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with
their combativeness they became threat to the state
authorities, so tsars Constantine V Kopronim (741-775)
and Ivan Cimiskes (969-976) moved them in Trace and
Macedonia, and they created some sort of nursery-garden
for the dualistic heresy.
The Bogomils or Bogumils,
followers of the heresy movement that that appeared by
the middle of the 10th century in the time of Bulgarian
tsar Peter (927-969) in Macedonia, that was under
Bulgarian authority at that time. The first
written information about this heresy is the epistle of
patriarch Teofilact to tsar Peter, where he explains to
the tsar that this heresy is in fact "pavlikian
heresy mixed with manicheanism".
2
and the books of the church
fathers, and they are only affirming the gospel, the
desciple deeds and their epistles, they are rejecting
Virgin Mary's cult, cults of the saints, all the other
church literature and all the prayers except "Our
father". They don't respect the cross or the icons,
and they do not accept the churches as God's house but
they are gathering in their houses to pray and cofest to
each other. They have equaly sharp attitude towards the
goverments and all of the state establishment, and the
society rules, they iniciate their followers to
rebalient against the authorities, detering the slaves
from working for their lords. They are attacing
the elders and the nobility, teaching that those working
for the tsar are repulsive to God. They preach poverty
and have very sharp attitude towards the reach people.
Cosma describes the heretics as quiet, silent people,
pale from feasting, dreses in clothes with patriarchale
style, but according to him, it is only a reflection,
and in fact they are rapacious, lurking on the people
with simple spirit, approaching them talking about the
salvation of their souls, seading inside them the seads
of their
teaching.
4
existence of two gods.
The
apairance of the bogomils in Macedonia and Bulgaria
occures in time of hard pressure over them by Byzant,
after the death of the tsar Simeon, in the time of tsar
Peter.
Ideologicaly,
this teaching was completely pointed against the
Byzantian conceurer, agains the domestic nobility and
the hierarchy of the christian church, which, according
to the Cosma's notes, was completely corrupted. The
experiance of the
Christian church shows that it would rather ignore or
fisicaly destroy the dualistic heresy, than enter
into theological disputes with it.
Without
doubt, there are also other, less important elements, as
for example, the rebelion of the pagan remainings of the
recently baptized.
There
are only few information on the further developments of
this heresy in Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The
heresy spread on outside the teritory were it originaly
apaired.
6
The
basic studies of the neomanihistic dogmatic heres from
the second half of the XII-th century still are these
ones:
¯
two gods,
the one-the supreme good, the other-the supreme evil;
the first one have constructed the invisible, and the
other one the visible world. Concerning this fact we can
find two points of view:
¯
the
radical dualistic point of view: claims that from the
very beginning there are two principles;
¯
softer
dualistic point of view: claims that there is a
connection between the two principles and that the
principe of evil came from tha principe of good.
¯
they
are rejecting the Old Testemony, together with the
prophets, and also the scripts of the holy fathers.
¯
they
are rejecting the cult of Maria
¯
they
are learning that Christ only appeared to have a human
body, so exactly he didn't suffer and he didn't died.
¯
They
think that only the dualists consist a real church and
that they are the inheriters of the apostols, their
elber is an inheritan of the desciple Peter, and not the
roman pope.
¯
The
churches are resented and called synagogs of the satan.
8
In
the organization of their churches there are no main
differences. Their followers are divided in to the real
christians (according to the cathars -perfects), and
the others are common beleivers. Only the real beleivers
(the perfects) know all the secrets of their science and
only they are commited to exercise rigide ascetic life
discribed in their teaching. The
number of the real related to the common beleivers is
small. The perfects are making an special order (ordo)
taht is actualy the basement of their church. The
hierarchy that rules with the church is consisted of
oldmen,guests and elbers, actualy for the cathars:
bishop, an older son and younger son.
The
dualistic heretics didn't have their own churches as
buildings where they would perform their ceremonies, so
they were gathering in some of their houses to pray and
make confessions.
