the Albigensian Cathars of southern France. Cathars were a gnostic movement with dualistic tendencies. The Catholic Church viewed them as a competing form of Christianity. The first European crusade was launched against the Cathars, not against non-Christians. Cathars viewed the Church’s actions as tyrannical and oppressive attempts to enforce conformity.
Before persecution, Cathars lived peacefully. They had degrees of spiritual awakening. Their priestly class was called the perfecti. Perfecti took vows aimed at consciousness awakening. Practices included vegetarianism, based on a belief that all sentient beings possess awakening consciousness. Killing animals for food was regarded as unethical when other dietary options were available.
Cathars believed in reincarnation. They interpreted several New Testament passages as references to reincarnation. They practiced the ritual consolamentum, an empowerment signifying that a person had attained awakening and no longer needed to reincarnate. Such individuals could remain in the spiritual realm or choose to reincarnate to help others, comparable to the bodhisattva ideal in Buddhism.
Cathars sought purification of mind, actions, relationships with others, treatment of animals, and stewardship of the environment as part of awakening.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, possibly secretly a druid and a major figure of the Roman Church, was sent to confront the Cathars. Instead of condemning them, he praised their lifestyle as compatible with Christianity. Despite this, the Church conducted a crusade against them for political and economic reasons, including control of land and resources.
Cathars collaborated with other gnostic groups, such as Pauline gnostics in Armenia and Bogomils in Bulgaria. They exchanged texts and ideas.
They gave special importance to the biblical Johns (John the Baptist and John the Apostle). Their primary text was the Secret Supper of John. Copies survived in places such as Carcassonne after Church seizures. John the Baptist was regarded as the great initiator of Jesus, analogous to Melchizedek initiating Abraham.
Cathars referred to themselves as “the poor of Christ.” Historical accounts describe persecution and torture but emphasize their seriousness and devotion.
Certain Cathar families, especially around Troyes, were connected to the original nine founders of the Knights Templar. The “poor of Christ” became the “poor knights of Christ of the Temple of Solomon.” Templar influences included Bernard of Clairvaux (as rule-writer), the Jewish Kabbalist Rashi of Troyes, Cathar traditions, and contact with multiple gnostic groups across Europe and the Middle East, including Sabians, Druze, Sufis, and Moorish groups.
Templar secret statutes (1240) referenced “comforted brothers” throughout the world who possessed knowledge of God and the Great Art. Article 8 listed righteous gnostic groups: the good men of Toulouse, the poor of Lyon, the Albigensians, groups near Verona and Bergamo, Galencians, Tuscans, Bogomils, and Bulgarians. The text described bringing these groups to Templar chapters through underground passages and giving consolamentum with witnesses.
Article 9 described receiving Saracens, Druze, and groups in Lebanon fraternally, demonstrating Templar association with diverse gnostic communities.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Bernard-Raymond Fabre-Palaprat reinstated the Templar Order (1804). He came from Cahors in southern France, a historical Cathar center. A Cathar cave existed beneath his home, used for initiations. He revealed the Levitikon, a gnostic text containing chapters about Jesus training in Egypt and learning mysteries there. Other gnostic movements in France were also becoming more accepted at this time.