Bogomilism
Bogomilism (
The Bogomils were dualists or
The Bogomils rejected the
Etymology
The term Bogomil in
The members are referred to as Babuni in
Sources
Much of their literature has been
History
Paulicians
One of the earliest Christian dualist sects,
However, it is not certain that the Paulicians were Dualistic, as in the Key of Truth it is said that: "The Paulicians are not dualists in any other sense than the New Testament is itself dualistic. Satan is simply the adversary of man and God".[14]
In 970, the Byzantine emperor
Origins
The
Spread of Bogomilism in the Balkans
Slav peasantry in parts of Bulgaria were very likely the first to come into in closer contact with Bogomilism and the young Bulgarian church was aware of the danger. Pope Nicholas I warns Boris I of the danger of false teachings but he was not specific about heresy as such. Bogomilism was a native Slavic sect from the middle of the 10th century began to flourish while the Theophylact of Constantinople warned Peter I against this new heresy.[17] The Bogomils spread westwards and settled in
In the time of Samuel, Bogomilism spread into Serbia and Bosnia. The most active area became west Bosnia, centred on the valley of the River Bosna. In the province of Hum (modern Herzegovina) the Bogomils were also strong, in the cities of Split and Trogir Bogomils were numerous but later they took refuge in Bosnia.[18] Providing refuge to those labeled heretics, including Bogomils, was a recurrent pretext for Hungarian rulers to declare
In 1203,
In 1252, Pope
It was not until Pope Nicholas' Bull "Prae cunctis" in 1291 that the Dominican-led inquisition was imposed on Bosnia.[26] 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,
From Bosnia, their influence extended into Italy (
There are still over ten thousand Banat Bulgarians in
Social factors
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
The existence of older Christian heresies in the Bulgarian lands (
Connections to the royal court
Most probably, as
Doctrine
оучѧтъ же своꙗ си не повиновати сѧ властелемъ своимъ; хоулѧще богатꙑѩ, царь ненавидѧтъ, рѫгаѭтъ сѧ старѣишинамъ, оукарꙗѭтъ болꙗрꙑ, мрьзькꙑ богоу мьнѧтъ работаѭщѧѩ цѣсарю, и вьсꙗкомоу рабоу не велѧтъ работати господиноу своѥмоу.
They teach their followers not to obey their masters; they scorn the rich, they hate the Tsars, they ridicule their superiors, they reproach the boyars, they believe that God looks in horror on those who labour for the Tsar, and advise every serf not to work for his master.[32]
From the imperfect and conflicting data that is available, one positive result can be gathered that the Bogomils may have been
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.
Their adoptionist teaching apparently came from
In the Bogomil and Cathar text The Secret Supper Jesus calls God his father and it says that Mary received Jesus through the Holy Spirit.[34]
Bogomils have been accused of believing that John the Baptist comes from Satan in the Book of Boril.[35]
Supporters of the Baptist successionism theory argue that allegations of Bogomil doctrines are largely false, due to most sources being hostile.[36]
Source texts
Possible source texts for Bogomil doctrine include:
- The Bulgarian priest Jeremiah's "The Story of the Cross-tree" and "The Prayer Against Fever"[37]
- Book of the Secret Supper,[38] which was wrongly described by inquisitors as similar to the Apocryphon of John[38]
Bogomils accepted the four Gospels, fourteen
Cosmology
In their original Monarchian dualist story, Bogomils taught that God had two sons, the elder
In order to free Adam and his offspring, Michael was sent in the form of a man, becoming identified with
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 enthusiastic missionaries, travelling far and wide to propagate their doctrines. Healing the sick and exorcising evil spirits, 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.[7]
Christology and the Trinity
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".[42] Although Bogomils regarded themselves as "Trinitarian",[43] anathemas against Bogomils (circa 1027) charge Bogomils with rejection of the Trinity.[44] In the Bogomil and Cathar text "The Secret Supper" the book starts with: "In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."[45]
Opposition to institutions and materialism
The Catholic Church considered Bogomilism a heresy due to the duality in the Bogomil cosmogony, wherein the earthly sinful corporeal life is a creation of Satan, an angel that was sent to Earth.[46]
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.[7]
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).[7]
Legacy
Link with later religious movements
The Bogomils were the connecting link between both Eastern and Western sects considered heretical. They were also the most active in disseminating “heretical” teachings in the Kievan Rus' and other
Considerable scholarly debate[
In modern and popular culture
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 Macedonia 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 "
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 postulant and gives up his life of sodomitic servitude as a spy.
