TOWARDS THE QUESTION OF ARMENIAN ANTI-DUALISM OF THE 5TH – 6TH CENTURIES AND ITS PHILOSOPHIC AND THEOLOGICAL PREMISES
Hayk Hakobyan
Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts /Matenadaran/ (Armenia)
Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (Armenia)
Dmitry Goncharko
Independent scholar (Germany)
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-01
Abstract. The goal of this paper is to explore the diversity of Armenian antidualistic texts by authors such as Yeznik of Kołb, Yełishe, and David the Invincible. We will also examine their connections to Ancient Greek antidualistic thought, their possible philosophical foundations in Plato, Middle Platonism, and the Neopythagoreans. We are going to analyze the works of these authors—including Yeznik of Kołb’s Refutation of Heresies, Yełishe’s Interpretation of the Created, David Anakht’s Definitions of Philosophy—and investigate the origins and parallels of their argumentation.
Keywords: Armenian anti-dualistic argumentation, Manichaeism, dualism
CATHOLICOS JOHN OF ŌDZUN’S POLEMIC AGAINST PAULICIANS AND THE ARMENIAN-SYRIAN COUNCIL OF MANTZIKERT, 726
Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-02
Abstract. The paper discusses the activity of the Armenian catholicos Yovhannēs Ōjnets̔i (717 – 728). It sets his polemical treatise against Paulicians, and its Christology, in the context of the council convened by the catholicos in Mantzikert with the participation of both Armenian and Syriac clerics. This council restored communion between two miaphysite Churches, Armenian and West-Syrian. Its significance also resides in the fact that it represented an initiative not of an overarching secular authority, but of separate ecclesiastical institutions. The circumstances conducive to the council’s convocation and its proceedings are analysed with reference to Armenian and Syriac historians of the eleventh to the thirteenth century.
Keywords: Aphthartodocetism, Christological debates, Church councils, Dualism; Incorruptibility, John of Ōdzun, Miaphysites, Michael the Syrian; Paulicianism
DUALISTIC PRINCIPLES AND FORMULATIONS IN THE TEACHING OF THE PAULICIANS AND BOGOMILS THROUGH THE EYES OF PRESBYTER COSMAS AND EUTHYMIUS ZIGABENUS
Dimo Penkov
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-03
Abstract. This paper aims to present, from a comparative perspective, the dualism underlying the teachings of the Paulicians and Bogomils. A theological study of this subject is inextricably linked to several important and still insufficiently explored aspects of the worldview of Paulicianism and Bogomilism. With regard to Paulician dualistic doctrine, the theological-apologetic analysis will be based on the 24th title of Euthymius Zigabenus’ “Dogmatic Panoply”. Concerning the Bogomil doctrine, the analysis will be conducted through the perspective of Presbyter Cosmas in his “Discourse Against the Bogomils” and the 27th title of Euthymius Zigabenus’ work..
The publication will also briefly examine the ancient dualistic heresies of the East, which directly or indirectly influenced the teachings of the Paulicians and Bogomils. By comparing these two heretical movements, both of which were widespread in Bulgarian lands, the study outlines their fundamental dualistic principles and propositions while also identifying clear distinctions between them, particularly in terms of the nature of their dualism – whether extreme or moderate.
Keywords: Dualism; Heresy, Paulicianism, Bogomilism, Manichaeism, Docetism
THE BOGOMIL RITUAL BEFORE THE CROSS AND ITS DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS
Ivan Christov
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-04
Abstract. Panoplia Dogmatica by Euthymios Zigabenos is undoubtedly the most important source for Bogomilism in Constantinople in the 12th century. The Title 27 offers a systematic exposition of this heresy, and gives a unique first-hand testimony from Basil the Physician, in the investigation of whom Zigabenos was engaged. One such first-hand testimony concerns the ritual that the Bogomils performed before the cross. The paper analyses it and establishes an inconsistency of Zigabenos’ interpretation with the words of the heresiarch, as well as internal contradictions in it. On this basis, a hypothesis is put forward about the real meaning of the Bogomil ritual before the cross. It symbolizes the choice of the true path – the path of the Bogomil, who chooses the cross of light over the demonic cross of death. At the heart of the Bogomil ritual is the bifurcation of this most important Christian symbol, which is directly related to their dualism.
