Church are only teachers without authority over the faithful. Such are the outlines of Paulicianism as they have reached us, and their identity with the belief of the Cathari is too marked for us to accept the theory of Schmidt, which assigns to the latter an origin among the dreamers of the Bulgarian convents. A further irrefragable evidence of the derivation of Catharism from Manichaeism is furnished by the sacred thread and garment which Avere worn by all the Perfect among the Cathari. This custom is too peculiar to have had an independent origin, and is manifestly the Mazdean Icosti and saddarah, the sacred thread and shirt, the wearing of which was essential to all believers, and the use of which by both Zends and Brahmans shows that its origin is to be traced to the prehistoric period anterior to the separation of those branches of the Aryan family. Among the Cathari the wearer of the thread and vestment was what was known among the inquisitors as the "hæreticus indutus " or "vestitus," initiated into all the mysteries of the heresy.[1]
- ↑ P. Siculi op. cit. — Bleek's Avesta, III. 4. — Haug's Essays, 2d ed. pp. 244, 249, 286, 367.— Yajnavalkya, i. 37.
For the corresponding tenets of the Cathari, see Radulf, Ardent. T. I. p. ii. Horn, xix. — Ermengaudi contra Haeret. Opusc. — Epist, Leodiens. ad Lucium PP. III. (Martene. Ampl. Collect. I. 776-778). — Ecberti Schonaug. Serm. contra Catharos, Serm. I. viii. xi. — Gregor. Episc. Fanens. Disput. Catholic! contra Haeret, — Monetae adv. Catharos Lib. i. cap. 1. — Arch, de I'lnq. de Carcassonne (Coll. Doat, XXXII. f. 93). — Rainerii Saccon. Summa. — Caesar. Heisterbac. Dial. Mirac. Dist. v. cap. 21.— Lib. Sentt. Inquis. Tolosan. pp. 92, 93, 249 (Limborch).— Lib. Confess. Inq. Albiens. (MSS. Bib. Nat. fonds latin 11847).— Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1163.
In a MS. controversial tract against the Cathari, dating from the end of the thirteenth century, the writer, following Moneta, states that their objections to the Old Testament sprang from four roots: first, the contradiction which seemed to exist between the Old and New Testaments ; second, the changefulness of God himself, manifest in Scripture ; third, the cruel attributes of God in Scripture; fourth, the falsehood ascribed to God. A single example will suffice of the arguments which the heretics advanced in support of their position. " They quote Genesis iii. 'Behold, Adam has become as one of us.' Now God says this of Adam after he had sinned, and he must have spoken truth or falsehood. If truth, then Adam had become like him who spoke and those to whom he spoke ; but Adam after the fall had become a sinner, and therefore evil. If falsehood, then he is a liar; he sinned in so saying and thus was evil." To this logic the orthodox polemic contents himself with the answer that God spoke ironically. Throughout the tract the reasoning ascribed to the Cathari shows them to possess a thorough acquaintance with Scripture, and the use which they
