(Neo-)Bogomil Legends
The Gnosticizing Bogomils of the Twentieth-Century Balkans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.37613Keywords:
Bogomilism, Gnosticism, Balkans, Bulgaria, Croatia, Dualism, Heresy, TheosophyAbstract
This contribution examines two modern, "Neo-Bogomil" groups: the Universal White Brotherhood (Bulgaria), and the Balkan Bogomil Center (Croatia). Both of these groups claim not only the authority of Bogomilism but ancient "Gnosticism," articulating these dualist heresies in terms of Theosophy as well as South-Eastern European religious and ethnic-national identities formulated in the later nineteenth century.
References
"100 Greatest Bulgarians in Rating of Bulgarian National Television." n.d. http://www.factor-news.net/index_.php?ct=1&id=9557
Attridge, Harold W. 2006. "Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code, or the Enduring Appeal of Conspiracy Theories." Lecture delivered at Boston College, 26 April. http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/attridge/
Bereslavski, Ioann. 2009. Kralj Solomon i hram svijeta [King Solomon and the World Temple]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
Besmrtni [The Immortals]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
a. Adaptacijsko preoblikovanje [Adaptive Transformation]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
b.Djevicanstvo ce spasiti svijet [Chastity Will Save the World]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
c. Marija Magdalena. Svjetiljka bezumne ljubavi [Mary Magdalene. The Lamp of Mad Love]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
Raskrinkavanje Jaldabaota. Stari i Novi zavjet s pozicije bogumilstva [Demasking Yaldabaoth. The Old and New Testaments from the Bogomil Positions]. Zagreb: Apostolski centar Majke Bozije.
Blavatsky, Helena P. 2006-2010. The Secret Doctrine. 2 volumes. London: The Theosophical Publishing Company (Theosophy Trust).
Boev, Boyan. 1992. Misiyata na bogomilstvoto [Mission of Bogomilism]. Veliko Trnovo.
"The Bogomils." n.d. http://bogumili.com
Bogumilski svitak. Glasilo Bogumilskog centra [Bogomil Scroll. The Newsletter of the Bogomil Center].
Bowers, Bradley, ed. 2008. The Da Vinci Code in the Academy. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars.
Brakke, David. 2010. The Gnostics: Myth, Ritual and Diversity in Early Christianity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Broek, Roelof van den. 1998. "The Cathars: Medieval Gnostics?" In Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, edited by Roelof van den Broek and Wouter J. Hanegraaff, 87-108. Albany: State University of New York Press.
"Gnosticism I: Gnostic Religion." In Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach, 403-416. Leiden: Brill.
Bulgarian Center of Enlightenment. n.d. http://e-bulgaria.org/?p=476
Burns, Dylan M. 2007. "Seeking Ancient Wisdom in the New Age: New Age and Neo-Gnostic Commentators on the Gospel of Thomas." In Polemical Encounters: Esoteric Discourse and its Others, edited by Kocku von Stuckrad and Olav Hammer, 252-289. Aries Book Series 6. Leiden: Brill.
Chamberlain, Houston Stewart. 1912. The Foundations of the XIXth Century. 2 volumes. London: Bodley Head.
Culianu, Ioan P. 1992. The Tree of Gnosis: Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism. San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins.
Dahl, Nils A. 1981. "The Arrogant Archon and the Lewd Sophia." In The Rediscovery of Gnosticism: Proceedings of the International Conference on Gnosticism, edited by Bentley Layton, 689-712. Numen Book Series 41. 2 volumes. Leiden: Brill.
Danov, Petar. 2003. Za Biblijata [On the Bible]. 2 volumes. Sofia: Bjalo bratstvo.
Za misticnite ucenija [About Mystical Teachings]. Sofia: Bjalo bratstvo.
a. Okultni principi i zakoni [Occult Principles and Laws]. Sofia: Bjalo bratstvo.
b.Okultni upraznenija [Occult Practices]. Sofia: Bjalo bratstvo.
Dimitrova, Nina. 2008. Debati okolo balgarskiya gnosticizam-XX vek [Debates About Bulgarian Gnosticism-XX century]. Veliko T'rnovo: Faber.
Dollinger, Ignaz von. 1890. Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters. Munich: C. H. Beck.
Drews, Peter. 1990. Herder und die Slawen. Materialien zur Wirkungsgeschichte bis zur Mitte des 19 Jahrhunderts. Munich: Otto Sagner.
Duvernoy, Jean. 2000. La religione dei catari. Fede-dottrine-riti. Rome: Mediterranee.
