docetist sect that arose and flourished in mediæval
Bulgaria and Macedonia,
the Bogomils derive their name from their founder, the
Bogomil (Theophilus) and their teachings from the
group settled in
Thrace in the late VIII Century. The earliest description
of the Bogomils is in a letter from Patriarch
Theophylact of Bulgaria to
Tsar Peter of Bulgaria,
and the main source of doctrinal information is
the work of
Euthymius Zigabenus, who says that they believe that God
created man's soul but matter was the invention of Satan, God's older son,
who in seducing Eve lost his creative power. Because grace could not bind
itself to matter, Bogomils believe that Christ had only the semblance of a
human body, and they reject the Eucharist and other sacraments, as well as
relics and the use of material items in worship. The Bogomils were as
ascetical as the Cathars and also rejected marriage and the eating of
animal products. Although the group saw the authority of the established
hierarchy as invalid, they set up a separate hierarchy. They accepted only
the New Testament and Psalms as scripture and were among the first to hold
From its center in
Philippi, Thrace, Bogomilism spread through the
Balkans, to Asia Minor, and into Constantinople in the XI Century.
the Bogomil is said to have
converted mobs in the Byzantine capital and
was c. 1110/18 burned at the stake, an event described in Anna Comnena's
In the XII Century, the Bogomils influenced the theology of the
Cathars in Western Europe,
and by the beginning of the XIII Century, the groups had a
network of communities that stretched from the Black Sea to the Atlantic.
Stephen Nemanja (later St. Symeon) of Serbia began to check
Bogomil activity in his kingdom. Suppression of the movement in Bulgaria
intensified after a 1211 synod condemned the heresy.
the strongholds of Bogomilism during the XIII Century;
in those countries, it was often associated with nationalism. Bogomilism
remained the dominant religion in some parts of the Balkans until the
Turkish invasions of the XV Century, after which many Bogomils converted
Karen Rae Keck
- Sir Dmitri Obolensky:
The Bogomils, (1948).
Cambridge University Press, 1948.
- SOME ORTHODOX ANTI-BOGOMIL WRITINGS:
- Euthymius Zigabenus:
Against various heresies, ordered by
- Euthymius Zigabenus:
Return to St Pachomius Library.