in free translation means "dear to God", and is a compound of the Slavic words for "god" (Common Slavic: *bogъ) and "dear" (Common Slavic: *milъ). It may be also a translation of the Greek name Theophilos, literally "dear to God; loved by the gods," from theos "god" + philos "loved, beloved". The Bogomils were so-called supposedly after the name of their founder, the priest Bogomil. But it is difficult to ascertain whether the name was taken from the reputed founder of that movement, a priest known by the name Bogomil (Bulgarian: Богомил, romanized: Bogomil), or whether he assumed that name after it had been given to the sect itself.
-In Church Slavonic documents the members are referred to as Babuni, which originally meant "superstition; superstitious person" (Common Slavic: *babonъ, *babunъ *babona). Toponyms<ref>A Toponym is a place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.</ref> which retain the name include the river Babuna, the mountain Babuna, the Bogomila Waterfall and village Bogomila, all in the region of Azot today in central North [[Macedonia]], suggesting that the movement was very active in the region.
-Doctrine: Bogomilism
-[[Dualism]]
-Bogomilism has been called a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect. Since the earliest days of [[Christianity]], there has been a dualistic Christian tradition. All the dualist groups teach [[Dualism]] and [[Docetism]] in some form or other. This tradition includes the various forms of [[Gnosticism]], including that of the Manichaeans, the Paulicians, the Bogomils and the Cathars.
-[[Manicheanism|Manichaeism]]
-Research on the origin of Bogomilism has traditionally focused on the possible influence of Manichaean ideas among the [[sect]]s of the [[Cathar]]s, [[Albigensians]], [[Waldensians]], and Bogomils. Manichaeism is said to have been passed via the Paulicians and the Bogomils to re-emerge in different forms among the European Cathars. Individual medieval historians, who were usually [[monk]]s or [[cleric]]s, interpreted this influence in terms of a universal conspiracy of Manichaeans, led by Satan.
-Different forms of doctrine
-Since 1930, many authentic Manichaean sources have been found, mainly in Egypt. These have made it possible to study Manichaeism without relying on the interpretations of the [[Early Christianity|Church Fathers]]. The results have raised questions among scholars about the supposedly universal radical character of all forms of Manichaean dualism<ref>Stroumsa; Drijvers; Tardieu; Koenen</ref>. Some researchers have even ventured to claim that Manichaean texts allow both a dualistic and a monotheistic interpretation<ref>e.g. Bianchi</ref>. As a result of the new evidence , the long-supposed influence of Manichaeism on the Cathars has been increasingly questioned, particularly as regards ''radical'' Catharism, because it was especially this variant of Catharism that was said to teach the same dualism as did the Manichaeans<ref>Söderberg</ref>. The only authentic Bogomil text available to us is the ''Interrogatio Iohanni''. It is clear that they taught a moderate dualism, docetism, and strict asceticism, and that they rejected marriage<ref>Obolensky</ref><ref>Compare John 1:1-14; 2&nbsp;John 7-11; Romans 12:1; Colossians 2:8-23; 1&nbsp;Timothy 4:1-5; Hebrews 13:4</ref>.
-- 3rd century
-Manichaeism was an heretical dualist movement of Persian origin present throughout late antiquity, between approximately A.D. 240 and 800. The first Manichaean texts were found in 1905 in Turfan, [[Mongolia]]. These source texts consist mainly of fragments, and have the unique virtue of being accompanied by illustrations. Most of these texts are preserved in Berlin. Since 1930 an enormous number of almost entirely Manichaean texts has been found in Fayum, in Egypt. Written in Coptic, these texts include the ''Manichaean Homilies'', the ''Psalm-book'' and the ''Kephalaia''. New discoveries are still being made. The Cologne ''ManiCodex '', discovered in 1970, contains autobiographical passages by Mani (A.D. 216-274). All these texts have now been made accessible in the CFM (''Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum''), initiated by the International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS). These have made it possible to study Manichaeism without relying on the interpretations of the [[Early Christianity|Church Fathers]].
-- 4th century
-Up to 1930, our knowledge of Manichaeanism was based mainly on information from its opponents, such as the great Apostolic Father, [[Saint Augustine]] (354-430), who, according to his ''Confession'' had been a fervent Manichee before his conversion to orthodox catholic Christianity under the influence of the preaching of [[Saint Ambrose]].
-- 5th century
-- 6th century
-- 7th century
-The Paulicians were Gnostic dualist Christian heretics in the Byzantine Empire between about 600 and 1000.
-- 8th century
-- 9th century
-- 10th century
-- 11th century
-The Bogomils were Christian heretics in the Balkans between about 1000 and 1400 who promulgated a neo-Gnostic anarchic dualist doctrine. The Bogomils first appeared in the tenth century in Bulgaria and spread throughout the Byzantine Empire.
-In both scholarly and popular accounts, the commonly held view has often been repeated that late classical [[Manichaeism]] experienced a revival in the eleventh century, a notion going back to the [[Middle Ages]] when ‘Manichaean’ was used by the orthodox catholic Christian Church as a generic label for heretics from about the year 1000 onwards, and that in the three and half centuries between 1000 and 1350 variant forms of the doctrines of ‘Manichaeism’ had spread in Europe, where followers of those doctrines were commonly known as [[Cathar]]s, even if they did not properly belong explicitly to that particular sect.
-Another trend in the academic debate about Manichaean influence on Catharism centers on developments in medieval Europe itself. By the year 1000, the church had become very corrupt. Ecclesiastical offices were sold, celibacy as a clerical requirement was often ignored, and the parish priests received hardly any theological training. The heretics’ chief objections concerned the seven sacraments and the unworthiness of the clergy. They wanted to return the church to the pristine era of the apostles <ref>Van Schaik, p. 51</ref>. However the sources before about 1150 provide no substantive information about their heretical teachings. This gave rise to a broad religious reaction: the lay people in particular sought to return to the origins of Christianity. This reaction is known as the [[Pope Gregory VI|Gregorian]] reform movement. Some researchers think that Catharism is a logical radicalization of this reformation.<ref>Moore; Morghen</ref>
-Their criticism of the church attracted the accusation of being ‘Manichaeans,’ an epithet derived from the writings of Augustine. The existence of Manichaeans in Europe was first reported in 1020. Many similar reports were to follow.
-- 12th century
-Around the year 1150 the Bogomils were repeatedly condemned and persecuted by Emperor Manuel Komnenos without any apparent effect. The Bogomils spread west from the Balkans (Bosnia and Servia).
-The Cathars or Albigensians (these are synonyms, the original reference being to the Cathars of the city of Albi in Southern France<ref>Müller</ref>), developed into an important neo-Gnostic and dualist Christian heresy in Europe between about 1150 and 1350, significant for its rejection of both state and orthodox catholic ecclesiastical authority.
-The Cathar sources: Moderate Catharism and Radical Catharism.
-Moderate Catharism
-Moderate Catharism was influenced by the Bogomil movement <ref>Van den Broek; Quispel.</ref>. The texts with moderate Cathar ideas are: the ''Interrogatio Iohanni'', also called the ''Cène Secrete'' <ref>Bozóky</ref>; two versions of the rituals, one in Latin <ref>Dondaine, ''Un Traité''</ref> and one in Provencal <ref>Clédat</ref>; ''A Vindication of the Church of God'' <ref>Venckeleer, ''Revue belge''</ref>, ''A Gloss on the Lord’s Prayer'' <ref>ibid., Venckeleer, ''Revue belge''</ref> and the ''Visio Isaia'' <ref>Charles</ref>.
-The ''Cène Secrete'' describes a “moderate dualism”: there is one good God and a fallen angel (Lucifer) who created the earth. This has also been called “Gnostic dualism” . It includes the dualism of the Bogomils and that of the moderate Cathars <ref>Van Schaik, pp. 89-90.</ref>. The inquisitor and former Cathar, Reinerius Sacconi (d. 1262) traces the origin of the various moderate Cathar churches in Southern Europe back to the “church of Philadelphia in Romania” <ref>Sanjek.</ref>.
