Cathars and their teachings. Secrets of civilization. Cathars and the mystery of Montsegur castle. Arians and features of their faith

Fernand Niel ALBIGOENSES AND CATHARS (chapters from the book)

Cathars Manichaeans and Cathars. - According to the tradition brought to us by the chronicler Alberic de Troisfontaines, the Manichaean Fortunatus, who fled from Hippo, found refuge in Gaul, where he met other adherents of Mani. Most of Mani's supporters were in Champagne, where Montvimer Castle

The Cathars and their teaching And those who described creation In anger, in envy, in torment, As I saw, they went together to hell: Belet and nearby Rhadamanthus, And Astirot, and Belkimon... (16) Wolfram von Eschenbach Jesus of Nazareth did not want to create a new religion , but only to fulfill the Israelis' hope for

Cathars in the Languedoc region. The last Cathar was burned at the stake in 1321. During this crusade, which lasted 20 years, at least a million people were killed (Wikipedia).

In our opinion, it is not logical to talk about the wars of the Roman Catholic Church with the Cathars in the 13th century: at that time there was no single Latin Church. Small detachments of bandits could gather to rob the inhabitants of Languedoc, but nothing more.

And the first crusade of the Latins took place against the Hussites. To fight the Cathars, serious military forces were needed; to destroy such fortifications as the Carcassonne fortress and Montsegur, artillery was needed: the walls there were several meters thick, and artillery became widespread only in the 15th century. And it only made sense to build such monumental structures for defense against artillery.

All wars against the Cathars could only take place in the 16th-17th centuries and, most likely, after the Council of Trent.

There is information that the Latin Church still fought against the Waldensian heretics, who were destroyed in the 17th century. Wikipedia writes that in 1655, the Piedmontese army, in alliance with bandits and Irish mercenaries, tortured two thousand Waldenses. In 1685, French and Italian troops killed about 3,000 believers, captured about 10,000 and distributed about 3,000 children to Catholic areas» .

The Waldenses and Cathars are so close in religious views that it is almost impossible to distinguish them.

Who were the Cathars (Waldensians) and why were they destroyed? How did they interfere with the Latins?

The most accurate description of the religious views of the Cathars is given in the book The Religion of the Cathars by Jean Duvernoy.

The main provisions of the Cathar teachings:

Jesus Christ against the background of the Cathar cross (on the halo).
Facade of Notre Dame Cathedral

The Holy Book of the Cathars (Waldensians) included the Gospels, the Apostle, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs and some other texts.

The Russian encyclopedia “Tradition” in the article “Cathars” writes: “The Bogomils of Byzantium and the Balkans, as well as the Cathars of Italy, France and Languedoc, represented one and the same Church.”

“The Cathars claimed that they were the only and authentic Christian Church, and the Roman Church was a deviation from the teachings of Christ.”

The Brockhaus and Efron Dictionary reports the following about the Cathars (Bogomils):

“At the beginning of the 13th century. all of Southern Europe from the Pyrenees and Ocean to the Bosporus and Olympus was surrounded by an almost continuous chain of Bogomil settlements.

In the West, they were called not Bogomils and Babuns, but Manichaeans, Publicans (Paulicians), Patarens - in Italy, Cathars - in Germany (hence Ketzer - heretic), Albigensians - in Southern France (from the city of Albi), as well as Textrants (from tissarands - weavers, by craft). In Russia, the Bogomils were also known, and their influence had a significant impact in the field of apocryphal literature.

The history and creed of the Western Bogomils is described under the words Albigenses and Cathars. ....The Bogomils lived until the 17th century; many were converted to Orthodoxy, but even more to Catholicism.”

In general, we can say with confidence that the Cathars, Bogomils, etc. “heretics” are representatives of the same doctrine, which the official Roman Catholic Church fought against until the end of the 17th century.

Here we also note that the Bogomils considered Satanail to be the evil beginning of the visible world, and Christ the good beginning .

The last stronghold of the Cathars - the fortress of Montsegur, was called the temple of the Holy Grail, and then - temple of the sun.

Arians and features of their faith

From theological works on the history of religion it follows that the Arians disappeared in ancient times, but centuries pass, and the Arians do not disappear anywhere and it is not possible to hide their existence until the 18th century. For example, a huge colony of Arians existed in the 17th century in Poland.

“The heretic Arius may also turn out to be a fictitious person, masquerading as a “heretic high priest” for some more powerful religion.”

Here are the main provisions of the Arian teachings:

the Arians did not recognize Jesus as God, but only as the first of equals - a mediator between God and people;




rejected the idea of ​​the trinity of God;




Jesus did not always exist, i.e. his “beginning of being” exists;




Jesus was created out of nothingness, since he did not exist before;




Jesus cannot be equal to the Father - God, i.e. not consubstantial, but similar in essence.

“The fact that Bogomil ideas were preached in Rus' can be seen from the story of the boyar Yan, son of Vyshata, recorded in the Tale of Bygone Years.” In 1071, Jan came to Beloozero, a region of Northern Rus', to collect tribute and there had a conversation with a certain sorcerer who declared that “the devil created man, and God put his soul in him.”

From Ivan the Terrible's answer to Jan Rokite:

"Similar to Satanail was rejected by Heaven and, instead of an angel of light, he was called darkness and deception, and his angels were demons" - it also follows that under Ivan the Terrible there was Arianism in Rus'."

Portrait of Ivan the Terrible from the collection of the Vologda Museum of Local Lore . An Arian (Cathar) cross is visible on the chest

And the absolutely “unkillable trump card” is the symbol of faith presented in the Tale of Bygone Years (PVL), in which the Baptist of Rus' Vladimir pronounces : “The Son is subsistent and co-eternal with the Father...”. Subsubstantial, and not consubstantial, as stated in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. It was the Arians who considered Christ to be just a created being, but similar to God the Father.

In the PVL, Prince Vladimir also mentions Satanail.

And again we encounter manifestations in the texts of the dogmas of Arian teaching. It turns out that if Vladimir was the baptist of Rus', then he accepted Arianism.

It should be noted that the Bogomil (Arian) books have not survived, and we can draw all judgments about their dogma only from critical literature written by Christian writers, mainly Catholics. In addition, it is not clear what alphabet they used, whether it was Cyrillic or Glagolitic.

So, Prince Vladimir accepted Arianism, and Ivan the Terrible directly expresses in his letters a worldview in accordance with Arian dogmas. So, was there Arianism in Rus'?

Was there dual faith in Rus'?

“The combination of Christian and pagan rituals within not only one cemetery (as was the case in Kyiv, Gnezdovo, Timerevo), but also one burial, testifies to the relatively peaceful interaction of Christian and pagan communities.”

In our understanding, the term “dual faith” is not correct. This term was coined by specialists in order to explain, within the existing concept, the religious views of Russian people, without affecting the foundations of historically established Christianity. The real picture could be completely different: This was the Russian faith of that time; it was in a sense “synthetic”, but it was not “dual faith”.

N.K. Nikolsky believed that under Prince Vladimir Rus' was baptized, but this Christianity was significantly different from modern Christianity, changed during the period of Nikon’s reforms. Christianity in the times of Vladimir " promised a bright future for Rus' », in contrast to the current one, in which the moral system and its dogmatic basis have been radically changed » .

Chudinov noted:

“The transition to Christianity at the initial stage was simply a slight renaming of the Vedic gods. The goddess Mara began to be called the Virgin Mary, the god Yar - Jesus Christ. The apostles were depicted as Vedic gods."

As is generally accepted in modern European historiography, the word “Cathars” in relation to representatives of this movement was first used in 1163 by the Rhineland cleric Ecbert of Schönau.

When I was a canon in Bonn, I often, together with my brotherly soul (unanimis) and friend Bertolf, argued with them and drew attention to their mistakes and methods of defense. I learned many things from those who were with them at the beginning and then left... These are the people whom we call “Cathars” in Germany, “Fifls” in Flanders, “weavers” in France, because many of them prefer this craft ...

