Polemics, Punishment, and Forgery: Paulicians in Greek Sources

Carl Dixon

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Chapter 1 Polemics, Punishment, and Forgery: Paulicians in Greek Sources

In: The Paulicians

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Carl Dixon

Carl Dixon
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 54–98

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004517080_003

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Abstract

Chapter 1 reassesses the dating and authenticity of the main Byzantine polemical texts against the Paulicians, arguing that Peter of Sicily’s History of the Paulicians and Pseudo-Photios’ Brief History of the Manichaeans were forged during the mid-tenth century, most probably during the sole reign of Constantine VII (945–59). Specifically, the History of the Paulicians is argued to be dependent on Theophanes Continuatus I-IV, whereas the Brief History must postdate the capture of Melitene by Byzantine forces in 934. Both texts ultimately attest the centrality of punishment to conceptions of Paulicians in heresiological texts of the period. Having unmasked these works as forgeries, the chapter then argues that the earliest Greek text concerned with the heresy is the anonymous Treatise against the Paulicians, which is argued here to have been composed a century earlier, by an iconoclast during the reign of Theophilos (829–842). Besides this source critical emphasis, the chapter also articulates the historical conclusions which arise therefrom, demonstrating that a significant Paulician presence in the empire’s eastern borderlands cannot have predated the 840s.

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The Paulicians

Heresy, Persecution and Warfare on the Byzantine Frontier, c.750-880

Series: The Medieval Mediterranean, Volume: 132

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004517080

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 22 Apr 2022

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- History
  - Medieval History
  - Byzantine Studies
- Religious Studies
  - General

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Chapter 1 Polemics, Punishment, and Forgery: Paulicians in Greek Sources

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The Paulicians

Heresy, Persecution and Warfare on the Byzantine Frontier, c.750-880

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