Paulicianism
Encyclopedia
Paulicians were a Christian Adoptionist
sect and militarized revolt movement, also accused by medieval sources as Gnostic and quasi Manichaean Christian
. They flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia
and the Eastern Themes of the Byzantine Empire
. According to medieval Byzantine
sources, the group's name was derived after the third century Bishop of Antioch, Paul of Samosata
.
by the name of Constantine
, who hailed from Mananalis, a community near Samosata
. He studied the Gospel
s and Epistle
s, combined dualistic and Christian doctrines, and, upon the basis of the former, vigorously opposed the formalism of the church.
Regarding himself as called to restore the pure Christianity of Paul
, he adopted the name Silvanus (one of Paul’s disciples) and about the year 660 founded his first congregation at Kibossa in Armenia
. Twenty-seven years afterwards he was stoned to death by order of the emperor. Simeon, the court official who executed the order, was himself converted and, adopting the name Titus, became Constantine’s successor, but was burned to death (the punishment pronounced upon the Manichaeans) in 690.
The adherents of the sect fled, with the Armenian Paul at their head, to Episparis. He died in 715, leaving two sons, Gegnaesius (whom he had appointed his successor) and Theodore. The latter, giving out that he had received the Holy Ghost, rose up against Gegnaesius, but was unsuccessful. Gegnaesius was taken to Constantinople, appeared before Leo the Isaurian, was declared innocent of heresy, returned to Episparis
, but, fearing danger, went with his adherents to Mananalis. His death (in 745) was the occasion of a division in the sect; Zacharias and Joseph being the leaders of the two parties. The latter had the larger following and was succeeded by Baanies, 775. The sect grew in spite of persecution, receiving additions from the iconoclasts. The Paulicians were now divided into the Baanites (the old party), and the Sergites (the reformed sect). Sergius, as the reformed leader, was a zealous and effective converter for his sect; he boasted that he had spread his Gospel "from East to West. from North to South". At the same time the Sergites fought against their rivals and nearly exterminated them.
Baanes was supplanted by Sergius-Tychicus, 801, who was very active for thirty-four years. His activity was the occasion of renewed persecutions on the part of Leo the Armenian. Obliged to flee, Sergius and his followers settled at Argaum, in that part of Armenia which was under the control of the Saracens. At the death of Sergius, the control of the sect was divided between several leaders. The Empress Theodora
, as regent to her son Michael III
, instituted a new persecution, in which a hundred thousand Paulicians in Byzantine Armenia are said to have lost their lives and all of their property and lands were confiscated by the State. Paulicians under their new leader Karbeas
, who fled with the residue of the sect, two cities, Amara
and Tephrike (modern Divrigi
), were built. By 844, at the height of its power, the Paulicians established a "Paulician state" at Tephrike (present-day Divriğ̇, Turkey). In 856 Karbeas
and his people took refuge with the Arabs in the territory around Tephrike
and joined forces with Umar al-Aqta
, emir of Melitene (who reigned 835-863). Karbeas was killed in 863 in Michael III
's campaign against the Paulicians, and was possibly with Umar at Malakopea before the battle of Lalakaon.
His successor, Chrysocheres
, devastated many cities; in 867 advanced as far as Ephesus, and took many priests as prisoners. In 868 the Emperor Basil I
dispatched Petrus Siculus
to arrange for their exchange. His sojourn of nine months among the Paulicians gave him an opportunity to collect many facts, which he preserved in his History of the empty and vain heresy of the Manichæans, otherwise called Paulicians. The propositions of peace were not accepted, the war was renewed, and Chrysocheres killed at Bathys Ryax
. The power of the Paulicians was broken. Meanwhile other Paulicians, sectarians, but not rebels, lived in communities throughout the empire. Constantine V
had already transferred large numbers of them to Thrace
.
In 871, the emperor Basil I
ended the power of the "Paulician state" and the survivors fled to Syria
and Armenia
. In 970, the Paulicians of Syria
were transferred by the emperor John Tzimisces to Philippopolis
in Thrace
, and, as a reward for their promise to keep back the Scythians, the emperor granted them religious freedom. This was the beginning of a revival of the sect; but it was true to the empire. Several thousand went in the army of Alexius Comnenus
against the Norman, Robert Guiscard
; but, deserting the emperor, many of them (1085) were thrown into prison. By some accounts, Alexius Comnenus is credited with having put an end to the heresy. During a stay at Philippopolis, Alexius argued with the sect bringing most if not all, back to the Church (so his daughter: "Alexias", XV, 9). For the converts the new city of Alexiopolis was built, opposite Philippopolis
. After this episode, Paulicians as a major force disappear from history, through as a powerless minority they would reappear in many later times and places . When the Crusaders
took Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade
(1204), they found some Paulicians, whom the historian Gottfried of Villehardouin calls Popelicans.