Ecbert combined the previously common Latin name cattari(fr. catiers, that is, “cat worshipers” - because of the supposed rituals among heretics involving cats) with Greek καθαρος , thereby associating them with the Novatian movement that existed in the era of early Christianity, who called themselves “Kafars” (from the Greek. καθαροί - “pure, undefiled”).

The term was subsequently often used in documents of the Inquisition, from where it passed into the first historical studies devoted to the “Albigensian heresy.” Despite the fact that the word “Cathars” was, in fact, a disparaging nickname, it was firmly entrenched as the main name for a long time, along with “Albigensians”. In addition to these two, the names “Manichaeans”, “Origenists”, “Fifls”, “Publicans”, “Weavers”, “Bulgarians” (French. bougres), "patarens".

Story

Emergence and origins

Catharism was not a fundamentally new worldview that arose in the Middle Ages. The theological views that later characterized Catharism can also be found among the first teachers of Christianity, who were influenced by Gnosticism and Neoplatonism (for example, Origen of Alexandria).

The first researchers, relying primarily on the anti-heretical works of Catholic theologians, followed their authors, looking for the roots of the Cathar doctrine in Eastern influences, especially in Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, drawing a direct line of descent of the Cathars from Mani through the Paulicians and Bogomils. Accordingly, Catharism was considered initially a non-Christian phenomenon that established itself on the basis of European Christianity.

Currently, after the discovery of a large number of new sources, these views are being revised. Most modern researchers (J. Duvernois, A. Brenon, A. Cazenave, I. Hagmann, etc.) consider Catharism to be one of the numerous, but unique Christian movements that emerged simultaneously in Western and Eastern Europe during the Millennium era. This movement was represented by various communities, not necessarily connected with each other and sometimes differing in doctrine and way of life, but representing a certain unity in the field of structure and ritual, both in the temporal framework - between the X and XV centuries, and in the geographical - between Asia Minor and Western Europe. In Eastern Europe and Asia Minor, such communities include the Bogomils. The Bogomils of Byzantium and the Balkans, as well as the Cathars of Italy, France and Languedoc, were one and the same church.

Cathar texts are characterized by the absence of references to texts of non-Christian religions. Even in their most radical positions (for example, on dualism or reincarnation), they appeal only to Christian primary sources and apocrypha. The theology of the Cathars operates with the same concepts as Catholic theology, “now approaching and now moving away in their interpretation from the general line of Christianity.”

First medieval mentions

Expectations of the end of the world, which was first predicted in 1000, then in 1033, as well as the obvious crisis of European Christianity, gave rise to people's hopes for a renewal of religious life. This period includes both reforms sanctioned by the papacy (see Cluny Reform) and unofficial (heretical) attempts to realize the ideal of apostolic life. Already in the first monastic chronicles of the Millennium era, along with descriptions of various disasters, messages about “heretics, sorcerers and Manichaeans” appear.

Eastern Europe

Early evidence of Bogomils in the Byzantine Empire dates back to the 10th-11th centuries, and the Bogomils in them look like brothers of Western heretics, who began to be called Cathars from the 12th century. The Cathars themselves, according to the testimony of the Western European monk Everwin of Steinfeld, claimed that their tradition had been preserved since ancient times by their brothers in Greece, from whom it was adopted and continued by them to this day.

Western Europe

At the height of the movement for spiritual reform in the 11th century, spiritual movements appeared simultaneously in many regions of Western Europe, organized into monastic communities based on the Gospel, denying the legitimacy of the hierarchy of the Roman Church, a number of its dogmas (for example, about the human nature of Christ) and sacraments ( marriage, Eucharist). Since these movements also practiced baptism through the laying on of hands, characteristic of the Cathars, historians consider them proto-Cathars.

The various spiritual movements of the 11th century had many common features. They refused to baptize small children, denied the sacrament of confession and the sacrament of marriage, which was just then introduced by the papacy. They also rejected the validity of church sacraments if the priest performing them is in a state of sin, and also criticized the cult of the Crucifixion as an instrument of execution.

Other sources from the time speak of the burning of "publicans" in Champagne and Burgundy, "fifles" in Flanders, "patarens" in Italy, and claim "terribly vile sects of weavers or Arians" in the South of France, who were sometimes called "Albigensians". There is reason to believe that all these names refer to the same type of organized Christian communities, which the dominant Church called “heretical.”

Churches of European Cathars

Occitanie and France

The Occitan bishoprics of the Cathars of the 12th century arose on the territory of two large feudal formations: the Count of Toulouse (a vassal of the king of France) and the union of viscounts located between Barcelona and Toulouse and united by the Trancavel family (Carcassonne, Béziers, Albi and Limoux). The count and viscounts of these lands did not show much zeal in the persecution of heresy. In 1177, Count Raymond V, sincerely hostile to heretics, wrote to the Chapter of Citeaux that he was unable to overcome heresy because all his vassals supported it. His son Raymond VI (-) was friendly towards heretics. The Trancaveli dynasty for a long time provided even greater assistance to the heresy. Finally, the Counts of Foix went even further, becoming directly involved in the Cathar Church.

For several generations, the balance of power in the Occitan lordships was in favor of the Cathar churches, and this excluded any persecution. Before the crusade against the Albigenses, Catharism spread in the west from Quercy to Gourdon and Agenois (“Church of Agen”); in the center - the territories of Toulouse, Lauragais and the county of Foix ("Toulouse Church"), in the north - Albigeois ("Albi Church"), in the east - Kabarde, Minervois and Carcasse ("Carcassonne Church"), extending even to Corbières and the sea . In 1226, a fifth bishopric was created, in Rhazes (Limoux region), which was formerly part of the "Church of Carcasse".

Northern Italy

Documentary evidence about the environment of the Italian Cathars, available to historians, reveals four characteristic features of this environment:

Organization of church life in Qatari communities

Clergy

From the very beginning, Catharism was characterized by sharp anticlericalism (criticism of the so-called “prejudices of the Church of Rome” - the cult of saints, relics, images, etc.). However, while criticizing the “apostasy of the Roman Church,” they never argued that the Church and its hierarchy are not needed at all.

Like the Catholics, the Cathar church had a division between clergy and laity. Laymen (lat. credentes, or "believers") were not required to renounce their former Catholic habits or loyalties, but they recognized the spiritual authority of the Cathar teachers (lat. perfecti, or “perfect”).

The Qatari clergy combined the mixed functions of priests and monks. Both men and women were included in it. Like Catholic priests, the Cathar perfects preached, provided rituals for the salvation of souls and absolution of sins. Like monks, they lived in communities, observing fasts and abstinence and ritual hours of prayer.

Just like the Catholic bishop in his diocese, the Qatari bishop was the source of the priesthood, and the initiation of members of the community took place at his hands. Believers who were baptized (consecrated) by the bishop led a life dedicated to God and believed that they had the power to forgive sins. This power was believed to be transferred from “one “good people” to another.” In the Cathar texts it constitutes the essence of the “Order of the Holy Church.” The Cathars believed that their bishops transmitted this tradition to each other in a direct line from the apostles.

At the head of each Cathar Church was a bishop and his two assistants (coadjutors) - the “eldest Son” and the “younger Son”, also consecrated by the bishop to this rank. After the death of the bishop, the “eldest Son” became his immediate successor. The territory of the bishopric was divided among a certain number of deacons: they played a mediating role between the episcopal hierarchy and the communities located in the villages and towns that they regularly visited. The bishops themselves rarely lived in large cities, preferring communities in small towns. According to historians, such a church organization resembles the structure of the early Christian Church.

Communities

Like Catholic monasteries, Cathar monastic houses were places where neophytes who wished to lead a religious life were trained. There they studied the catechism and their religious duties for two or three years, after which they took the necessary vows and were ordained by the bishop by the laying on of hands. The baptism (initiation) ceremony was public, and believers were always present.

Preachers and preachers regularly left their communities to perform religious duties and also to visit relatives and friends in or around the city.

The Cathar women's and men's communities lived by their own labor. Some of these community houses were similar to modern hospices, where believers received spiritual guidance and comfort, and provided themselves with what they called a “happy ending” that brought salvation to the soul.

