Persecution of Cathars, Albigenses and Waldenses
Michael D Magee
17 Pages
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Four Church Councils in 1119, 1139, 1148 and 1163 declared the Cathars to be heretics. The Council of Toulouse in 1119 and then the Lateran Council of 1139 urged the secular powers to proceed violently against heresy—they did not. Even so, Cathars were burned or imprisoned in many places, but, William IX of Aquitaine and many of the nobles of the Midi continued to protect them. They valued their industry and integrity in a corrupt world. The French bishops at the Council of Tours (1163) discussed the presence of Cathars in Cologne, Bonn and Liege. They called them Manichæans, a taunt, for they knew they were not, and the Cathars called themselves the Good Christians. From 1180 to 1230, the Catholic Church enacted legislation against heresy, and set up a permanent tribunal, staffed by Dominican friars. It was the Inquisition.
Heresy and the Free Spirit: Beghards and Béguines
28 Pages
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In northern Europe, the Free Spirit of Beghards and Béguines led the war against the established Church. From around 1250, they cited Cathars, Waldenses, and Joachites. Their common beliefs included hatred of the Church, that sacraments are worthless, the spiritual value of poverty, and most important of all, that each of us can become God. Organized in small groups, they faded away when trouble threatened, “migrating from mountain to mountain like strange sparrows”, a good description of the lifestyle the fleeing Cathars were obliged to follow. If they differed, they were merely variations on the Cathar original.
Catharism as a Counter Church
13 Pages
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From a sociological point of view, Catharism is perceived as a protest movement, which attacked the established values and habits defended by the Roman Catholic Church and worldly power. In conformity with this approach, it is necessary to pay special attention to the explicit values of Catharism, which are contrary to Roman Catholicism. For instance, the rejection of marriage, the outright prohibition on killing living beings, the rejection of the crucifix and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the ban on swearing oaths, the Eucharist, baptism by water and the belief in God as creator of the material world.
New light on the dissident "Church of the Latins" in Constantinople (Crossroads of Bogomils and Cathars I)
281 Views23 Pages
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The almost forgotten church of the Cathars in Constantinople, also called Church of the Latins, had many similarities with the Greek Church of the Bogomils in Constantinople. Both churches played an important, nevertheless distinguishing, role in the distribution of dualistic ideas in the West.
The cathar version of the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat (Crossroads of bogomils and cathars II)
14 Pages
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There are at least three close and irrefutable connections between the Bogomils and Cathars. The Cathars adopted the creation myth, The Secret Supper or Interrogatio Johannis, of the Bogomils. It is also proven that the Cathars adopted the federal organization structure of the Bogomil churches during the Council of Saint Félix and Lauragais in 1167, as recommended by the Bogomil bishop Nicetas. The third element of the intimate relationship between Bogomils and Cathars is the initiation ritual of the latter, the consolamentum (or teleiosis), which is rather identical with that of the Bogomils. There are even more connections. In this article we will focus on the Occitan version of the famous medieval legend of " Barlaam and Josaphat " as the binding element between Bogomilism and Catharism. What is it that makes the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat interesting as a binding element between Bogomils and Cathars, even though there is no known Bogomil version? We are especially indebted to Marie Madeleine van Ruymbeke Stey for an answer. In her little known dissertation 1 she aims to prove that the Occitan version of our legend has Cathar roots. One of the things she states is that there is a remarkable spatiotemporal parallel between the history of the spread of the legend on the one hand, and of dualism 2 on the other. This goes alongside current Christianity: Manichaeism, Paulicianism, Bogomilism and Catharism. According to Van Ruymbeke, the legend has been a vehicle, an allegorical tool, for the spread of dualism from east to west, from the third to the fourteenth century. 1 M.M.A. van Ruymbeke Stey, Au confluent du catharisme et du bogomilisme, le Barlam et Jozaphas occitan. Approche culturelle et sémiologique, Ohio 1997 dissertation. 2 Dualism as a concept has only been in existence for two centuries and it can be applied to almost all gnostic systems. There are two completely separate worlds: the divine world created by God and this world, being the world of Satan and the world of evil. These worlds are often designated as the realm of light and the realm of darkness. Analogically, the human being is also of dual nature. He is matter, but there is also a divine principle in him which reminds him of his divine origin and, when his consciousness rises, guides him back to his divine source.
Bogomils on Via Egnatia and in the Valley of Pelagonia: the Geography of a Dualist Belief
19 Pages
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This paper treads my long-term field research on the dualist religious movement called Bogomilism that is located along the ancient Roman communication of Via Egnatia and in the valley of Pelagonia. I discuss various written historical sources and topography in the region of Western Macedonia where Bogomilism had its strongholds. In addition, I also deal with some of the neglected monuments and remnants of the Bogomilism in the region. There are two ways in promoting this complex research: theoretical and topographical analysis of the Bogomil faith within the context of place and time. Here I also include archaeological, ethnographical and theological investigation of the religious group labeled as Bogomil.