In the end of 17th century, the Paulician people from around Nicopolis
were persecuted by the Ottoman Empire
, after the uprising of Chiprovtsi
in 1688, and a good part of them fled across the Danube and settled in the Banat
region that was at the time part of the Austrian Empire
, and became known as Banat Bulgarians
.
There are still over ten thousand Banat Bulgarians in Banat today in the villages of Dudeştii Vechi
, Vinga, Breştea
and also in the city of Timişoara
, with a few in Arad
; however, they no longer practice their religion, having converted to Roman Catholicism. There are also a few villages of Paulicians in the Serbian part of Banat, especially the villages of Ivanovo
and Belo Blato
, near Pančevo
.
In Russia after the war of 1828-29 Paulician communities could still be found in the part of Armenia occupied by the Russians. Documents of their professions of faith and disputations with the Gregorian bishop about 1837 (Key of Truth, xxiii-xxviii) were later published by Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare
. It is with Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare publications of the Paulicians disputations and "The Key of Truth" that Conybeare based his depiction of the Paulicians as simple, godly folk who had kept an earlier (sc. Adoptionistic
) form of Christianity (ibid., introduction).
Many descendents of the Paulicians nowadays profess the Orthodox Christian faith, the Roman Catholic faith, or Islam faith in some of the states of the Balkan Peninsula.
, although some have argued that it was actually adoptionist in nature.
In it there are two principles, two kingdoms. The Evil Spirit is the author of
, and lord of, the present visible world; the Good Spirit, of the future world. Of their views about the creation of man, little is known but what is contained in the ambiguous words of Sergius. This passage seems to teach that Adam's sin of disobedience was a blessing in disguise, and that a greater sin than his is the sin against the Church.
The Paulicians accepted the four Gospels; fourteen Epistles of Paul
; the three Epistles of John; the epistles of James
and Jude
; and an Epistle to the Laodiceans
, which they professed to have. They rejected the Tanakh
, also known as the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, as well as the Orthodox-Catholic title Theotokos ("Mother of God"), and refused all veneration of Mary. Christ came down from heaven to emancipate humans from the body and from the world, which are evil. The reverence for the Cross they looked upon as heathenish. The outward administration of the sacraments of the Lord's Supper
and baptism
they rejected. Their places of worship they called "places of prayer." Although they were ascetics, they made no distinction in foods, and practiced marriage.
The Paulicians were not a branch of the Manichæans, as Photius, Petrus Siculus
, and many modern authors have held. Both sects were dualistic, but the Paulicians ascribed the creation of the world to the evil God (demiurge
) and, unlike the Manichæans, held the New Testament Scriptures in higher honor. They even condemned Manes
, the Manichæan prophet, comparing him to the Buddha. Gieseler
and Neander
, with more probability, derive the sect from the Marcionites
. Muratori
, Mosheim
, Gibbon, Gilles Quispel
and others regard the Paulicians as the forerunners of the Cathars, but the differences between them in organization, ascetic practices, etc., undermine this opinion.
Adoptionism
Adoptionism, sometimes called dynamic monarchianism, is a minority Christian belief that Jesus was adopted as God's son at his baptism...
sect and militarized revolt movement, also accused by medieval sources as Gnostic and quasi Manichaean Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. They flourished between 650 and 872 in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and the Eastern Themes of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. According to medieval Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
sources, the group's name was derived after the third century Bishop of Antioch, Paul of Samosata
Paul of Samosata
Paul of Samosata was Bishop of Antioch from 260 to 268. He was a believer in monarchianism, and his teachings anticipate adoptionism.-Life:...
.
History
The founder of the sect is said to have been an ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
by the name of Constantine
Constantine-Silvanus
Constantine-Silvanus was the founder of the Paulicians, an unorthdox Christian movement in 7th century Armenia.Constantine was born in Mananali, near Samosata, Syria. He founded the first Paulician community at Kibossa, near Colonia, Armenia and was its leader till his death by stoning.-Source:* ...
, who hailed from Mananalis, a community near Samosata
Samosata
Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam....
