Bogomilists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Members of a medieval Christian sect advocating dualism and asceticism; followers of a religious group opposing established Church doctrines and promoting simplicity; adherents of a heretical movement that rejected material world and ecclesiastical authority
2. Individuals belonging to a historical sect that combined Gnostic and dualistic beliefs; proponents of a faith that emphasized spiritual purity and criticized Church hierarchy; participants in a religious tradition marked by opposition to orthodox Christianity and materialism
3. Followers of an ancient religious group holding that the world is divided between good and evil forces; practitioners of a faith emphasizing renunciation of worldly pleasures and clerical structures; members of a sect rejecting traditional Christian dogma and church rituals

Etymology: Bogomilists are the followers of Bogomilism, the dualist Christian movement named after Bogomil, a priest who lived in Bulgaria in the tenth century. The name is usually traced to a Slavic form meaning "beloved of God" or "friend of God", and the movement's teachings, which set a material world created by an evil principle against a spiritual realm of goodness, spread widely through the Balkans and later influenced medieval heresies in western Europe such as the Cathars. This word is simply the plural of "Bogomilist", so it refers to more than one adherent of the sect. The singular form takes its suffix from the same pattern as other names for followers of a doctrine, so each member of the group carries the founder's name in the title.

Synonyms: bogomils, heretics, dualists, sectarians, religious dissenters

Antonyms: orthodox, believers, conformists, churchmen, theists