[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Basil was so far beguiled bythe demon who deceived him that he said, Look, my cloak is flying intothe air. They recognized the weaving from the selvage; they seized himand threw him, clothes and shoes and all, into the middle of the furnace.179 CHRISTIAN DUALIST HERESIESThe fire, as if furious with him, devoured the blasphemer so completelythat there was no smell of burning flesh nor any alteration in the flame,but simply a thin line of smoke appeared in the middle of the flames.As for the remaining number of the destructive sect of Basil, the excitedpeople tried to have them thrown on to the fire by force, but theemperor would not allow it.He ordered that they should be imprisonedin the porches and galleries of the Great Palace.They were trans-ferred there, and having spent some time there, died in their impiety.25.EXTRACTS FROM EUTHYMIUSZIGABENUS DOGMATIC PANOPLY AGAINSTTHE BOGOMILSEuthymius was given the task of interrogating the Bogomil leader Basil, whosetrial is recorded by Anna Comnena1.As she reports, he was commissioned towrite up an account of the sect in his encyclopaedia of heresies, the DogmaticPanoply.The most accessible version of that text is that of Migne (PG 130.1289d1331d).Another account by Euthymius of his interrogation of the Bogomilleader exists in a twelfth-century MS at Utrecht, published by Ficker (DiePhundagiagiten, Leipzig, 1908), who called it the Narratio.This would appear frominternal evidence to have been written earlier than the Dogmatic Panoply.In theNarratio Euthymius is concerned to give factual information about the heresy,interspersed only occasionally with comments which make his disapproval clear.In the anti-Bogomil chapter of the Panoply he has rearranged the material in amore logical order, and has taken pains to refute the heresies and to state theorthodox position.He also cross-references the reader to other chapters in hiswork where he has refuted the arguments of earlier heretics holding similarviews.Almost all the information about Bogomilism contained in the Narratio isincorporated in the Panoply, though it is arranged in a different order.Both textsend with a long section containing citations from a Bogomil commentary on StMatthew s gospel.This is the only Christian dualist commentary which has sofar come to light,2 and is, therefore, of unusual interest.The translation is based on the text of the Dogmatic Panoply; significant variantsin the Narratio text are given in footnotes.3 Euthymius refutations have been1 [24]above.2 There is an allusion to another commentary on the gospel of St Matthew in [16, d],but the description of its contents does not match the text given here.3 The commonest of these is the use in the Ficker text of Samael (rather than Satanael)as a name for the evil spirit.The section describing how Satanael, after his fall fromheaven, became known as Satan (p.187) makes it clear that the Bogomils of Constan-Ptinople used the form Satanael.Both versions of the name are otherwise familiar.180 EUTHYMIUS ZIGABENUS AGAINST THE BOGOMILSomitted in most cases, except where they help to elucidate his comments aboutBogomilism, or in a few cases (identified in the footnotes) where they show thathe and his opponents shared a common thought-world.The section from theNarratio in which Euthymius describes what he terms the archaeology ofheresy, that is, the instruction given to new converts, has been printed as anappendix.Although this does not contain any significant information which isnot found in the Panoply, it is the only coherent account which we have ofBogomil catechetics.PREFACEThe heresy of the Bogomils arose not long before our own generation.Itis a part of the Messalian heresy, and for the most part shares theirdoctrines,4 but with some additional points which increase the pollution.5It was identified in the time of the emperor Alexius,6 who skilfully andaltogether admirably tracked down its leader.He was Basil, a doctor, orrather, a destroyer, a plague, one full of destruction and a tool of everysort of evil.The emperor summoned him, received him with respect,honoured him with a seat by his own, talked to him pleasantly withkindly and agreeable conversation and, cleverly pretending discipleship,easily deceived the one who had deceived many to their destruction.With acuteness of mind and dexterity of spirit, he tracked down all themalignancy which lurked within the body of this corrupt and abomi-nable old man.So like all kinds of wild beast from their lair, he draggedout the defilement from the darkness of his heart, the multiform poison-ous teachings, by the ingenuity of his enquiry.So he outwitted thefoolish old man, that ancient ill, and ordered me to write this down andtriumph over the ridiculous secrets of the aforesaid heresy.Samael is the angel of death in Jewish tradition; the earliest record of the name isfound in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, c.6, and the legend that Samael was present inthe garden of Eden and there took the form of a snake is in the Apocalypse of Baruch, 4.9
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]