. He studied the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s and Epistle
Epistle
An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
s, combined dualistic and Christian doctrines, and, upon the basis of the former, vigorously opposed the formalism of the church.
Regarding himself as called to restore the pure Christianity of Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, he adopted the name Silvanus (one of Paul’s disciples) and about the year 660 founded his first congregation at Kibossa in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. Twenty-seven years afterwards he was stoned to death by order of the emperor. Simeon, the court official who executed the order, was himself converted and, adopting the name Titus, became Constantine’s successor, but was burned to death (the punishment pronounced upon the Manichaeans) in 690.
The adherents of the sect fled, with the Armenian Paul at their head, to Episparis. He died in 715, leaving two sons, Gegnaesius (whom he had appointed his successor) and Theodore. The latter, giving out that he had received the Holy Ghost, rose up against Gegnaesius, but was unsuccessful. Gegnaesius was taken to Constantinople, appeared before Leo the Isaurian, was declared innocent of heresy, returned to Episparis
Episparis
Episparis is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family.-Species:* Episparis agnesae Pelletier, 1982* Episparis angulatilinea Bethune-Baker, 1906* Episparis brunoi Pelletier, 1982* Episparis connubens Holland, 1894...
, but, fearing danger, went with his adherents to Mananalis. His death (in 745) was the occasion of a division in the sect; Zacharias and Joseph being the leaders of the two parties. The latter had the larger following and was succeeded by Baanies, 775. The sect grew in spite of persecution, receiving additions from the iconoclasts. The Paulicians were now divided into the Baanites (the old party), and the Sergites (the reformed sect). Sergius, as the reformed leader, was a zealous and effective converter for his sect; he boasted that he had spread his Gospel "from East to West. from North to South". At the same time the Sergites fought against their rivals and nearly exterminated them.
Baanes was supplanted by Sergius-Tychicus, 801, who was very active for thirty-four years. His activity was the occasion of renewed persecutions on the part of Leo the Armenian. Obliged to flee, Sergius and his followers settled at Argaum, in that part of Armenia which was under the control of the Saracens. At the death of Sergius, the control of the sect was divided between several leaders. The Empress Theodora
Theodora (9th century)
Theodora was a Byzantine Empress as the spouse of the Byzantine emperor Theophilos, and regent of her son, Michael III, from Theophilos' death in 842 to 855...
, as regent to her son Michael III
Michael III
Michael III , , Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian-Phrygian Dynasty...
, instituted a new persecution, in which a hundred thousand Paulicians in Byzantine Armenia are said to have lost their lives and all of their property and lands were confiscated by the State. Paulicians under their new leader Karbeas
Karbeas
Karbeas was a Paulician leader, founder and ruler of the Paulician principality of Tephrike from ca. 843 until his death in 863.He was initially a protomandator at the service of Theodotos Melissenos, the Byzantine strategos of the Anatolic theme...
, who fled with the residue of the sect, two cities, Amara
Amara
Amara, the sun beetles, are a large genus of carabid beetles, mostly holarctic, but a few species are neotropical or occurring in eastern Asia.These ground beetles are mostly black or bronze-coloured...
and Tephrike (modern Divrigi
Divrigi
Divriği is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The town lies on gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river....
), were built. By 844, at the height of its power, the Paulicians established a "Paulician state" at Tephrike (present-day Divriğ̇, Turkey). In 856 Karbeas
Karbeas
Karbeas was a Paulician leader, founder and ruler of the Paulician principality of Tephrike from ca. 843 until his death in 863.He was initially a protomandator at the service of Theodotos Melissenos, the Byzantine strategos of the Anatolic theme...
and his people took refuge with the Arabs in the territory around Tephrike
Divrigi
Divriği is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The town lies on gentle slope on the south bank of the Çaltısuyu river, a tributary of the Karasu river....
and joined forces with Umar al-Aqta
Umar al-Aqta
‘Umar ibn ‘Abdallah ibn Marwan , surnamed al-Aqta’, "the one-handed", and found as Amer or Ambros in Byzantine sources, was the Arab emir of Malatya from the 830s until his death in battle in 863...
, emir of Melitene (who reigned 835-863). Karbeas was killed in 863 in Michael III
Michael III
Michael III , , Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian-Phrygian Dynasty...
's campaign against the Paulicians, and was possibly with Umar at Malakopea before the battle of Lalakaon.
