Bogomilism- One of the earliest christian-anarchic religions?

[Lies]

This is going to be for a blog entry- can I get some critisim/mittens before it gets added to the carnival of anarchy?

Updated: ok I think i got rid of all the spelling and grammer mistakes... :P

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Me having a taste for "collecting" all sorts of obscure religions, have come across one that I have found in particular quite intriguing.

Most likely, you would have never heard of this religion before, as it caused many headaches for the orthodox church during it's time, and most records known and kept about them are from its competitors, it was a religion practiced in greek, understanding of it is minimal, and much of its history has been lost.

Here is what little I have come to know about this fascinating religious sect of Christianity, mostly taken from wikipedia and painfully edited (heavily) by myself so that you, dear reader, can skip all the crap and get to the juicy stuff, so you don't have to spend as much time as I did wading through background crap.

The name of the movement was bulgarus in Latin (meaning "Bulgarian") which included Paulicians, Cathars, Patarenes and Albigenses. It became boulgre, later bougre in Old French meaning "heretic, traitor". It entered German as Buger meaning "peasant, blockhead" (and went on to English as bugger) and the French term also entered old Italian as buggero and Spanish as bujarr??n, both in the meaning of "sodomite", since it was supposed that heretics would make sex (just like everything else) in an "inverse" way. The word went on towards Venetian Italian as buzerar, meaning "to do sodomy" (anal sex between men). This word entered German again as Buserant and went on to Hungarian as buzer?°ns, becoming buzi around the 1900s, which form is still in use as a sexual slur for male homosexuals.

History:
Bogomilism is a defunct social-religious movement started in Bulgaria, and at the essence of Bogomilism is belief in duality in creation of the world, and it is for that reason it was considered a "Heresy" religion, the first significant Bulgarian heresy which appeared around the first quarter of the 10th century.

It came about as a reaction to the state and clerical oppression, and stayed popular until the fall of Bulgaria at the end of the 14th century.

Discontent in the peasantry due to constant wars, changes in authority and higher taxes made people leave the lands near the Greek borders of Thrace.
The Orthodox church was (even more then usual) corrupt, and failed to console the people.
This social discontent and presence of older christian heresies such as Zoroastrianism, caused creation of Bogomilism.

It was started by Priest Bogumil, though it is unclear if he took his name from the sect, or gave his name to it. (Bogumil literally means "father" in Bulgarian though, which is why it's hard to tell).
Bogomils undoubtedly connected so called "heretical" ideas of east and west religious sects.
They sowed the seeds of their rich, popular religious literature in the east as well as the west.

Doctrine:

Their beliefs were heavily modified from the from orthodox christian ideas, and in their doctrines, many things were seen differently.

They believed in adoptionisn, that is, they denied the divine birth of Christ, Jesus Christ was born a human, and reached divinity later on through the grace of god.

They claimed miracles performed by Jesus were to be interpreted in the spiritual sense, and not as material occurrences.

Bread and wine were not seen as the flesh and blood of Jesus.

Images of the cross and veneration of the saints was seen as idolatry, and therefore breached the first commandment.

They rejected the personal co-existence of the relation of the son to the father and holy ghost.

They rejected the validity of sacraments + ceremonies, and refused to venerate Mary as the mother of god.

Baptism was only practiced on adults, they completely loathed baptizing infants.

It was explained that St. Paul had taught that simple minded men should instruct one another, so they elected "teachers" amongst themselves to be spiritual guides and had no special priests.

Each community had its own 12 apostles, and women could be part of the "elect", the council of "wise men".

Prayers were to be said only in the privacy of their homes, and never said in shared buildings such as churches.

Marriage was not seen as sacrament.

They did not fast on Mondays or Fridays.

Their account as Satan (or Satanails as he was known by them) was that he was the eldest son of god, who tried to create man, and all the world he lived in, and had to appeal for his father to help with the spirit of life. Satan was seen as the originator of the orthodox community, churches, vestments, ceremonies, sacraments and fasts and also of monks and priests.

The world being the work of Satan, those who seek to be "perfect" should shun away every excess of pleasures, but did not go so far as preaching asceticism, they did not renounce worldly pursuits to devote their life to spiritual work.

Their doctrine rejected everything socially created, and does not come from the soul, the only divine possession of a human.
Therefore, the established church, state, and hierarchy was totally undermined by Bogomilism.
Followers refused to pay tax, to work, or fight for their state. The entire social system was overthrown, which on its part suggests disorder and propels the destruction of the state.

Conclusion:

So, with all these traits Bogomilism has, you can easily see this is one of the earliest incarnations of a religion which basically I would dare say be the closest thing to Discordianism, a religion filled and the result of Zenarcy.
I would imagine that if it hadn't finally died off around the 15th century during the crusades and such, and had spread more and just been accepted instead of hated and stamped out, we would be living in a much more enlightened world today.

There is the (extremely) rough overview of this fascinating little sect of Christianity, there still is a bit more to know on them, but you should just go and find out more for yourself, it's what the internuts is for.

[The Littlest Ubermensch]

This social discontent and presence of older christian heresies such as Zoroastrianism

Fail = epic. Zoroastrianism predates both Christianity and Judaism, and thus is not a heresy, as a heresy is when members of a pre-existing church deny that church's doctrine.

