In Part IV the history of heresy continued with the Greek Schism and its profound effect upon the unity of the Church. The West has always longed for the Orthodox Eastern Churches to reunite with Rome with the Pope as visible head of a unified Church. Unfortunately the East has continually resisted any reunion. Even though the anathemas and excommunications have been lifted by both sides the Orthodox East remains separate and schismatic to this very day.

Until this point in history most of the heresies afflicting the Church have come from the East. From the 1200's on we will witness how the devil attacks the integrity of the Church from heresies that attacked the roots of the faith as handed on through Holy Tradition. We saw a glimpse of where Western heresies were headed with the advent of the Waldensians who took a noble idea and let pride destroy them.

Part V

AD 1200-1300

The Carthari

or Cathars

The Cathars were a sect which spread in the region of Southern France known in Latin as Albigensium. Because of this they were called by the Albigensians and the heresy they perniciously promoted throughout the region was so devastating to the social order that a Crusade was called eventually against them by Pope Innocent III. Their influence was so threatening to the social order of Medieval Europe that for the good of the Church and Catholic society in general it was necessary to ultimately destroy the entire religion. In our age of "TOLERANCE" this may seem unbelievably cruel and incredibly intolerant but one must look upon the age and what was being accomplished within society as a whole to understand the actions of the Church at that time. It was basically a matter of survival and social order as well as the protection of the souls of the innocent who were being seduced by these heretics away from the one true Faith and the only means of salvation.

This heresy, or false religion for want of a better term, began with the teachings of Constantine of Samosata. He basically combined the ancient Manichean and Gnostic heresies giving them a more Christian face. They called themselves the Cathars which came from the Greek term katharos or "the pure". They were dualists in that they believed in two equal forces tha controlled the universe, one good and the other evil. They had only two levels of membership the highest being the "Perfects" who lived ascetic lives and took strict vows of abstinence and celibacy and the "believers" who attempted to practice the strict life style as best they could.

The rise of the Albigensians was due in part because of the corrupt Roman Catholic clergy in the region. The Church had gone through several scandals not the least of which was a period where two Popes claimed the Throne. Due to political influence within the Church this scandal cause great confusion. Each Pope claimed to be legitimately elected and the whole of Europe slipped into factions each supporting the Pope they thought was authentically elected. Once this first scandal was resolved and the Papacy was restored to stability in the 1100's, the people still had to contend with clerics who lived lives that were full of vice and just the opposite of the gospels. The people had little respect for the priests and bishops because they were greedy, power hungry and profligates. Nevertheless, where sin abounds grace abounds more. So into this turbulence God sent several spiritual giants, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic, and Pope Innocent III. These men and other great Saints brought order out of chaos and restored faith in Christ and faith in His Church. St. Bernard began the great movement that reformed the monastic orders. His Cistercian Order began the reformation of the Benedictines. St. Francis founded the Order of the Frairs Minor who through their simplicity, genuine poverty and love for the Church transformed all of Europe with their love. St. Anthony was one of the greatest followers of Francis. Because of his eloquence and preaching he was known as the Hammer of Heretics. St. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers. These men dedicated their lives to the education of the laity and to preaching the Truth of Christ without compromise. From this Order came the greatest mind the Church and the world has ever known; St. Thomas Aquinas.

It was within the historical context of clerical opulence and corruption that the Albigensians had such a tremendous impact on the people in Southern France and Northern Italy. They resisted the preaching of such holy men as St. Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Dominic and continued to spread their errors throughout France and Italy. St. Anthony was confronted by these same heretics in northern Italy but was able to convert whole cities through his preaching and by spectacular miracles that the heretics themselves could not deny.

As the heretics of old, the Albigensians believed that all of the natural world was evil and had been created by Satan. They were strict vegetarians because violence of any kind was considered a result of the Evil One's influence in the world. Therefore, killing animals and eating them was forbidden. They rejected marriage because it promoted the procreation of offspring which continued the cycle of Satan's creation. Like their predecessors they denied the sacraments because the sacraments demonstrated the goodness of the material world. They believed in reincarnation especially for those who never received the only initiation rite the Cathars had which they called the "Consolamentum." They believed the process of reincarnation was perpetuated by sexual intercourse and procreation was Satan's way of trapping spirits in the "tunics" of flesh he had created to enslave those spirits destined to be united to God. They renounced the Trinity and believed that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not equal to God the Father. They nonetheless proclaimed themselves to be "Christian" and continued to use Catholic prayers such as the "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" as well as outward signs such as genuflections and the sign of the cross. Finally, they could only receive the "consulamentum" once and believed if a person sinned after receiving this "sacrament" they were doomed to perpetual reincarnations or hell. Therefore, many of the Cathars in order to avoid such a fate would ritually commit suicide in order to be released from subsequent reincarnations and be allowed into union with God the Father. This ritual suicide was done by cutting the veins in the wrists and bleeding to death. It was seen as honorable and encouraged.

Their "worship" ceremonies were only once a month. Here the "believer" confessed their sins to the "Perfects" and were "absolved" by them. They had a communion service which had no more significance than a Protestant service has today. They did not believe in the real presence and saw communion only as a memorial meal done at the command of Christ.

Pope Innocent III

It is my personal opinion that Pope Innocent III was the greatest Pope the Church has every been graced to have. He possessed not only leadership and wisdom but was an astute student of human nature and possessed the idealism and holiness to bring all the elements of the Papacy into perfect harmony. He was elected Pope at the ripe old age of 37 in the year 1198. By this time the Albigensians had become fully entrenched in Southern France and they were being aided and abetted not only by nobles in the region but also by many of the clergy in the area. Pope Innocent only one year after his election as Pope began a concerted effort to reform the clergy, inquire into the prevalence of heresy in the region and began a campaign of preaching by the Cistercians throughout the territory of Southern France and Northern Italy.

