#1167

Siege / Alexandrina Victoria from Arknights

"Siege, leader of the Glasgow Gang, will carve a path for you."

Cathars

The Cathars (also known as Cathari from the Greek Katharoi for “pure ones”) were a dualist medieval religious sect of Southern France which flourished in the 12th century and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They were also known as Albigensians for the town of Albi, which was a strong Cathar center of belief.

Cathar priests lived simply, had no possessions, imposed no taxes or penalties, and regarded men and women as equals; aspects of the faith which appealed to many at the time disillusioned with the Church. Cathar beliefs ultimately derived from the Persian religion of Manichaeism but directly from another earlier religious sect from Bulgaria known as the Bogomils who blended Manichaeism with Christianity.

Cathars believed that Satan had tricked a number of angels into falling from heaven and then encased them in bodies. The purpose of life was to renounce the pleasures and enticements of the world and, through repeated incarnations, make one's way back to heaven. To this end, the Cathars observed a strict hierarchy:

Perfecti – those who had renounced the world, the priests and bishops

Credentes – believers who still interacted with the world but worked toward renunciation

Sympathizers – non-believers who aided and supported Cathar communities

Cathars rejected the teachings of the Catholic Church as immoral and most of the books of the Bible as inspired by Satan. They rejected the Church for what they saw as hypocrisy of the clergy and the Church's acquisition of land and wealth. The Church responded by condemning the Cathars as heretical and they were massacred in the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) which also devastated the towns, cities, and culture of southern France.

Origins & Beliefs

Almost everything known about the Cathars comes from confessions of “heretics” taken by Catholic clergy during the inquisition which followed the Albigensian Crusade. The belief structure can easily be traced back to Manichaeism which traveled via the Silk Road from the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East to Europe where it became entwined, under certain circumstances, with Christian belief and symbolism.

The orthodox view of the Catholic Church was that there was one God with three aspects – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – but this orthodoxy was not part of the vision of early Christianity and was not generally accepted until after the Council of Nicaea in 325 (convened by Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome) ruled in favor of it. Even then, the Nicaean interpretation of Christianity vied with others for centuries. The so-called heretical movements of the Middle Ages such as the Bogomils, the Cathars, and the Waldensians were simply the latest challenges to the Church, but they were significant because they were the first to set themselves up as a legitimate alternative to Catholicism in any form.

Cathar beliefs included:

Recognition of the feminine principle in the divine – God was both male and female. The female aspect of God was Sophia, “wisdom”). This belief encouraged equality of the sexes in Cathar communities.

Metempsychosis (Reincarnation) – a soul would be continually reborn until it renounced the world completely and escaped incarnation.

Cosmic Duality – the existence of two powerful deities in the universe, one good and one evil, who were in a constant state of war. The purpose of life was to serve the good by serving others and escape from the cycle of rebirth and death to return home to God.

Vegetarianism - though eating fish was allowed to credentes and sympathizers.

Celibacy for perfecti – celibacy was also encouraged generally since it was thought that every person born was just another soul trapped by the devil in a body. Marriage overall was discouraged.

The dignity of manual labor – the Cathars all worked, priests as well as laypeople, many as weavers.

Suicide (known as the ritual of endura) as a rational and dignified response under certain conditions.

Earlier heresies such as Arianism, while still condemned, at least adhered to the same essential dogma of the Church; the Cathars rejected and repudiated every aspect of the Church, including most of the books of the Bible. Scholar Malcolm Barber notes:

They believed that the devil was the author of the Old Testament except these books: Job, the Psalms, the books of Solomon , of Isaiah, Ezekiel, David, and of the twelve prophets. (93)

PT: 1167: Non-binary type /end PT

DEFINITION ⦂⠀Someone whose type is non-binary individuals; who seeks out non-binary individuals in a relationship, or prefers non-binary individuals over other individuals, even if one could have a relationship with others.

PT: Definition: Someone whose type is non-binary individuals; who seeks out non-binary individuals in a relationship, or prefers non-binary individuals over other individuals, even if one could have a relationship with others. /end PT

ADDITIONAL ⦂⠀Coined on the 14th of May, 2026.

PT: Additional: Coined on the 14th of May, 2026. /end PT

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