Remarks on the Letter of the Patriarch Theophylact to Tsar Peter in the Context of Certain Byzantine and Slavic Anti-heretic Texts
Journal Title: Studia Ceranea. Journal of the Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe - Year 2013, Vol 3, Issue
Abstract
The Letter of patriarch Theophylact to tsar Peter is the oldest, but seemingly not the most informative Greek source for the history of Bogomilism. It is in essence a standard document, a typical product of the patriarch’s chancery; it is not conceived as an in-depth investigation into the theological minutiae pertaining to the cosmogony, dogmas and social doctrines of the heretics and the orthodox Church, but rather as a practical tutorial on how to thwart any given neo-Manichaean dualist heresy. It brings to light the fact that Bogomilism, the ‘new’ heresy was treated as an ‘old’ one – as a ‘reactivation’ of earlier gnostic-dualist and neo-Manichaean movements. The letter also features a peculiar innovative feature, though not one directly related to the Bogomil heresy itself: the degree of commitment to preaching the dogmas of the heresy is used for differentiating the situation of the followers. The analysis of the Letter of patriarch Theophylact to tsar Peter raises the more general issue concerning the detailed study of Byzantine and Slavic liturgical texts as a source of information on neo-Manichaean doctrines.
Authors and Affiliations
Georgi Minczew
Book Reviews: Боривоjе Маринковић, Заборављени братственици по перу [Forgotten Brothers of Writing], Службени Гласник, Београд 2011, pp. 359.
Book Review.
Book Reviews: Анатолий А. Турилов, Slavia Cyrillomethodiana: Источниковедение истории и культуры южных славян и Древней Руси. Межславянские культурные связи эпохи средневековья, „Знак“, Москва 2010, pp. 488; Анатолий А. Турилов, От Кирилла Философа до Константина Костенецкого и Василия Софиянина. История и культура славян IX–XVII вв., „Индрик“, Москва 2011, pp. 448; Анатолий А. Турилов, Межславянс
Book Review.
Book Reviews: Aulus Gellius, Noctes atticae 2.24. De vetere parsimonia; deque antiquis legibus sumptuariis / Aulus Gelliusz, Noce attyckie, 2.24. O dawnej oszczędności i o starożytnych ustawach dotyczących wydatków, ed. et trans. Aldona Rita Jurewicz, Maria Piechocka-Kłos, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań 2012, pp. 48 [=Fontes Historiae Antiquae. Zeszyty Źródłowe do Dziejów Społeczeństw Antycznych,
Book Review.
Обрядовые уклонения и дурные привычки латинских еретиков в византийскославянской полемической литературе Средневековья
The paper discusses the differences between Eastern and Western Christians during the Middle Ages through the prism of the lists of ritual deviations and bad habits of the ‘Latin heretics’, which were circulated in Byzan...
Normans and Other Franks in 11th Century Byzantium: the Careers of the Adventurers before the Rule of Alexius I Comnenus
The paper examines the Frankish presence in Byzantium during 11th century. It was stressed that the mentioned period was the time of a great influx of westerners to the East. At first, most of them visited Constantinople...