History of the Bogomils

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE BOGOMILS

Jean-Baptiste Cotelier Jean-Baptiste Cotelier (1624–1686) was a prominent French scholar of the early Church fathers. calls it Bogomilia original: βογομιλίας in his notes on Canon 19 of the Council of Gangra A 4th-century church council that dealt with asceticism and marriage., which can be read in Volume II of Philippe Labbe’s Councils on page 434. Severinus Binius, however, in his notes, refers to this class of men as Bogomiluci. Cesare Baronius An Italian cardinal and historian (1538–1607) known for his massive history of the Church. likewise employed the name Bogomils in Volume XII of his Annals (entry 43), for which he was noted by Peter Lambeck A 17th-century librarian and scholar. in Book III of his work on the Imperial Library.

II. Having thus examined the inner meaning of the name, the next question to be asked is who, according to the reliability of history, should be considered the first author of that title, and whether this group of heterodox thinkers original: "prave sentientium cohors," literally "a cohort of those who think wrongly," a common way of referring to heretics. gave the name to themselves or rather received it from others. I do not believe either possibility can be explained with perfect accuracy or full certainty, though it seems more likely to me that this name was imposed by others upon those who preferred to be called Christians. These observers, seeing the group constant in their prayers and perhaps frequently hearing them boasting of the reconciled grace of God, believed they had sufficient reason for establishing this name. This was the same reason why the ancestors of the Bogomils were called by the name of Massalians—that is, Euchites or Prayers Euchites: From the Greek "euchomai," meaning "to pray.". For those who wish to derive the name of the Massalians from the Chaldean root tsala original: צְלָא — an Aramaic/Syriac root meaning "to pray.", which the Syrians express

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and use with the meaning of "praying," are correct in their thinking; they believe that Matslin original: מַצְלִין, that is, "those who pray," were called Euchitai in Greek. Theodoret A 5th-century theologian and church historian. achieved this understanding of the name long ago in Book IV of his Ecclesiastical History, chapter 10: "They call these people [Euchites]," he says, "translating the name into the Greek tongue" original: "Ευχίτας τούτους προσαγορεύουσι, οἱ εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα φωνὴν τοὔνομα μεταβάλοντες". Compare what Dionysius Petavius A Jesuit theologian and scholar. remarks on that passage, and Jacob Tollius following him. Hence also John of Damascus, in his book on heresies—which Jean-Baptiste Cotelier included in Volume I of his Monuments of the Greek Church, page 302—embraces the same interpretation, saying: "Massalians, which means Prayers" original: "Μασσαλιανοὶ, οἱ ἑρμηνεύονοι Ευχῖται". Just as the Bogomils, therefore, seem to have expressed the customs of the Massalians specifically in their practice of prayer as well as in other matters, it will seem a wonder to no one that they [shared a name] of almost the same...