Bible Dictionaries

Heresies of the Church Thru the Ages

Paulicianism

Eastern heretics, derived from Manichaeism, begun by Constantine Mananalis c.657and existing till about the middle of the 11th century. During the Saracen attacks many of them formed a political party disloyal to the cause of the Roman Empire. Originally they held the following:

• the God of the material universe and the God of the spirItual world are distinct

• all matter is evil

• the Old Testament is to be rejected

• Christ was not incarnate but was an angel whose mother was the heavenly Jerusalem

• Baptism and the Eucharist consist in hearing the Word of God

• there are no other sacraments

They were also Iconoclasts. Their perversions were later embodied in the tenets of the Bogomili, the Cathari, the Albigenses, and exist even today in more or less modified forms amongst some Armenians.