Lecture-7; Cathars
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The Cathars were a religious sect that flourished in Southern France in the 12th century and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They believed that the world was under the control of an evil deity and the purpose of life was to renounce worldly pleasures and be reincarnated until finally being released. The Cathars rejected Catholic teachings and criticized the corruption and wealth of the Catholic clergy. Due to considering them heretical, the Catholic Church massacred the Cathars in the Albigensian Crusade from 1209-1229.
Lecture-7; Cathars
- 1. History of Christianity-II COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies Hyderabad
- 3. The Protestant Reformation 1300 – 1570 CE
- 4. Clerical ignorance: Many local parish priests were illiterate. Pre-reformation reformers and reform movements a. John Wycliffe b. John Hus c. Cathars d. Petrobrusians e.Waldensians
- 5. The Cathars (also known as Cathari from the Greek Katharoi for “pure ones”) were a dualist medieval religious sect of Southern France which flourished in the 12th century CE and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They were also known as Albigensians for the town of Albi, which was a strong Cathar center of belief. Cathar priests lived simply, had no possessions, imposed no taxes or penalties, and regarded men and women as equals; aspects of the faith which appealed to many at the time disillusioned with the Church. Cathar beliefs ultimately derived from the Persian religion of Manichaeism but directly from another earlier religious sect from Bulgaria known as the Bogomils who blended Manichaeism with Christianity.
- 6. •Perfecti – those who had renounced the world, the priests and bishops •Credentes – believers who still interacted with the world but worked toward renunciation •Sympathizers – non- believers who aided and supported Cathar communities
- 7. Cathars believed that Satan had tricked a number of angels into falling from heaven and then encased them in bodies. The purpose of life was to renounce the pleasures and enticements of the world and, through repeated incarnations, make one's way back to heaven. To this end, the Cathars observed a strict hierarchy:
- 8. According to Catharism, all material things were created by the evil God of the Old Testament and all spirituality was created by the good God of the New Testament. Cathars believes that humans are really angels trapped in corrupt matter and will have to be reborn until they are finally released through the purification ritual. Cathars
- 9. Cathars rejected the teachings of the Catholic Church as immoral and most of the books of the Bible as inspired by Satan. They criticized the Church heavily for the hypocrisy, greed, and lechery of its clergy, and the Church's acquisition of land and wealth. Not surprisingly, the Cathars were condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church and massacred in the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229 CE) which also devastated the towns, cities, and culture of southern France.
- 10. Cathar beliefs included: •Recognition of the feminine principle in the divine – God was both male and female. The female aspect of God was Sophia, “wisdom”). This belief encouraged equality of the sexes in Cathar communities. •Metempsychosis (Reincarnation) – a soul would be continually reborn until it renounced the world completely and escaped incarnation. •Cosmic Duality – the existence of two powerful deities in the universe, one good and one evil, who were in a constant state of war. The purpose of life was to serve the good by serving others and escape from the cycle of rebirth and death to return home to God. •Vegetarianism - though eating fish was allowed to credentes and sympathizers. •Celibacy for perfecti – celibacy was also encouraged generally since it was thought that every person born was just another poor soul trapped by the devil in a body. Marriage overall was discouraged. •The dignity of manual labor – the Cathars all worked, priests as well as laypeople, many as weavers. •Suicide (known as the ritual of endura) as a rational and dignified response under certain conditions.