-There are no problems with regard to the historical transmission of moderate dualism: Bogomil ideas were taken back to Europe by the returning crusaders. The inquisitor Anselmus Alessandria reports this in 1266 <ref>''Tractatus the hereticis''</ref>. The ''Cène Secrete'' from about 1190 confirms this: the manuscript ends with a note: “this manuscript originates from Bulgaria” <ref>Bozóky, p. 87.</ref>.
-Radical Catharism
-There are fewer texts with radical Cathar ideas: the ''Liber the Duobis Principiis'' (circ. 1250-1280; SC 198) and the ''Liber contra Manicheos'' (BHRE 37). The ''Liber the Duobis Principiis'' is the only surviving extensive radical Manichaean text available to us. The ''Liber contra Manicheos'' (''circa'' 1218-1222) is by Durand the Huesca, an opponent of the Cathars, and contains a radical Cathar treatise. The contents of the two texts accord closely with the information that we have from the opponents of the Cathars, so we can use both texts.
-The transmission of radical dualism to Europe is said to been brought by a certain ‘Pope Nicetas’ from Constantinople to Northern Italy and Southern France. However the sources are unclear about the sectarian origins of Pope Nicetas; whether he was from the Bogomil Church <ref>Runciman; Niel.</ref>, or from the Paulician sect <ref>Borst; Thouzellier.</ref>. Pope Nicetas is said to have converted the moderate Cathar bishops to radical Catharism during the so-called Council of Saint Félix de Caraman in 1167 <ref>Fearns</ref>. However there are strong indications that this source was a seventeenth century forgery <ref>Dossat; Thouzellier.</ref>. The only certain fact is the transmission of Bogomil dualism to moderate Cathar dualism.
-The supposed influence of Manichaeism on the Cathars has been increasingly questioned, particularly as regards ''radical'' Catharism, because it was especially this variant of Catharism that was said to teach the same dualism as did the Manichaeans <ref>Söderberg; Dies.</ref>.
-The Cathars, like the Bogomils, claimed to be Christians. They differed from Catholic Christianity in teaching dualism and Docetism, both of which had been [[dogma]]tically condemned as [[Heresy|heretical]]. Because the Cathars taught that the creation and the body were created by the wicked [[demiurge]] or [[Satan]], they could not imagine that Christ could have been incarnated in the flesh. According to the ''Interrogatio Iohanni'', he entered Mary through her ear and left her again in the same way <ref>Bozóky</ref>.
-According to Sacconi, the radical Cathar Giovanni di Lugio taught that Christ actually suffered, died and rose again, not in the physical world, but in a higher world <ref>Sanjek; Borst.</ref>. This idea cannot be found so clearly in the ''Liber de duobus principiis'', which claims that Christ was crucified by the bad God and creator, meaning the old Testament Iahweh <ref>Liber IV, p. 53, ed. Thouzellier.</ref>. The good God had nothing to do with this. Therefore the crucifixion does not represent salvation for men, but does show that the ''veri christiani'' "true Christians" (the Cathars) will have to suffer in his footsteps <ref>ibid., Liber VII, p. 66, ed. Thouzellier.</ref>. The true salvation is achieved through ''gnosis''. For the Cathars, Christ is the wise teacher who teaches us that our true origin is from the spirit <ref>Borst; Müller.</ref>.
-At the Council of Reims in 1157, measures were taken against the “impure sect of the Manichaeans” <ref>Mansi, 1903</ref>. The first report from a layman about the Cathars dates from 1177. This report is not based on information from Augustine. In a letter to a Cistercian abbot, Count [[Raymond of Toulouse]] in Southern France asks how he should proceed against the heretics who “teach two principles”, that is, two Gods <ref>Stubbs</ref>. The heretics were then interrogated, and the report of the interrogations speaks of heretics who preach “two gods” <ref>ibid., Stubbs.</ref>.
-From that point, events move rapidly.
-Within a few decades, Southern France in particular develops into a Cathar bulwark. The Cathars have the sympathy of the population and the local nobility, while the [[Roman Catholic Church]] has little influence on them.
-The church’s response comes in three increasingly harsh phases:<br>
-. Attempts at conversion. <br>
-. The [[inquisition]], established in 1184. <br>
-. The crusade, in particular the ‘''Crusade against the Albigensians''’ in 1204.
-The Cathar priests had been successful because they led pious and ascetic lives in imitation of the apostles, in apparent contrast to the general Catholic clergy, whom they accused of being [[hypocrites]], although the Catholic clergy included many pious members who practiced visibly obvious personal poverty and disciplines of ascetic self-denial and prayer according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, such as the communities of desert hermits (the beginnings of [[monasticism]]), and later [[Saint Augustine#Legacy|Augustinian]]s founded 5th century, [[Rule of St. Benedict|Benedictines founded about 530]], [https://medievalchurchhistory.blogspot.com/2012/09/lesson-17-cluny-910-and-monastic-reform.html the monastery at Cluny founded 909], [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Camaldolese-Order Camaldolese founded 1012], [https://www.ancient.eu/Knights_Hospitaller/ Hospitallers founded 1085], [[Carthusian Order|Carthusians founded 1086]], [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carmelites Carmelites founded in Palestine 1155], [[Dominican Order|Dominicans beginning 1178]], [[Franciscan|Franciscans founded 1207-08]]. So beginning in 1178, Rome sent Dominican [[monk]]s already practicing the same ascetic discipline, who tried with little success to convert the Cathars to Catholicism.
-The populace for the most part listened to the preaching of the Dominicans with little enthusiasm. Many were undecided, and had not yet fully committed themselves to the doctrines of the Cathars. Some few who had been converted were persuaded to come back to the Church and renounce the doctrines and practices of the Cathars by the reasoning [[argument]]s of the Dominican friars and priests with their [[Rhetoric|ehetorical]] appeals to the scriptures and the visible example of the living witness of their own way of life and simple asceticism, but most of the Cathars had been persuaded against the Church by the [[specious reasoning]] and [[polemical]] arguments of the heretics.
-The inquisition was a church court that was intended to protect those accused of heresy against the overly eager harsh methods of secular princes and governors who cared little about the truthfulness of the accusation and more about readily seizing the property and wealth of the accused, who included political rivals and potential insurgents protesting against governmental [[corruption]]. The inquisitional courts interrogated those suspected of Cathar sympathies, and the Cathar faithful and priests, in a brutal fashion. When they were found innocent, they were released. When they renounced their heretical beliefs, they were sentenced to do penance in a ''penetentiary'', sometimes for years, and afterward restored to the Church. When they were found to be guilty and unrepentant, they were remanded to the secular authority as incorrigible. Their property was declared forfeit, and they were forced under torture to betray others. The ''perfecti'' ("Perfect Ones") and other intransigent Cathars died at the stake.
-- 13th century
-Finally the church turned to its ultimate weapon, launching a crusade against the Cathars in Southern France from 1204. Pope Innocent III announced the ‘''Crusade against the Albigensians''’ (the synonym for Cathars) officially in 1208. Thus there was a domestic [[crusade]] in Europe, between the fourth and fifth crusades against the [[Saracen]]s. The Cathars were often persecuted in horrifying ways. The situation reached its nadir with the conquest of the fortress of Montségur in 1244, when 205 Cathar priests (''parfaits'' or ''perfecti'') died at the stake. The Cathars retreated into the [[Pyrenees]].
-- 14th century
-The last Cathars, a group in the caves of Lombrive, were not eliminated until 1330, when the only access to the caves was bricked over.
-- 15th century
-The Bogomils were still being persecuted in Bosnia in 1462. A year later, Bosnia was conquered by the Ottomans, and the Bogomils apparently adopted Islam, as they did elsewhere following Islamic conquests <ref>Bozoky</ref>.