Male monastic communities were ruled by “elders”, female ones by “priorisses” or “stewards”. The monastic houses of the Cathars were not closed and often had manufactories with them. They were very numerous in the cities, actively participating in local economic and social life.

Many Languedoc residents considered the Cathars to be “good Christians who have great power to save souls” (from testimony before the Inquisition).

The Qatari monks followed the “Rules of Justice and Truth” and the Gospel instructions. They avoided killing (including killing animals), lying, condemnation, and so on. All this was considered a grave sin, devaluing the Spirit that descended on them. The sinner had to repent and go through the "consolation"- a sacrament whose name directly comes from the common Christian term “Comforter” (Paraclete).

The rise of Catharism

Montsegur

They themselves, through their lives and morals, demonstrated in practice the purity and rigorism of the apostolic way of life, which was recognized even by their opponents. The Cathars were supporters of absolute non-violence and refused to lie or swear. Many people of that time, as can be seen from the protocols of the Inquisition, perceived them as poor itinerant preachers carrying the Word of God. Research from the 70s - 80s of the 20th century shows Catharism as a literal adherence to the commandments of Christ, and especially the instructions of the Sermon on the Mount. As modern researchers believe, this evangelism was one of the central points of Catharism.

However, the dualistic Christianity of the Cathars was an alternative religious construct. They did not call for clergy reform or a “return to Scripture.” They declared their desire to return to the purity of the Church of the Apostles, which was not the “usurper Roman Church,” but their own, the “Church of Good Christians.”

However, for all their sharp criticism of the institution of the Catholic Church (in their terminology - “synagogue of Satan”), the Cathars were not inclined to show hostility towards the Catholics themselves. There is much evidence of peaceful communication between believers of both religions in precisely those areas where Catharism had a significant influence. Coexistence between heretical monks and the Catholic clergy at the local level generally occurred without conflict. From the documents of the Inquisition it follows that believers, for the most part, considered themselves to belong to both churches at once, believing that both of them were more likely to save the soul than one.

On the contrary, where the Catholic Church dominated, the Cathars often became the target of persecution. The attitude of the Roman hierarchs towards them was sharply intolerant. Local rulers, loyal to the pope, sought to capture them and “whoever they could not tear away from madness was burned with fire.”

In the first decades, persecution was rather sporadic. While the condemnation of heretics was a matter for episcopal courts, the Church hesitated in choosing methods of repression. At first, executions took place according to the verdicts of the secular authorities. But gradually councils and pontifical bulls prepared the ground for the Church’s lawmaking in the area of ​​heresy.

At the end of the 12th century, the confrontation between Catharism and Catholicism intensified. The papacy, alarmed by the spread of heresy, increased pressure, which caused a retaliatory escalation of criticism from the Cathars. The pope sent Cistercian missions to Toulouse and Albi in 1178 and 1181, but the missionaries did not enjoy the cooperation of local rulers and achieved practically nothing from them in the persecution of heresy.

The crusade against the Albigensians was characterized by brutal reprisals against civilians (Béziers in 1209, Marmande in 1219), as well as huge mass bonfires where heretics were burned - in Minerva (140 burned in 1210), Lavore (400 burned in 1211 ). However, the local population, for whom the war was both religious and national liberation in nature, actively resisted the crusaders, supporting their legitimate counts.

In 1220, it finally became clear that the attempt to establish the Catholic Montfort dynasty in Toulouse and Carcassonne had failed. The Cathar communities, which the Crusaders initially inflicted serious damage on, began to gradually recover.

In 1226, Louis VIII of France, son of Philip Augustus, decided to restore his rights to the Mediterranean counties transferred to him by Montfort, and he himself led the French army, moving it against Raymond Trancavel, Raymond VII of Toulouse and their vassals. Despite fierce resistance in some regions (especially Lima and Cabaret), the royal army conquered Languedoc. In 1229, the Count of Toulouse, having submitted, signed a peace treaty, ratified in Paris.

The final defeat of the Qatari movement

Residents of Carcassonne are expelled from the city during the siege by the troops of Simon de Montfort

In 1229, the king finally won the war declared by the pope, and the latter took advantage of the king's victory: from that time on, the Church was given complete freedom of action. Secular rulers - defenders of heretics - according to the decisions of the Lateran Council of 1215 and the Toulouse Council of 1229 were deprived of lands and property. The Cathar communities went underground. However, they remained very numerous. To protect themselves from repression, they organized a secret network of resistance based on community and family solidarity.

In the treatises and rituals of the Cathars there are no references explaining the sequential transmigration of souls from one bodily prison to another. Only the anti-Qatari polemics and testimony before the Inquisition contain information on this topic. However, the theoretical texts of Good Christians claim that, contrary to what Catholic clergy teach, God does not create endlessly new souls in order to one day stop time and judge everyone in the state and age in which He finds them. On the contrary, a certain number of divine souls have fallen into the slavery of bodies, and now they must “awaken” from this world before they can hear the call to leave it and return to their heavenly homeland.

As already mentioned, they believed in the universal salvation of all divine souls who fell into the slavery of bodies during the creation of the evil world. They believed that by moving from body to body after their fall, these souls would gain experience and the opportunity to know Good, realize that they belong to another world, and would be called by God to reunite with Him.

The means of Salvation, according to Catharism, was evangelical, but at the same time radically different from the atoning sacrifice of the Catholic Christ.

The Cathars believed that, in fact, the Son of God came into this world not to atone for original sin with His sacrifice and death on the cross, but simply to remind people that their Kingdom is not of this world, and to teach them a saving sacrament that will forever deliver them from evil and from time. This is the sacrament of baptism with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, transmitted by Christ to His apostles.

Ritual and cult

The “good news” of the Gospel, from the point of view of the Cathars, consists of enlightenment by the Word of Christ, in the awakening of souls receiving salvation through baptism by the laying on of hands, about which John the Baptist said: “He who comes after me is mightier than I... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire " Christ breathed this Spirit into the apostles, who passed it on to their disciples.

Thus, in the Cathar interpretation of the Gospel, the main significance belonged to Pentecost, and not to the Passion. Most likely, this interpretation is more archaic. Both in the Cathars’ interpretation of sacred texts and in their liturgy, researchers find very close similarities with early Christianity.

The sacrament of consolament, practiced by the Cathars, served simultaneously as baptism, initiation, and communion, since baptism by water alone was absolutely insufficient. The consolament also granted remission of sins, entry onto the path of repentance, a sign of the power to bind and untie, which marks the Church of Christ. Given to the dying, this sacrament was also unction. And, finally, connecting the soul with the spirit, it was, as it were, a spiritual, mystical marriage. The only thing it didn't have was Transubstantiation.

Baptism by consolament was a collective, public ceremony open to all. Accompanied by the Elder or Priorissa, the neophyte came to the bishop's house "to surrender to God and the Gospel", to adopt the tradition of the Lord's Prayer - the most important prayer, which had to be repeated regularly at a certain time and a certain number of times, and then to accept the Book of Scripture itself. Next, after a long ceremony, the bishop and all the Good People present laid their right hands on the head of the neophyte and recited the first verses of the Gospel of John. Consolament for the dying was a similar ritual: it was performed by two Good People in the presence of the family and friends of the dying person.

Documents show that Good Christians were often present at the table of believers. At the beginning of each meal - exclusively vegetarian - the eldest of the Good Men or Good Women blessed the bread, broke it and distributed it to everyone present. This ritual, observed since the Millennium, replaced the Eucharist. They did this in memory of the Last Supper, but did not consider that they were eating the Body of Christ when they broke bread; to them, these words from the Gospel symbolized the Word of God as it spread throughout the world.

If any believer met a Good Man or a Good Woman, he greeted them with a triple request for a blessing, or, in Occitan, melhorier, and prostrated himself three times before them in prostration.

At the end of each ritual ceremony, Christians and believers exchanged the kiss of peace, men among themselves, and women among themselves. Strict vows of chastity effectively prohibited Cathar monks from any physical contact with persons of the opposite sex.

