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109-515: 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 fasting or dancing. The Bogomils rejected the ecclesiastical hierarchy . Their primary political tendencies were resistance to

218-636: 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 Krstjani, as they called themselves. It was not until Pope Nicholas' Bull " Prae cunctis " in 1291 that the Dominican-led inquisition was imposed on Bosnia. 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

327-836: A collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocryphon of John . Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources from Hellenistic Judaism , Zoroastrianism , and Platonism on the Nag Hammadi texts. Since the 1990s, the category of "Gnosticism" has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form of early Christianity , an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams, Karen Leigh King , and David G. Robertson contest whether "Gnosticism"

436-650: A direct outgrowth of surviving Manichean dualists from previous centuries—though by the same logic, Inquisitors who encountered pagan religions on the edges of the Christian world (Such as those encountered in the Baltic Crusades or the missionary efforts in Ireland ) 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

545-876: 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 " buggery " emerged, by way of the word "bougre" in French, from the Latin Bulgarus (Bulgarian). "Buggery" first appears in English in 1330 with

654-672: 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. They also opposed established forms of government and church, alike to later Christian anarchist beliefs. In the Bogomil and Cathar text The Secret Supper Jesus calls God his father and it says that Mary received Jesus through

763-591: 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

872-442: 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

981-580: A reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek. By the Hellenistic period , it began also to be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries , becoming synonymous with the Greek term mysterion . Consequentially, Gnosis often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with

1090-533: A stone at Silvanus and killed him. Simeon was impressed with the piety of Silvanus' followers and joined them, taking the name Titus. Justus betrayed Titus and the Paulicians by informing on them to the bishop. Emperor Justinian II ordered Titus and all the Paulicians to be burned to death as heretics in 690. This biographical article about an Armenian religious figure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This biographical article about

1199-426: A totality constitute the pleroma , the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world. Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in A Valentinian Exposition . In Gnostic tradition, the name Sophia (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and

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1308-470: 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 , 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

1417-873: Is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used by Plato in the comparison of "practical" ( praktikos ) and "intellectual" ( gnostikos ). Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts. Sometimes employed in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible , the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria who speaks of the "learned" ( gnostikos ) Christian quite often, uses it in complimentary terms. The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus . Some scholars consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean "intellectual", whereas his mention of "the intellectual sect"

1526-569: Is a specific designation. The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources, and was first coined in the 17th century by Henry More in a commentary on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation , where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in Thyatira . The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185 AD) to describe

1635-399: Is a valid or useful historical term, or if it was an artificial category framed by proto-orthodox theologians to target miscellaneous Christian heretics . Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness." It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge ( εἴδειν eídein ). A related term is the adjective gnostikos , "cognitive",

1744-521: Is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens... The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work considered as canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when

1853-516: Is divided over whether the "Cathars" actually were an offshoot of the "Bogomils", or if the 13th century Inquisition itself simply mistook or conflated "Cathars" for "Bogomils", due to their known tendency for conflation and confusion. A remarkable number of necropolises are found in this part of Europe, conveying an exceptional testimony to medieval European artistic and archaeological heritage. Majority of these necropolises with decorated tombstones were held by Bogomil Vlachs. In Foucault's Pendulum ,

1962-572: Is identified with the anima mundi or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD. In most, if not all, versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive and negative depictions of materiality depend on

2071-586: Is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology . Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language, and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form, since the word appears in the Epistle to the Colossians . Proponents of

2180-563: Is not a single standardized system, and the emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such as Valentinianism and Sethianism . In the Persian Empire , Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via the related movement Manichaeism , while Mandaeism , which is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity, is found in Iraq , Iran and diaspora communities. Jorunn Buckley posits that

2289-419: Is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications are Ahriman , El , Satan , and Yahweh . This image of this particular creature is again identified in the Book of Revelation as such: Now in my vision this is how I saw the horses and their riders. They wore red, blue, and yellow breastplates, and