In Olga Tokarczuk's novel The Books of Jacob, the character Antoni Kossakowski (Moliwda) lives in a Bogomil aligned community.
See also
- Athinganoi
- Albigensian Crusade
- Constantine Chrysomalus
- Nada Miletić
- Novgorod Codex
- Restorationism
- Synod of Tarnovo (1211)
Citations
- ISBN 0-8122-1103-0.
- ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
- ISBN 0-521-61637-9.
- ISBN 9780881410082.
- ISBN 9780816050529.
- hdl:11089/10098.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n public domain: Gaster, Moses (1911). "Bogomils". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 119. This provides as bibliography:
- Euthymius Zigabenus, Narratio de Bogomilis, ed. Gieseler (Göttingen, 1842)
- J. C. Wolf, Historia Bogomilorum (Wittenberg, 1712)
- "Slovo svyatago Kozmyi na eretiki", in Kukuljević Sakcinski, Arkiv zapovyestnicu jugoslavensku, vol. iv. pp. 69-97 (Agram, 1859)
- C. J. Jireček, Geschichte d. Bulgaren, pp. 155, 174-175 (Prague, 1876)
- Korolev, "Dogmatichesko-to uchenie na Bogomil-tie", in Periodichesko spisanie, vols. vii.-viii. pp. 75-106 (Braila, 1873)
- A. Lombard, Pauliciens, Bulgares et Bons-hommes (Geneva, 1879)
- Episcopul Melchisedek, Lipovenismul, pp. 265 sqq. (Bucharest, 1871)
- B. P. Hasdeu, Cuvente den bǎtrǎni, vol. ii. pp. 247 sqq. (Bucharest, 1879)
- F. C. Conybeare, The Key of Truth, pp. 73 sqq. and specially pp. 138 sqq. (Oxford, 1898)
- M. Gaster, Greco-Slavonic Literature, pp. 17 sqq. (London, 1887)
- O. Dähnhardt, Natursagen, vol. 1. pp. 38 sqq. (Leipzig and Berlin, 1907).
- ^ ISBN 0-521-58262-8.
- ^ Loos, Milan (1974). Dualist heresy in the Middle Ages. Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
- ^ "Bogomils" at St. Pachomius Library
- ^ Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The battles for scripture and the faiths we never knew. Oxford University Press, 2005.
- ISBN 978-3-11-081265-7.
- ^ "Hamilton, Janet and Bernard, Christian dualist heresies in the Byzantine world, c.650-c.1450". Archived from the original on 2011-05-27. Retrieved 2018-12-28.
- ^ Conybeare, Frederick. The Key of Truth. A Manual of the Paulician Church of Armenia.
- ^ "Bogomils of Bulgaria and Bosnia". The Reformed Reader.
- ^ Nikolaos Economidis, "Bogomil Remains Near Thessaloniki", Christian Archaeological Society, Eighth Symposium on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Archeology and Art, Athens, 1988, pp. 73–74
- ISBN 0521074592
- ISBN 0521074592
- ^ Thierry Mudry, Histoire de la Bosnie-Herzégovine faits et controverses, Éditions Ellipses, 1999 (chapitre 2: La Bosnie médiévale p. 25 à 42 et chapitre 7 : La querelle historiographique p. 255 à 265). Dennis P. Hupchick et Harold E. Cox, Les Balkans Atlas Historique, Éditions Economica, Paris, 2008, p. 34
- ^ The issue of the false Bogomil hypothesis is accurately dealt with by Noel Malcolm (Bosnia. A Short History) as well as by John V.A. Fine (in Mark Pinson, The Bosnian Muslims)
- ^ Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy:Popular Movements from Bogomil to Hus, (Edward Arnold Ltd, 1977), 143.
- ^ Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World, C. 650-c. 1450, ed. Janet Hamilton, Bernard Hamilton, Yuri Stoyanov, (Manchester University Press, 1998), 48-49.
- ^ Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy:Popular Movements from Bogomil to Hus, 143.