Assessing the historical significance of Catharism

For a long time in historical literature, both a significant part of domestic and foreign, the assessment of the historical role of the Qatari movement was clearly negative, although in the Soviet tradition, for example, in the TSB, there was a tendency towards a positive assessment of Catharism as a movement of resistance to the dictates of the medieval papacy, which was extremely was assessed negatively in the USSR. The main source on which the researchers relied were treatises refuting this medieval heresy - the anti-heretical Summa, compiled by theologians of the 13th century. Catharism was viewed as an anti-church, largely barbaric heretical teaching that threatened to undermine the position of Christianity in Europe. Since the 80s of the twentieth century. After the works of the Oxford historian Robert Moore, there was a revision of the attitude towards Catharism. Today, most Western scholars of Catharism tend to take a more positive view. According to their version, the Cathars, with their teaching about love and rejection of violence, were an attempt by European society to return to the origins of Christianity (thus anticipating Luther’s Reformation) and thereby create an alternative to Catholicism, which was experiencing a deep crisis.

From the same position, the significance of other major religious movements of the Middle Ages that preceded the Reformation is assessed - the Waldensians, Beguins, etc. However, it is Catharism that is considered the most long-lasting and successful of such attempts. The forceful suppression of this attempt, which took the form of a devastating war and subsequent brutal repressions, is regarded as one of the first precedents in the history of Europe for the triumph of totalitarian ideology.

Contemporary historiographical debate on Catharism

Until 1950, the study of this issue was exclusively influenced by theologians. This circumstance led to disagreements in assessing the origin of Catharism. Some researchers (including L.P. Karsavin and the author of one of the first major monographs on the history of the Inquisition, Henry Lee) consider Catharism “neo-Manichaeism” that came to the West from the non-Christian East: “The essence of the Cathar dogma is completely alien to Christianity.” This position is shared by some modern researchers. However, the development of the archives of the Inquisition led to a revision of the prevailing opinion among historians.

Catharism is one of the religions that shaped human consciousness, strengthened hearts and inspired huge numbers of people, from Asia Minor to the Atlantic Ocean, to make the decision to devote themselves to God, during the period from at least the 10th to the 15th centuries.... It is one of the forms of Christianity and relies - even if we consider this a distortion - on the Word and ritual, which we ourselves absorbed with our mother's milk.

These researchers emphasize numerous common features inherent in both Catharism and European culture in general in the 11th-12th centuries. The most serious contribution to refuting the “traditional” vision of this heresy as a branch of Eastern Manichaeism was made by Jean Duvernoy. His book The Religion of the Cathars was the first to provide, through the study of a complete collection of various types of documents, a comprehensive analysis of the historical data of the medieval religious phenomenon called Catharism. The author came to the conclusion about the exclusively Christian context of Catharism, and since then this conclusion has been dominant among modern historians.

Cathar terminology

Adoremus See Prayers

Adoratio A term from the Inquisitorial Dictionary, a contemptuous designation for the ritual of asking for a blessing, called by the Cathars melhorament or melhorier. By focusing on the gesture of kneeling that accompanied this rite, the Inquisition tried to ridicule this practice, calling it a rite of “veneration” by believers of heretics.

Albanenses This was the name given by the Italian Dominicans to the members of the Cathar Church of Decensano (near Lake Garda), supposedly founded by a bishop named Albanus, who at the end of the century was in dispute with another Cathar bishop named Garatus. In the 13th century, the followers of Albanus professed the so-called absolute dualism of Bishop Bellesmanza and his Elder Son Giovanni de Lugio, author of the Book of the Two Principles, who also became a bishop around 1250.

Apareilement or Aparelhament An Occitan word meaning “preparation” and representing a ceremony of collective repentance, similar to monastic confession. This confession was conducted monthly by deacons in the male and female monastic communities of the Cathars. This ceremony, also called servici, is described in detail in the Lyon Cathar Ritual. For those who want to know more, we recommend "La religion des cathares" by Jean Duvernoy, in two volumes.

Caretas or Kiss of Peace Known from Qatari rituals, the practice meaning “reconciliation, forgiveness” is a common Christian practice in the Middle Ages. The kiss of peace concluded the liturgical ceremonies of the Cathars. Testimonies before the Inquisition describe this ritual in detail, speaking of a "kiss on the face" or even "on the lips": "With this kiss the Perfects give us peace, kissing us twice on the lips, then we kiss them twice in the same way." Quote from "Le dossier de Montsegur: interrogatoires d'inquisition 1242-1247". Testimony of Jordan de Pereil. Between Good Men and Good Women, who were forbidden by the Rules to touch each other, the kiss took place through the Book of the Gospel.

Consolamentum or Consolament The only sacrament practiced by the Cathars and called by them "the holy baptism of Jesus Christ." It was about spiritual baptism (as opposed to John's "water baptism"). It was carried out by the laying on of hands, according to a rite similar to the early Christian one (without material components such as water and oil). It was also called the baptism of the Holy Spirit - the Comforter, complementing baptism with water and descending on the Apostles during Pentecost. For the Cathars, this baptism, performed by the true Christian Church, also had the meaning of repentance, since it washed away sins and saved the soul. It was performed on neophytes and meant their entry into Christian life (order), and for believers - the salvation of the soul and a happy ending (unction). The liturgical words and gestures of this rite are described in great detail in the three Cathar Rites that have come down to us, as well as in the protocols of the Inquisition. “... Now, wanting to become perfect, I find God and the Gospel, and I promise never again to eat meat, eggs, cheese, or fatty foods with the exception of vegetable oil and fish, for the rest of my life I will no longer swear or lie, and not to renounce the faith under pain of fire, water or other means of death. After I had promised all this, I read the Pater Noster... When I said the prayer, the perfect ones laid the Book on my head, and read the Gospel of John. At the end of the reading, they gave me the Book to kiss, then we exchanged the “kiss of peace.” Then they prayed to God, doing a lot of kneeling." Quote from the Montségur Documents: Evidence from the Inquisition 1242-1247 Transcribed from the words of Guillaume Tarju de la Galiole.

Convenenza Occitan word meaning "agreement, treaty." In times of war and persecution, beginning with the Siege of Montsegur, the Convenenza became a contract between the Good Man and the believer, allowing the Consolamentum to be accepted even if the person was speechless. Jordan du Mas was wounded and received consolation "at the barbican, which was near the car. Good People Raymond de Saint-Martin and Pierre Sirvin came there and gave the wounded consolation, although he had already lost the ability to speak..." Quote from the Montsegur Documents: Evidence Inquisition 1242-1247" Recorded from the words of Azalais, widow of Alzu de Massabrac.

Endura Occitan word meaning "fasting". The inquisitors of the 14th century used it in an attempt to accuse the last of the Good Men of encouraging suicide among believers who received consolation on their deathbeds but survived. However, researchers believe that this was a misinterpretation of the ritual fasts on bread and water that the newly baptized were required to observe, according to the Rules. There are only a few examples of hunger strikes undertaken by Good Men caught by the Inquisition, who refused water and food in order not to speak during interrogation, because the Inquisitors preferred to burn them alive.

Melhorament or melioramentum An Occitan word meaning "striving for the better." The Good Man's greeting to the faithful, represented by the inquisitors as worship. When meeting a Good Man or a Good Woman, the believer knelt down and prostrated before them three times, saying: “Good Christian (Good Christian Woman), I ask for the blessing of God and yours.” The third time he added: “And pray to God for me, that He will make me a Good Christian and bring me to a happy ending.” The monk or nun responded to this: “Accept God’s blessing,” and then: “We will pray to God for you, so that He will make you a Good Christian and lead you to a happy ending.”

Our Father or Holy Word, the fundamental prayer of Christians among the Cathars. They said it daily during the Hours, during the Consolament, before meals, etc. Their version did not differ from the Catholic one except for one word: instead of “our daily bread” they said “our ever-present bread” - a variant that goes back to the translation of St. Jerome and emphasizes the symbolic meaning of bread, which meant the Word of God. In addition, they used the Greek doxology “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever,” on which they based their belief in universal salvation.