Keywords: Bogomilism, heresy, dualism, cult, symbol, cross
BOGOMIL’S DEPICTIONS AND GRAVE SYMBOLISM IN BULGARIA PRELIMINARY COMMENTS
Emil Ivanov
University of Shumen
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-05
Abstract. The following article takes into account a hitherto ignored art genre of the Bulgarian Middle Ages, namely the drawings and grave symbols of Bogomil content from Bulgaria. The article is only a preliminary report on the ongoing research on the topic. Due to the preserved material findings, only secured monuments are considered as well as the archival sources of the researchers who described and recorded them when they were discovered.
Keywords: Bogomiles, grave symbolism, Art of the Bogomiles, archive, archival research, paleography, Christian sculpture, graffiti
THE FIGURATIVE REPRESENTATIONS IN THE DUALISTIC TEACHING OF THE BOGOMILS
Lyubomira Stefanova
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-06
Abstract. In the article, I will focus on the figurative representations of good and evil, where the dominant image of evil becomes the reason for developing a demonized ontology, which has been expressed in various social and religious movements. The aim is to show that by emphasizing the demonic beginning, the Bogomil views of the world lead to a blurring of the idea of man as the likeness of God and, consequently, to a depersonalization of the human image. Set within this doomed world, the Bogomils’ pursuit of perfection is reduced to the acquisition of „supernatural insights“ in a deeply fanatical hierarchical environment.
Keywords: dualism, Bogomils, demonization, imagination, tradition
ICONOCLASM IN DUALISTIC HERESIES ACCORDING TO ANTI-HERETICAL WRITINGS IN EASTERN THEOLOGY FROM 10TH TO THE BEGINNING OF 13TH CENTURY
Boriana Nanova
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-07
Abstract. The present study aims to show the main arguments in the criticism of iconoclasm in some dualistic heresies in the works of Orthodox authors from the period 10th – 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. Via the analysis of dogmatic-polemical and anti-heretical works of Orthodox writers from the indicated period, the task of the present study is to prove the failure and lack of foundation of the heretical iconoclastic views of the representatives of the various dualistic heresies, especially in Bulgaria and Eastern Byzantine Empire. The veneration of holy images is based on the dogma of the Incarnation of God, which is fundamental in Orthodox understanding of the icon. The incarnation of the Word of God and the creation of man in the image of God are a prerequisite and basis for the likeness of God, hence for the depiction of the Mother of God, the saints and all the holy disembodied heavenly powers.
Keywords: iconoclasm, dualistic heresies, anti-heretical writings, icon veneration
DISCOURSES ON BOGOMILISM IN EARLY MODERN WESTERN CHRISTIANITY
Martin Illert
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle (Saale), Germany
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-08
Abstract. This article traces some largely unknown western discourses on Bogomilism starting out from the second half of the 16th century and reaching to the beginning of the 19th century. After a look at the identification of Bogomilism with Protestantism by Catholic writers of the 16th and 17th centuries and Protestant apologists who rejected this equation, the second part deals with inner-Protestant controversies between Pietists and so called “Orthodox” Lutherans. The article concludes with a look at Bogomilism in Friedrich Schellingʼs idealist philosophy.
