A neo-
Manichean sect southern
France flourishing in the 12th and 13th centuries. The name
Albigenses was given them by the Council of Tours (1163) and gradually was applied to all the
heretics of the south of France. They were also called Catharists (> Gk
katharos = pure). They maintained the
dualistic view that only two mutually opposed
principals existed in the universe: one called
evil the other
good.
Good and Evil
The
good created the
spiritual and the
evil the
material world. From the
evil one issues all evil, all
natural phenomena, whether
growth of
crystals or
earthquakes, all
war, and all
sin. They even asserted that either all or part of The
Old Testament sprang from the evil one. It follows that the beneficent
God inspired the
New Testament.
Earth is a place of
punishment, which will not be
eternal since the
soul is by nature
divine.
The heresy disappeared about the end of the 14th century.