Poor Catholics The Cathars were not the only ones who rebelled against the clergy, who accumulated wealth contrary to the words of the evangelists. Duran Huesca was the first founder of the Order of Poor Catholics. After the Council of Pamiers in 1207, having met personally with Saint Dominic, Duran of Huesca thus helped the emergence of the Order of Poor Catholics. In 1212 they built two monasteries for brothers and sisters in Elna (Roussillon). The main task of the order was to constantly preach, like the Perfect Ones, to live in poverty, pray and sleep on bare boards... Duran Huesca is today known for his battles with heretics, and especially for his work “Liber contra Manicheos”.

Believers According to Everwin de Steinfeld, in the mid-12th century, in the Rhineland, the faithful represented a middle stage between the simple faithful (or listeners) and the heretical clergy of Christians or the elect. By the laying on of hands the believer became a neophyte. In Languedoc of the 13th century, the Inquisition already distinguishes only simple “believers in heretics,” that is, people listening to the science of heretics. In fact, the believers were a mass of faithful who “believe what the heretics say and believe that the heretics can save their souls,” according to the registers of the Inquisition. In the early 14th century, Pierre Authier defined a believer as a person who ritually greets Good People and asks for their blessing.

Grail In medieval romances, the Grail is associated with the cup in which the blood of Jesus was collected and brought to Western Europe by Joseph of Arimathea. She became the object of the mystical quest of the Knights of the Round Table in such works as: “The Tale of the Grail” by Chrétien de Troyes, “Percival” by Wolfram von Eschenbach and others. This Grail myth, based on Celtic mythology, was used by Cistercian preachers. At first glance, there is no visible or indirect connection between the legends of the Grail and Catharism. The German scholar Otto Rahn's book Crusaders Against the Grail (published in 1933) first raised this issue for consideration. In the book by Gerard de Sede “The Secret of the Cathars” there is evidence of such a connection.

Sins As in all monotheistic religions, sin is man's violation of divine law. For Christian Cathars, this divine law was clear instructions and commandments of the Gospel: sins for them were murder, adultery, violence, lies, theft, slander, oath, condemnation... Any of these sins meant for a Christian, that is, for a Cathar monk, the immediate loss of Christian condition. "Freed from evil" through baptism of repentance, Consolament, and having received grace, the Christian of the Cathars was not to sin, because evil could no longer act through him. A Good Man who lied, killed, swore, or knowingly touched a woman had to go through re-baptism and re-novitiate.

Two Churches Pierre Authier and his comrades preached the Gospel even more clearly and convincingly than their predecessors. Severely persecuted, they associated themselves with Christ and His apostles, whom the world had persecuted before them, and called the persecuting Roman Church evil and falsely Christian. Echoing the Rhine heretics of 1143, Pierre Hauthier preached: “There are two Churches, one persecuted but forgiving, the other possessing and skinning.” Everyone at that time understood which Church of Christ was and which was from this world.

Giovanni De Lugio Mentioned since 1230 as the Eldest Son of the Cathar bishop of the Church of Decensano. Possibly from Bergamo. He is one of the most learned clerics of his time. He wrote a theological Cathar treatise known as The Book of Two Principles, of which only an abridged version has reached us. This book was primarily written against the theses of the Qatari hierarch Didier of the Church of Concorezzo and is the pinnacle of Qatari theological reflection on the problem of evil. Giovanni de Lugio's treatise was written according to all the rules of medieval scholasticism of the mid-13th century. He became bishop of the Church of Decensano around 1250, but disappeared from the records a few decades later, possibly a victim of the repressions of the 1270s in Italy.

Deacons In the Qatari Church, the deacon was the first step in the hierarchy. Cathar deacons were required to visit religious houses for administration and disciplinary meetings in designated areas within each Church. Deacons also conducted the ceremony of collective confession and repentance in men's and women's religious houses. Religious houses, where the deacons themselves lived, played the role of hospice houses. All Cathar deacons were men; there are no sources that indicate the existence of deaconesses.

House (monastic) The Cathar monks and nuns lived in small communities of women and men in religious houses, reminiscent of Catholic monasteries, but with free entry and exit. There they engaged in physical labor and practiced rituals and sacraments together. Some of these houses also served as hotels, hospitals or hospices; some had the specific functions of schools or seminaries. There were many such monastic houses open to the public in the small towns of Languedoc. Most of them consisted of only a few people, sometimes members of the same family. Widows, married women who gave birth to many children, girls without a dowry - in a word, all those who decided to devote themselves to God and achieve salvation as Good Women - lived in communities that were by no means isolated from the world, together with their sisters, mothers, aunts, sometimes in the same house where other relatives lived, and sometimes in a neighboring house.

Cathar bishops The Cathar communities were governed by ordained bishops in the manner of the early Church. Like Catholic bishops, they had the right to initiate those who entered the Christian community in their Church or bishopric. Like bishops in the Orthodox Church, they were also monks. The first heretical bishops are mentioned in the Rhineland between 1135 and 1145. At the end of the 12th century, the bishop of the Church of France, Lombardy and four bishoprics of Languedoc was already known. There was no centralized power over the bishops like the papal one; all Churches were local.

Baptism A sacrament that in all Christian Churches signifies entry into Christian life. In the early Christian Church, baptism also meant repentance and remission of sins. The act of baptism was then twofold: by water (by immersion) and by the Spirit (by laying on of hands). Later, the Roman Church separated these two rites, reserving the name baptism for baptism by water, and reserving the laying on of hands for the consecration of bishops. At the same time, the meaning of baptism by water narrowed to the washing away of original sin, and increasingly began to be performed on young children. In the Cathar Consolament rituals, the laying on of hands is always called baptism: "Holy baptism of Jesus Christ", or "spiritual baptism of Jesus Christ". The Cathars apparently retained the features of baptism characteristic of the early Church: they laid hands only on adults who were aware of what was happening and asked for the remission of their sins. For them, this was the only true baptism, because baptism by water or “baptism of John” performed in the Roman Church was, from their point of view, insufficient for salvation. Moreover, they believed that only their baptism was “based on Scripture.”

Cemeteries The Cathars did not attach any importance to the sacralization of the body and did not believe in resurrection in bodies. Therefore, they did not have any special burial rituals. If circumstances permitted, those who died in heresy were buried, like everyone else, in ordinary parish cemeteries. If the local priest forbade this, then the Qatari community had its own cemetery, such as in Lordat or Puyloran. During the underground times, the dead were buried wherever necessary: ​​in the garden, on the river bank, etc. The Inquisition often exhumed these corpses and burned them.

Younger Son and Elder Son These hierarchical ecclesiastical degrees were first mentioned in Languedoc in 1178. The Elder Son and the Younger Son are coadjutors of the Cathar bishops. They immediately received episcopal consecration and their functions could be equated to episcopal ones. Therefore, after the death of the bishop, the Elder Son became the bishop, and the Younger Son became the Elder Son. Then a new Younger Son was chosen and dedicated. Further, the hierarchy of the Cathars consisted of deacons, and the lowest level were the Elders and Priorisses (leaders and leaders of male and female religious houses).

Prayers Like all Christian monks, the Good People said prayers at certain hours all their lives. First of all, it is Benedicite (Benedicite, parcite nobis, Bless and have mercy on us), Adoremus (Adoremus Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum, Amen - Let us adore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen). Further, this is the fundamental prayer of the Cathars, “Our Father”, which Christ taught to the Apostles. Simple believers, not yet freed from evil, did not directly turn to God with this prayer, but their request for blessing during the Melhorament ritual was a prayer. But as follows from the “Register of the Inquisition by Jacques Fournier,” (vol. 2, pp. 461-462, in the 14th century believers said the following prayer: “Holy Father, right God of the good spirit, You who never lied, did not deceive, did not doubt and I was not mistaken. Out of fear of death, which awaits us all, we ask You, do not let us die in a world foreign to God, for we are not of the world, and the world is not for us, but let us know what You know and love. what you love..."

Clothed with the Holy Spirit The terms hereticus indutus, heretica induta ("vested heretic") are very often used in the archives of the Inquisition to designate Cathar monks, in order to distinguish them from ordinary believers. Perhaps this comes from the fact that before the persecution, the Good People wore special black or dark monastic robes. But believers often called Good People "clothed with the Holy Spirit."

