A decorative header composed of three horizontal rows of typographic ornaments. The top and bottom rows consist of repeating vine-like fleurons, while the middle row consists of repeating six-pointed stars and floral patterns.

CONCERNING THE

NAME OF THE BOGOMILS,

THEIR ORIGIN AND FATE.

As we prepare to revive the memory of the Bogomils A medieval dualist sect that emerged in the First Bulgarian Empire in the 10th century, we shall first establish those facts from the reliable records of proven writers that pertain to a more accurate understanding of this infamous class of men, from their earliest origins through the various turns of their fortune. With this plan in mind, it seems necessary to treat the name itself even more diligently, as its obscurity and its origin—which must be sought in another language—elude easy understanding. The Bogomils did not receive their name from a leader or founder of the sect, as is often the case, but rather from a certain characteristic of their doctrine or, more likely, their customs, which were common among them. In this matter, I find that the writers who lived closest to the times when this "unhappy crop" An agricultural metaphor for the growth of heresy grew up are in agreement. For Euthymius Zigabenus A 12th-century Byzantine monk and theologian, in Part II of his Panoply original: Panopliae; a massive work defending Orthodox doctrine against heresies, Title XXIII, provides the following explanation for the name: For 'Bog' in the language of the Bulgarians means God, and 'milui' means have mercy. Thus, a Bogomil, according to them, would be one who calls down the mercy of God. original Greek: Βὸγ μὲν γὰρ ἡ τῶν Βουλγάρων γλῶσσα καλεῖ τὸν Θεὸν μίλβι δὲ τὸ ἐλέησον. εἴη δ' ἂν βογόμιλος κατ' αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν ἔλεον ἐπισπώμενος. That is, as Francesco Zino, the Latin translator in the Lyons edition of the Library of the Fathers original: Biblioth. P. P. (Bibliotheca Patrum), Volume XIX, page 220, rendered it: Bog in the Bulgarian tongue signifies God; and Milui, have mercy, so that a Bogomil among them is one who implores the mercy of God. Lambecius Peter Lambeck (1628–1680), a noted historian and librarian displays the Greek words in a similar fashion from a manuscript codex in his Commentary on the Library of Vienna, book III, page 170. Nor does the Bodleian transcript original: ἀπόγραφον (apographon) which I have used disagree, except that the for-