“ANYONE WHO READS THIS SHOULD CURSE THE HERETIC”: COMBATING BOGOMILISM IN BULGARIA, BYZANTIUM, AND SERBIA FROM THE 10th THROUGH THE 14th CENTURY
“ANYONE WHO READS THIS SHOULD CURSE THE HERETIC”: COMBATING BOGOMILISM IN BULGARIA, BYZANTIUM, AND SERBIA FROM THE 10th THROUGH THE 14th CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: This essay aims to offer a comprehensive review of sources relevant to the collaboration between the state and the church in Bulgaria, Byzantium, and Serbia in their efforts to combat the heresy of Bogomilism over a period of more than five hundred years. Medieval Bosnia has been excluded from this study due to ongoing controversies surrounding the association of the Bosnian Church with the Bogomils. The essence of the Bogomils’ teachings is not the focus of this study. Suffice it to say that very few, if any, original Bogomil texts have survived. Most of our knowledge about this heresy comes from writings by its opponents, which may contain distortions and exaggerations. Bogomilism is named after its founder, Bogomil. (It remains unclear whether this was his baptismal name or nickname.) The term “Bogomils” was first used by a Byzantine author in the eleventh century to refer to the followers of Bogomil. Despite their considerable experience in combating heresies, the Byzantine Church was never able to accurately define the true nature of this “newly appeared heresy” in Bulgaria. Typically, Byzantine authors associated Bogomilism with known heresies of the past. Their inability to clearly define the Bogomil teaching was a hallmark of the entire period from the tenth to the fourteenth century. There is no information regarding whether the Bogomils in Bulgaria were ever subjected to persecution, physical punishment, or death by the state, as occurred in other countries both in the region and in the West. Even the show trial of those who, according to Article 93 of Boril’s Synodikon, were “sowers of impiety” did not bring about any substantive measures, and the Synod of 1211 in Tarnovo seemed not to have led to any changes in the organization of the Bulgarian Church. This was probably due to the complex political situation, both external and internal, in which Bulgaria found itself at that time. On the other hand, such data is accessible for Byzantium in the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries, as well as for Serbia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

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