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2398-523: Is still being explored. The very few women in most Gnostic literature are portrayed as chaotic, disobedient, and enigmatic. However, the Nag Hammadi texts place women in roles of leadership and heroism. In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the Monad , the One . God is the high source of the pleroma , the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According to Hippolytus , this view

2507-628: 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. 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

2616-739: 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

2725-511: The Danube . 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

2834-611: The Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy . Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians. Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such as Valentinus saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity. In the Gnostic Christian tradition, Christ is seen as a divine being which has taken human form in order to lead humanity back to recognition of its own divine nature. However, Gnosticism

2943-633: The Trinity . 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." 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. Karp Strigolnik , who in the 14th century preached

3052-412: 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. They held the "Lord's Prayer" in high respect as the most potent weapon against Satan, and had

3161-489: The gnostikos Valentinus (c.   170) or the Nag Hammadi texts (3rd century) is not supported by modern scholarship, although Elaine Pagels called it a "possibility". The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad . From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons . The Demiurge arises among the Aeons and creates the physical world. Divine elements "fall" into

3270-401: The horses’ heads were like heads of lions , and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths a third of the human race was killed. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes , with heads that inflict harm." This is corroborated in the article above quoting

3379-400: The proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the biblical deity Yahweh ) who is responsible for creating the material universe . Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held

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3488-623: 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. One of the earliest Christian dualist sects, Marcionism , originated in Armenia (in the eastern part of present Turkey). The church Marcion himself established appeared to die out around

3597-468: The 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups. Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development of early Christianity . The Christian heresiologists , most notably Irenaeus , regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity

3706-433: The 5th century, although similarities between Marcionism and Paulicianism , a sect in the same geographical area, indicate that Marcionist elements may have survived. Paulicianism began in the mid-7th century, when Constantine of Mananalis , basing his message solely on his personal interpretation of 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

3815-614: The Albigenses who resided within the confines of Bulgaria" (see also Nicetas, Bogomil bishop ). Groups such as the Cathars , Patarenes , Waldenses , Anabaptists , and the Russian Strigolniki , and Spiritual Christians , have all, at different times, been either identified with the Bogomils or closely linked with them, despite several being unrelated and/or non-dualistic. Considerable scholarly debate has arisen about

3924-990: 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. 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). 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. učętǔ že svoja si ne povinovati sę vlastelemǔ svoimǔ; xulęšte bogatyję, carǐ nenavidętǔ, rǫgajǫtǔ sę starěišinamǔm, ukarjajǫtǔ boljary, mrǐzǐky bogu mǐnętǔ rabotajǫštęję cěsarju, i vǐsjakomu rabu ne velętǐ rabotati gospodinu svojemu. They teach their followers not to obey their masters; they scorn

4033-649: The Bogomils as heretics and according to them, the pressures drew Bosnia to Bogomilism. It has purportedly been said that, with the introduction of Ottoman rule, Bosnians were often more likely to convert to Islam since some of them were not adherents of either the Roman Catholic or Serb Orthodox churches. However, these claims have been rejected by some as an anachronism from the Austro-Hungarian era. From Bosnia, their influence extended into Italy ( Piedmont ). The Hungarians undertook many crusades against

4142-587: The Bogomils came to be identified with each other, due to the scarcity of documents after the Ottoman conquest. In 1203, Pope Innocent III , with the aid of the King of Hungary, forced an agreement of Kulin to acknowledge Papal authority and religion, but 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

4251-472: The Bogomils of Bulgaria, and their successors in other lands. The Bogomils also made use of many apocryphal writings, such as Apocalypse of Abraham , 2 Enoch , and the Vision of Isaiah . In their original Monarchian dualist story, Bogomils taught that God had two sons, the elder Satanail and the younger Michael . Satanail rebelled against the father and became an evil spirit. He created the lower heavens and

4360-723: The Bulgarians to the Eastern Church considered heretical". 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 ,

4469-571: The Church administered and prescribed the correct behavior for Christians, while in Gnosticism it was the internalised motivation that was important. Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora describes a general asceticism, based on the moral inclination of the individual. For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as any other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation. The role women played in Gnosticism

