Apologies is this is adouble posting: server interruption problems.
R. Landes inquired about Cathars and aversion/rejection
of John the Baptist
>Nicole Schulman suggested a look at comparative Bogomil positions on
>the Baptist John:
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Richard:
Particular responses by the monk Euthymios ( describing events the
witnessed between 976-?1025), including the the trial of a certain
Ioannes Tzurillas, along with the responses of Cosmas the Presbyter
struck me as possibly pertinent to the question of any Cathar
aversion to the Baptist and water Baptism. [ PG CXXXI: In the PG this
work is falsely attributed to Euthymios Zigabenos rather than
Euthymios of Acmonia. Parts of the letter are also included in G.
Ficker, <Die Phundagiagiten: Ein Beitrag zur Ketzergeschichte des
byzantinischen Mittelalters. Leipzig, 1908. Cosmas response/letter is
cited in M G. Popruzhenko: < slovo na eretiki: Kosma Presviter,
B'lgarskiiy picatel' X veka. Sofia, 1936, B'lgarski Starini Vol.
XII. ]
This letter (Euthymios) contains detailed presentation of the
"heretical doctrines" taught ( by Tzurillas). Euthymios and Cosmas
claim these heretics reject the Orthodox dogmas of the Resurrection
of the Dead, the resurrection of the body, and true humanity/flesh/
materiality of Christ, and among other heresies, accuse them of
docetism ( being Docetes).Euthymios and Cosmas include lengthy
explanations about the heretics' assertion about the "nature" of the
body of Adam ( and hence all men) being the creation of the Diavolos,
who having created it, tried to animate it by means of the soul which
he had stolen from God. However,in spite of his repeated efforts to
unite the two, the soul would simply not remain in Adam's body. A
lengthy and colorful narrative of the animation of Adam folows, which
for all its crudeness, is an interesting example of a Bogomil (
Docetic) legendum and a significant variant on a more standard
dualist cosmology.
It is here that Euthymius accuses Tzurillas and his followers
of refusing to venerate certain Orthodox saints ( including the
Forerunner/ Prodromos= the Baptist John) rejecting Orthodox
sacraments... including baptism with water. The baptism with water,
was a baptism IN WATER, which was,as I understand their rather
complexly layered anti-materiality, according to these particular
Bogomils ( Dragovitsa) , a baptism INTO matter/ materia; hence, a
sealing OF, WITH and INTO materiality. Taking speculative liberty
with a loose parallel: the Baptist seems for them much like Hesiod's
Uranus ( Theogony), preventing the birth of his sons by forcing them
back in to Rhea's womb... ma, matrix, materia, matter..The Baptism
with water rather than an entry into a new life, may well have viewed
as such a forced confinement in an old 'material life'..
Maybe...a link
Josef Gulka
Josef Gulka
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 215- 732-8420
Fax (215) 732-8420
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