-- 16th century
-- 17th century
-- 18th century
-- 19th century
-- 20th century
-- 21st century
-See also
-[[Zoroaster]]
-[[Kabbalah]]
-[[Chassidic Judaism]]
-[[Mystery religion]]
-[[Simon Magus]]
-[[Gnosticism]]
-[[Demiurge]]
-[[Mandaeans]]
-[[Marcion]]
-[[Arianism]]
-[[Council of Nicea]]
-[[Docetism]]
-[[Montanism]]
-[[Anarchism]]
-[[Alchemy]]
-[[Esoteric]]
-[[Illuminati]]
-[[Michael Servetus]]
-[[Baruch Spinoza]]
-[[Theosophical Society]]
-[[Cosmic Humanism]]
-[[Joseph Smith]]
-[[Christian mysteries]]
-[[Orthodox Mysteries]]
-[[Mysticism]]
-[[Theosis]]
-[[Solipsism]]
-[[Subjectivism]]
-[[Sola spiritu]]
-References
-{{reflist}}
-External links
-[https://www.learnreligions.com/definition-of-bogomil-1788457 Who or What Were the Bogomils? (learnreligions.com)]
-[https://crusaderkings-two.fandom.com/wiki/Messalianism Messalianism - Crusader Kings II (crusaderkings-two.fandom.com)]
-[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Paulicians Paulician | Religious sect - Britannica (britannica.com)]
-[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bogomils Bogomil | Religious sect - Britannica (britannica.com)]
-[https://about-history.com/the-bogomils-and-bogomilism/ Bogomils and Bogomilism: Christian Dualist Sect (about-history.com)]
-[https://ascensionglossary.com/index.php/Bogomilism Bogomilism - Ascension Glossary (ascensionglossary.com)]
-[https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/miscellaneous-religion/bogomils Bogomils (encyclopedia.com)]
-[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cathars-albigensians-and-bogomils Cathars, Albigensians and Bogomils - Encyclopedia Iranica Online (iranicaonline.org)]
-[http://everything.explained.today/Bogomilism/ Bogomilism explained (everything.explained.today)]
-[https://orthodoxwiki.org/Bogomilism Bogomilism - OrthodoxWiki (orthodoxwiki.org)]
-[https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Bogomiles Bogomilism - The Free Dictionary (encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com)]
-[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Bogomili Bogomili - 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article by Nicholas Aloysius Weber - Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 (1913)]
-[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogomilism Bogomilism - Wikipedia]
-[https://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/the-bogomils-europes-forgotten-gnostics The Bogomils: Europe's Forgotten Gnostics, by Paul Tice (newdawnmagazine.com)]
-[https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Jesus_Christ/Brother_of_Satan Relationship between Jesus Christ and Satan - Question: Do Latter-day Saints consider Jesus to be the brother of Satan? (fairmormon.org)]
-[https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Satan-brothers.html Are Jesus and Satan brothers? (gotquestions.org)]
-[https://rosicrucian.com/rcc/rcceng00.htm The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, by Max Heindel (rosicrucian.com)]
-[https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/codex_magica/codex_magica12.htm That Ravenous Dark Bird —Sublime Mysteries of the llluminati's Double-Headed Eagle (bibliotecapleyades.net)]
-[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciferianism Luciferianism - Wikipedia]
-[https://www.britannica.com/event/New-Thought New Thought | American Religious Movement - Britannica (britannica.com)]
-[[category:Christianity]
-[[category:Protestantism]
-[[category:Heresies]
-CATHARS, ALBIGENSIANS, and BOGOMILS (Focusing on the possible influence of Manichaean ideas among these sects.) The commonly held view that late classical Manichaeism experienced a revival in the eleventh century, and that in the three and half centuries between 1000 and 1350 it spread in Europe, where its followers were known as Cathars, has often been repeated both in scholarly and popular accounts. The notion itself goes back to the Middle Ages and ‘Manichaean’ was used as a label for heretics from about the year 1000 onwards. The medieval historian–usually a monk or a cleric– interpreted this in terms of a universal conspiracy of Manichaeans, led by Satan. Manichaeism is said to have been passed via the Paulicians and the Bogomils to re-emerge in the European Cathars but, as we shall see, this supposed historical transmission is difficult to demonstrate.
-Up to 1930, our knowledge of Manichaeism was based mainly on information from its opponents, such as the great Apostolic Father, Augustine (q.v.; 354-430). Since 1930, many authentic Manichaean sources have been found, mainly in Egypt. These have made it possible to study Manichaeism without relying on the interpretations of the Church Fathers. The results have raised questions about the supposed radical character of Manichaean dualism (Stroumsa, pp. 141-53; Drijvers, pp. 99-125; Tardieu, pp. 262-71; Koenen, p. 257). Some researchers have even ventured to claim that Manichaean texts allow both a dualistic and a monotheistic interpretation (Bianchi, p.15).
-As a result of the new evidence , the supposed influence of Manichaeism on the Cathars has been increasingly questioned, particularly as regards radical Catharism, because it was especially this variant of Catharism that was said to teach the same dualism as did the Manichaeans (Söderberg, p. 82; Dies, pp. 175-93).
-Another trend in the academic debate about Manichaean influence on Catharism centers on developments in medieval Europe itself. By the year 1000, the church had become very corrupt. Ecclesiastical offices were sold, celibacy as a clerical requirement was often ignored, and the parish priests received hardly any theological training. This gave rise to a broad religious reaction: the lay people in particular sought to return to the origins of Christianity. This reaction is known as the Gregorian reform movement . Some researchers think that Catharism is a logical radicalization of this reformation (Moore, pp. 21-22; Morghen).
-THE SOURCES:
-The Cathar sources. The texts with moderate Cathar ideas are: the Interrogatio Iohanni, also called the ''Cène Secrete'' (Bozóky); two versions of the rituals, one in Latin (Dondaine, ''Un Traité'') and one in Provencal (Clédat); ''A Vindication of the Church of God'' (Venckeleer, ''Revue belge''), ''A Gloss on the Lord’s Prayer'' (Venckeleer, ''Revue belge'') and the ''Visio Isaia'' (Charles).
-There are fewer texts with radical Cathar ideas: the ''Liber the Duobis Principiis'' (circ. 1250-1280; SC 198) and the ''Liber contra Manicheos'' (BHRE 37). Both texts are problematical: the ''Liber the Duobis Principiis'' is not representative of the radical Cathars: it comes from the radical fraction of Giovanni di Lugio in Northern Italy (Sacconi, pp. 51-52). However it is the only surviving extensive radical Manichaean text available to us. The ''Liber contra Manicheos'' (circ. 1218-1222) is by Durand the Huesca, an opponent of the Cathars, and contains a radical Cathar treatise. The contents of the two texts accord closely with the information that we have from the opponents of the Cathars, so we can use both texts.
-The Manichaean sources. The first texts were found in 1905 in Turfan, Mongolia. Although these texts consist mainly of fragments, they have the unique virtue of being accompanied by illustrations. Most of these texts are preserved in Berlin. Since 1930 an enormous number of almost entirely Manichaean texts has been found in Fayum, in Egypt. These texts, written in Coptic, include the Manichaean Homilies, the Psalm-book and the Kephalaia. . New discoveries are still being made. The so-called Cologne ManiCodex (q.v.; CMC), discovered in 1970, contains autobiographical passages by Mani (216-274). All these texts have now been made accessible in the CFM (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum), initiated by the International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS).
-CONCEPTS:
-Dualistic tradition: since the earliest days of Christianity, there has been a dualistic Christian tradition. All the dualist groups teach dualism and docetism in some form or other (see below). This tradition includes the various forms of Gnosticism (q.v.), including that of the Manichaeans, the Paulicians, the Bogomils and the Cathars. Manichaeism was a heretical Christian movement present throughout late antiquity, between approximately 240 and 800 CE. The Paulicians were Christian heretics in the Byzantine Empire between about 600 and 1000. The Bogomils were Christian heretics in the Balkans between about 1000 and 1400. The Cathars or Albigensians (these are synonyms, the original reference being to the Cathars of the city of Albi in Southern France; Müller, p. 2) were an important Christian heresy in Europe between about 1150 and 1350.