The effort paid off in the return of several noblemen to the Catholic Church. However, the general result was that the Cathars ignored the preaching of the Cistercians.

St. Dominic who had not yet founded the Dominican Order, named after him, toured this region of Southern France and found that many of those who the Pope had sent to preach conversion to the Albigensians were not leading exemplary lives of austerity. This is why the Albigensians had so much influence. Even though their doctrines were corrupt and pagan they nonetheless, presented a holy exterior that was in direct contrast to the corrupt clergy of the region.

Due to his tour of the area and the preaching he did to convert the heretics from their error. Dominic founded the Order of Preachers and impressed by the true austerity of St. Francis of Assisi adopted the Franciscan vow of Poverty as a necessary element of the Dominican Order. Their charism is to study the Catholic Faith to such a degree that they can express and defend it eloquently. After the crusade against the Albigensians the Dominican Order flourished and had great influence within the Church.

The Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian crusade was the most successful in the history of the Church. The nobles of Northern France gathered together with dedicated and holy clergy. They militarily crushed the Cathar cult in Southern France and Northern Italy. The actual crusade was a bloody affair, especially to modern sensibilities. The Pope understood that if the Albigensians were allowed to continue to exist they could very easily have caused the unraveling of the Catholic social structure bringing chaos and disorder throughout Europe and the Catholic Church. They had no concept of tolerance regarding these issues. A heretic was worse than a murderer because he murdered the soul of his victim and made the victim a child of the devil who is the father of lies. In fact, capital punishment was exacted more frequently against unrepentant heretics than against murders.

The Cathars were so stubborn in their heresy that in spite of the extreme process used to force them to renounce their heresy they would instead fling themselves into the flames rather than be subjected to the Roman Catholic Church. One particular incident exemplifies their hatred for Rome As a particular Cathar was being prepared for the stake he screamed, 'Why preach at us? We care nothing for your faith. We deny the Church of Rome!' after which he ran headlong into the fire. In one city only 3 "Perfects" converted to the Catholic Church while 170 others were burned at the stake, unrepentant.

Because the Cathars would hide among the populace and pretend to be Catholic one general slaughtered nearly 15,000 people many of whom were Catholics. It is from this incident and the words of the Crusade's spiritual leader that the U.S. Marines got the phrase "Kill them all; Let God sort them out. He will know His own." This is not unprecedented. God Himself had commanded the slaughter of entire populations including livestock when He sent Israelite armies into battle against an enemy. In fact, Saul, the first anointed king of Israel, lost his crown because he allowed the leader of the Amalachites to live and took livestock to use an animal sacrifice to God disobeying God's command.

The end result of this Crusade was the complete elimination of the Albigensians from existence and the unified control of Southern France by Northern France. The final conflict was waged against a fortress in Montsegur in Southern France. 200 Perfects were burned at the stake.

* It must be noted that the horrible custom of burning heretics at the stake was not meant to be cruel for the sake of cruelty but rather the reasoning was that by threatening such a hideous form of capital punishment the heretic would repent if not out of the love of God or for the sake of the truth then at least out of fear. In fact, the total number of heretics burned at the stake by the secular authorities in the name of the Church were very few compared to those who converted and lived the rest of their lives peacefully in monasteries. The Protestant Revolution and its subsequent adoption of this same method actually put to death thousands more men and women than the Catholic Church had in her entire history. Catholics who refused to become Protestant were gleefully set to the torch as well as other Protestants who refused to accept the religion of the King or local nobleman. In Elizabethan England they especially enjoyed devising interesting forms to torture their Catholic victims. For instance St. Margaret Clitherow was put to death by being slowly crushed.*

One could also speculate that if Pope Leo X and the local authorities in Germany and Switzerland had dealt with Martin Luther and the heretical sects his errors spawned as swiftly and decisively as had Pope Innocent III then Protestantism may never have taken hold as it eventually did.

Jan Hus and the Hussites

Hus was the true precursor of Protestantism. Born in what is known today as the Czech Republic in 1369 he was ordained to the priesthood in 1400 and made Rector of the University of Prague in 1402.

Jan had become enamored with the writings of John Wycliffe whose writings had been condemned as heretical in England in 1382. Wycliffe denied Transubstantiation, believed in predestination, believed that the authority of Scripture outweighed the living authority of the Church, rejected the concept of apostolic succession, believed that the veneration of relics and images was a sin against the First Commandment, and finally he ended in pantheism believing that the universe and God were one.

In 1410 the Archbishop of Prague burned the books of Wycliffe and excommunicated his supporters. Jan Hus who formally excommunicated in 1412 who was forced to leave the university of which he was Rector. Finally he was forced to leave Prague.

In his writings Hus refined the concepts of Wycliffe. He developed the concept of predestination and wrote that the Papacy was not divinely ordained but came only as an historical development. He denied the doctrine of Transubstantiation and insisted that communion should be given in both species and not just the host. This reception of the bread and wine at their communion services was a distinguishing mark of the Hussite sect

Finally, in 1414 Hus was captured. After an extensive trail and investigation and despite threats, imprisonment and torture Jan Hus refused to recant his views. He was burned at the stake in 1415 in the German city of Konstanz.

Because of the rise of nationalistic sentiments at that time the Czech nobility was outraged that one of their own had been executed by the Germans. In response, Hussite churches began to form separating themselves from the Catholic hierarchy and establishing their own rituals and communities. This became the seed bed of the Protestant revolt in the 1500's.