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The
dualistic thesis (which is the base of the Bogomilis teaching) has a
long ancient tradition. In the III ct., before accepting the
Christian church as a official church of the roman empire, Persian
named Many (lat. MANES, MANICHEUS), gathered the Christian Gnostic
and Buddhism elements with the Zaratustra teaching (middle
VI th
century BC) and he tried to give a simple explanation for where the
evil in the world comes from, preaching new dualistic religion for
which he was condemned by the Persian mage and crucified (276 AD).
By the half of the VII th century in Armenia a Manicheo - Gnostic
heretic sect named Pavlikianis is founded and they,
1
More
information can be found in the apologetic tractate of the presbyter
Cosma, titled "Speech on heresy" created around 972. Cosma
blames on priest Bogomil for spreading new, wrong teaching
"across the Bulgarian land", that opposes the teaching of
the orthodox Christian church - that there is only one god, creator
of all visible and invisible world, a god who gives people all the
good and all the bad in their lives. Unlike that, priest Boogie
teaches that there are two gods - two principle: one is the god of
good, and the other one - the principle of evil - mammon, Satan. The
god of evil created whole material world, including the man, by his
will exist all the visible things: the sun, the stars, the air, the
earth, the man, the churches, the crosses... Some of the bogomils
think that the Satan is God's younger son, next to the older Christ,
and the others think that he is not God's son but an angel that
seceded.
Cosma,
further on in his tractate, says that the bogomils are severely
attacking the church establishment, especially the clergy and
bishops, to whom they deny their authority over the believers. They are rejecting the old
testemony
3
From
the above mentioned we can see the reflection into orthodox
Christian priest's mind of the new heretic science, in which center,
as the most important, and for the orthodox church - the most
dangerous, stands the heretic thesis of two gods, two principles.
This thesis is affecting the consistent monotheism of the Christian
church, their mighty god, the creator of all the good and all the
evil.
The appearance of the dualistic heresy is an expression
of the rebellion towards the hierarchy of the Christian church that
uses the idea of god to keep its followers in obedience. It is also an expression of the rebellion towards the
state governing institutions that leans on the Christian church,
using it as an ideological mean for their power. The dualistic
heresy may be an expression of the dissatisfaction of those kept in
obedience, who can not understand why this all mighty and absolutely
rights Christian god, gives so much good and so little bad to some
people, and a lot of bed with so little good to the others. The
Christian church with their apologetics cannot give an answer to
this question, and the dualistic understanding resolves it by the
5
The
heretics were known under different names,
in dependence of the places where they were
acting or where they came from:
bogomils, kudughers (greek name for the
bogomils), babunes (characteristic name in Serbia, coming
from the name of the macedonian mountain Babuna), christians (characteristic
name for Bosnia) patarens
(italian name taken from the poor quator in Milano, Pataria), christiani boni or veri, boni homines, bonomii, katari (name
characteristic in France and Germany according to th greek word kaqaros: that
means pure), kataristi (form
from kathari), katafrigi (twisted
from kathari), Bulgari or Bougres (name
used in France according to Bulgarus: that
means Bulgarian), konkorecani (Concorretti according
to the place Concorezzo, northeast
from Milano), garatenses (
from Garatus, one
from the elders of the sect in Italy), de Desenzano (the
one from Desenzan, place on the Gard lake), Scalvini (Slavs-name
for those heretics in Italy that were supporting the connections
with the Bosnian bogomils), – caloiani (name
in Italy according to the name of one italian bishop named Caloian), bagnolenses (frase
used in Italy according to the place Bagnolo near Mantova), albignezes (according
to the city Alba in the county Toulouse), and others.
7
¯
The
usage of the holy images is called idole woreshiping and
they make fun of those one that are respecting the power of the holy
fathers.
¯
They
condamn the church ceremonies and the hollinesses, baptisam and
marriage, that is nothing else but fornecation.
¯
They
are denying the reseraction of the body because it comes from the
satan.
¯
They
are denying the excistance of the puregatory.
¯
They
are forbiding the usage of cheese and meat and milk products.
¯ They
are forbiding
taking vaus.
¯
They
deny the right of the world leaders to sentance death.
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