-Moderate dualism: the ''Cène Secrete'' describes a “moderate dualism”: there is one good God and a fallen angel (Lucifer) who created the earth. This has also been called “Gnostic dualism” . It includes the dualism of the Bogomils and that of the moderate Cathars (Van Schaik, pp. 89-90). Moderate Catharism was influenced by the Bogomil movement (Van den Broek, pp. 87-108; Quispel, pp. 616-18). The inquisitor and former Cathar, Reinerius Sacconi (d. 1262) traces the origin of the various moderate Cathar churches in Southern Europe back to the “church of Philadelphia in Romania” (Sanjek, p. 50).
-Radical dualism: In addition to the moderate Cathars, there is a more radical variant. The radical Cathars believed in the existence of two gods ''ab aeterno'': a good God and a bad God. It is mainly the radical Cathars who are supposed to show vestiges of Manichaean ideas. This radical dualism is also known as “Iranian dualism” (Jonas, p. 212, pp. 236-37). The radical Cathars belonged to the Albanensian Church or the Church of Drugunthia (Van Schaik, p. 79), which also included the Paulician sect in the Byzantine Empire.
-The Bogomils: The origin of the Bogomils is not clear. Our information about them comes almost entirely from their opponents. The sources say variously that they derive from the Messalians, the Paulicians, or the Manichaeans (see the sources cited in Hamilton and Hamilton). The only authentic Bogomil text available to us is the Interrogatio Iohanni. It is clear that they taught a moderate dualism, docetism, and strict asceticism, and that they rejected marriage (Obolensky, passim). The Bogomils first appeared in the tenth century in Bulgaria and spread throughout the Byzantine Empire. Around the year 1150 they were repeatedly condemned and persecuted by Emperor Manuel Komnenos without any apparent effect. The Bogomils spread west from the Balkans (Bosnia and Servia). They were still being persecuted in Bosnia in 1462. A year later, Bosnia was conquered by the Ottomans, and the Bogomils apparently adopted Islam, as they did elsewhere following Islamic conquests (Bozoky, DGWE, pp. 192-94).
-History of the Cathars:
-Adamar of Chabannes was one of the first to report the existence of Manichaens in Europe, in 1020. Many similar reports were to follow (MGH. SS, IV, p. 138). However the sources before about 1150 provide no substantive information about these heretical teachings. The heretics’ chief objections concerned the seven sacraments and the unworthiness of the clergy. They wanted to return the church to the pristine era of the apostles (Van Schaik, p. 51). Their criticism of the church attracted the accusation of being ‘Manichaeans,’ an epithet derived from the writings of Augustine.
-In 1143, Everwinus of Steinfeld wrote for the first time about heretics of a different sort, who said that their teachings derived from Greece (Fearns, pp. 24-26). However it was only in 1165 that these heretics were called Cathari by Eckbert von Schönau (PL 195, p. 17). Eckbert von Schönau was the first to write about the doctrine of dualism, although he too relied heavily on the writings of Augustine (Borst, p. 8; Wakefield and Evans, p. 38; Lambert, p. 63). Apparently Catharism spread in Europe between 1143 and 1165, as manifested in the way that the Catholic Church was becoming increasingly worried about these ‘new’ heretics in the same period. . However the church authorities did not yet have a clear idea of what they were facing. The statements of the council speak of Arians and textores (= weavers). At the Council of Reims in 1157, measures were taken against the “impure sect of the Manichaeans” (Mansi XXI, 1903, p. 843). During the Council of Lombers in 1165, some boni homines (= good man) were interrogated, but the source does not tell us whether dualistic ideas were found (Acta concilii Lumbariensis, p. 432). Some researchers even suspect that the people concerned were not Cathars but Waldensians (Duvernoy, Histoire, p. 213). The Waldensians sought to reform the church and did not preach dualism.
-The first report from a layman about the Cathars dates from 1177. This report is not based on information from Augustine. In a letter to a Cistercian abbot, Count Raymond of Toulouse in Southern France asks how he should proceed against the heretics who “teach two principles” (Stubbs, Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene, I, p. 270). The heretics were then interrogated, and the report of the interrogations speaks of heretics who preach “two gods” (Stubbs, II, p. 153).
-From that point, events move rapidly. Within a few decades, Southern France in particular develops into a Cathar bulwark. The Cathars have the sympathy of the population and the local nobility, while the Roman Catholic Church has little influence.
-PERSECUTIONS AND THE CRUSADE:
-The church’s response came in three increasingly harsh phases:
-. Attempts at conversion: the Cathar priests had been successful because–in contrast to the Catholic clergy–they led pious and ascetic lives in imitation of the apostles. So beginning in 1178, Rome sent Dominican monks practicing the same ascetic discipline, who tried with little success to convert the Cathars to Catholicism.
-. The inquisition, established in 1184. The inquisition was a church court that interrogated those suspected of Cathar sympathies, and the Cathar faithful and priests, in a brutal fashion. Their property was declared forfeit, and they were forced under torture to betray others. The perfecti and other intransigent Cathars died at the stake.
-. The crusade: Finally the church turned to its ultimate weapon, launching a crusade against the Cathars in Southern France from 1204. Pope Innocent III announced the ‘Crusade against the Albigensians’ (= Cathars) officially in 1208. Thus there was a domestic crusade in Europe, between the fourth and fifth crusades against the Saracens . The Cathars were often persecuted in horrifying ways. The situation reached its nadir with the conquest of the fortress of Montségur in 1244, when 205 Cathar priests (parfaits or perfecti) died at the stake. The Cathars retreated into the Pyrenees. However the last Cathars, a group in the caves of Lombrive, were not eliminated until 1330, when the only access to the caves was bricked over.
-CHRISTOLOGY:
-The Cathars, like the Bogomils, were Christians. They differed from Catholic Christianity in teaching dualism and docetism. Because the Cathars taught that the creation and the body were created by the wicked demiurge or Satan, they could not imagine that Christ could have been incarnated in the flesh. According to the Interrogatio Iohanni, he entered Mary through her ear and left her again in the same way (Bozóky, p. 69). According to Sacconi, the radical Cathar Giovanni di Lugio taught that Christ actually suffered, died and rose again, not in the physical world, but in a higher world (Sanjek, p. 57, 5-10; Borst, pp. 270-71). This idea cannot be found so clearly in the Liber de duobus principiis,which claims that Christ was crucified by the bad God and creator, meaning the old Testament Jahweh (Liber IV, p. 53, ed. Thouzellier). The good God had nothing to do with this. Therefore the crucifixion does not represent salvation for men, but does show that the veri christiani (the Cathars) will have to suffer in his footsteps (Liber VII, p. 66, ed. Thouzellier). The true salvation is achieved through gnosis. For the Cathars, Christ is the wise teacher who teaches us that our true origin is from the spirit (Borst, pp. 166-67; Müller, pp. 106-107).
-THE PROBLEM OF HISTORICAL TRANSMISSION:
-Moderate dualism: as we have seen, there are no problems with regard to the historical transmission of moderate dualism: Bogomil ideas were taken back to Europe by the returning crusaders. The inquisitor Anselmus Alessandria reports this in 1266 (Tractatus the hereticis, pp. 308-10). The Cène Secrete from about 1190 confirms this: the manuscript ends with a note: “this manuscript originates from Bulgaria” (Bozóky, p. 87). .
-Radical dualism: the transmission of radical dualism to Europe is considerably more problematic. Radical dualism is said to been brought by a certain ‘Pope Nicetas’ from Constantinople to Northern Italy and Southern France. However the sources are unclear about the sectarian origins of Pope Nicetas; whether he was from the Bogomil Church (Runciman, p. 72; Niel, p. 39), or from the Paulician sect (Borst, pp. 96-97; Thouzellier, p. 13). Pope Nicetas is said to have converted the moderate Cathar bishops to radical Catharism during the so-called Council of Saint Félix de Caraman in 1167 (Fearns, pp. 28-29). However there are strong indications that this source was a seventeenth century forgery (Dossat, pp. 339-47; Thouzellier, p.14).