Dvornikovic, Vladimir. 2000. Karakterologija Jugoslovena [Characterology of Yugoslavs]. Beograd: Prosveta.
Evans, Arthur J. 2007. Through Bosnia and the Herzegovina on Foot during the Insurrection, August and September 1875: With an Historical Review of Bosnia, and a Glimpse at the Croats, Slavonians, and the Ancient Republic of Ragusa. New York: Cosimo.
Faivre, Antoine. 1994. Access to Western Esotericism. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Falikov, Boris. 2000. "The Center of Our Lady and Counterculture." Paper Presented at the Fourteenth International CESNUR Conference, Riga, Latvia. August. www.cesnur.org/conferences/riga2000/falikov.htm
Filoramo, Giovanni. 1990. A History of Gnosticism. Oxford: Blackwell.
Fine, John V. A., Jr. 1974. The Bosnian Church: A New Interpretation: A Study of the Bosnian Church and its Place in State and Society from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Centuries. Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly.
Georgiev, Krasimir. 1995. Danovizmat bez maska. Sofia: Monarhichesko-konservativan sayuz.
Good, Deirdre. 1984. "Sophia in Valentinianism." The Second Century 4: 193-201.
Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. 2008. The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.001.000
Hamilton, Janet and Bernard Hamilton, with Yuri Stoyanov, eds. and trans. 1998. Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World c.650-c.1450. Manchester Medieval Sources Series. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Hammer, Olav. 2015. "Theosophy." In The Occult World, edited by Christopher Partridge, 250-259. Abingdon: Routledge.
Hanegraaff, Wouter. 1996. New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought. Leiden: Brill.
Hanegraaff, Wouter J. and Jeffrey J. Kripal, eds. 2008. Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism. Aries Book Series 7. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004168732.i-544
Heinzel, Thomas. 2011. "Slavic Messianism in Bulgaria: The White Brotherhood and the Question of National Identity 1920-1944." International Journal for the Study of New Religions 2(1): 55-75. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v2i1.55
"Weisse Bruderschaft und Delphische Idee: Esoterische Religiositat in Bulgarien und Griechenland in der ersten Halfte des 20. Jahrhunderts." PhD dissertation. Erfurt, Philosophische Fakultat. http://www.db-thueringen.de/servlets/DerivateServlet/Derivate-28573/Doktorarbeit_Heinzel.pdf
Introvigne, Massimo. 2005. Gli Illuminati e il Priorato di Sion. La verita sulle due societa segrete del 'Codice da Vinci' e di 'Angeli e demoni.' Casale Monferrato: Piemme.
"Deunov, Peter Konstantinov." In Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach, 309-310. Leiden: Brill.
Ivanova, Irina. 2011. "Bulgarian Monk Rekindles Occult Debate." Reuters, 17 March. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-bulgaria-religion-book-idUSTRE72G1ZG20110317
Jonas, Hans. 1991. The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity. Boston, MA: Beacon.
Kardec, Allan. 2002. Le livre des esprits. Paris: Dervy
King, Karen L. 2003. The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle. Santa Rosa: Polebridge.
What Is Gnosticism? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kniewald, Dragutin. 1949. Vjerodostojnost latinskih izvora o bosanskim krstjanima [The Credibility of Latin Sources on Bosnian Christians]. Zagreb: Rad JAZU.
Koenig, Peter-Robert. n.d. "Ordo Templi Orientis Spermo-Gnosis: Carl Kellner, Theodor Reuss, Aleister Crowley." http://www.parareligion.ch/spermo.htm
Kokin, Ilja. n.d. "Bogorodicnyi centr: istoriia, veroucenie, religioznaia zizn" [Mother of God's Center: History, Teachings, Religious Life]. http://www.k-istine.ru/sects/other/bc_about.htm
Kont, Fransis. 1989. Sloveni. 2 volumes. Belgrade: Filip Visnjic.
Kovacheva, Eva. 2010. "Die Weisse Bruderschaft des Peter Danov: Entstehung, Geschichte und Lehre." PhD dissertation. Marburg: Philipps-Universitat.
Kuraev, Andrej. 1997. Satanizm dlia intelligentsii. Hristianstvo bez okkultizma [Satanism for Intelligentsia. Christianity without Occultism]. Moscow: Moskovskoe podvor'e Sviato-Troitskoi Sergievoi Lavry.
Lambert, Malcolm D. 1977. Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from Bogomil to Hus. New York: Holmes & Meier.
