Cathar Connections to Gnosticism, Continued
© Michelle Powell-Smith
While extant gnostic writings generally do not address ritual practice, the Gospel of Phillip does discuss certain rituals practiced within a Christian gnostic community. Quite a lot is known about Cathar rituals and there appear to be some similarities between the two. The Gospel of Phillip describes several Christian gnostic rituals, including baptism, chrism, and the ritual of the Bridal Chamber. The text identifies baptism with resurrection and the Bridal Chamber with redemption. The Gospel of Phillip conflates these two rituals into one, much as the Cathar consolamentum does.
The gnostic Gospel of Phillip describes redemption as "the Holy of Holies." The "Holy of Holies" is the Bridal Chamber ritual. The baptismal ritual includes both resurrection and redemption, with the redemption taking place in the Bridal Chamber. Thus, these two rituals were clearly linked in some way, and may have been, in at least some cases, combined into a single ritual.
The Cathar rite of consolamentum, as previously discussed, usually combined both baptism and redemption into a single ritual. The consolamentum was based on earlier Bogomil rituals, which were perhaps themselves based on early gnostic rituals. As is true of the gnostic rituals previously discussed, the Bogomil rituals could be separate or united into a single ritual. The Bogomil baptismal ritual, "baptisma", granted the recepient the right to say the Lord's prayer. Prior to undergoing the baptismal ritual, the believer was not entitled to call God "Father." The rite of redemption or "teleiosis" redeemed the soul and forgave sin. These two rites were combined within the Cathar consolamentum; however, the earlier divisions are still visible. The intensely ascetic practices previously described had to be faithfully adhered to; any break with these resulted in a re-absorbtion into the evil material world.While a Cathar could undergo the ritual of consolamentum again, it was only after heavy penance, irregardless of the sin.
Thus, it is clear that there are definite ritual parallels between the early Christian gnostics and the medieval Bogomils and Cathars. The rituals of baptism and the bridal chamber, or redemption ritual, appear throughout these sects, although they are called by other names. While it is impossible to know exactly how far the similarities extend, the rituals of the Bogomils and later the Cathars seem to have been based on the ritual practices of the gnostics.
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