-Conclusion: the only certain fact is the transmission of Bogomil dualism to moderate Cathar dualism. For several reasons given below, this is as far as we can go:
-(1) The affinity between Manichaeism and Paulicianism is dubious (See, e.g., Obolensky, p. 18; Garsoïan, pp. 188-93, pp. 204-205).
-(2) The transmission of Paulician ideas to the radical Cathars cannot be proven (Garsoïan, p. 233; Wakefield and Evans, pp. 16-18).
-(3) Little is known about the teachings of the Paulicians, and the sources derive from the accounts of their opponents (Obolensky, pp. 18-19; Rottenwöhrer, p. 353).
-(4) The sources also apply the epithet Manichaeans to Eastern heretics (sources collected by Hamilton and Hamilton).
-On the basis of the existing sources, the most that can be claimed is that the Manichaeans, the Paulicians, the Bogomils, and the Cathars all display a form of dualism.
-THE QUESTION OF DOCTRINAL AFFINITY BETWEEN MANICHAEISM AND CATHARISM:
-Ontological dualism. The Manichaeans taught that there were two principles ab aeterno, the one good, the other bad. Only the good principle is called God: the bad principle is not called God anywhere in Manichaean sources (van Schaik, p. 132). It is only in Augustine’s polemic anti-Manichaean text Contra Faustum, a debate between Augustine and the Manichaean Bishop Faustus, that we find the existence of two gods being discussed, among other topics. Faustus denies the possibility forthrightly (C.Faust. XXXI.1): the bad principle is a pars Dei which mixes itself with the creation, while the substance of God remains unaffected.
-The radical Cathar texts, in contrast, teach that there are two principles, each of them a God, at the ontological level. The bad God (malus deus) is identified with the creator from the Old Testament (Lib. the Duob. Princ. 49, 1-3). Thus ontological dualism appears to be an important point of difference between the ideas of the Manichaeans and of the radical Cathars: the Manichaeans preach one God, while the radical Cathars preach two gods.
-Cosmic dualism. Manichaeism teaches that the good and evil powers are equally present through all the eons of creation, including the physical creation. Moreover the world (heaven and earth) was created by a being from the kingdom of light, the living spirit. In each eon, light and darkness struggle with one another to extract and purify the light. On earth it is the Manichaean priests (the electi), who have the task of distilling light by consuming ritual meals. The light in plants and flowers is distilled by digestion. This form of cosmic dualism can be called ‘horizontal dualism’ (van Schaik, pp. 79-86.)
-The radical Cathars-and also the moderate Cathars-in contrast, teach a ‘vertical dualism’: what is above is good, what is below is bad. The light has fallen into the darkness (the physical world) and must be liberated from it. The creation has been made by a creatormalus. The Cathar perfecti in particular have a horror of the creation and the body (van Schaik, pp. 79-86).
-Thus cosmic dualism also appears to be an important point of difference: the Manichaeans teach a ‘horizontal dualism’, the radical Cathars a ‘vertical dualism’.
-Eschatological dualism. From the Manichaean texts it appears that the good God has foreseen the entire development of the world. He permits wickedness, so that at the end of time the light may shine out with a ‘higher’ quality in a New Jerusalem. There is an evolutionary perspective: everything will be better.
-The radical Cathar texts also say that the good God has foreseen the end, but the goal of creation in this case is to return the light to its origin. There is no evolutionary promise.
-Eschatological dualism is a point of agreement between Manichaeism and the radical Cathars: both proclaim the divine providence (van Schaik, pp. 174-75), although they have different opinions regarding the end of time. The Manichaeans preach a New Jerusalem, while the radical Cathars preach a restoration.
-FINAL CONCLUSIONS:
-From the above, we must conclude that the supposed relationship between the radical Cathars and the Manicheans is dubious. Nevertheless, there are many points requiring further research. Two important areas for study are: (1) the relationship between moderate Cathar dualism and Manichaean dualism; and (2) Manichaeism became the state religion of the Uighur kingdom of Turkestan in Central Asia in the year 762 CE, and this territory itself became part of the Islamic world when Turkestan was conquered. Around the year 1000, Islamic writers such as Ebn al-Nadim were writing about Manichaeism (see al-FEHREST iii. The Representation of Manicheism in the Fehrest). However, the possibility that Manichean ideas reached the Bogomils in the Balkans through the Islamic expansion has been dismissed by some scholars. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam (de Blois, p. 510a) this is highly improbable as conversions to Islam only started in the Balkans about 1260, and the main Ottoman colonization was between 1300-1400.
-Bogomilism (Bulgarian and Macedonian: Богомилство, romanized: Bogomilstvo; Serbo-Croatian: Bogumilstvo / Богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century.[1][2][3] It most probably arose in what is today the region of Macedonia.[4][5]
-The Bogomils called for a return to what they considered to be early spiritual teaching, rejecting the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and their primary political tendencies were resistance to the state and church authorities. This helped the movement spread quickly in the Balkans, gradually expanding throughout the Byzantine Empire and later reaching Kievan Rus', Bosnia (Bosnian Church), Dalmatia, Serbia, Italy, and France (Cathars).
-The Bogomils were dualists or Gnostics in that they believed in a world within the body and a world outside the body. They did not use the Christian cross, nor build churches, as they revered their gifted form and considered their body to be the temple. This gave rise to many forms of practice to cleanse oneself through purging,[clarification needed] fasting, celebrating and dancing.
-The term Bogomil in free translation means "dear to God", and is a compound of the Slavic words for "god" (Common Slavic: *bogъ) and "dear" (Common Slavic: *milъ). It may be also a translation of the Greek name Theophilos, literally "dear to God; loved by the gods," from theos "god" + philos "loved, beloved". It is difficult to ascertain whether the name was taken from the reputed founder of that movement, the priest Bogomil (Bulgarian: Богомил, romanized: Bogomil), or whether he assumed that name after it had been given to the sect itself. The word is an Old Church Slavonic calque of Massaliani, the Syriac name of the sect corresponding to the Greek Euchites. The Bogomils are identified with the Messalians in Slavonic documents from the 13th century.[6]
-The members are referred to as Babuni in Church Slavonic documents, which originally meant "superstition; superstitious person" (Common Slavic: *babonъ, *babunъ *babona). Toponyms which retain the name include the river Babuna, the mountain Babuna, the Bogomila Waterfall and village Bogomila, all in the region of Azot today in central North Macedonia, suggesting that the movement was very active in the region.[7][8]
-Sources[edit]
-Much of their literature has been lost or destroyed by the contemporary Christian Churches. The earliest description of the Bogomils is in a letter from Patriarch Theophylact of Bulgaria to Tsar Peter of Bulgaria. The main source of doctrinal information is the work of Euthymius Zigabenus, who says that they believe that God created man's soul but matter was the invention of Satan, God's older son, who in seducing Eve lost his creative power.[9] Concerning the Bogomils, something can be gathered from the polemic Against the Newly-Appeared Heresy of the Bogomils written in Slavonic by Cosmas the Priest, a 10th-century Bulgarian official. The old Slavonic lists of forbidden books of the 15th and 16th century also give us a clue to the discovery of this heretical literature and of the means the Bogomils employed to carry on their teachings. Much may also be learned from the doctrines of the numerous variations of Bogomilism which spread in Medieval Kievan Rus' after the 11th century.[6]
-History[edit]
-Main article: Paulicianism
-One of the earliest Christian dualist sects, Marcionism, originated in eastern Anatolia.[10] The church Marcion himself established, appeared to die out around the 5th century, although similarities between Marcionism and Paulicianism, a sect in the same geographical area, indicate that Marcionist elements may have survived.[11] Paulicianism began in the mid-7th century, when Constantine of Mananalis, basing his message solely on the New Testament, began to teach that there were two gods: a good god who had made men's souls, and an evil god who had created the entire physical universe including the human body. His followers, who became known as Paulicians, were not marked by extreme deviance in lifestyle compared to contemporaries, despite their belief that the world was evil, and were renowned as good fighting men.[12]
-In 970 the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimiskes transplanted 200,000 Armenian Paulicians to Europe and settled them in the neighbourhood of Philippopolis (today's Plovdiv in Thrace). Under Byzantine and then later Ottoman rule, the Armenian Paulicians lived in relative safety in their ancient stronghold near Philippopolis, and further northward. Linguistically, they were assimilated into the Bulgarians, by whom they were called pavlikiani (the Byzantine Greek word for Paulician). In 1650, the Roman Catholic Church gathered them into its fold. Fourteen villages near Nicopolis, in Moesia, embraced Catholicism, as well as the villages around Philippopolis. A colony of Paulicians in the Wallachian village of Cioplea [ro] near Bucharest also followed the example of their brethren across the Danube.[6]
-Origins[edit]
-The religious distribution at the time of the East–West Schism,[13] showing Bogomils concentrated in the Balkans.