So, with all these traits Bogomilism has, you can easily see this is one of the earliest incarnations of a religion which basically I would dare say be the closest thing to Discordianism, a religion filled and the result of Zenarcy.

This is much like the Subgenius=Taoism debate. Especially in that the answer is that they're different things entirely. Just because it was radical (for its time), doesn't mean it has all that much of a relation to Discordianism. Bogomilism still maintains ideas that they hold as true and undeniable (such as the existence of God), which is in every way opposed to the extreme mutability of Discordianism. And besides, Discordianism is more like a meme database for various unrelated wierdos, and not a codified sect of a popular religion.

[Lies]

This social discontent and presence of older christian heresies such as Zoroastrianism

Fail = epic. Zoroastrianism predates both Christianity and Judaism, and thus is not a heresy, as a heresy is when members of a pre-existing church deny that church's doctrine.

So, with all these traits Bogomilism has, you can easily see this is one of the earliest incarnations of a religion which basically I would dare say be the closest thing to Discordianism, a religion filled and the result of Zenarcy.

This is much like the Subgenius=Taoism debate. Especially in that the answer is that they're different things entirely. Just because it was radical (for its time), doesn't mean it has all that much of a relation to Discordianism. Bogomilism still maintains ideas that they hold as true and undeniable (such as the existence of God), which is in every way opposed to the extreme mutability of Discordianism. And besides, Discordianism is more like a meme database for various unrelated wierdos, and not a codified sect of a popular religion.

ok, thanks for the feed back ubermensch.

1-Oxford defines heresy as the theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the Roman Catholic or Orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. By extension, heresy is an opinion or doctrine in philosophy, politics, science, art, etc., at variance with those generally accepted as authoritative.

I doubt the orthodox church saw Zoroastrianism as something which maintained their position on the whole god issue.

Still, you feeling certain of this? Truthfully, I don't know a lot about Zoroastrianism, so even there I'm not 100% sure, I'm just going by what the all powerful wiki has to say here. (And yes, I know how accurate wiki is)

2-What I mean to say is, this is a religion that has anarchic ties, which went against the dogma of the current system, and developed it's own thoughts and opinions on god nature, but you do raise a good point.
What would you suggest I replace that line with then?
Would it be better to say, "I would dare say be one of the earliest Christian-Anarchist religions"? (Which is what I've replaced it with on my blog now anyway)

[The Littlest Ubermensch]

Still, you feeling certain of this? Truthfully, I don't know a lot about Zoroastrianism, so even there I'm not 100% sure, I'm just going by what the all powerful wiki has to say here. (And yes, I know how accurate wiki is)

Although older (see Zoroaster for a date), Zoroastrianism only enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE

Zoroastrianism is often attested to as the first monotheistic religion ever (if one doesn't count their Devil, Ahriman, as a deity.) I'm very sure.

2-What I mean to say is, this is a religion that has anarchic ties, which went against the dogma of the current system, and developed it's own thoughts and opinions on god nature, but you do raise a good point.
What would you suggest I replace that line with then?
Would it be better to say, "I would dare say be one of the earliest Christian-Anarchist religions"? (Which is what I've replaced it with on my blog now anyway)

Replace "religion" with "sect" and you're golden.

[Lies]

Ok, sweet, thanks for that ubermensch, much appreciated!

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Although older (see Zoroaster for a date), Zoroastrianism only enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE

Zoroastrianism is often attested to as the first monotheistic religion ever (if one doesn't count their Devil, Ahriman, as a deity.) I'm very sure.

err... I think that the Jewish system predates Zoroastrianism by about 800 years or so. And while there is some argument about the earliest Hebrew BS ("The Gods created the Heavens and the Earth") they were pretty set on YHVH being the Only God at least by 1000 BC during the time of the Kings (according to the Jews anyway). But I may be wrong.

[The Littlest Ubermensch]

Although older (see Zoroaster for a date), Zoroastrianism only enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE

Zoroastrianism is often attested to as the first monotheistic religion ever (if one doesn't count their Devil, Ahriman, as a deity.) I'm very sure.

err... I think that the Jewish system predates Zoroastrianism by about 800 years or so. And while there is some argument about the earliest Hebrew BS ("The Gods created the Heavens and the Earth") they were pretty set on YHVH being the Only God at least by 1000 BC during the time of the Kings (according to the Jews anyway). But I may be wrong.

I've heard a number of accounts (I believe from the History Channel, in particular) that Zoroastrianism predates Judaism, but I can't be sure.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I think the accepted date is 9/10 Cent BCE... so that may either put them at about the same time, or off by only a couple hundred years.

[Cain]

Abraham lived around 1800 BC, but thats cheating, since virtually everything we consider Jewish comes from Moses, in 1280 BC.

By contrast, it is commonly accepted that the oldest Avestas are from 1000 BC or so.  However, there is no doubting that the cosmic dualism affected Jewish philosophy during the Captivity in Babylon.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Abraham lived around 1800 BC, but thats cheating, since virtually everything we consider Jewish comes from Moses, in 1280 BC.

By contrast, it is commonly accepted that the oldest Avestas are from 1000 BC or so.  However, there is no doubting that the cosmic dualism affected Jewish philosophy during the Captivity in Babylon.

I concur... assuming that Abraham actually ever existed.

[Cain]

Yeah....the date does come from Jewish creationists, so.....