Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/564

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542 APPENDIX importance, except for his statements about his own mission to Tephrice, and the intention of the Paulicians of the east to send missionaries to Bulgaria, and the dedication of his work to an Archbishop of Bulgaria. He says that he himself was sent to Tephrice by Michael III. for the ransom of captives. But the title of the treatise is curious : neVpou Si/ceA-iciToii icrropia . . . irpoffanroTroirjde'icra ois TTphs rhv ' Apxi-^^'i-o'Konov BovKyapias. The word irpoawiroTzoiridelaa suggests that the historical setting of the treatise is fictitious. In denjung the historical value of this evidence as to the propagation of Paulicianism in Bulgaria at such an early date, Ter-Mkrttschian (p. 13 iiqq.) and Friedrich (;:,l01-2) are agreed. According to the life of St. Clement of Bulgaria (ed. Miklorich, p. 34) the heresy did not enter the country till after Clement's death in a.d. 916 (Friedrich, ih.). Ter-Mkrttschian endeavours to prove that the Paulicians were simply Mar- cionites. Friedrich argues against tliis view, on the ground of some statements in the text which he ))ublished from the Madrid Ms., where the creator of the visible world is identified with the devil. But these statements may have been interpolated in the tenth century from a Bogomil source. On the Armenian Paulicians and cognate sects, see Dollinger's Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters ; Ter-Mkrttschian's work, already cited ; and Conybeare's Key of Truth (see below). The basis of Dollinger's study was the treatise "Against the Paulicians" of the Armenian Patriarch John Ozniensis (published in his works, 1834, ed. Archer). Cp. Conybeare, op. cit. App. iv. Ter-Mkrttschian has rendered new evidence accessible. In his Historj' of the Bulgarians, ■* Jirecek gives the result of the investigations of Ra5ki and other Slavonic scholars into the original doctrines of the Bogomils. (1) They rejected the Old Testament, the Fathers, and ecclesiastical tradition. They accepted the New Testament, and laid weight on a nvimber of old apocry- phal works. (2) They held two principles, equal in age and power : one good (a triune being = God) ; the other bad (= Satan) ; who created the visible world, caused the Fall, governed the world during the period of the Old Testament. (3) The body of Christ the Redeemer was only an apparent, not a real body (for everything corporeal is the work of Satan) ; INIary was an angel. The sacraments are corporeal, and therefore Satanic, symbols. (4) They rejected the use of crucifixes and icons, and regarded churches as the abodes of evil spirits. (5) Only adults were received into their church ; the ceremony consisted of fasting and prayer — not baptism, for water is created by Satan. (6) They had no hierarchj- ; but an executive, consisting of a senior or bishop, and two grades of Apostles. (7) Besides the ordinary Christians there was a special order of the Perfect or the Good, who renounced all earthly jiossessions, marriage, and the use of animal food. These cliosen few dressed in black, lived like hermits, and were not allowed to speak to an unbeliever except for the purpose of converting him. (8) No Bogomil was allowed to drink wine. (9) The Bulgarian Bogomils prayed four times every day and four times every night ; the Grreek seven times every day, five times every night. They praj'ed whenever the}' crossed a bridge or entered a village. They had no holy days. (10) They had a death-bed ceremony (called in the west la convcnensa). Whoever died without the advantage of this ceremony went to hell, the ultimate abode of all unbelievers. They did not believe in a piu-gatory. We cannot, however, feel certain that this is a fair presentation of the Bogo- mil doctrines. It is unfortunate that none of their books of ritual, &c., are known to exist. As early as the tenth centixry a schism arose in the Bogomil church. A view was promulgated that Satan was not coeval with God, but only a later creation, a fallen angel. This view prevailed in the Bidgarian church, but the Dragovici clung to the old dualism. The modified doctrine was adopted for the most part 4 Geschichte der Bulgaren, p. 176 sqq.