Vows The three monastic vows that the Cathars took were: chastity, poverty and obedience. These are vows common to all Christianity, based on the precepts of the Gospel. Also added to this were vows of community life and abstinence, and a vow to observe monastic hours (“liturgical hours”). In practice, entering the Christian life meant complete dedication and self-giving for the Cathars.

Pentagram A geometric figure in the form of a pentagon, into which a five-pointed star is inscribed. Esotericists of the twentieth century are unreasonably looking for Qatari symbolism in it.

Bee The Cathars wore an engraving of a bee on their buckles and buttons; for the Perfect, it symbolized the mystery of fertilization without physical contact.

Fish Like all Christian monks who lived in fasting and abstinence, the Cathars abstained from meat, but not on certain days, but in general, with the exception of fish.

Family (marriage) Like many heretics of the 11th-12th centuries, the Cathars rejected the sacrament of marriage, introduced very late by the Roman Church (11th century), not wanting to confuse the divine sacrament with a purely material and social act. Conception and birth in itself, without the sacrament, according to Christian terminology, is a “bodily sin.” The Cathars said that “to know your wife physically as well as another woman is one and the same sin.” They also believed that embryos in the womb are simply bodies, that is, bodily shells formed by the devil that do not yet have a soul. On the other hand, the birth of children, according to the Catharism system, was necessary for the “awakening of the world”, so that souls could move into other bodies after death and gain a new chance for salvation, until all the fallen angels could finally return to the Kingdom. Some Dominican inquisitors spread rumors that the Cathars could lead humanity to extinction by prohibiting the birth of children. However, only Cathar monks and nuns took vows of absolute chastity, and their believers married (including marriages in the Catholic Church) and started families. They had numerous children, like their Catholic neighbors. There are known cases when marriages were concluded between Qatari believers through the mediation of the Good Man, but without any sacrament, only as a mutual agreement. The Cathars did not consider virginity to be of great value. Most of them became monks and nuns in adulthood, after they had already started a family and raised children. By entering religious life, often at the same time, they released each other from their marital vows. The true marriage mentioned in the Gospel (“what the Lord has united, let no man separate”), for the Cathars, was the spiritual marriage of soul and Spirit, taking place during the Consolament, reuniting the heavenly creation, torn apart after the fall.

Death From the Cathar point of view, the physical death of the body was a sign of the devilish nature of this world. Overall, this fit into their idea of ​​the transitory nature of everything visible and served as proof that an evil creator was unable to create anything “stable and enduring.” Death was evil and came from evil; God under no circumstances can punish with it or send to death. That is why the Cathars rejected the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Good People condemned both murder and the death penalty. On the contrary, they made vows to courageously face martyrdom following the example of Christ and

Folk legends assigned the name to the pentagonal castle of Montsegur - “Cursed place on the holy mountain.” The castle itself is located on a hill in southwestern France. It was built on the site of a sanctuary that existed in pre-Christian times. The hill itself was small, but had steep slopes, so the castle was considered impregnable (in the ancient dialect the name Montsegur sounds like Montsur - Reliable Mountain).

Legends and tales about the knight Parsifal, the Holy Grail and, of course, the magical castle of Montsegur are associated with this region. The surroundings of Montsegur amaze with their mystery and mysticism. Tragic historical events are also associated with Montsegur.

In 1944, during stubborn and bloody battles, the Allies occupied positions recaptured from the Germans. Especially many French and English soldiers died at the strategically important height of Monte Cassino, trying to take possession of the Mosegur castle, where the remnants of the 10th German army settled. The siege of the castle lasted 4 months. Finally, after massive bombing and landings, the Allies launched a decisive assault.

The castle was destroyed almost to the ground. However, the Germans continued to resist, although their fate had already been decided. When the Allied soldiers approached the walls of Montsegur, something inexplicable happened. A large flag with an ancient pagan symbol - the Celtic cross - hoisted on one of the towers.

This ancient Germanic ritual was usually resorted to only when the help of higher powers was needed. But everything was in vain, and nothing could help the invaders.

This incident was far from the only one in the long and mystical history of the castle. And it began in the 6th century, when a monastery was founded by Saint Benedict in 1529 on Mount Cassino, considered a sacred place since pre-Christian times. Cassino was not very high and was more like a hill, but its slopes were steep - it was on such mountains that in the old days impregnable castles were built. It is not for nothing that in the classical French dialect Montsegur sounds like Mont-sur - Reliable Mountain.

850 years ago, one of the most dramatic episodes in European history took place at Montsegur Castle. The Inquisition of the Holy See and the army of the French king Louis IX waged a siege of the castle for almost a year. But they were never able to cope with the two hundred Cathar heretics who had settled in it. The defenders of the castle could have repented and left in peace, but instead they chose to voluntarily go to the stake, thereby keeping their mysterious faith pure.

And to this day there is no clear answer to the question: where did the Cathar heresy penetrate into southern France? Its first traces appeared in these parts in the 11th century. At that time, the southern part of the country, which was part of the Languedoc county, stretching from Aquitaine to Provence and from the Pyrenees to Crecy, was practically independent.

This vast territory was ruled by Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Nominally he was considered a vassal of the French and Aragonese kings, as well as the Holy Roman Emperor, but in nobility, wealth and power he was not inferior to any of his overlords.

While Catholicism dominated in the north of France, the dangerous Cathar heresy was spreading more and more widely in the possessions of the counts of Toulouse. According to some historians, it penetrated there from Italy, which, in turn, borrowed this religious teaching from the Bulgarian Bogomils, and they from the Manichaeans of Asia Minor and Syria. The number of those who were later called Cathars (in Greek - “pure”) multiplied like mushrooms after rain.

“There is not one god, there are two who dispute dominance over the world. This is the god of good and the god of evil. The immortal spirit of humanity is directed towards the god of good, but its mortal shell reaches out to the dark god,” this is what the Cathars taught. At the same time, they considered our earthly world to be the kingdom of Evil, and the heavenly world, where the souls of people live, as a space in which Good triumphs. Therefore, the Cathars easily parted with their lives, rejoicing at the transition of their souls to the domains of Good and Light.

Strange people in the pointed caps of Chaldean astrologers, in clothes belted with rope, traveled along the dusty roads of France - the Cathars preached their teachings everywhere. The so-called “perfects”—ascetics of the faith who took a vow of asceticism—took on such an honorable mission. They completely broke with their previous life, renounced property, and adhered to food and ritual prohibitions. But all the secrets of the teaching were revealed to them.

Another group of Cathars included the so-called “laymen”, that is, ordinary followers. They lived an ordinary life, cheerful and noisy, they sinned like all people, but at the same time they reverently kept the few commandments that the “perfect” ones taught them.

The knights and nobles especially readily accepted the new faith. Most of the noble families in Toulouse, Languedoc, Gascony, and Rousillon became its adherents. They did not recognize the Catholic Church, considering it the spawn of the devil. Such a confrontation could only end in bloodshed...

The first clash between Catholics and heretics took place on January 14, 1208 on the banks of the Rhone, when, during the crossing, one of the squires of Raymond VI mortally wounded the papal nuncio with a spear. Dying, the priest whispered to his killer: “May the Lord forgive you, as I forgive.” But the Catholic Church did not forgive anything. In addition, French monarchs had long had their sights on the rich County of Toulouse: both Philip II and Louis VIII dreamed of annexing the richest lands to their possessions.

The Count of Toulouse was declared a heretic and a follower of Satan. The Catholic bishops shouted: “The Cathars are vile heretics! We must burn them out with fire, so that no seed remains...” For this purpose, the Holy Inquisition was created, which the Pope subordinated to the Dominican Order - these “dogs of the Lord” (Dominicanus - domini canus - Lord's dogs).

Thus a crusade was declared, which for the first time was directed not so much against infidels as against Christian lands. It is interesting that when asked by a soldier how to distinguish the Cathars from good Catholics, the papal legate Arnold da Sato replied: “Kill everyone: God will recognize his own!”

The crusaders devastated the flourishing southern region. In the city of Beziers alone, having driven the inhabitants to the Church of St. Nazarius, they killed 20 thousand people. The Cathars were slaughtered in entire cities. The lands of Raymond VI of Toulouse were taken from him.