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4578-512: 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). The Bogomils were the connecting link between both Eastern and Western sects considered heretical. They were also

4687-504: 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

4796-585: The Gnostic viewpoint, though the majority predominantly conclude that apocryphal sources, Gnostic or not, are later than the canonical ones and that many, such as Thomas , depends on or harmonizes the Synoptics . Gnosticism was a mix of Jewish and early Christian religious ideas. Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, when

4905-617: The Godhead emanates two savior aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit ; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma. The term demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos , δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker". This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth", Samael ( Aramaic : sæmʻa-ʼel , "blind god"), or "Saklas" ( Syriac : sækla , "the foolish one"), who

5014-566: The Holy Spirit. Bogomils have been accused of believing that John the Baptist comes from Satan in the Book of Boril . Supporters of the Baptist successionism theory argue that allegations of Bogomil doctrines are largely false, due to most sources being hostile. Possible source texts for Bogomil doctrine include: Bogomils accepted the four Gospels, fourteen Epistles of Paul , the three Epistles of John , James , Jude , and an Epistle to

5123-676: 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

5232-778: The Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic , finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In 1966, at the Congress of Median, Buddhologist Edward Conze noted phenomenological commonalities between Mahayana Buddhism and Gnosticism, in his paper Buddhism and Gnosis , following an early suggestion put forward by Isaac Jacob Schmidt . The influence of Buddhism in any sense on either

5341-514: 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

5450-483: The New Testament is itself dualistic. Satan is simply the adversary of man and God". 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 , Bulgaria). 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

5559-404: The Serbian council deemed Bogomilism a heresy , and expelled them from the country. Large numbers, the majority of whom were of Vlach origin, took refuge in Bosnia and Dalmatia where they were known under the name of Patarenes ( Patareni ). 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

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5668-445: The aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic aeon Barbelo , the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called syzygies . The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty. The aeons as

5777-421: The angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes: [Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Elchasaites , or at least Christians influenced by them, paired

5886-910: The author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit". In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed. Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins. Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism, using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as hypostasis (reality, existence), ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both Sethian Gnostics and Valentinian Gnostics seem to have been influenced by Plato , Middle Platonism , and Neo-Pythagoreanism academies or schools of thought. Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy, and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists , including Plotinus. Early research into

5995-448: 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 suffix il (meaning God ), in which his power resided. Satanail was thus transformed into Satan. However, through Satan's machinations

6104-441: The books of the Old Testament, deeply influencing the religious spirit of the nations and preparing them for the Reformation. 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". Although Bogomils regarded themselves as "Trinitarian", anathemas against Bogomils (circa 1027) charge Bogomils with rejection of

6213-433: The broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows. In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge. According to Origen 's Contra Celsum , a sect called the Ophites posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created

6322-436: The capricious nature of the form (calling itself many different names) and of Gnosticism founder, Simon Magus, whom in the Biblical Narrative the Acts of the Apostles is quoted as being a magician or sorcerer able to perform great tasks with his mouth but not with the Holy Spirit of YHWH the same Spirit of Yeshuah of Nazareth and Simon Peter, Simon Magus' opponent. Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within

6431-544: The character Antoni Kossakowski (Moliwda) lives in a Bogomil aligned community. De facto independent Bulgarian states from the Second Empire First Bulgarian Empire Gnostics Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek : γνωστικός , romanized : gnōstikós , Koine Greek : [ɣnostiˈkos] , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge ( gnosis ) above

6540-406: The companion of Paul, and begin preaching, gathering around him a group of followers who rejected what they considered the image worship and superstition of the Byzantine Church. Silvanus founded his first congregation, who became known as Paulicians, in Kibossa, near Colonia, in Armenia. For thirty years he traveled extensively, along the Euphrates valley, across the Taurus Mountains , and into

6649-406: 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

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6758-430: 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. 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

6867-415: The development of Gnosticism: During the first period, three types of tradition developed: The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths, and the Persian Empire . It continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but decline also set in during the third century, due to a growing aversion from the Nicene Church, and