His successor, Chrysocheres
Chrysocheres
Chrysocheir , also known as Chrysocheres or Chrysoverges, was the last leader of the Paulician state of Tephrike from 863 to 872. He succeeded his uncle, Karbeas, after the latter's death in 863, possibly at the Battle of Lalakaon. He led an expedition to Nicomedia and Nicaea, and after taking...
, devastated many cities; in 867 advanced as far as Ephesus, and took many priests as prisoners. In 868 the Emperor Basil I
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
dispatched Petrus Siculus
Petrus Siculus
Petrus Siculus or Peter Sikeliotes was either a monk or a learned nobleman, who in 870 was sent as a legate from the Byzantine emperor Basil I to the Paulician leader Chrysocheir, negotiating for an exchange of prisoners. He stayed in the Paulician city of Tephrike/Tibrica, now Divrigi in Turkey,...
to arrange for their exchange. His sojourn of nine months among the Paulicians gave him an opportunity to collect many facts, which he preserved in his History of the empty and vain heresy of the Manichæans, otherwise called Paulicians. The propositions of peace were not accepted, the war was renewed, and Chrysocheres killed at Bathys Ryax
Battle of Bathys Ryax
The Battle of Bathys Ryax was fought in 872 or 878 between the Byzantine Empire and the Paulicians. The Paulicians were a Christian sect which—persecuted by the Byzantine state—had established a separate principality at Tephrike on Byzantium's eastern border and collaborated with the Muslim...
. The power of the Paulicians was broken. Meanwhile other Paulicians, sectarians, but not rebels, lived in communities throughout the empire. Constantine V
Constantine V
Constantine V was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775; ); .-Early life:...
had already transferred large numbers of them to Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
.
In 871, the emperor Basil I
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
ended the power of the "Paulician state" and the survivors fled to Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. In 970, the Paulicians of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
were transferred by the emperor John Tzimisces to Philippopolis
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, and, as a reward for their promise to keep back the Scythians, the emperor granted them religious freedom. This was the beginning of a revival of the sect; but it was true to the empire. Several thousand went in the army of Alexius Comnenus
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
against the Norman, Robert Guiscard
Robert Guiscard
Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
; but, deserting the emperor, many of them (1085) were thrown into prison. By some accounts, Alexius Comnenus is credited with having put an end to the heresy. During a stay at Philippopolis, Alexius argued with the sect bringing most if not all, back to the Church (so his daughter: "Alexias", XV, 9). For the converts the new city of Alexiopolis was built, opposite Philippopolis
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
. After this episode, Paulicians as a major force disappear from history, through as a powerless minority they would reappear in many later times and places . When the Crusaders
Crusaders
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...
took Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
(1204), they found some Paulicians, whom the historian Gottfried of Villehardouin calls Popelicans.
In the end of 17th century, the Paulician people from around Nicopolis
Nicopolis
Nicopolis — or Actia Nicopolis — was an ancient city of Epirus, founded 31 BC by Octavian in memory of his victory over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium the previous year. It was later the capital of Epirus Vetus...
were persecuted by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, after the uprising of Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
in 1688, and a good part of them fled across the Danube and settled in the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
region that was at the time part of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, and became known as Banat Bulgarians
Banat Bulgarians
The Banat Bulgarians are a distinct Bulgarian minority group which settled in the 18th century in the region of the Banat, which was then ruled by the Habsburgs and after World War I was divided between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary...
.
There are still over ten thousand Banat Bulgarians in Banat today in the villages of Dudeştii Vechi
Dudestii Vechi
Dudeştii Vechi is a commune in Timiş County, Romania...
, Vinga, Breştea
Denta
-Villages:The commune is composed of four villages: Breştea, Denta, Roviniţa Mare and Roviniţa Mică.Breştea was founded in 1842 by around 110 families of Roman Catholic Banat Bulgarians from Dudeştii Vechi ....
and also in the city of Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, with a few in Arad
Arad, Romania
Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...
; however, they no longer practice their religion, having converted to Roman Catholicism. There are also a few villages of Paulicians in the Serbian part of Banat, especially the villages of Ivanovo
Ivanovo
Ivanovo is a city and the administrative center of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population: Ivanovo has traditionally been called the textile capital of Russia. Since most textile workers are women, it has also been known as the "City of Brides"...
and Belo Blato
Belo Blato
Belo Blato is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the autonomous province of Vojvodina...
, near Pančevo
Pancevo
Pančevo is a city and municipality located in the southern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina, 15 km northeast from Belgrade. In 2002, the city had a total population of 77,087, while municipality of Pančevo had 127,162 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the South Banat...
