Catharist

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A follower of a medieval dualist Christian movement that believed the material world was created by an evil power and sought spiritual purity
2. Someone who belonged to a medieval religious group teaching that the physical world was corrupt and that the soul must be purified
3. A adherent of a dualist heretical sect of the Middle Ages that rejected material existence as the work of an evil force

Etymology: The word "Cathar" goes back to the Greek "katharos", meaning "pure" or "clean", and medieval Christians who believed they alone lived a pure life took the name for themselves. Catharism was a dualist movement that taught the material world was the creation of an evil power, so the soul was trapped in flesh and needed release. Its followers flourished in southern France, especially in the Languedoc, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The English noun "catharist" is simply "Cathar" with the suffix "-ist", which denotes an adherent of a doctrine or a person who holds a particular belief. Its adjective use follows the same pattern, describing things connected with Catharist teaching or believers. The suffix is an ordinary English one, so the word needs no special history beyond the name it is built on.

Synonyms: Cathar, Albigensian