With the help of the Old Testament it is possible to prove the "divine" origin of the Inquisition.
Inquisitors considered even Jesus Christ himself to be founder and legislator of the Inquisition.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: " If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. "(John 15: 6.). This phrase was especially pleasing to the inquisitors, as justified both them, and their use of campfires. However, at the same time they shied away from answer to question:Why didn`t Christ during his first coming, burn "heretics" either alone or en masse, but insisted in " They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. "[35]
The main heresies. What is the essence?
The Bogomils (The Cathars).
Official church history says, that the crusade against the Cathars took place in 1209-1229 and was a series of military campaigns initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eradicate the Cathar heresy[36]inLanguedoc.
LastCathar was burned at the stake at 1321. During the crusade, which lasted 20 years, at least a million people was destroyed (Wikipedia).
In our opinion, it is not logically to talk about the wars of the Roman Catholic Church against the Cathars at the XIII century: at that time there was no single Latin Church. Small groups of bandits could gather to rob the inhabitants of Languedoc, but no more.
But the first crusade of Latins against the Hussites took place. Serious military power was demanded to fight against the Cathars, to destroy the fortifications suchasCité de Carcassonne (city of Carcassonne), andthe Fortress of Montségur, they needed artillery: the thickness of the walls is several meters there, and artillery became commonly used only at the XV century.
And construction of such monumental fortifications had meaning only for defense against artillery[37].
The Fortress of Montségur
All wars against the Cathars could take place only at the XVI-XVII centuries and, most likely, after the Council of Trent.
There is evidence, that the LatinChurch fought against hereticsWaldensians(also known variously asWaldenses,Vallenses,ValdesiorVaudois)which were being destroyed at the XVII century. Wikipedia says, thatat 1655 thePiedmontese army in alliance with the bandits and Irish mercenaries had tortured two thousand Waldensians. At 1685, French and Italian troops killed about 3,000 believers, captured about 10,000 and distributed about 3,000 children over Catholic areas ".
The Waldensians and the Cathars are so close to each other on religious beliefs, that it is almost impossible to distinguish them[38].
Who are the Cathars (Waldensians) and for what were they destroyed? In what did they prevent the Latins?
The most accurate description of the religious beliefs of the Cathars is given in the book by Jean Duvernoy "Religion of Catars"[39]
The main provisions of the Cathar teachings:
• Son of God came into this world, not in order to atone for the original sin with His victim`s death on the cross, but to remind people that their kingdom is not of this world, and to teach them the saving ritual, that would forever rid them of evil and of time;
• Christianity of Cathars is without crucifixion[40].
• Son of God is an Angel of God.
Jesus Christ on background of Cathar cross (on nimbus).
The facade of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral.
The Holy book of the Cathars (Waldensians) contained the Gospel, Apostle, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) and some other texts.
Russian Encyclopedia "Tradition" in article "The Cathars" writes: "Bogomils of Byzantium and the Balkans, as well as the Cathars of Italy and France, of Languedoc represented one and the same Church."
"Cathars claimed, that they are the sole and authentic Christian Church, but the Roman Church was the deviation from the teachings of Christ.[41]"
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionaryannounces the following about Cathars (Bogomils):
"At the beginning of the XIII century. the whole Southern Europe from the Pyrenees and the Ocean to the Bosphorus (Bosporus) and Olympus was surrounded by almost unbroken chain of Bogomil settlements.
In the West, they didn`t have names “bogomils” and “babuni”, but they were calledmanichaeans (manichees),poplicans(paulicians), patarenes (patarins)- in Italy, cathars - in Germany (hence ketzer - heretic),albigenses- in the south of France (by the town of Albi), and alsotisserands(from tissarands - weavers by craft). In Russia Bogomils were also known, and their influence affected significantly in the apocryphal literature.
History and religious doctrine of western bogomils are set forth under words -Albigensesand Cathars. Bogomils existed until the XVII century .; Many of them were converted to Orthodoxy, but even more were converted to Catholicism".
In general, we can confidently say, that the Cathars, Bogomils, etc. "heretics" - are representatives of one and the same doctrine, and the official Roman Catholic Church fought against it until the end of the XVII century.
Here, it should be noted, that the Bogomils regarded Satanail as evil inclination of the visible world, and Christ - as a good inclination[42].
The last stronghold of the Cathars -the Fortress of Montségur, was called the temple of the Holy Grail, and then -the temple of Sun.
The Arians and features of their religious doctrine
It follows from the theological works on the history of religion, that Arians dissappeared in ancient times, but the centuries passed, and Arians didn`t not go away to anywhere and concealment of their existence until the XVIII century failed. For example, a huge colony of Arians existed in the XVII century in Poland[43].
Topper U. wrote[44]:
"The heretic Arius also may be a fictional person, masking certain more powerful religion as heretical high priest.
Here are the main provisions of the Arian teaching:
• Arians did not acknowledge Jesus as God, but only the first of an equal - the mediator among God and people;
• rejected the idea of the trinity of God;
• Jesus did not always exist, i.e., there is the "beginning of his existance";
• Jesus was created from nothing, because he didn`t exist before;
• Jesus can not be equal with the Father - God, that is, he isnot of the one substancewith the Father, butof the similar substancewith the Father.