In 1243, the only stronghold of the Cathars remained only the ancient Montsegur - their sanctuary, turned into a military citadel. Almost all the surviving “perfects” gathered here. They did not have the right to carry weapons, since, in accordance with their teachings, they were considered a direct symbol of evil.

However, this small (two hundred people) unarmed garrison fought off attacks by a 10,000-strong crusader army for almost 11 months! What happened on a tiny spot on the top of the mountain became known thanks to the surviving recordings of interrogations of the surviving defenders of the castle. They conceal an amazing story of courage and perseverance of the Cathars, which still amazes the imagination of historians. Yes, and there is enough mysticism in it.

Bishop Bertrand Marty, who organized the defense of the castle, was well aware that its surrender was inevitable. Therefore, even before Christmas 1243, he sent two faithful servants from the fortress, who carried with them a certain treasure of the Cathars. They say that it is still hidden in one of the many grottoes in the county of Foix.

On March 2, 1244, when the situation of the besieged became unbearable, the bishop began to negotiate with the crusaders. He had no intention of surrendering the fortress, but he really needed a reprieve. And he got it. During two weeks of respite, the besieged manage to drag a heavy catapult onto a tiny rocky platform. And the day before the castle is handed over, an almost incredible event occurs.

At night, four “perfect ones” descend on a rope from a mountain 1200 meters high and take with them a certain package. The crusaders hastily set out in pursuit, but the fugitives seemed to disappear into thin air. Soon two of them showed up in Cremona. They proudly talked about the successful outcome of their mission, but what they managed to save is still unknown.
Only the Cathars, fanatics and mystics, doomed to death, would hardly risk their lives for the sake of gold and silver. And what kind of load could four desperate “perfects” carry? This means that the “treasure” of the Cathars was of a different nature.

Montsegur has always been a holy place for the “perfect”. It was they who erected a pentagonal castle on the top of the mountain, asking the former owner, their co-religionist Ramon de Pirella, for permission to rebuild the fortress according to their drawings. Here, in deep secrecy, the Cathars performed their rituals and kept sacred relics.

The walls and embrasures of Montsegur were strictly oriented according to the cardinal points, like Stonehenge, so the “perfect” could calculate the days of the solstice. The architecture of the castle makes a strange impression. Inside the fortress you feel like you are on a ship: a low, square tower at one end, long walls enclosing a narrow space in the middle, and a blunt prow reminiscent of the stem of a caravel.

The remains of some now incomprehensible structures are piled up at one end of the narrow courtyard. Now all that remains is their foundations. They look either like the base of stone cisterns for collecting water, or like entrances to filled-in dungeons.

How many books have been written about the strange architecture of the castle without trying to interpret its resemblance to a ship! It was seen as both a temple of sun worshipers and a forerunner of Masonic lodges. However, so far the castle has not given up any of its secrets.

Directly opposite the main entrance, an equally narrow and low passage was made in the second wall. It leads to the opposite end of the platform crowning the mountain. There is barely enough space here for a narrow path that stretches along the wall and ends in an abyss.

800 years ago, it was along this path and on the steep slopes of the mountain near the top that stone and wooden buildings were built, in which lived the defenders of Montsegur, selected Cathars, members of their families and peasants from the village lying at the foot of the mountain. How did they survive here, on this tiny spot, under a piercing wind, showered with a hail of huge stones, with melting supplies of food and water? Mystery. Now there are no traces left of these flimsy buildings.

In August 1964, speleologists discovered some icons, notches and a drawing on one of the walls. It turned out to be a plan for an underground passage running from the foot of the wall to the gorge. Then the passage itself was opened, in which skeletons with halberds were found. New mystery: who were these people who died in the dungeon? Under the foundation of the wall, researchers discovered several interesting objects with Qatari symbols printed on them.

The buckles and buttons featured a bee. For the “perfect” it symbolized the mystery of fertilization without physical contact. A strange lead plate 40 centimeters long was also found, folded into a pentagon, which was considered the distinctive sign of the “perfect” apostles. The Cathars did not recognize the Latin cross and deified the pentagon - a symbol of dispersion, dispersion of matter, the human body (this, apparently, is where the strange architecture of Montsegur comes from).

Analyzing it, a prominent specialist on the Cathars, Fernand Niel, emphasized that it was in the castle itself that “the key to the rituals was laid - a secret that the “perfect” took with them to the grave.”

There are still many enthusiasts who are looking for buried treasures, gold and jewelry of the Cathars in the surrounding area and on Mount Cassino itself. But most of all, researchers are interested in the shrine that was saved from desecration by four brave men. Some suggest that the “perfect ones” were in possession of the famous Grail. It’s not without reason that even now in the Pyrenees you can hear the following legend:

“When the walls of Montsegur still stood, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. The hosts of Lucifer settled under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in the crown of their lord, from which it had fallen when the fallen angel was cast from heaven to earth. At the moment of greatest danger for Montsegur, a dove appeared from the sky and split Mount Tabor with its beak. The Guardian of the Grail threw a valuable relic into the depths of the mountain. The mountain closed and the Grail was saved."

For some, the Grail is the vessel in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ, for others it is the dish of the Last Supper, for others it is something like a cornucopia. And in the legend of Montsegur he appears in the form of a golden image of Noah's Ark. According to legend, the Grail had magical properties: it could heal people from serious illnesses and reveal secret knowledge to them. The Holy Grail could only be seen by those who were pure in soul and heart, and it brought down great misfortunes on the wicked.

Today, almost nothing remains of the once impregnable citadel: only fragments of dilapidated walls, piles of stones whitened by rain, somehow cleared courtyards with the remains of stairs and towers. But this is what gives it a special flavor, as well as the difficult climb to it along a narrow mountain path. However, there is a museum in the castle where you can watch a video reconstruction of the home and life of the Cathars.

So who are the CATARS?

A number of legends are associated with the Cathar movement, reflected in works of European art and folklore. From the Age of Enlightenment to the present day, Catharism is assessed by most researchers as the most serious opponent of the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation, which largely influenced the religious processes of the 14th-16th centuries. Traditional history claims that a new Christian faith, whose supporters were called Cathars, arose in Western Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Cathar position was especially strong in the Albi region in southern France. Therefore, they got another name - Albigensians. Historians believe that the Cathar religion was closely connected with the ideas of the Bulgarian sect - the Bogomils.

As encyclopedias report, Bulgarian Bogomilism of the eleventh century and Catharism known in the West from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries are one and the same religion. It is believed that, coming from the east, the Cathar heresy developed in Bulgaria, and the name Bulgarians was retained as the name used to describe its original origin. Religious historians and priests believe that both Bogomilism and the beliefs of the Cathars contained serious contradictions with the tenets of Christianity. For example, they were accused of allegedly refusing to recognize the sacraments and the main dogma of Christianity - the triune God.

On this basis, the Catholic Church declared the beliefs of the Cathars to be heresy. And opposition to Catharism was for a long time the main policy of the popes. Despite the many years of struggle of the Catholic Church against the Cathars, among their many supporters there were a large number of Catholics. They were attracted by both the everyday and religious lifestyle of the Cathars. Moreover, many Catholic believers belonged to both churches. Both Catholic and Qatari. And in areas where Catharism had a great influence, there were never religious clashes. Historians claim that the confrontation between the Cathars and Catholics reached its climax, allegedly at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Especially to combat heretics, Pope Innocent III established a church inquisition, and then authorized a crusade against the Qatari regions. The campaign was led by the papal legate Arnaud Amaury. However, the local population of the Qatari regions supported their legitimate rulers and actively resisted the crusaders. This confrontation resulted in a twenty-year war that completely devastated the south of France. Subsequently, historians wrote that these battles were too numerous to list. The Cathars defended themselves especially fiercely in Toulouse and Carcassonne. The intensity of these battles can be judged from one source that has come down to us from ancient times.