-The Gnostic social-religious movement and doctrine originated in the time of Peter I of Bulgaria (927–969), alleged in the modern day to be a reaction against state and clerical oppression of the Byzantine church. In spite of all measures of repression, it remained strong and popular until the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in the end of the 14th century. Bogomilism was an outcome of many factors that had arisen in the beginning of the 10th century, most probably in the region of Macedonia. It was also strongly influenced by the Paulicians who had been driven out of Armenia.[14]
-The Slavonic sources are unanimous on the point that Bogomil's teaching was Manichaean. A Synodikon from the year 1210 adds the names of his pupils or "apostles", Mihail, Todur, Dobri, Stefan, Vasilie and Peter. Zealous missionaries carried their doctrines far and wide. In 1004, scarcely 25 years after the introduction of Christianity into Kievan Rus, we hear of a priest Adrian teaching the same doctrines as the Bogomils. He was imprisoned by Leontius, Bishop of Kiev. In 1125, the Church in the south of Rus had to combat another heresiarch named Dmitri. The Church in Bulgaria also tried to extirpate Bogomilism. Several thousand went in the army of Alexios I Komnenos against the Norman, Robert Guiscard; but, deserting the emperor, many of them (1085) were thrown into prison.[citation needed] Efforts were again put forth for their conversion; and for the converts the new city of Alexiopolis was built, opposite Philippopolis. When the Crusaders took Constantinople (1204), they found some Paulicians, whom the historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin calls Popelicans.[citation needed]
-The Legend of Saint Gerard discloses that followers of Bulgarian Bogomilism were present during the early 11th century in Ahtum's realm, which comprised present day Banat. They invoked Archangel Uriel, whose name is common in amulets and magic rituals.[citation needed]
-Spread of bogomilism in the Balkans[edit]
-Council against Bogomilism, organized by Stefan Nemanja. Fresco from 1290
-The Bogomils spread westwards and settled in Serbia, where they were to be known as Babuns (Babuni). At the end of the 12th century Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja and the Serbian council deemed Bogomilism a heresy, and expelled them from the country. Large numbers, majority of Vlach origin, took refuge in Bosnia and Dalmatia where they were known under the name of Patarenes (Patareni).[6]
-Providing refuge to heretics, including bogomils, was a recurrent pretext for Hungarian rulers to declare crusades against Bosnia and extend their influence in the region. A first Hungarian complaint to the Pope was averted by the public abjuration of the Bosnian ruler Ban Kulin, close relative of Stefan Nemanja, in 1203.[15] A second Hungarian crusade against Bosnia on bogomil heresy pretext was launched in 1225, but failed. In 1254, rebelling against the Papal order to accept a Hungarian bishop, the Bosnian Church chose the schism. In the following centuries, the Bosnian Church (autonomous but mainly following Orthodox doctrine [16] [17]) and the heretic sect of the bogomils came to be identified with each other, due to the scarcity of documents after the Ottoman conquest.[18]
-In 1203, Pope Innocent III, with the aid of the King of Hungary, forced an agreement of Kulin to acknowledge Papal authority and religion: in practice this was ignored. On the death of Kulin in 1216 a mission was sent to convert Bosnia to Rome but failed. In 1234, the Catholic Bishop of Bosnia was removed by Pope Gregory IX for allowing heretical practices.[19] In addition, Gregory called on the Hungarian king to crusade against the heretics.[20] However, Bosnian nobles were able to expel the Hungarians.[21]
-In 1252, Pope Innocent IV decided to put Bosnia's bishop under the Hungarian Kalocsa jurisdiction. Such decision provoked the schism of the Bosnian Christians, who refused to submit to the Hungarians and broke off their relations with Rome.[22] In that way, an autonomous Bosnian Church came into being, in which some later saw a Bogomil or Cathar Church, while in reality no trace of bogomilism, Catharism or dualism can be found in the original documents of the Bosnian Christians.[23]
-It was not until Pope Nicholas' Bull "Prae cunctis" in 1291 that the Franciscans-led inquisition was imposed on Bosnia.[24] The Inquisition reported of the existence of a dualist sect in Bosnia in the late 15th century and called them "Bosnian heretics", but this sect was most likely not the same as the Bosnian Church.
-Bogomilism was eradicated in Bulgaria, Rascia (one of Serbian medieval states) and Byzantium in the 13th century, but some smaller elements survived in Rascia's principality of Hum (present day - Herzegovina) and Bosnia by embracing eastern tradition of the Bosnian church [25] until the Ottoman Empire gained control of the region in 1463. Some scholars, who sought certain ideological backgrounds and justifications for their political narratives, argue that both Catholics and Orthodox persecuted the Bogomils as heretics and according to them, the pressures drew Bosnia to Bogomilism. Later, with the introduction of Ottoman rule, Bosnians (this is not an ethnic name but a regional one. The only ethnic names known from the contemporary sources in medieval Bosnia were "Serbs and Vlachs" [26] were often more likely to convert to Islam since they were not friends of either the Roman Catholic or Serb Orthodox churches.[citation needed]. These claims have been completely rejected today [27][28] as an anachronism from the Austro-Hungarian era. Although this narrative has been debunked, it continues to be emphasized by the Bosniak academic community.
-From Bosnia, their influence extended into Italy (Piedmont). The Hungarians undertook many crusades against the heretics in Bosnia, but towards the close of the 15th century, the conquest of that country by the Turks put an end to their persecution. Few or no remnants of Bogomilism have survived in Bosnia. The Ritual in Slavonic written by the Bosnian Radoslav, and published in vol. xv. of the Starine of the South Slavonic Academy at Agram, shows great resemblance to the Cathar ritual published by Cunitz, 1853.[29][30]
-In the 18th century, the Paulician people from around Nicopolis were persecuted by the Turks, presumably on religious grounds[citation needed], and a good part of them fled across the Danube and settled in the Banat region that was part of the Kingdom of Hungary at the time, and became known as Banat Bulgarians[citation needed]. There are still over ten thousand Banat Bulgarians in Banat today in the villages of Dudeştii Vechi, Vinga, Breştea and also in the city of Timişoara, with a few in Arad; however, they no longer practice Bogomilism, having converted to Roman Catholicism. There are also a few villages of Paulicians in the Serbian part of Banat, especially the villages of Ivanovo and Belo Blato, near Pančevo.
-Social factors[edit]
-The gradual Christianization of the Bulgarian population, the fact that the service was initially practiced in Greek, which only the elite knew, resulted in a low level of understanding of the religion among the peasantry. Due to the constant wars during the time of Tsar Simeon I, the lands near the Byzantine border (Thrace) were devastated, and the people living there were left without occupation. The constant change of authority over these lands, and the higher taxes during the time of Tsar Peter I, gave birth to a great social discontent at the beginning of the 10th century. Moreover, the corruption of the church as an institution, led to grave disappointment among its recently converted flock.[citation needed]
-Religious factors[edit]
-The existence of older Christian heresies in the Bulgarian lands (Manichaeism and Paulicianism), which were considered very dualistic, influenced the Bogomil movement. Manichaeism's origin is related to Zoroastrianism; that is why Bogomilism is sometimes indirectly connected to Zoroastrianism in the sense of its duality.
