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1

The Apocryphal Bulgarian Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom on the Оrigin of Paulicians and Manichean Dimensions of Medieval Paulician Identity

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Saldzhiev H.

Studia Ceranea

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2020

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vol. 10

425-444

EN

The article deals with one of the medieval Bulgarian sources about the origin of Paulicianism – the so called Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom on the Оrigin of Paulicians. On the basis of linguistic, textological and historical analysis it is concluded that the “sermon” appears to be a popular “contra version” of an unknown Paulician myth of historical and religious identity. It is suggested a reconstruction of this supposed myth and its obvious connections with Manicheism are traced out. Finally the traces of Manicheism in Paulician belief system are discussed.

2

On the Prehistory of Bogomilism – the Historical and Religious Continuum of the Dualistic Groups in Early Medieval Bulgaria (8th–10th Century)

100%

Saldzhiev H.

Studia Ceranea

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2021

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vol. 11

721-761

EN

The aim of the present article is to shed light on the prehistory of Bogomilism, in particular on the existence of an initial Proto-Bogomilian group from the second half of the 8th century to the first decades of the 10th century, which subsequently gave rise to Bogomilism. For this purpose I will try to regard problems referring to the time and exact place of its emergence, the cultural and ethnical affiliation of its first adherents, its connection with previous dualistic teachings from the Near East and Anatolia. The final conclusions are: • The roots of Bogomilism must be sought among the Syriac migrants who settled in Thrace in the second half of the 8th century. • Groups which shared a different kind of dualistic ideas and notions existed among them. The group that can be identified as “Proto-Bogomilian” most likely inhabited the region of Philippopolis/ Plovdiv and followed some branch of Paulicianism different from this of Paulicians who in the mid-9th century built the “Paulician state” in Tephrice. • The dualism of the Proto-Bogomilian group stemmed from Marcion’s doctrine with some Manichean admixtures. It had experienced the influence of Masallianism long before the migration of this group towards the Balkans. This can explain the differences with Marcionists and Paulicians. The radical asceticism of the later Bogomils most probably must be attributed to the influence of Masallianism on the initial Proto-Bogomilian group too.

3

Continuity between Early Paulicianism and the Seventeenth-Century Bulgarian Paulicians: the Paulician Legend of Rome and the Ritual of the Baptism by Fire

100%

Saldzhiev H.

Studia Ceranea

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2019

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vol. 9

657-679

EN

During the Middle Ages two dualistic communities were active in Bulgaria and Bulgarian lands – Bogomils and Paulicians. Paulicians, unlike Bogomils, survived as a separate religious sect up to the 17th century, when most of them gradually accepted Catholicism. The detailed reports of Catholic missionaries, priests and bishops shed light on different aspects of their beliefs and practices from the 17th century. The aim of the present article is to propose an explanation of a strange ritual and a legend spread among the Bulgarian Paulicians and recorded in the above-mentioned reports. The thesis of the article is that the legend and the ritual in question refer to the early history of Paulicianism. The ritual is related to syncretic religious notions and goes beyond the scope of dualism. I try to examine the legend and ritual in the context of Paulician history in the Balkans, especially in the context of Paulician belief system, inherited from the early Anatolian Paulicians.

4

The Incantation against Snakebite from Norov’s Psalmbook – Linguistic and Historical Aspects

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Saldzhiev H.

Studia Ceranea

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2024

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vol. 14

619-635

EN

The paper explores the linguistic and cultural patterns behind an oral incantation against snakebite that appears on the last page of a Middle Bulgarian book of psalms. The manuscript dates back to the 14th century, and was created in the Eastern regions of Medieval Bulgaria, observing the orthography of the Tarnovo Literary traditions. The Russian traveller Norov found the book of psalms during a trip to the Holy Land at the beginning of the 19th century and brought it to Russia. The incantation contains a significant number of words of unclear origin. Yatsimirskiy – the first researcher of this incantation – offers two possible explanations about the source language that allude either to its derivation from an Oriental tongue, or to local folklore practices. Modern Russian researchers maintain the hypothesis about its folklore origin and emphasise its opening words sarandara/marandara as an example of ritual nonsense speech – in their view, this could have been a popular phenomenon in the ethnic religious practices of Slavic communities. After a linguistic analysis of the text and its unclear words, I hypothesise that the words belong to one of a range at used the incantation.

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The Apocryphal Bulgarian Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom on the Оrigin of Paulicians and Manichean Dimensions of Medieval Paulician Identity

On the Prehistory of Bogomilism – the Historical and Religious Continuum of the Dualistic Groups in Early Medieval Bulgaria (8th–10th Century)

Continuity between Early Paulicianism and the Seventeenth-Century Bulgarian Paulicians: the Paulician Legend of Rome and the Ritual of the Baptism by Fire

The Incantation against Snakebite from Norov’s Psalmbook – Linguistic and Historical Aspects