God. Love. Symbolism. Faith. The Cross. The 'sacrament of the present moment.' All this and more is herein.The radical, iconoclastic, sans-culotte, ultra-ist ... is back! Maximus Confessor+ takes us into a religious world that is OTHER than we were taught it should be. All in all -- a spiritually sensuous voyage.

Christian dualism originated in the reign of Constans II (641-68). It was a popular religion, which shared with orthodoxy an acceptance of scriptual authority and apostolic tradition and held a sacramental doctrine of salvation, but understood all these in a radically different way to the Orthodox Church. One of the differences was the strong part demonology played in the belief system. This text traces, through original sources, the origins of dualist Christianity throughout the Byzantine Empire, focusing on the Paulician movement in Armenia and Bogomilism in Bulgaria. It presents not only the theological texts, but puts the movements into their social and political context.

For the third edition, this comprehensive history of the great heretical movements of the Middle Ages has been updated to take account of recent research in the field.

DIVDIVThis fascinating book explores the evolution of religious dualism, the doctrine that man and cosmos are constant battlegrounds between forces of good and evil. It traces this evolution from late Egyptian religion and the revelations of Zoroaster and the Orphics in antiquity through the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Mithraic Mysteries, and the great Gnostic teachers to its revival in medieval Europe with the suppression of the Bogomils and the Cathars, heirs to the age-long teachings of dualism. Integrating political, cultural, and religious history, Yuri Stoyanov illuminates the dualist religious systems, recreating in vivid detail the diverse worlds of their striking ideas and beliefs, their convoluted mythologies and symbolism. Reviews of an earlier edition: “A book of prime importance for anyone interested in the history of religious dualism. The author’s knowledge of relevant original sources is remarkable; and he has distilled them into a convincing and very readable whole.”—Sir Steven Runciman “The most fascinating historical detective story since Steven Runciman’s Sicilian Vespers.”—Colin Wilson “A splendid account of the decline of the dualist tradition in the East . . . both strong and accessible. . . . The most readable account of Balkan heresy ever.”—Jeffrey B. Russell, Journal of Religion “Well-written, fact-filled, and fascinating . . . has in it the making of a classic.” —Harry T. Norris, Bulletin of SOAS/div/div

The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism traces the development of this little-understood heresy from its Middle Eastern roots. The Bogomils derived elements of their doctrine and practice from the Manichaeans and the Paulicians. By the reign of Alexius Comnenus, Bogomilism was rife within the Bulgarian and Byzantine empire and had taken hold even amongst influential families in Constantinople itself. Though they suffered persecution, decline and ultimate disappearance in their Balkan heartlands, the Bogomils were subsequently an influence upon more celebrated heresies in France and Italy. Dmitri Obolensky's magisterial study of Balkan dualism remains the definitive work on Bogomilism.

In this major study the theme of "church and society" provides a means of examining the condition of the Byzantine Empire at an important period of its history, up to and well beyond the fall of Constantinople in 1204.