Exercises on the Cathar Heresy

(UFSCar-2008/adapted) The Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215, decreed measures against secular lords if they protected heresies in their territories, even threatening them with the loss of domains. Even before this council and as a result of it, the secular authorities decreed the death penalty to prevent the spread of heresies in their territories, starting with Aragon in 1197, Lombardy in 1224, France in 1229, Rome in 1230, Sicily in 1231 and Germany in 1232.

FALBEL, Nachman. Medieval heresies. São Paulo:Perspectiva, 1977, p. 17.

Catharism was considered heretical by the Catholic Church and began to suffer great persecution, mainly from the Albigensian Crusade, which began in 1209. Regarding medieval heresies, it is correct to say that:

a) the term heresy designated a doctrine contrary to the principles of the faith officially declared by the Catholic Church.

b) heretics were philosophers and theologians who rationally debated the divine and human nature of the Trinity in the 13th century.

c) the Church had tolerant attitudes towards heretics of popular origin, who proposed a new ethical vision of the ecclesiastical institution.

d) the first heretics appeared in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and defended ancient doctrines spread by the Ottoman empire.

e) the heresy was reconcilable with the temporal power of the Pope, but caused the rupture of relations between Church and State.

Catharism is considered a heresy inherited from Gnostic sects, which were extremely common in Eastern Europe, mainly the:

a) of the Waldensians

b) of bogomilism

c) of the beguines

d) of Arianism

e) of Pelagianism

[…] the adherents of the [Cathar] doctrine claimed that God, infinitely good and perfect, could not be the creator of an evil and corruptible world. Therefore, the world of matter would be the work of a second god, the god of evil, who created it to overcome the good god.

FALBEL, Nachman. Medieval heresies. São Paulo:Perspectiva, 1977, p. 53.

The above passage refers to the Cathar worldview, in which it was stated that God would only belong to the spiritual world, and the material world would be the work of an evil god/Satan. This represents a concept of Catharism called:

a) bogomilism

b) consolamentum

c) dualism

d) apareliamentum

e) Arianism

Catharism was a heresy that distinguished two different groups of believers:the Perfect and the Believers. The Perfect were those who had restored their souls from communion with Christ and maintained a life of extreme asceticism (penance). A believer became a Perfect from a rite called:

a) dualism

b) excommunication

c) apareliamentum

d) consolamentum

e) bogomilism

Letter A

In the medieval period, any religious movement that was not in accordance with orthodoxy, that is, the doctrine established by the Roman Catholic Church, was considered heretical. From the twelfth century onwards, a series of heretical movements arose in various parts of Europe, and some, such as Catharism, enjoyed great popular support. Catharism, for example, converted large numbers of people in southern France and was considered heretical by the Catholic Church in 1119 by Pope Callixtus II.

Letter B

Catharism was considered the heir of a Gnostic sect that was very common in the region of present-day Bulgaria. Bogomilism emerged in the 9th century, and its name was derived from the priest considered the founder of the heresy, Bogomil. The ideas of Bogomilism are believed to have developed in Western Europe through Catharism.

Letter C

The question refers to the main characteristic of Catharism:the dualistic worldview. In the Cathar conception, everything originating in the spiritual world belonged to God (good god) and everything originating in the material world belonged to Satan (bad god). Thus, the Cathars believed, for example, that the material world (the universe) was not created by God, but was the work of Satan.

Letter D

A Christian became a Perfect, that is, a faithful ascetic, when he sought to live a life of poverty and penance. The consolamentum it was conquered after a period of two years of religious formation (novitiate). Once officially initiated in the religion, the Perfect lived a life of celibacy and with extremely rigid food, in which he abstained from meat, for example. The consolamentum marked the redemption of a person's soul through communion with Christ.