The Crusader warriors turned to Arnaud Amaury with the question of how to distinguish a heretic from a devout Catholic? To which the abbot replied “kill everyone, God will recognize his own.” In this war, the Cathars and their supporters from among the Catholic feudal lords were defeated. And the systematic repression that followed ended with the complete defeat of the Cathar movement. In the end, the Cathars disappeared from the historical scene of the Middle Ages, and their majestic castle-fortresses were destroyed by the victors.

The mysterious destruction of Qatari castles

So, the traditional historical version claims that the confrontation between secular and ecclesiastical authorities with the Cathars is an event of the thirteenth century. In the same era, the castles of the vanquished were also destroyed. However, there is plenty of evidence that back in the seventeenth century, Qatari castles existed. And not as monuments of forgotten antiquity, but as active military fortresses. Historians have their own explanation for this. They say that after the barbaric destruction, the French authorities restored the castles and made them their military fortresses. The castles remained in this capacity until the beginning of the seventeenth century. And then they were destroyed again for the second time. Purely theoretically, this is probably possible: destroyed, restored, destroyed again, restored again. But in practice, restoration and even destruction of such gigantic structures is very expensive. But in this strange version proposed by historians, what is surprising is not only the ordinary fate of these fortresses, but also the fact that all these metamorphoses occurred only with Qatari castles. Here, for example, is what historians say about the fate of the Qatari castle Rokfixat.

It turns out that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, after the defeat of the Cathars, it was a functioning royal fortress. And, of course, the royal garrison served in well-equipped fortifications, and not on gray ruins. But the following story resembles a bad joke. Allegedly in 1632, King Louis 13, heading from Paris to Toulouse, passed by this castle. He stopped and stood in thought for some time. And then he suddenly ordered the castle to be completely destroyed, since it was no longer of any use and it had become too expensive to maintain. Although if the royal treasury really turned out to be unable to maintain the castle in a combat-ready condition, then it would be natural to simply recall the garrison, board up the barracks and leave the castle to collapse under the influence of time and bad weather. So, for example, quietly and naturally, according to traditional history, the castle of Perpituso collapsed. Most likely, this semi-fantastic story was invented by Scaligerian historians, after 1632, in order to somehow explain the true reasons for the destruction of the castle during the wars of the first half of the seventeenth century. They could not admit that in fact the crusades against the Cathars were waged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. After all, historians have already sent these events back to the thirteenth century. That's why they had to make up an absurd fable about the king's strange order.

But if historians came up with at least such an absurd explanation for the ruins of Roquefixada, then they didn’t come up with anything at all about Montsegur Castle. It is known that it was an active royal fortress until the sixteenth century, and then it was allegedly simply abandoned. But if the king did not give the order to destroy it, why did the castle end up in such a deplorable state. After all, today they are just ruins.

Only the outer belt of the walls survived from the castle. There can be no question that such a structure could collapse on its own. Even today you can see how strong it was. Huge stone blocks are neatly fitted to each other and firmly welded with cement. The massive walls and towers are a single stone monolith. Such walls do not fall apart on their own. To destroy them, you need gunpowder and cannons. But why was it necessary to spend so much effort and money on destroying these powerful fortifications, even if they had lost their strategic purpose? Historians cannot answer this question.

Cathars. New chronology version

As we have already said, secular and Christian historians believe that the beliefs of the Cathars are closely related to the ideas of the religious Bulgarian sect of the Bogomils. Just like Catharism, the Christian Church considers the teachings of the Bogomils to be heresy. It is known that the religious teachings of the Bogomils came to Bulgaria from the east. But who were these people and where exactly did they come from? In the history of Paul the Deacon and in the chronicles of the dukes and princes of Benivena, there is such information. These peoples were Bulgars, who came from that part of Sarmatia, which is irrigated by the Volga. This means that the Bogomils came from the Volga, which is why they were called Bulgars, that is, Volgars or Bulgarians. And the territory of their settlement began to be called Bulgaria. In the thirteenth century the great Mongol conquest began.

Maps compiled by modern historians show the distribution of the Bogomil Cathars. Spain, France, England, Germany, Greece, Türkiye, Balkans. The Cathars came to western Europe in the wake of the great conquest of the fourteenth century and remained there until the seventeenth century. Until the victory of the Reformation rebellion. After the victory of the Reformation rebellion, Western European rebels began a fierce struggle with the Rus-horde and with the remnants of people from Rus'. With the remnants of the Russian-Horde troops, including the Tatars. And some of the crusades that supposedly took place in the thirteenth century and were directed against the Cathars in western Europe were actually seventeenth-century campaigns in which the Cathars were defeated and destroyed. This version answers the question of who built more than a hundred castles called Qatari.

It is quite obvious that it was not possible for a large national state to build such a powerful network of military fortifications. Moreover, such fortresses could not be built, and most importantly maintained, by petty princes and barons. Only a very strong and rich state could afford this. Qatari castles were strongholds of the Russian-Horde empire in the territories of Western Europe it conquered and colonized. It was a vast network of fortifications that controlled all movement throughout Western Europe. During the Reformation rebellion, all these castles were captured and destroyed by the rebels. In the surviving documents it was discovered that these castles, the Cathar castles, stood completely undamaged until the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

They were defeated only starting in the second half of the seventeenth century. Although historians today claim that these castles were destroyed a long time ago, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Of course, texts written by the inhabitants of the castles themselves could completely restore the picture of those events. But after their defeat, there were practically no written documents left. Historians say that the Cathar writings were probably quite numerous. However, severe persecution led to the disappearance of most of the texts, as the Catholic Church subjected Catharism to the most horrific repression. Indeed, for the rebel reformers, not only living bearers of the idea of ​​the great Cathar empire were dangerous, but also any material evidence of the lives of these people, their true purpose and faith.

Are the Cathars heretics or saints?

In the modern world, attitudes towards the Cathars are mixed. On the one hand, in southern France the loud and tragic story of the unconquered Cathars is widely advertised. Qatari cities and castles, the story of the fires of the Inquisition, attract the attention of tourists. On the other hand, they constantly emphasize that Catharism is a very harmful heresy and it existed for so long that not a trace remains of it. Meanwhile, images of Qatari and Christian symbols are still preserved in some Gothic cathedrals in France.

This is what a Qatari cross looks like, inscribed in a circle. The same crosses can be seen in the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Moreover, Qatari crosses are present here even in two types. Both flat and prominently convex. They are depicted on stone sculptures, on mosaics, on stained glass windows, on the main columns inside the temple. Even above the main entrance to the cathedral on the central portal, with the image of the Last Judgment, there is a sculptural image of Christ. Behind his head on the wall is a stone Qatari cross. Let us compare this image with Orthodox icons, which usually depict a halo behind the head of Christ, and a cross against the background of the halo. As you can see, these images are almost identical. This means there is nothing heretical in the Qatari cross. Why then has the Christian Church been claiming for several centuries that the Cathar faith is a heresy?

Are Qatari symbols heretical? And why are these symbols proudly displayed not in some provincial church, but on the colonnade of one of the most important churches not only in Paris, but throughout France. Today it is believed that the construction of the cathedral began in the thirteenth century. Moreover, historians emphasize that it was built during the era of the fight against the Cathars. But why, while fighting them, did the church allow the walls of churches to be covered with the crosses of their enemies - the heretics of the Cathars? Is it because Catharism was not a heresy at all, but completely Orthodox Christianity of that time? But after the victory of the Reformation rebellion, as often happens, the victors declared the vanquished heretics. Today, even on the pages of textbooks, the Cathars are presented as heretics who needed to be destroyed. It was all done simply on paper. This is pure paper political and ideological activity of the seventeenth century. In fact, in life this was not at all like that. It was Orthodox Christianity, and its symbols were Orthodox. The appearance of Qatari crosses also corresponds to Orthodox crosses from Russian churches of the fifteenth century.

So who were the Cathars?

The Cathars are conquerors who came to Western Europe from the Russian horde of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. They were not heretics and professed Orthodox Christianity, the single religion of the entire empire at that time. In the seventeenth century, during the rebellion of the Reformation, the Cathars remained completely faithful to their faith, their ideas, and the idea of ​​a great empire. They fought to the last against the rebels in Western Europe. Unfortunately, the Cathars were not the only and not the last victims