Nicetas (Bogumil Bishop)
From Niketas , a 'bishop' or 'Pope' of Bogumiles no survival data are known; perhaps he was the 'bishop' of the sect in Constantinople . Around the year 1160 he appears in Lombardy to donate or renew the consolamentum , the only sacrament of the Cathars , and to strengthen the dualistic faith. As far as we know, Niketas belonged to a strict religious group within the Bogumils, the so-called Dragovites , who referred to their founder Simon von Dragovitien . The leader of the Lombard 'heretics', a certain Markus, was a rather moderate dualist.
Council of Saint-Félix-de-Caraman
In 1167 (or 1170?) Niketas ( called Niquinta in the Council Report ) appears at a Cathar Council (others use the term 'Synod') in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman , which may have over a hundred participants; among them were:
- Robert d'Épernon, 'Bishop' of the French, that is, of Northern France
- Markus, 'Bishop' of Lombardy, that is, Italy
- Sicard Cellarians, 'Bishop' of Albi
- Bernard Raimond, 'Bishop' of Toulouse
- Guiraud Mercier, 'Bishop' of Carcassonne
- Raimond de Casals, 'Bishop' of Agen
Little is known of the results of the council, except that a certain independence and autonomy of the 'Cathar dioceses' was recognized. In addition, arbitrators were appointed to determine and monitor the areas of influence of the various 'Cathar dioceses' in the south of France.
A few years later (around 1180) a certain Petracius appeared in Italy and raised doubts about the moral behavior of Simons of Dragovitien and thus about the legality or the effectiveness of the consolamenta donated or renewed by Nicetas . For the heretic movement in Italy this meant a profound division.
swell
An Italian source dated around 1200 reports that a certain Papa Nicheta came from Constantinople to Lombardy to convince the Cathar bishop Markus that the consolamentum donated to him was invalid. Thereupon Markus received a renewal of his consolamentum from the hands of Nicheta.
Everything we know about the Council of Saint-Félix-de-Caraman comes from a - allegedly - found in 1660 by the otherwise largely unknown jurist and historian Guillaume Besse from the year 1232/33, which in turn is a copy of one older text was. There is no trace of the two older documents - so all that remains is the hope of the reliability of the original author, the copyist and the publicist.
Given the meager sources, one can only hope that 'Papa Nicheta' from the Italian text and 'Niquinta' from the southern French tradition are actually one and the same person.
See also
Other 'Cathar Bishops' were:
literature
- Bernard Hamilton, Janet Hamilton, Christian dualist heresies in the Byzantine world c. 650 - c. 1450. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1998 pp. 250-253 ISBN 0-719-04764-1
Web links
- Translation of the original document's text by Guillaume Besse (Engl.)
- Translation of the original document text according to Guillaume Besse (French)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nicetas |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bishop of the Bogumils in Constantinople |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 12th century or 13th century |