-Connections to the royal court[edit]
-Most probably, as Samuil of Bulgaria revolted against the Byzantine Empire, he relied on the popular support of the movement. There are no sources of Bogomil persecution during his reign (976–1014).[7]
-Doctrine[edit]
-From the imperfect and conflicting data that is available, one positive result can be gathered that the Bogomils were gnostics, adoptionists and dualists.[6]
-Their dualism was initially moderate (or "monarchian"): according to their teachings, God created and rules the spiritual part of the world, and Satan the material, but Satan is ultimately inferior to God and his side by virtue of being God's son.[31] However, Bogomils were not quite free from the absolute dualism of Manichaeism and Paulicianism, and over time adopted an absolute position too, believing God and Satan as eternal opponents, similar to the one maintained by the posterior Cathars.[31]
-Their adoptionist teaching apparently came from Paul of Samosata (though at a later period the name of Paul was believed to be that of the Apostle). They rejected the Christianity of the Orthodox churches, though did not accept the docetic teaching of some of the other gnostic sects.[6] They also opposed established forms of government and church as alike to anarchism (see Christian anarchism).
-Source texts[edit]
-Possible source texts for Bogomil doctrine include:
-The Bulgarian priest Jeremiah's "The Story of the Cross-tree" and "The Prayer against Fever"[32]
-The possible Bogomil use of pseudepigraphic texts:
-Apocryphon of John[33]
-Book of the Secret Supper[33]
-Vision of Isaiah (according to Euthymius Zigabenus)[34][35]
-Bogomils accepted the four Gospels, fourteen Epistles of Paul, the three Epistles of John, James, Jude, and an Epistle to the Laodiceans, which they professed to have. They sowed the seeds of a rich, popular religious literature in the East as well as the West. The Historiated Bible, the Letter from Heaven, the Wanderings through Heaven and Hell, the numerous Adam and Cross legends, the religious poems of the "Kalēki perehozhie" and other similar productions owe their dissemination to a large extent to the activity of the Bogomils of Bulgaria, and their successors in other lands.[6]
-Cosmology[edit]
-In their original monarchian dualist story, Bogomils taught that God had two sons, the elder Satanail and the younger Michael.[36] Satanail rebelled against the father and became an evil spirit. He created the lower heavens and the Earth and tried in vain to create man, though in the end he had to appeal to God for the Spirit. After creation, Adam was allowed to till the ground on condition that he sold himself and his posterity to the owner of the Earth, Satanail.
-In order to free Adam and his offspring, Michael was sent in the form of a man, becoming identified with Jesus Christ, and was "elected" by God after the baptism in the Jordan. When the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of the dove, Jesus received power to break the covenant in the form of a clay tablet (hierographon) held by Satanail from Adam. He had now become the angel Michael in a human form, and as such he vanquished Satanail, and deprived him of the termination il (meaning God), in which his power resided. Satanail was thus transformed into Satan. However, through Satan's machinations the crucifixion took place, and Satan was the originator of the whole Orthodox community with its churches, vestments, ceremonies, sacraments and fasts, with its monks and priests. This world being the work of Satan, the perfect must eschew any and every excess of its pleasure, though not so far as asceticism.[6]
-They held the "Lord's Prayer" in high respect as the most potent weapon against Satan, and had a number of conjurations against "evil spirits". Each community had its own twelve "apostles", and women could be raised to the rank of "elect". The Bogomils wore garments like those of mendicant friars and were known as keen missionaries, travelling far and wide to propagate their doctrines. Healing the sick and exorcising the evil spirit, they traversed different countries and spread their apocryphal literature along with some of the books of the Old Testament, deeply influencing the religious spirit of the nations and preparing them for the Reformation.[6]
-Christology and the Trinity[edit]
-For Bogomils "the Logos was not the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word incarnate, but merely the spoken word of God, shown in the oral teaching of Christ".[37] Although Bogomils regarded themselves as "Trinitarian",[38] anathemas against Bogomils (circa 1027) charge Bogomils with rejection of the Trinity.[39]
-Opposition to institutions and materialism[edit]
-The essence of Bogomilism is the duality in the creation of the world. This is why it is considered a heresy by the Catholic Church. Bogomils explained the earthly sinful corporeal life as a creation of Satan, an angel that was sent to Earth. Due to this duality, the church believes that their doctrine undervalues everything that is created with materialistic and governmental goals and further claims that the doctrine does not come from the soul, the only divine possession of the human.[clarification needed] Its followers refused to pay taxes, to work in serfdom, or to fight in conquering wars. They ignored the feudal social system, which was interpreted by their enemies as suggesting disorder if not the destruction of the state and church.[citation needed]
-Karp Strigolnik, who in the 14th century preached the doctrine in Novgorod, explained that St. Paul had taught that simpleminded men should instruct one another; therefore they elected their "teachers" from among themselves to be their spiritual guides, and had no special priests. There is a tradition that the Bogomils taught that prayers were to be said in private houses, not in separate buildings such as churches. Ordination was conferred by the congregation and not by any specially appointed minister. The congregation were the "elect", and each member could obtain the perfection of Christ and become a Christ or "Chlist". Marriage was not a sacrament. Bogomils refused to fast on Mondays and Fridays, and they rejected monasticism. They declared Christ to be the Son of God only through grace like other prophets, and that the bread and wine of the eucharist were not physically transformed into flesh and blood; that the last judgement would be executed by God and not by Jesus; that the images and the cross were idols and the veneration of saints and relics idolatry.[6]
-These doctrines have survived in the great Russian sects, and can be traced back to the teachings and practice of the Bogomils. But in addition to these doctrines of an adoptionist origin, they held the Manichaean dualistic conception of the origin of the world. This has been partly preserved in some of their literary remains, and has taken deep root in the beliefs and traditions of Balkan nations with substantial Bogomil followings. The chief literature of all the heretical sects throughout the ages has been that of apocryphal Biblical narratives, and the popes Jeremiah or Bogumil are directly mentioned as authors of such forbidden books "which no orthodox dare read". Though these writings are mostly of the same origin as those from the older lists of apocryphal books, they underwent a modification at the hands of their Bogomil editors, so as to be useful for the propagation of their own specific doctrines.[6]
-In its most simple and attractive form—invested with the authority of the reputed holy author—their account of the creation of the world and of man, the origin of sin and redemption, the history of the Cross, and the disputes between body and soul, right and wrong, heaven and hell, were embodied either in "Historiated Bibles" (Paleya) or in special dialogues held between Christ and his disciples, or between renowned Fathers of the Church who expounded these views in a simple manner adapted to the understanding of the people (Lucidaria).[6]
-Legacy[edit]
-Link with later religious movements[edit]
-The Bogomils were the connecting link between the so-called heretical sects of the East and those of the West. They were, moreover, the most active agents in disseminating such teachings in Kievan Rus' and among all the nations of Europe. In the 12th and 13th century, the Bogomils were already known in the West as "Cathars" or in other places as "Bulgari", i.e. Bulgarians (българи). In 1207 the Bulgarorum heresis is mentioned. In 1223 the Albigenses are declared to be the local Bougres, and in the same period mention is made of the "Pope of the Albigenses who resided within the confines of Bulgaria" (see also Nicetas, Bogomil bishop). The Cathars and Patarenes, the Waldenses, the Anabaptists, and in Russia the Strigolniki, and Spiritual Christians, have all at different times been either identified with the Bogomils or closely connected with them, even though several of these are unrelated and are not dualist.[6]
-Considerable scholarly debate has arisen about the exact relationship between dualist heresies that arose in different places and centuries across medieval Europe, questioning whether it was indeed a single movement or belief system which was spread from one region to the next, or if multiple heretical movements arose independently in different parts of Europe. Furthering the confusion is that the medieval sources themselves, such as the 13th century papal Inquisition in France, would often simply assume that dualistic heresies were directly connected to previous heretical movements in different regions. Inquistors often described 13th century Cathars as a direct outgrowth of surviving Manichean dualists from previous centuries—though by the same logic, Inquisitors who encountered pagan religions in the fringes of Europe (Celtic lands, or in the Baltic Crusades) would directly accuse non-Christians of worshiping "Apollo and Mercury", simply applying previous terms and rhetoric to new contexts in which they didn't accurately apply. Thus medieval scholarship is divided over whether the "Cathars" actually were an offshoot of the "Bogomils", or if the 13th century Inquisition itself simply mistook "Cathars" for "Bogomils".