6976-481: The divine. In most Gnostic systems, the sufficient cause of salvation is this "knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. It is an inward "knowing", comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus ( neoplatonism ), and differs from proto-orthodox Christian views. Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding – or perception and learning – as a particular modality for living". The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts

7085-399: 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

7194-438: The early Mandaeans may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the community of early followers of Jesus. For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome . There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt's Nag Hammadi library ,

7303-406: The economic and cultural deterioration of the Roman Empire. Conversion to Islam, and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229), greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though Mandaean communities still exist in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities. Gnostic and pseudo-gnostic ideas became influential in some of the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of

7412-428: 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. 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

7521-426: 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. 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

7630-595: The exact relationship between dualist groups that arose in different times and places 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 it was multiple movements which arose independently across Europe. Furthering this confusion is that many medieval sources themselves, such as the 13th century Papal Inquisition in France, would often simply assume that all dualistic groups were directly connected to previous movements, regardless of location. Inquistors often described 13th century Cathars as

7739-402: 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

7848-583: The form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era." Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some gnostic systems. The cosmogonic speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in Maaseh Breshit and Maaseh Merkabah . This thesis is most notably put forward by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) and Gilles Quispel (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish gnosis in

7957-892: 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. There are still over ten thousand Banat Bulgarians in Banat today in

8066-459: 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. The existence of older Christian heresies in the Bulgarian lands ( Manichaeism and Paulicianism ), which were considered very dualistic , influenced

8175-514: The highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the Ascension of Isaiah and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology. The pseudepigraphical Christian text Ascension of Isaiah identifies Jesus with angel Christology: [The Lord Christ

8284-740: The imagery of merkabah mysticism , which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents. Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to Alexandrian Jews , to which group Valentinus was also connected. Many of the Nag Hammadi texts make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God. Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism". Professor Steven Bayme said gnosticism would be better characterized as anti-Judaism . Research into

8393-526: The male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the Testament of Solomon held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of De Centesima and Epiphanius' " Ebionites " held Christ to have been

8502-513: The material realm, and are latent in human beings. Redemption from the fall occurs when the humans obtain Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the "radical dualist" systems of Manichaeism to the "mitigated dualism" of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of

8611-578: The most active in disseminating "heretical" teachings in the Kievan Rus' and other European kingdoms . In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Bogomils were already known in the West as "Cathars" or 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

8720-578: 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. 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 Peter I of Bulgaria . The main source of doctrinal information

8829-526: The myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia in this highly patriarchal narrative is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world. The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient. Sophia , emanating without her partner, resulted in

8938-617: The origin of Mandaean Gnosticism in Mazdean (Zoroastrianism) Zurvanism , in conjunction with ideas from the Aramaic Mesopotamian world. However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph , Mark Lidzbarski , Rudolf Macúch , Ethel S. Drower , James F. McGrath , Charles G. Häberl , Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley , and Şinasi Gündüz argue for a Judean–Israelite origin. The majority of these scholars believe that

9047-628: The origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements. According to Wilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism , and Richard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia. Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable. Nevertheless, Geo Widengren (1907–1996) argued for

9156-571: The origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly from Hekhalot literature . Within early Christianity, the teachings of Paul the Apostle and John the Evangelist may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to

9265-596: The principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance , but with illusion and enlightenment . According to James Dunn , the Gnostic emphasis on an inherent difference between flesh and spirit represented a significant departure from the teachings of the Historical Jesus and his earliest followers. Some scholars say Gnosticism may contain historical information about Jesus from

9374-518: The production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit. "public builder"), who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts. This creature is concealed outside the pleroma; in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind; trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies. In response,

9483-452: 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. Providing refuge to those labeled 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

9592-655: The purity of the church in the time of Paul the Apostle . They were considered heretical by the Byzantine Church . Constantine was born in Mananali, near Samosata , Commagene . About 653 A.D., Constantine became friends with Soghmon, a traveling Armenian who had been held captive by the Saracens . Soghmon gave Constantine a copy of the four gospels and the letters of Paul . Reading the gospels and epistles caused Constantine to change his name to Silvanus, after