- ^ Mudry 1999; Hupchick and Cox 2008
- ^ The issue of the false Bogomil hypothesis is accurately dealt with by Noel Malcolm (Bosnia. A Short History) as well as by John V.A. Fine (in Mark Pinson, The Bosnian Muslims)
- ^ Biller, Peter, Caterina Bruschi, and Shelagh Sneddon, eds. Inquisitors and heretics in thirteenth-century Languedoc: edition and translation of Toulouse inquisition depositions, 1273–1282. Brill, 2010. 43.
- ^ Noel Malcolm, Bosnia:Short history, John A. Fine "Late medieval Balkan...." H
- ^ John A. Fine – The Late Medieval Balkans
- ^ Noel Malcolm – Bosnia: A Short History
- ^ Franjo Rački, "Bogomili i Paternai" in Rad, vols. vii., viii. and x. (Zagreb, 1870)
- ^ Dollinger, Beiträge zur Ketzergeschichte des Mittelalters, 2 vols. (Munich, 1890).
- ^ Cosmas Presbyter: Homily Against the Bogumils
- ^ ISBN 978-03-000825-3-1.
- ^ "Cathar Texts: Interrogatio Johannis (The Book of John the Evangelist)". gnosis.org. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ Book of Boril.
- ^ Hisel, Berlin. Baptist History Notebook.
Their historians claimed for them the greatest antiquity. Dr. L. P. Brockett, who wrote a history of them says: 'Among these (historians of the Bulgarians) I have found, often in unexpected quarters, the most conclusive evidence that these sects were all, during their early history, Baptists
- OCLC 34755069. Retrieved 16 October 2022 – via ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
...texts ascribed to him: 'The Story of the Cross-tree' and 'The Prayer Against Fever,' two genuine Bogomil texts providing a clear understanding of the basic tenets of the Bogomil heretical movement of the tenth-eleventh centuries.
- ^ a b Quispel, Gilles (2008), Oort, Johannes (ed.), Gnostica, Judaica, Catholica: collected essays, p. 11,
Die Interrogatio Johannis, eine der wenigen authentischen Quellen über die Katharer, die also nicht von den Inquisitoren der römischen Kirche stammt, besitzt dieselbe Form und denselben Inhalt wie das Apokryphon des Johannes.
- ^ Thomsett, Michael C (2010), The Inquisition: A History, p. 48,
Early Bogomil texts included The Secret Supper (or, The Book of St. John) and The Vision of Isaiah. These both appeared around 1170, originally in Greek and later translated into Latin. In The Secret Supper, the Bogomil theology is laid...
- ^ Tyerman, Christopher (2006), God's war: a new history of the Crusades, p. 573,
This distinct 'Latin' dualist community probably provided western converts with Latin translations of the Greek Bogomil texts including the consolamentum ritual and the New Testament, collated with the Vulgate.
- ^ "The "Other" Lost Scriptures". Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture. 2015-11-03. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
- ^ The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism Page 211 Dimitri Obolensky, 2004 "The Logos was for them not the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word incarnate, but merely the spoken word of God, manifested in the oral teaching of Christ.* Hence the Bogomils taught that Christ was ..."
- ^ Contra Patarenos Page 39 Hugh Eteriano, Janet Hamilton, Sarah Hamilton, 2004 "He was aware that the Bogomils regarded themselves as Trinitarians: 'Do not be astonished, my brothers', he writes,'… when you hear them say that they believe in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that they keep the apostles and saints…"
- ^ Heresy in medieval France: dualism in Aquitaine and the Agenais, Page 64 Claire Taylor, Royal Historical Society (Great Britain), 2005: "Anathemas against Bogomils were in use in the early decades of the eleventh century, contained in versions of the Synodikon of orthodoxy and included in a euchologion produced in 1027. They attest to Bogomil rejection of the Trinity"
- ^ "Cathar Texts: Interrogatio Johannis (The Book of John the Evangelist)". gnosis.org. Retrieved 2021-07-19.
- ^ Weber, Nicholas Aloysius (1907). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- ^ Esad Kurtović, Vlachs and Stećak Tombstones, „Reflections on Life and Society in the Western Balkans. Studies in the History of Bosnia and Herzegovina“, Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy (History, History of Art, Archeology), Volume 7, Number 2, Special issue, Sarajevo 2020, 59-71.
