The Cathars were members of a religious sect who practiced a form of Gnosticism during the middle of the 12th century CE. The name Cathar in Greek means "pure ones". The Catholic Church determined the Cathars were heretics so sought to eradicate them from all of Europe.
Cathar doctrine was anti-sacerdotal meaning they opposed the Catholic Church. The Cathars actively protested Catholic corruption as carried out by the clergy onto the populace, primarily the Catholic tendency towards both singular and mass persecution against those of another religion.
The Cathars referred to themselves as "goodmen" and "goodwomen". Unlike Catholics, the Cathars did not insist upon baptism, initiation, or asceticism. While on their death bed Cathars received the consolamentum, or the "consolement" of baptism. In this ceremony prayers were said over the dying while laying hands on their body, and the Gospel of St. John was placed upon their head. The Catholic Church condemned this act as "heresy" and several Cathar Elders were put to death for performing this deed.
Cathars proclaimed that all humans contained a "spark of divine light" and that this light-spirit is corrupted when born on earth, which is a world created by a "lesser god", not the "true god". This god of earth was known to be "lesser" because he proclaimed "I am the only god!" The Cathars identified this "lesser god" as Yahwah, also known as the Demiurge or Satan. Therefore the Cathars recognized the god of the Catholics as an imposter and abomination of the Divine Light that is withing all humans, and that the earth is a place created by this imposter god to control and corrupt the Divine Light.
Cathars believed that "liberation" could be had by "awakening" to the truth of Yahweh, the god of the bible, to "realize" that the dogma set down by this "lesser god" and his Church was "ecclesiastical dogma". Once this existential reality was had the the fetters of servitude to this lesser god could be broken. The Cathars believed in reincarnation so that if this lesson was not learned, how to free the Divine Light from the grip of the lesser god, then they would be born again and given another opportunity to realize the truth of their "Divine Nature". The idea of life after death explains the importance of the consolamentum, so that in the next life the likelihood of realization was greatly enhanced.
The Cathars looked upon Jesus as an example of Divine Light freed from the fetters of the lesser god. The Gospel of St. John was their most sacred text because it spoke on the freedom of the "old ways", a reference to the Old Testament, which the Cathars felt was a book influenced by the lesser god.
The Catholic Church actively suppressed the Cathars, seeking to rid them from all of Europe. Because the edict came from the Vatican, initiated by Pope Eugene III in 1147 CE, this was a Holy War that raged for over 100 years. The most famously known incident regarding the Cathars came during this Crusade against them when the town of Beziers was overrun by the papal legate (soldiers who hide behind the clothing of a monk). Arnaud, the Cisterian abbot-commander was told that the town contained both Catholics and Cathars, to which Arnaud infamously replied, "Kill them all - the Lord will recognise his own". And so it was that 7,000 men, women, and children were brutally murdered at the hands of the Catholic Church on July 22, 1209 CE.
Cathar doctrine was anti-sacerdotal meaning they opposed the Catholic Church. The Cathars actively protested Catholic corruption as carried out by the clergy onto the populace, primarily the Catholic tendency towards both singular and mass persecution against those of another religion.
The Cathars referred to themselves as "goodmen" and "goodwomen". Unlike Catholics, the Cathars did not insist upon baptism, initiation, or asceticism. While on their death bed Cathars received the consolamentum, or the "consolement" of baptism. In this ceremony prayers were said over the dying while laying hands on their body, and the Gospel of St. John was placed upon their head. The Catholic Church condemned this act as "heresy" and several Cathar Elders were put to death for performing this deed.
Cathars proclaimed that all humans contained a "spark of divine light" and that this light-spirit is corrupted when born on earth, which is a world created by a "lesser god", not the "true god". This god of earth was known to be "lesser" because he proclaimed "I am the only god!" The Cathars identified this "lesser god" as Yahwah, also known as the Demiurge or Satan. Therefore the Cathars recognized the god of the Catholics as an imposter and abomination of the Divine Light that is withing all humans, and that the earth is a place created by this imposter god to control and corrupt the Divine Light.
Cathars believed that "liberation" could be had by "awakening" to the truth of Yahweh, the god of the bible, to "realize" that the dogma set down by this "lesser god" and his Church was "ecclesiastical dogma". Once this existential reality was had the the fetters of servitude to this lesser god could be broken. The Cathars believed in reincarnation so that if this lesson was not learned, how to free the Divine Light from the grip of the lesser god, then they would be born again and given another opportunity to realize the truth of their "Divine Nature". The idea of life after death explains the importance of the consolamentum, so that in the next life the likelihood of realization was greatly enhanced.
The Cathars looked upon Jesus as an example of Divine Light freed from the fetters of the lesser god. The Gospel of St. John was their most sacred text because it spoke on the freedom of the "old ways", a reference to the Old Testament, which the Cathars felt was a book influenced by the lesser god.
The Catholic Church actively suppressed the Cathars, seeking to rid them from all of Europe. Because the edict came from the Vatican, initiated by Pope Eugene III in 1147 CE, this was a Holy War that raged for over 100 years. The most famously known incident regarding the Cathars came during this Crusade against them when the town of Beziers was overrun by the papal legate (soldiers who hide behind the clothing of a monk). Arnaud, the Cisterian abbot-commander was told that the town contained both Catholics and Cathars, to which Arnaud infamously replied, "Kill them all - the Lord will recognise his own". And so it was that 7,000 men, women, and children were brutally murdered at the hands of the Catholic Church on July 22, 1209 CE.
posted by hildegard at 8:02 AM
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