The Albigensian Heresy

The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Albigensian Heresy, by Henry James Warner
STUDIES IN CHURCH HISTORY
BY THE REV. H. J. WARNER. M.A.
LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK & TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. 1922
A Dissertation approved for the B.D. Degree, Cantab.
Printed in Great Britain at The Mayflower Press, Plymouth . William Brendon & Son Ltd.



THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY
The origin of the Albigensian heresies was not indigenous, but imported, although the raw imports were quickly combined with the home products. Their vigorous growth and wide popularity were due to the peculiarly favourable conditions of the country at the time of their introduction.
Reverting to Bulgaria, Boris had desired to give Christianity an authoritative and organized position in his dominions, and for this purpose applied to Constantinople for a Bishop. Being refused, he appealed to Rome. But from the Pope he received an even sterner rebuff. However, jealousy gave what justice denied; for the Patriarch of Constantinople, on hearing of Rome's refusal, altered his tone and gave the King more than he asked, viz. one Archbishop and ten Bishops. We may be certain that these Greek prelates would do nothing to mitigate the antipathy which the Slavo-Greeks would feel towards Rome, and this antipathy deepened into a settled hatred when Rome, later, denied them the right to have the Scriptures in any language but Latin. These troublous times the Paulicians of Armenia, ever zealous propagandists, seized upon for spreading their doctrines. Their asceticism appealed strongly to monks in Bulgaria, Thrace, etc., and in many a monastery Paulicians were welcomed. Persecution also drove them westward, and when in A.D. 969 the Emperor Tzimisces established them in Philippopolis, it was a comparatively easy matter for them to transmit their doctrines along the great trade routes through Bosnia and Dalmatia across and around the Adriatic to Lombardy and France.