BOGOMILS AND THE REFORMATION: crossroads and missing links
11 Pages
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abstract: The year 2017 marked the 500 th anniversary of the Reformation, and it has been celebrated throughout Europe. In this paper, the author aims to examine the connection between beliefs of the Bogomils and the ideas of the Reformation. Controversially, the former have been called " the precursors of the Reformation " and even " the first Protestants in Europe. " These claims will be investigated here in the light of the subject of free will and the so called bogomilian dualism. Both the similarities and differences between Bogomil thinking and the ideas of significant reformers, such as John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Martin Luther, will be discussed. Based on textual sources, it is argued that there are shared beliefs between Bogomils and reformers, and that both have a strong will to reform the religious life, but we cannot say that there is clear evidence that ideas of the Reformation have been adopted directly from these early dissidents. We can conclude, however, that Bogomil ideas served as an eye-opener for protestant thinkers, though beliefs about free will changed throughout history. Whereas Bogomils believed in the free will of their Perfects, Pico della Mirandola, being inspired by the Gnostic tradition, adopted this, together with Humanists such as Erasmus, and early reformers of the Church, like Wycliffe and Hus. However, the instigator of the Reformation, Luther, changed his mind radically, and rejected the idea of a free will for human beings altogether in favor of the grace
The Question of Neobogomilism
2014, Пути гнозиса: мистико-эзотерические традиции и гностичское мировоззрение од древности до наших дней/Ways of Gnosis. Mystical and Esoteric Traditions and Gnostic Worldview from Antiquity to the Present TIme
14 Pages
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The Bogomils: Mediaeval Gnostics or crypto-Heretics?
10 Pages1 File ▾The alleged hypocrisy of the Balkan Bogomils often earned them the scorn of their contemporary orthodox critics. The Bogomils completely rejected the Orthodox Church, yet attended their services. They even allowed the sacraments to be administered to them. The author shows that this phenomenon of “crypto-heresy” can only be satisfactorily explained if we assign the Bogomils a place in the age-long gnostic tradition. The Bogomils exemplified a mediaeval variant of Gnosticism. Their crypto-heresy was a consciously chosen strategy, also common in other gnostic groups.
10 Pages
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The alleged hypocrisy of the Balkan Bogomils often earned them the scorn of their contemporary orthodox critics. The Bogomils completely rejected the Orthodox Church, yet attended their services. They even allowed the sacraments to be administered to them. The author shows that this phenomenon of “crypto-heresy” can only be satisfactorily explained if we assign the Bogomils a place in the age-long gnostic tradition. The Bogomils exemplified a mediaeval variant of Gnosticism. Their crypto-heresy was a consciously chosen strategy, also common in other gnostic groups.
https://www.academia.edu/19768881/The_Bogomils_Mediaeval_Gnostics_or_crypto_Heretics
The history of Manicheism
613 Views9 Pages1 File ▾When examining Catharism and related medieval heresies, we oftentimes encounter the claim that these religious dissidents are connected with ancient Manichaeism and that the Cathars and their coreligionists were adherents of Mani. This claim was predominantly put forward in the polemist writings of the opponents of Catharism and related movements, such as Durand of Huesca in his Liber contra manicheos (1223) and numerous inquisitors, including Bernard Gui, who fully dedicates the first chapter of his Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis (1323) to “ the errors of the Manichaeans of this age”.
613 Views9 Pages
1 File ▾
When examining Catharism and related medieval heresies, we oftentimes encounter the claim that these religious dissidents are connected with ancient Manichaeism and that the Cathars and their coreligionists were adherents of Mani. This claim was predominantly put forward in the polemist writings of the opponents of Catharism and related movements, such as Durand of Huesca in his Liber contra manicheos (1223) and numerous inquisitors, including Bernard Gui, who fully dedicates the first chapter of his Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis (1323) to “ the errors of the Manichaeans of this age”.
Why Bosnian Church did not belong to Bogomilism; "Kr'stjani" (mystics) vs "Bogomili" (dualists)
Published 201918 Pages1 File ▾This paper in a simple and transparent way critically examines the rejected belief in science that Bosnian Church and its followers doctrinally and organisationally belonged to the dualist sect of Bogomilism. The research was carried out by a comparative analysis of the basic dualistic postulates of Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Bogomilism on the one hand and the available domestic sources of the Bosnian Church on the other. The importance of the work is reflected in the concise and detailed scientific argumentation that undermines "Bogomil Bosnian Church" myth, while offering a new scientific thesis on the religious and doctrinological affiliation of the "Bosnian faith" and the Bosnian "krs'tjani". In the first part, the paper deals with the problem of extreme and moderate dualism, with a special emphasis on the Neognostic, Neomanichaean and Bogomil communities in medieval Balkans. In the second part, the basic premises of Christian mysticism are given, including the possibility of its philosophical and theological compatibility with the teachings of the Bosnian Church, where for the first time the phenomenon of the name "kr'stjani" is explained in relation to the mystical union ("unio mystica").
Published 2019
18 Pages
1 File ▾
This paper in a simple and transparent way critically examines the rejected belief in science that Bosnian Church and its followers doctrinally and organisationally belonged to the dualist sect of Bogomilism. The research was carried out by a comparative analysis of the basic dualistic postulates of Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Bogomilism on the one hand and the available domestic sources of the Bosnian Church on the other. The importance of the work is reflected in the concise and detailed scientific argumentation that undermines "Bogomil Bosnian Church" myth, while offering a new scientific thesis on the religious and doctrinological affiliation of the "Bosnian faith" and the Bosnian "krs'tjani". In the first part, the paper deals with the problem of extreme and moderate dualism, with a special emphasis on the Neognostic, Neomanichaean and Bogomil communities in medieval Balkans. In the second part, the basic premises of Christian mysticism are given, including the possibility of its philosophical and theological compatibility with the teachings of the Bosnian Church, where for the first time the phenomenon of the name "kr'stjani" is explained in relation to the mystical union ("unio mystica").
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