Keywords: Bogomilism; Pietism, Lutheranism, Counterreformation, Enlightenment, Gottfried Arnold, Johann Christoph Wolf, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich Schelling
THE ROLE OF BOGOMILISM IN THE THEOLOGICAL DEBATE BETWEEN PIETISTS AND ORTHODOX LUTHERANS
Konstantin Anikin
Martin Luther University Halle (Saale), Germany
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-09
Abstract. This study explores the connection between the medieval religious movement and the theology of the early Enlightenment – an aspect that has only been marginally addressed in scholarly research. First, it examines the work and influence of the radical Pietist Gottfried Arnold (1666 – 1714), who became known as a defender of all forms of heresy through his Unpartheyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie. Opposing him stands the Wittenberg Byzantinist Johann Christoph Wolf (1683 – 1739), a central figure who, through his writings particularly his Historia Bogomilorum (1699 – 1715) – offered a new perspective in defending true church doctrine. This will be explored in the second and concluding part of the following article.
Keywords: Orthodox Lutherans, Pietism, Bogomils, Gottfried Arnold, Johann Christoph Wolf, Heresiography
THE OCCULT-ESOTERIC NATURE OF SOME BRANCHES OF CONTEMPORARY BOGOMIL DOCTRINE
Stelyian Kunev
Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-10
Abstract. The article presents the influence of occult-esoteric teachings on contemporary Bogomil doctrine and the shift in its principles from dualistic to dual. The aim of the study is to explore and outline the process of change and development of the Neo-Bogomil teaching in comparison with its medieval version. The subject of the study in this article will be the presentation of the process of transformation of the principles of the Neo-Bogomil teaching and its formation as an occult-esoteric doctrine.
Methodology. The research will employ the methods of theological analysis, comparative analysis, and the historical-comparative method. The main scientific contribution of the study lies in revealing the lack of internal unity within the Bogomil teaching and its transformation and development in modern times into an occult-esoteric doctrine.
Keywords: Bogomilism, dualism, duality, Middle Ages, Kingdom of Bulgaria, heresy
THE NEW BOGOMILISM AND THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN – AN APPROACH TOWARDS A CONTEMPORARY DUALISM?
Sava (Shtoni) Kokoudev
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-11
Abstract. The contemporary spiritual movement of modern Bogomilism claims to revive the teaching and practices of medieval Bogomilism, but what is the dogmatic core identity of this New or Neo-Bogomilism and is it relevant enough to ascribe the contemporary movement to known dualistic systems? A reconstruction of traditional dualistic interpretative framework surrounding the conception of Original Sin would contribute to the definition of a criteria of evaluation of new phenomena, such as New Bogomilism, as well as their philosophical relations and synthesis with contemporary culture, including information society and technologies.
Keywords: New Bogomilism, Theological and cultural anthropology, identity and otherness, concepts and images of dualistic ideas
МYTHOLOGIZING OF BOGOMILISM IN THE WORK OF BULGARIAN WRITER IVAN GROZEV
Yonko Bonov
Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-12
Abstract. The study focuses on Ivan Grozev’s work of related to Bogomilism. In this regard, some of his plays, as well as several individual poems, have been studied. Attention is drawn to the peculiar syncretism between Bogomil dualism, theosophical esotericism, occultism and Nietzscheanism in the creation of the mythologized image of Boyan the Magician – aiming to place the topic on an Orthodox theological paradigm, implying a relatively new or little-known point of view.
Keywords: Boyan the Magician, Bogomilism, New Bulgarian Literature, Zarathustra, Theosophy, Christianity
DUALISTIC AND TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND THEIR EFFECT ON THE SOCIAL FABRIC IN BULGARIA
Martin Ivanov
Bulgarian Academy of Science
https://doi.org/10.53656/phil2025-02S-13
Abstract. The role of religion in modern society and human relations has long been considered increasingly marginal. Surprisingly for scholars, religion and religiosity became even more influential in postmodern times, though in various forms. The paper aims to discuss the social effects of different types of religiosity in Bulgaria, including Newbogomilism, emphasizing dualistic elements of the religious worldviews on social trust and cohesion, proposing a conceptual framework to analyze that. The working hypothesis is that the dualistic worldview has a negative impact on the social integration of Bulgarian society today.
Keywords: religiosity, spirituality, social cohesion, dualism, neo-bogomilism