Lerner, Robert E. 1972. The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Levi, Eliphas. 1896. The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic. Translated by Arthur E. Waite. London: Rider & Co.
Loos, Milan. 1974. Dualist Heresy in the Middle Ages. Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-1212-1
MacDonald, Dennis Ronald. 1987. There Is No Male and Female: The Fate of a Dominical Saying in Paul and Gnosticism. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress.
Markovic, Slobodan G. 2013. "Patterns of National Identity Development among the Balkan Orthodox Christians during the Nineteenth Century." Balcanica 44: 209-254. https://doi.org/10.2298/BALC1344209M
Markschies, Christoph. 2001. Die Gnosis. Munich: C. H. Beck. https://doi.org/10.17104/9783406616273
McIntosh, Christopher. 2011. Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Melton, Gordon R. 2007. "Beyond Millennialism: The New Age Transformed." In Handbook of New Age, edited by Daren Kemp and James R. Lewis, 77-97. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004153554.i-484.28
Micetic, Vinko. 2014. Bogumili su vjecni [Bogomils are Eternal]. Praputnjak: Vlastita naklada. Obolensky, Dimitri.
The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manicheism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Partridge, Christopher. 2007. "Truth, Authority and Epistemological Individualism in New Age Thought." In Handbook of New Age, edited by Daren Kemp and James R. Lewis, 231-254. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004153554.i-484.80
Pasov, Vlad. 2008. Bogomilstvoto, p't na s'v'rsenite [Bogomilism: The Way of the Perfect]. Sofia: Avir.
Pegg, Mark Gregory. 2001. The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245-1246. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Quispel, Gilles. 1951. Gnosis als Weltreligion. Zurich: Origo.
Radulovic, Nemanja. 2013. "The Question of Neo-Bogomilism." In Ways of Gnosis. Mystical and Esoteric Traditions and Gnostic Worldview from Antiquity to the Present Time, edited by Sergey V. Pahomov and Anna A. Tesman, 169-184. St. Petersburg: Russian Christian Academy for Humanities.
Rainov, Nikolai. (Anonymous.) 1912. Bogomilski legendi. Stranici iz letopisa na sveta [Bogomil Legends. Pages from the World Chronicle]. Sofia: Carska pridvorna pecatnica.
Raisanen, Heikki. 2005. "Marcion." In A Companion to Second-Century Christian "Heretics," edited by Antti Marjanen and Petri Luomanen, 100-124. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 76. Leiden: Brill.
Rasimus, Tuomas. 2009. Paradise Reconsidered in Gnostic Mythmaking: Rethinking Sethianism in Light of the Ophite Evidence. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 68. Leiden: Brill.
Rigo, Antonio. 1989. Monaci esicasti e monaci bogomili. Florence: Leo Olschi.
Roth, Klaus. 2007. "'Europaisierung': Zur Geschichte eines wieder aktuellen Begriffs." In Fremdes Europa? Selbstbilder und Europa-Vorstellungen in Bulgarien (1850-1945), edited by Petar Petrov, Katerina Gehl and Klaus Roth, 7-13. Berlin: LIT.
"Vom Rand in die Mitte." In Europas Mitte--Mitte Europas. Europa als kulturelle Konstruktion, edited by Kathrin Poge-Alder and Christel Kohle-Hezinger, 135-146. Jena: Collegium Europaeum Jenense.
Rudolph, Kurt. 1980. Die Gnosis. Wesen und Geschichte einer spatantiken Religion. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Runciman, Stephen. 1999. The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmaus, Alois. 1971. "Der Neumanichaismus auf dem Balkan." In Gesammelte slavistische und balkanologische Abhandlungen. 1. Teil, 91-128. Munich: Rudolf Trofenik.
Soderberg, Hans. 1949. La religion des cathares. Etude sur le gnosticisme de la basse antiquite et du moyen age. Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksells Boktryckeri A.B.
Solovjev, Aleksandar. 1948. Vjersko ucenje bosanske crkve [The Doctrine of Bosnian Church]. Zagreb: JAZU.
Stichele, Caroline Vander and Suzanne Scholz, eds. 2013. Hidden Truths from Eden: Esoteric Readings of Genesis 1-3. SBL Semeia Series 76. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.
Stoyanov, Yuri. 1999. "Nastanak srednjovjekovne paradigme hereticke Bosne i njeni moderni odjeci" [The Making of Medieval Paradigm of Heretical Bosnia and its Modern Reflections]. Forum Bosne 7/8: 295-308.