.
In Russia after the war of 1828-29 Paulician communities could still be found in the part of Armenia occupied by the Russians. Documents of their professions of faith and disputations with the Gregorian bishop about 1837 (Key of Truth, xxiii-xxviii) were later published by Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare was a British orientalist, Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Professor of Theology at the University of Oxford.-Biography:...
. It is with Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare publications of the Paulicians disputations and "The Key of Truth" that Conybeare based his depiction of the Paulicians as simple, godly folk who had kept an earlier (sc. Adoptionistic
Adoptionism
Adoptionism, sometimes called dynamic monarchianism, is a minority Christian belief that Jesus was adopted as God's son at his baptism...
) form of Christianity (ibid., introduction).
Many descendents of the Paulicians nowadays profess the Orthodox Christian faith, the Roman Catholic faith, or Islam faith in some of the states of the Balkan Peninsula.
Doctrines
Little is known of the tenets of the Paulicians, as we are confined for information to the reports of opponents and a few fragments of Sergius' letters which they have preserved. Their system was dualisticDualistic cosmology
Dualistic cosmology is a collective term. Many variant myths and creation motifs are so described in ethnographic and anthropological literature...
, although some have argued that it was actually adoptionist in nature.
In it there are two principles, two kingdoms. The Evil Spirit is the author of
Demiurge
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...
, and lord of, the present visible world; the Good Spirit, of the future world. Of their views about the creation of man, little is known but what is contained in the ambiguous words of Sergius. This passage seems to teach that Adam's sin of disobedience was a blessing in disguise, and that a greater sin than his is the sin against the Church.
The Paulicians accepted the four Gospels; fourteen Epistles of Paul
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
; the three Epistles of John; the epistles of James
Epistle of James
The Epistle of James, usually referred to simply as James, is a book in the New Testament. The author identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ", with "the earliest extant manuscripts of James usually dated to mid-to-late third century."There are four views...
and Jude
Epistle of Jude
The Epistle of Jude, often shortened to Jude, is the penultimate book of the New Testament and is attributed to Jude, the brother of James the Just. - Composition :...
; and an Epistle to the Laodiceans
Epistle to the Laodiceans
An Epistle to the Laodiceans, purportedly written by Paul of Tarsus to the Laodicean Church, is mentioned in the canonical Epistle to the Colossians...
, which they professed to have. They rejected the Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, also known as the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, as well as the Orthodox-Catholic title Theotokos ("Mother of God"), and refused all veneration of Mary. Christ came down from heaven to emancipate humans from the body and from the world, which are evil. The reverence for the Cross they looked upon as heathenish. The outward administration of the sacraments of the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
they rejected. Their places of worship they called "places of prayer." Although they were ascetics, they made no distinction in foods, and practiced marriage.
The Paulicians were not a branch of the Manichæans, as Photius, Petrus Siculus
Petrus Siculus
Petrus Siculus or Peter Sikeliotes was either a monk or a learned nobleman, who in 870 was sent as a legate from the Byzantine emperor Basil I to the Paulician leader Chrysocheir, negotiating for an exchange of prisoners. He stayed in the Paulician city of Tephrike/Tibrica, now Divrigi in Turkey,...
, and many modern authors have held. Both sects were dualistic, but the Paulicians ascribed the creation of the world to the evil God (demiurge
Demiurge
The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...
) and, unlike the Manichæans, held the New Testament Scriptures in higher honor. They even condemned Manes
Mani (prophet)
Mani , of Iranian origin was the prophet and the founder of Manichaeism, a gnostic religion of Late Antiquity which was once widespread but is now extinct...
, the Manichæan prophet, comparing him to the Buddha. Gieseler
Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler
Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler, KH was a Protestant German church historian.-Biography:He was born at Petershagen, near Minden, where his father, Georg Christof Friedrich, was preacher...
and Neander
August Neander
Johann August Wilhelm Neander , was a German theologian and church historian.-Biography:Neander was born at Göttingen as David Mendel. His father, Emmanuel Mendel, is said to have been a Jewish pedlar, but August adopted the name of Neander on his baptism as a Protestant Christian...
, with more probability, derive the sect from the Marcionites
Marcionism
Marcionism was an Early Christian dualist belief system that originated in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope at Rome around the year 144; see also Christianity in the 2nd century....