9701-594: 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. From the imperfect and conflicting data that is available, one positive result can be gathered that the Bogomils may have been gnostics , adoptionists or dualists . Their dualism was initially moderate (or "monarchian"): according to their teachings, God created and rules

9810-407: 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. 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

9919-499: The same. Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the later Docetist movement. Among the Mandaeans , Jesus was considered a mšiha kdaba or " false messiah " who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist . Still other traditions identify Mani , the founder of Manichaeism, and Seth , third son of Adam and Eve , as salvific figures. Three periods can be discerned in

10028-794: The school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)". The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. Gnosticism is largely influenced by platonism and its theory of forms . The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity, but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects. Some scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in Buddhism , due to similarities in beliefs, but ultimately, its origins are unknown. Some scholars prefer to speak of "gnosis" when referring to first-century ideas that later developed into Gnosticism, and to reserve

10137-584: The sect corresponding to the Greek Euchites . The Bogomils are identified with the Messalians in Greek and Slavonic documents from the 12th-14th centuries. 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,

10246-474: The sense "abominable heresy", though "bugger" in a sexual sense is not recorded until 1555. 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

10355-465: The six that follow: Iao, Sabaoth , Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios. Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion. Other Gnostic concepts are: Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth, while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained enlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do

10464-472: 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. 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 . Their adoptionist teaching apparently came from Paul of Samosata (though at

10573-609: 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' , Dalmatia , Serbia , Bosnia , Italy , and France ( Cathars ). 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

10682-640: The term "Gnosticism" for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement in the second century. According to James M. Robinson , no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity, and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all." Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish Christian origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects. Ethel S. Drower adds, "heterodox Judaism in Galilee and Samaria appears to have taken shape in

10791-475: The two principles is in some way inferior to the other. In qualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of monism , expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner. Gnostics tended toward asceticism , especially in their sexual and dietary practice. In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behavior. In normative early Christianity,

10900-474: The view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a gnostic sense. The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation. In many Gnostic systems,

11009-507: The villages of Dudeştii Vechi , Vinga , Breştea and also in the city of Timișoara , 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 . The gradual Christianization of the Bulgarian population,

11118-617: The western parts of Asia Minor , making converts on the way. His missionary activities came to the attention of the Byzantine Emperor, Constans II , known as Constantine Pogonatus (the bearded). The Emperor issued a decree condemning the teachings of Silvanus and sentenced him to death by stoning . Simeon, the officer sent to carry out the execution, ordered Silvanus' friends and followers to stone him. The followers refused and dropped their stones, except for one young man, Justus, whom Silvanus had raised like an adopted son, who cast

11227-538: The world of inferior, worldly powers (the archons ), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term gnostikos may have acquired a deeper significance here. Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ecclesia (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic apocalypticism , speculation on divine wisdom , Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions ." Regarding

11336-480: 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 . 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

11445-652: Was averted by the public abjuration of the Bosnian ruler Ban Kulin , whose sister was married to Miroslav of Hum , in 1203. A second Hungarian crusade against Bosnia on the pretext of Bogomil heresy 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 and the heretic sect of

11554-507: Was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th   century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence. Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other. Constantine-Silvanus Constantine-Silvanus (died 684) was the founder of the Paulicians , a Christian movement in 7th century Armenia , who sought to return to

11663-560: Was inspired by the Pythagoreans , who called the first thing that came into existence the Monad , which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point , begetting lines , etc. Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons . Jesus

11772-636: Was most likely not the same as the Bosnian Church . Bogomilism was eradicated in Bulgaria, Rascia (a Serbian medieval state) and Byzantium in the 13th century, but some smaller elements survived in Hum (present day Herzegovina) and Bosnia 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

11881-787: Was removed by Pope Gregory IX for allowing heretical practices. In addition, Gregory called on the Hungarian king to crusade against the heretics. However, Bosnian nobles were able to expel the Hungarians. 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. In that way, an autonomous Bosnian Church came into being, in which some later saw

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