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The Cult Dossier · No. 015 · Christian-Derived

Bogomilism

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c.927 – 15th c. · First Bulgarian Empire, Byzantium, Bosnia, Serbia

II. MEDIEVAL — HERESY, DUALISM AND THE MILLENNIUM

Fully religious — dualist Christian sect

Who led it

The priest BOGOMIL (the name means beloved of God, or possibly one who begs God), active in Bulgaria under Tsar Peter I. Later leader BASIL THE PHYSICIAN.

What it worshipped and taught

Satanael, elder son of God, created the material world and the human body; Christ, the younger son, came to free the soul. Rejected the church, its buildings, the sacraments, the cross, saints, relics and marriage. Practised the only ritual they accepted, a laying on of hands. Extreme dualist wing considered procreation a trap for souls — the origin of the slur bugger, from Bulgarus.

Who was in it

Bogomil; Basil the Physician; Cosmas the Priest, whose Sermon against the Heretics of c.970 is the main source; Emperor Alexios I Komnenos; Euthymius Zigabenus.

How it ended, or where it stands

Absorbed and extinguished under Ottoman rule.

The dead

Unknown

Of note

The direct doctrinal parent of Catharism in the West.

Its timeline

  1. c.927–950 Movement emerges in Bulgaria under Tsar Peter I.
  2. c.970 Cosmas the Priest writes the primary hostile account.
  3. c.1100 — DATE GENUINELY UNCERTAIN THE ENTRAPMENT OF BASIL THE PHYSICIAN, CONFIRMED IN OUTLINE. Alexios I first had A LESSER BOGOMIL TORTURED INTO NAMING BASIL as the leader. He then invited Basil to dine, FEIGNED INTEREST IN CONVERSION, drew him into expounding the doctrine in full — and had NOTARIES CONCEALED BEHIND A CURTAIN taking it all down. Basil was tried publicly on the strength of his own recorded words and BURNED ALIVE IN THE HIPPODROME. TWO CAVEATS THIS FILE OWES THE READER. FIRST, THE DATE IS NOT SETTLED: it falls somewhere between about 1100 and 1118, some sources give 1110, and the trial is thought to have occurred BEFORE 1104 — but Anna Komnene placed it immediately before her father's death in 1118, having REARRANGED HER CHRONOLOGY FOR NARRATIVE EFFECT. SECOND, THE SOLE SUBSTANTIAL SOURCE IS ANNA KOMNENE, THE EMPEROR'S OWN DAUGHTER, writing a work designed to glorify him. The deception is reported by the deceiver's family.
  4. 1211 Council of Tarnovo condemns the sect.
  5. 13th–15th c. Survives in Bosnia; scholars still argue whether the Bosnian Church was genuinely Bogomil.
  6. 1463 Ottoman conquest of Bosnia; many remaining adherents convert to Islam.

Its people

Basil the Physician

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Bogomil leader in Constantinople · died c.1100 · active c.1070–c.1100

A monk and physician who led the Bogomils in Constantinople and was drawn out by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who feigned interest in conversion, dined with him, encouraged him to expound his doctrine fully — and had a scribe recording it all behind a curtain. BEFORE ANY OF THIS, ALEXIOS HAD A LESSER BOGOMIL TORTURED UNTIL HE NAMED BASIL AS THE LEADER. Basil was then arrested on the strength of his own recorded words, tried publicly, and burned alive in the Hippodrome — the only person Alexios is recorded as having executed for heresy. Anna Komnene's account in the Alexiad is the fullest description of Bogomil belief that survives, WHICH IS PRECISELY THE PROBLEM WITH IT: everything known about what Basil believed comes from the daughter of the man who destroyed him, in a book written to honour her father. THE DATE IS ALSO UNFIXED — somewhere between about 1100 and 1118, probably before 1104, though Anna moved it in her narrative to sit just before Alexios's death.

Before the law. Condemned for heresy and executed by the Byzantine state.

Where things stand. Deceased c.1100.

  1. c.1070–1100 Leads the Bogomils in Constantinople.
  2. c.1098 Entrapped by Alexios I, who records his teaching from behind a curtain.
  3. c.1100–1118 Burned alive in the Hippodrome. The year cannot be fixed; see the caveat in the group file.

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