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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Cathar
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1992-09-03
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Medieval Latin `the pure' member of a sect in
medieval Europe usually numbered among the
Christian heretics. Influenced by
Manichaeism, they started about the 10th
century in the Balkans where they were called
`Bogomils', spread to SW Europe where they
were often identified with the Albigenses,
and by the middle of the 14th century had
been destroyed or driven underground by the
Inquisition. The Cathars believed that this
world is under the domination of Satan, and
men and women are the terrestrial embodiment
of spirits who were inspired by him to revolt
and were driven out of heaven. At death, the
soul will be reincarnated (whether in human
or animal form) unless it has been united
through the Cathar faith with Christ. For
someone who has become a Cathar, death brings
release, the Beatific Vision, and immortality
in Christ's presence. Baptism with the spirit
- the consolamentum - was the central rite,
believed to remedy the disaster of the Fall.
The spirit received was the Paraclete, the
Comforter, and it was imparted by imposition
of hands. The Believers, or Credentes, could
approach God only through the Perfect (the
ordained priesthood), who were implicitly
obeyed in everything, and lived lives of the
strictest self-denial and chastity.