. Muratori
Ludovico Antonio Muratori
Ludovico Antonio Muratori was an Italian historian, notable as a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragment, the earliest known list of New Testament books....
, Mosheim
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim or Johann Lorenz Mosheim , German Lutheran church historian, was born at Lübeck on 9 October 1693 or 1694.- Biography :...
, Gibbon, Gilles Quispel
Gilles Quispel
Gilles Quispel was a Dutch theologian, and historian of Christianity and Gnosticism. He became professor emeritus of early Christian history at Utrecht University....
and others regard the Paulicians as the forerunners of the Cathars, but the differences between them in organization, ascetic practices, etc., undermine this opinion.
See also
- Albigensians
- BogomilismBogomilismBogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar I in the 10th century...
- TondrakiansTondrakiansTondrakians were members of an anti-feudal, heretical Christian sect that flourished in medieval Armenia between the early 9th century and 11th century and centered around the city of Tondrak, north of Lake Van in Western Armenia.-History:...
- PomaksPomaksPomaks is a term used for a Slavic Muslim population native to some parts of Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. The Pomaks speak Bulgarian as their native language, also referred to in Greece and Turkey as Pomak language, and some are fluent in Turkish,...
- Novgorod CodexNovgorod CodexThe Novgorod Codex is the oldest book of Rus’, unearthed on July 13, 2000 in Novgorod. It is a palimpsest consisting of three bound wooden tablets containing four pages filled with wax, on which its former owner wrote down dozens, probably hundreds of texts during two or three decades, each time...
- Nane (goddess)Nane (goddess)Nane or the "Great Mother Goddess" was a pagan Armenian goddess of war, motherhood, and wisdom.- Nane’s relations to other Armenian pagan gods and goddesses :Nane was the daughter of the supreme god Aramazd...
Additional reading
- Herzog, "Paulicians," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 2. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp. 1776–1777
- Nikoghayos AdontzNicholas AdontzNicholas Adontz was a prominent Armenian historian, specialist of Byzantine and Armenian studies, and philologist. Adontz was the author of the Armenia in the Period of Justinian, a highly influential work and landmark study on the social and political structures of early Medieval Armenia.-Early...
: Samuel l'Armenien, Roi des Bulgares. Bruxelles, Palais des academies, 1938. Hrach BartikyanHrach BartikyanHrach Mikayeli Bartikyan is an Armenian academician and specialist on Byzantine and Armenian studies. The author of over 200 books, articles and monographs, he is a full member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and heads its Department of the Middle Ages...
, Quellen zum Studium der Geschichte der paulikianischen Bewegung, Eriwan 1961. - The Key of Truth, A Manual of the Paulician Church of Armenia, edited and translated by F. C. Conybeare, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1898.
- S. B. Dadoyan: The Fatimid Armenians: Cultural and Political Interaction in the Near East, Islamic History and Civilization, Studies and Texts 18. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997, Pp. 214.
- Nina G. Garsoian: The Paulician Heresy. A Study in the Origin and Development of Paulicianism in Armenia and the Eastern Provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Publications in Near and Middle East Studies. Columbia University, Series A 6. The Hague: Mouton, 1967, 296 pp.
- Nina G. Garsoian: Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, London: Variorum Reprints, 1985, Pp. 340.
- Herzog: "Paulicians". In Philip Schaff (ed.): A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol. 2. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. pp. 1776–1777.
- Vahan M. Kurkjian: A History of Armenia (Chapter 37, The Paulikians and the Tondrakians), New York, 1959, 526 pp.
- A. Lombard: Pauliciens, Bulgares et Bons-hommes, Geneva 1879
- Vrej Nersessian: The Tondrakian Movement, Princeton Theological Monograph Series, Pickwick Publications, Allison Park, Pennsylvania, 1948, Pp. 145.
- Edouard Selian: Le dialect Paulicien, In: The Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Armenian Linguistics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1995. Publisher: Caravan books, Delmar, New York, 1996, 408 pp.
External links
- Paulicianism article at Medieval Church.org.uk
- Paulicianism article at The Catholic Encyclopedia, Newadvent.org
- Paulicianism article at 1911encyclopedia.org
- http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Paulicians
- Selian, Edouard (2010). The Immortal Spirit of the Goddess Nané
- Leon Arpee. Armenian Paulicianism and the Key of Truth. The American Journal of Theology, Chicago, 1906, vol. £, p. 267-285
- L. P. Brockett, The Bogomils of Bulgaria and Bosnia - The Early Protestants of the East