The Cathars were a medieval Gnostic movement that flourished for a time in the Languedoc region of Southern France. They are thought to be an offshoot of the Bogomils, a Bulgarian gnostic sect, in turn most likely influenced by ideas from Manichean and other eastern gnostic sects,* brought West through trade routes from the Middle East.

The Cathars believed themselves to be the only "true" church, and dismissed the Roman Church as corrupt, greedy, hypocritical, and power-hungry Roman paganism. They eschewed materialism and hierarchy, and attempted to emulate the earliest Christians, living simply and ascetically.

Cathar Dualism

Very little is known about the intricacies of Cathar doctrines, but it is known that they had a dualistic view similar to that of the Zoroastrians and the Manichean gnostics- that good and evil were eternal powers that existed in almost balanced measure, in constant opposition. They believed the material world to be a prison- that Satan was the personification of chaos, and the earth a construct that allowed the dark forces to imprison and partake of the nature of the light. The taught that it it was a Cathar's spiritual duty to liberate the spirit from its material prison. These beliefs led to a lot of supertistious misinterpretation by enemies of the sect, who have claimed that the Cathars utterly rejected the physical body, that they were favorable to or encouraged suicide, abortion, etc. The Cathars themselves seemed to interpret this "liberation of spirit" to be at least partially metaphorical, carried out by their rejection of material wealth and social rank and their emulation of Jesus.

Cathars on Jesus and the Sacraments of the Church

Cathar views of Jesus were also gnostic in character. They taught that Christ was not a physical man, but a being of pure spirit who visited the earth only long enough to teach his apostles the doctrine of salvation from the Old Testament God, the Demiurge who was synonymous with Satan as the creator of the material world. The realm of Light was the abode of the good and of freed souls, but the forces of the earthly god worked to keep the souls of men imprisoned. Some believed that the spirits of men were those of fallen angels, lost to matter after the fall from heaven.

The Cathars condsidered the rituals of the Catholic Church to be inventions, and decried the veneration of saints, relics, and especially the crucifixion, to be works of the devil. They rejected the crucifixion and those that upheld it as a symbol, and they denied the virgin birth. They found the eucharist to be abhorrent, and decried the possibility that something that "met such a bad end" in the sewers could in fact be the body of God.

Cathars did not believe in hell, but in reincarnation into the created world. The ascetic life of the Parfait was intended to aid in overcoming the cycle of rebirth, as one who became pure would have the strength to fight the evil spirits who would continually hound human souls into new bodies. Those who received the consolamentum late in life or while dying were thought to have the opportunity to return to a more spiritual life- this death-bed baptism was referred to as "making a good end."

The Parfaits, or Perfecti, and the Cathar Sacrament

The Cathars were divided into two groups, the laity, called credentes, or 'believers,' and the Parfaits ('Perfect,' a name given somewhat scornfully by outsiders**), also called Perfecti, men and women who had received the ritual of consolamentum, one of only two sacraments practiced by the sect. Cathars did not believe in universal baptism- according to Cathar belief, the consolamentum conferred the baptism of fire as described in the gospels, and served as both baptism and ordination. A lengthy period of disciplined instruction and testing in Cathar doctrines was required prior to the consolamentum. Both men and women could receive the consolamentum, and unlike the Catholic Church, there were no bars on women preaching or administering sacraments- human souls were regarded as one, so there were no spiritual differences between men and women.

While the credentes were free to live as they wished, those who had received the consolamentum were expected to live a simple, ascetic life, ministering to and healing the laity. They promised to eshew meat, alcohol, sexual intercourse, and to share a companion of the same sex wherever they went. Their preferred garb was of simple black robes; later, when this became hazardous, a simple cord was worn close to the body.

Parfait preaching in France

Services performed by the Parfaits consisted of simple ceremonies of hymn-singing and the recitation of the Lord's prayer, and members made regular public confessions of sin, in a ritual known as the apparelhamentum. They elected Bishops who oversaw public rutuals. Additionally, both the ordained and the laity foreswore lying, killing, oathtaking, or the judging of others.

Although very few elected to partake in the consolamentum, the Parfaits were very highly regarded and the faith was adopted by many of the the powerful families of the region. This combination of terrestrial and spiritual power threatened the Church's interests, and they elected to dispose of these "heretics" who threatened their authority. For this purpose the Church, under the authority of Pope Innocent III, instituted the Inquisition and called for the very first Crusade, promising blessings, land, and wealth to those knights and assorted nobles who would help to put the heretics down.

The Inquisition, Crusades

Prominent catholics who preached against the Albigensians were Domenic Guzman, the founder of the Dominican order, and Bernard of Clairvaux, who founded several orders and was involved in the creation of the Knights Templar. Domenic at first attempted to show a pious example, preaching Catholic doctrine while living ascetically as a poor monk, but later was to resort to much more violent methods of persuasion.

The Cathars arrested

The Albigensian Crusade consisted of some twenty-thousand Knights and a large number of sodiers and mercenaries, who set off on the Feast of John the Baptis on June 24th, and within a month had slaughtered some 20, 000 people, Cathars and Catholic alike. It is at this time a Papal Legate, when asked how to distinguish the heretics from their catholic neighbors (who had refused to give them up), is reported to have said, "Kill them all- God will look after his own." Through sheer violence and a number of dishonorable tricks, the army accomplished most of ithe Church's political goals by the end of the third month. The Crusade officially ended, but the territorial fighting continued for years. The work of exterminating the remaining Cathars fell to Domenic, who now headed the Inquisition and had long abandoned gentle persuasion.

The Cathar way of life was snuffed out forever in 1244 at the hilltop fortress of Montsegur, where the last remaining members of the sect were beseiged for ten months before surrendering; the remaining 200 Perfecti were burned alive at the stake. Many are said to have willingly walked into the flames, and it was recorded that several of those who burned were members of the opposing military who had converted at the cost of certain death. More: Albigensian Crusade

See also:

• The Inquisition on the Albigensian Gnostics
  Bernard Gui
• On the Heresy of the Albigenses
  Caesarius of Heisterbach
• On the Accusations against the Albigensians
  Raynaldus, 13th Century
• The Bogomils
  Anna Comnena, 1100. Hostile commentary.
• The Book of John the Evangelist
  Cathar/Bogomil Gospel

*The name Cathar is derived from the Greek, katheros, "to purify," a decription conferred upon them by outsiders. The Cathars were desribed by their supporters as the "good Christians" or the bonnes hommes (good men), or the "ancients," probably an allusion to the supposed origin of the sect with the apostles of Christ. The name "Albigensians" was after the town of Albi, a cultural center in the Languedoc. Cathars were alkso called Manichean, Paulican, Bulgars or Bogomils, and many other names. (An alternate view of the etymology of "Cathar" alludes to the ritual kissing of the rear-end of a cat, an infamy ascribed to many enemies of the Church by over-imaginative Inquisitors.)

**The name "Parfait" comes from the dictum of Mathew's gospel, "If thou wouldst be perfect , go and sell what thou hast. Give to the poor and thou shall have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me," which formed the basis of the Cathar practices

Pronunciation: Cah-thars • (noun)

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