Custodians of Truth: The Continuance of Rex Deus by Tim Wallace-murphy Marilyn Hopkins

Author:Tim Wallace-murphy Marilyn Hopkins [Tim Wallace-murphy Marilyn Hopkins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

THE PERFECTI

Within the Cathar faith, the laity were known simply as credentes, or believers, the priests as les bonhommes,²³ or good men. Their critics, on the other hand, called them perfecti—a corruption of the Latin term hereticus perfectus, also known as the Cathari, or the pure ones.²⁴ The perfecti were, in every sense,”good men” who caught people's imagination through their sheer goodness. They were drawn from both sexes and went forth to visit country cottage, village, chateau, or city street, where they were received with universal veneration and respect.²⁵ As ministers to the Cathar community, the perfecti stood closer to their flocks than any Catholic priest had ever done. They were poor; they mixed with people in their daily lives and shared their labors at the loom or in the fields. They embodied an authority that needed neither pomp nor ceremony to impose its will. They proclaimed the Church of Love, lived their beliefs, and did violence to no man. As a result, the Cathar Church flourished and grew prosperous, and those who were converted to it felt that they were part of a community that offered a richer spiritual life and far more earthly fraternity than the corrupt and indifferent Catholic Church.²⁶

Professor Barber identifies another factor that contributed to the appeal of the new church—its lack of doctrinal dogmatism, which stood in startling contrast to the bitter theological quarrels of the Catholic clergy.²⁷ One example of this lack of doctrinal rigidity is found in the one ritual obligation that was laid upon the credentes—to perform melioramentum, or melhorer, an act of respect and veneration to any perfectus they might meet. This consisted of bowing three times to the perfectus and saying: “Pray to God to make a good Christian of me, and bring me to a good end” The perfectus would give a blessing and say: “May God make a good Christian of you, and bring you to a good end” Other than this simple act, the believers had no other religious obligations, and could even continue to attend Mass in Catholic churches if they wished.²⁸

Perfecti lived in working communities regardless of their previous social status, traveling in pairs to tend to the pastoral needs of the credentes, preaching and healing as they went. Their healing skills, like those of their Essene predecessors, were based on spiritual insight moderated by their skill as herbalists.²⁹ As initiates, they knew that Jesus had promised his disciples they would all become capable of everything he did.³⁰ The perfecti knew this to be true, for they knew that sacred knowledge came directly from the good god and that, as a result of following the teaching of Jesus, spiritual union with God would result from their divine gift of gnosis.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.