The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
"Esoteric and Initiatory Traditions in Ancient and Medieval Gnostic Dualism." In Sulla soglia del sacro: esoterismo ed iniziazione nelle grandi rleigioni e nella tradizione massonica, edited by Antonio Panaino, 122-146. Milan: Mimesis Edizioni.
"Between Heresiology and Political Theology: The Rise of the Paradigm of the Medieval Heretical Bosnian Church." In Teologie politiche. Modelli a confront, edited by Giovanni Filoramo, 161-180. Brescia: Morcelliana.
Stroumsa, Guy. 1983. Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology. Nag Hammadi Studies 24. Leiden: Brill.
Sugarev, Edvin. 2007. Nikolai Rainov-bogotarsachat bogoborec [Nikolai Rainov--God-seeker, God-fighter]. Sofia: Izdatelstvo-Karina-Maraina Todorova.
Szwat-Gylybowa, Grazyna. 2010. Haeresis bulgarica v balgarskoto kulturno saznanie na XIX i XX vek [Haeresis Bulgarica in Bulgarian Cultural Reflection in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries]. Sofiya: Universitetsko izdatelstvo Sv. Kliment Ohridski.
"Metamorfozite na balgarskite neognostici" [The Metamorphosis of Bulgarian Neo-Gnostics]. https://balkansbg.eu/bg/content/b-identichnosti/474-metamorfozite-na-balgarskite-neognostitzi.html
Tau Malachi. 2005. Living Gnosis: A Practical Guide to Gnostic Christianity. Woodbury: Llewellyn.
Taylor, Claire. 2011. Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Medieval Quercy. Rochester, NY: York Medieval.
Todorova, Maria, ed. 2004. Balkan Identities: Nation and Memory. New York: New York University Press.
Imagining the Balkans. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tonceva, Svetoslava. 2011. "Novi religiozni dvizenija v Evropa--natsionalni i transnatsionalni konteksti" [New Religious Movements in Europe: National and Transnational Contexts]. PhD dissertation. Sophia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Tongerloo, Alois von. 1995. "Reflections on the Manichaean." In The Manichaean: Proceedings of the International Symposium Organized in Louvain from 31 July to 3 August 1991, edited by Alois von Tongerloo and Johannes van Oort, 309-315. Turnhout: Brepols.
Trompf, Garry W. 2006. "Macrohistory." In Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, in collaboration with Antoine Faivre, Roelof van den Broek and Jean-Pierre Brach, 701-716. Leiden: Brill.
"Theosophical Macrohistory." In Handbook of Theosophical Current, edited by Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, 375-403. Leiden: Brill.
Urban, Hugh B. 2006. Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Versluis, Arthur. 2008. The Secret History of Western Sexual Mysticism: Sacred Practices and Spiritual Marriage. Rochester, NY: Destiny.
Visarion. 2011. Petar Danov i Vanga-proroci i predteci na antihrista [Petar Danov and Vanga: False Prophets and Forerunners of Anti-Christ]. 2 volumes. Atos: Zograf.
Wakefield, Walter L. and Austin Evans, eds. and trans. 1991. Heresies of the High Middle Ages. Records of Western Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wessinger, Catherine. 2013. "The Second Generation Leaders of the Theosophical Society (Adyar)." In Handbook of Theosophical Current, edited by Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, 33-50. Leiden: Brill.
Williams, Michael Allen. 1996. Rethinking "Gnosticism": An Argument for Dismantling a Dubious Category. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Wilson, Robert McLachlan and George W. MacRae, eds. and trans. 1979. "BG,I: The Gospel of Mary." In Nag Hammadi Codices V, 2-5 and VI with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502,1 and 4, edited by Douglas M. Parrott, 453-471. Nag Hammadi Studies 11. Leiden: Brill.
Wolf, Larry. 1994. Inventing Eastern Europe. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Yisraeli, Oded. 2016. "Cain as the Scion of Satan: The Evolution of a Gnostic Myth in the Zohar." Harvard Theological Review 109(1): 56-74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816015000486
Zimmermann, Tanja. 2010. "Titoistische Ketzerei: Die Bogomilen als Antizipation des ,dritten Weges' Jugoslawiens." Zeitschrift fur Slawistik 55(4): 445-463. https://doi.org/10.1524/slaw.2010.0035
Zlatev, Konstantin. 2005. Ucenieto na Bjaloto bratstvo [The Teachings of the White Brotherhood]. volumes. Sofija: Bjalo bratstvo