-In modern and popular culture[edit]
-In Foucault's Pendulum, a novel by the Italian philosopher and writer Umberto Eco, the plot concerning a widespread secret and mystic conspiracy has its ground in the disappearance of the Bogomils after the fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
-The Secret Book is a Macedonian feature film combining the detective, thriller and conspiracy fiction genres, based on a fictional story of the quest for the original Slavic language "Secret Book", written by the Bogomils in Bulgaria and carried to Western Europe during the Middle Ages.
-A French and consequently an English word emerged based on twisted perceptions of the Bogomils by the Catholic Church. The words "bouguer" and "buggery" emerged, by way of the word "bougre" in French, from the Latin Bulgarus (Bulgarian). "Buggery" first appears in English in 1330 with the sense "abominable heresy", though "bugger" in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555.[40] The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology quotes a similar form—"bowgard" (and "bouguer"), but claims that the Bulgarians were heretics "as belonging to the Greek Church, sp. Albigensian". Webster's Third New International Dictionary, gives the only meaning of the word "bugger" as sodomite, "from the adherence of the Bulgarians to the Eastern Church considered heretical".[41]
-Bogomil Cove on Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Priest Bogomil.
-The Bogomils make a significant part in the Thomas Pynchon novel Against the Day, when Cyprian Lakewood becomes a postulate and gives up his life of sodomitic servitude as a spy.
-Bogomil
-religious sect
-Written By: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
-See Article History
-Bogomil, member of a dualist religious sect that flourished in the Balkans between the 10th and 15th centuries. It arose in Bulgaria toward the middle of the 10th century from a fusion of dualistic, neo-Manichaean doctrines imported especially from the Paulicians, a sect of Armenia and Asia Minor, and a local Slavonic movement aimed at reforming, in the name of an evangelical Christianity, the recently established Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Bogomils were so called after their founder, the priest Bogomil.
-The Bogomils’ central teaching, based on a dualistic cosmology, was that the visible, material world was created by the devil. Thus, they denied the doctrine of the incarnation and rejected the Christian conception of matter as a vehicle of grace. They rejected Baptism, the Eucharist, and the whole organization of the Orthodox Church. The moral teaching of the Bogomils was as consistently dualistic. They condemned those functions of man that bring him into close contact with matter, especially marriage, the eating of meat, and the drinking of wine. In fact, the moral austerity of the Bogomils invariably was acknowledged by their fiercest opponents.
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-During the 11th and 12th centuries Bogomilism spread over many European and Asian provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Its growth in Constantinople resulted, about 1100, in the trial and imprisonment of prominent Bogomils in the city and in the public burning of their leader, Basil. In the second half of the 12th century, it spread westward. The Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja was obliged to summon a general assembly of his land to check it. Roman Catholic authorities were greatly disturbed by reports of heresy in Dalmatia and Bosnia (though modern scholarship casts doubt on the theory that the Bosnian church ever adopted the dualist theology of the Bogomils). By the early 13th century the dualistic communities of southern Europe—comprising the Paulicians and Bogomils in the east and the Cathari in the west—formed a network stretching from the Black Sea to the Atlantic.
-In the 13th and 14th centuries, Rome dispatched several legations and Franciscan missionaries to convert or expel Bosnian heretics, among whom there may have been some Bogomils. In the country of its birth Bogomilism remained a powerful force until the late 14th century. The Bulgarian authorities convened several church councils to condemn its teachings. With the Ottoman conquest of southeastern Europe in the 15th century, obscurity descended upon the sect. Traces of a dualistic tradition in the folklore of the South Slavs are all that remain today of the most powerful sectarian movement in the history of the Balkans.
-Christianity: The Middle Ages
-Bogomil and Cathar heretics developed a number of myths that circulated in both eastern and western Europe. The stories usually stressed the role of Satan as cocreator of the world, as the creator of the human race, or as a being whose fall is responsible…
-Balkans: Conquest and rule
-In Bosnia the Bogomils, equally persecuted by Orthodoxy and Catholicism, had religious as well as material reasons for conversion. In almost all areas the Ottomans introduced the timar system, based on previous Byzantine practices. All land was owned by the sultan—God’s representative on earth—but it was leased out…
-Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ancient and medieval periods
-…dualist heresy of the Bulgarian Bogomils. Evidence for this view came from the papal denunciations of the Bosnians, which sometimes accused them of Manichaeism, the dualist theology on which Bogomil beliefs were based. In addition, Italian and Dalmatian sources referred to the Bosnians as “Patarins,” a term used in Italy…
-Bogomilism was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century. It most probably arose in what is today the region of Macedonia as a response to the social stratification that occurred with the introduction of feudalism and as a form of political movement and opposition to the Bulgarian state and the church.
-The Bogomils called for a return to what they considered to be early spiritual teaching, rejecting the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and their primary political tendencies were resistance to the state and church authorities, following the Council of Nicea or Nicene Creed. This helped the movement spread quickly in the Balkans, gradually expanding throughout the Byzantine Empire and later reaching Kievan Rus', Bosnia (Bosnian Church), Dalmatia, Serbia, Italy, and France (Cathars).
-The Bogomils were dualists or Gnostics in that they believed in a world within the body and a world outside the body. They did not use the Christian cross, nor build churches, as they revered their gifted form and considered their body to be the temple. This gave rise to many forms of practice to cleanse oneself through purging, fasting, celebrating and dancing. [1]
-Contents [hide]
-Etymology
-The term Bogomil in free translation means "dear to God", and is a compound of the Slavic words for "god" (Common Slavic: *bogъ) and "dear" (Common Slavic: *milъ). It may be also a translation of the Greek name Theophilos, literally "dear to God; loved by the gods," from theos "god" + philos "loved, beloved". It is difficult to ascertain whether the name was taken from the reputed founder of that movement, the priest Bogomil.
-The essence of Bogomilism is the duality in the creation of the world. This is why it is considered a heresy by the Catholic Church. Bogomils explained the earthly sinful corporeal life as a creation of Satan, an angel that was sent to Earth. Due to this duality, the church believes that their doctrine undervalues everything that is created with materialistic and governmental goals and further claims that the doctrine does not come from the soul, the only divine possession of the human. Its followers refused to pay taxes, to work in serfdom, or to fight in conquering wars. They ignored the feudal social system, which was interpreted by their enemies as suggesting disorder if not the destruction of the state and church.
-Bogomilism in Bosnia
-The late 12th century in Bosnia was a golden age for Bogomils, where it was the state religion. Despite the Bogomils suffering oppression elsewhere from the Catholic and Serbian Orthodox, Bosnia offered them safe haven. Kulin, the Great Ban (title of the local representatives of Hungarian Kings) played a very important role for Bogomils during his reign, so much that the Bogomils formed a "Bosnian Church" free from Catholic authority. This led the Bogomils to see the Ottomans as liberators and help the Turks against the Hungarians in 1414. Building closer ties with Turks, Bogomils later welcomed Ottomans when they conquered Bosnia in 1463. "Bogomils preferred to be conquered by the Sultan than converted by the Pope," said Authy Phyllis in her book "Yugoslavia". Bogomils were denounced as heretical due their doctrines, however what they endured led them later to adopt Islam, when Ottoman rule arrived the region. [2]

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