- ^ Octavian Ciobanu, The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans, Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies Year 4, Issue 7, December 2021, pp. 11-32.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary.
- ^ Bogomilism Study. Archived from the original on 2015-08-10.
General and cited sources
- D. Angelov, Bogomilstvoto (Stara Zagora, 1995)
- L. P. Brockett, The Bogomils of Bulgaria and Bosnia: The Early Protestants of the East (s.l., 1879)
- J. Ivanov, Bogomilski knigi i legendi (Sofija, 1925). French translation by M. Ribeyrol, Livres et Légendes bogomiles (Paris, 1976).
- C. J. Jirecek, Geschichte d. Bulgaren (Prague, 1876), pp. 155, 174-175
- J. Meiers, Archbishop Ancient Order of Bogomil, of Americas'.[full citation needed]
- D. Obolensky, The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism (Cambridge, 1948), reprint New York, 1978
- K. Papasov, Christen oder Ketzer – die Bogomilen (Stuttgart, 1983)
- S. Runciman, The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy (Cambridge, 1947)
- V. Sharenkoff, A Study of Manicheism in Bulgaria (New York, 1927).
- J. C. Wolf, Historia Bogomilorum (Wittenberg, 1712)
- Euthymius Zygabenus, Narratio de Bogomilis, ed. Gieseler(Göttingen, 1842)
Further reading
- H. G. Beck, Vom Umgang mit Ketzern (München 1993), esp. Chapter 8.
- Averil Cameron, "How to Read Heresiology". Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33, no. 3 (2003), 471-92
- J. Wolski, "Autoproscoptae, Bogomils and Messalians in the 14th Century Bulgaria". Studia Ceranea, no. 4 (2014), 233–241.
- O. Ciobanu, "The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans.", Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies, Year 4, Issue 7, December 2021, pp. 11-32.
- ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
- Aurelio de Santos Otero, Bogomilen, Theologische Realenzyklopädie 7 (Berlin 1981)
- Dragojlović, Dragoljub (1972). "Dispositions légales concernant les néomanichéens dans les nomocanons Byzantins et Slaves". Balcanica (3): 135–155.
- Dragojlović, Dragoljub (1974). "The History of Paulicianism on the Balkan Peninsula". Balcanica (5): 235–244.
- N. Garsoïan, Byzantine Heresy: A Reinterpretation, Dumbarton Oaks Papers (=DOP) 25 (1971),87-113
- J. Gouillard, L'hérésie dans l'empire byzantin des origines au XIIe siècle, Travaux et Mémoires 1
- B. Hamilton, "The State of Research: The legacy of Charles Schmidt to the study of Christian Dualism", Journal of Medieval History 24-2 (1998), 191-214
- J. Hamilton, Bernard Hamilton, and Yuri Stoyanov. Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World, C. 650-C. 1450: Selected Sources (New York 1998)
- E. Hösch, "Kritische Anmerkungen zum gegenwärtigen Stand der Bogomilen Forschung", Kurturelle Tradition in Bulgarien (Göttingen 1989)
- Isidor Ieşan, Secta patarenă în Balcani şi în Dacia Traiană (Romanian). Institutul de arte grafice C. Sfetea, București, 1912
- H. Ch. Puech et A. Vaillant, Le traité contre les bogomiles de Cosmas le prêtre, Paris 1945
- A. Schmaus, Der Neumanichäismus auf dem Balkan, Saeculum 3 (1951), 271-297
- M. Loos, Dualist Heresy in the Middle Ages, Praha 1972
- Y. Stoyanov, The Hidden Tradition in Europe: The Secret History of Medieval Christian heresy, Penguin Books 1994
- Lavrin, Janko. “The Bogomils and Bogomilism.” The Slavonic and East European Review, vol. 8, no. 23, 1929, pp. 269–83. JSTOR.
External links
- Anna Comnena's The Bogomils
- Modern Day Bogomil Movement Worldwide
- Modern Day Bogomil Movement in Balkans
- Raoul Vaneigem, The Resistance to Christianity Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Djordje Capin: Myth about Bogomils
- Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World C.650–C.1450
- L. P. Brockett, The Bogomils of Bulgaria and Bosnia: The Early Protestants of the East
- Euthymius Zygadenus, Narratio de Bogomilis