|
|
|
| A Transcendant Christianity |
 'The Cathars were the disciples of St John and the heirs of the Seven Churches of Asia to which the prophet of Patmos addresses his Revelation' (Caraman Synod, 1167).
So, they claimed to be of the highest evangelical lineage, of the most learned and luminous Christian descent. That is what is meant by the word 'Gnostic', still orthodox in the 2nd century, at least in Alexandria (Cf. Clement of Alexandria) and in the Orient, and also synonymous with contemplative and transcendent Christianisty, as opposed to traditional, common Catholic Christianity.
The Gnostics shortened the Judaizing gospels and only kept intact the Johannine writings. Their interpretation is all mystical, it claims the realisation of the inner Christ.
'The teaching of Christ, burnt on the Alexandrian altar of Plato, Catharism formed a kind of theosophy which rose from the Gospels, like a perfume, to the top, the ideal, the infinite.'
|
|
|
|
|
