History of the Bogomils

I believe we should rely on reason rather than approving the opinion of Gottfried Arnold Gottfried Arnold (1666–1714) was a radical pietist historian known for his "Unbiased History of Churches and Heretics," which often defended groups traditionally labeled as heretical., who perhaps here, as elsewhere, is affected by a love of novelty. In his History of Heresies original: Haeresiologia on page 206, relying on some unknown author, he declares that the Bogomils are called “beloved by God” in the Bulgarian language, but “imploring God’s mercy” in the Saracenic tongue Arnold's reference to "Saracenic" (Arabic/Islamic) is unusual here, as the sect is primarily Slavic and Byzantine.. Friedrich Spanheim Friedrich Spanheim the Younger (1632–1701), a Dutch theologian and church historian known for his meticulous research. comes closer to the view of the ancient writers, being a man of no less faith than learning and industry in narrating the affairs of the Church. In his Christian History of the 12th Century, page 1601, he judges that they are called Bogomils either as those who "associate with God" or those who "prayed for God's mercy." In the first part of the name, he is undoubtedly looking to the Greek language and its word homilein original: ὁμιλεῖν — meaning to converse or be in company with, which carries the sense of familiarity and friendship. Johannes Leuenclavius A 16th-century German scholar who specialized in Turkish and Byzantine history., in a marginal note explaining the book of Harmenopoulos, and following his example Jacob Tollius in Notable features of an Italian Journey page 109, observes that Bog means “God,” and Mile means “propitious” original: Bog Deum, Mile autem propitium in the Henetic language, which today is called the Wendish language The "Wends" were Slavic-speaking populations living near Germanic territories; "Henetic" refers to the ancient Veneti of the Vistula. and is a dialect of the Slavonic tongue. With this origin of the name established, it is easily understood that it is more correct to call them Bogomils than Bongomils, a spelling observed in several manuscripts. For Tollius, in the aforementioned book on page 111, observes that they are called Bongomils in a certain letter of Euthymius found in the Caesarean Library The Imperial Library in Vienna., which he had mentioned earlier on page 106. He also notes the title “A Refutation of the Messalian Bogomils” original: Ἐλέγχος τῶν Μασσαλιανῶν Πογομίλων in a certain manuscript of Euthymius’s Panoplia The "Panoplia Dogmatica," a massive defense of Orthodox doctrine by Euthymius Zigabenus.. And I well remember that Lambecius Peter Lambeck (1628–1680), the librarian of the Imperial Library in Vienna. cited the title of a certain letter by Euthymius three times in his commentary on the Vienna Library, and twice he provided the spelling Bougomiloi original: βουγομίλων. Among more recent writers, Caspar Calvorius in The Fissures of Zion original: Fissuris Sionis (1700), a work on church schisms and sects. page 338, preferred to call them Bongomils, though he notes there that others call them Bogomils and Bongomiles. To these you may add what the author of the Nomocanon A collection of ecclesiastical law; this refers to a specific Greek edition. says, which appears in Volume I of the Monuments of the Greek Church