Paulician
religious sectMain
member of a dualistic Christian sect that originated in Armenia in the mid-7th century. It was influenced most directly by the dualism of Marcionism, a Gnostic movement in early Christianity, and of Manichaeism, a Gnostic religion founded in the 3rd century by the Persian prophet Mani. The identity of the Paul after whom the Paulicians are called is disputed.
The fundamental doctrine of the Paulicians was that there are two principles, an evil God and a good God; the former is the creator and ruler of this world, the latter of the world to come. From this they deduced that Jesus was not truly the son of Mary, because the good God could not have taken flesh and become man. They especially honoured the Gospel According to Luke and the Letters of St. Paul, rejecting the Old Testament and the Letters of St. Peter. They rejected also the sacraments, the worship, and the hierarchy of the established church.
The founder of the Paulicians seems to have been an Armenian, Constantine, who took the additional name of Silvanus (Silas; one of St. Paul’s companions). He gave a more distinctively Christian character to the Manichaeism that at the time was prevalent in the Asian provinces of the Byzantine Empire. The sect seems to have started a widespread political and military rebellion within the empire shortly after its appearance. Between 668 and 698 Constantine III and Justinian II sent two expeditions to repress it. Constantine (Silvanus) was stoned to death, and his successor, Simeon (Titus), was burned alive.
In the early 9th century Paulicianism was revived. It expanded into Cilicia and Asia Minor under Sergius (Tychicus), who made it strong enough to survive the persecution and massacre instigated by the emperor Michael I and the empress Theodora. The number and power of the Paulicians were greatest under Karbeas and Chrysocheir, the leaders in the third quarter of the 9th century. An expedition sent by Basil I in 872 broke their military power, but they survived in Asia at least until the Crusades. After the 9th century their importance lay chiefly in Thrace, where many Paulicians had been forcibly located to serve as a frontier force against the Bulgarians.
Paulician doctrines were disseminated among the Macedonians, Bulgarians, and Greeks, especially among the peasants, and it seems that they contributed to the development of the doctrines and practices of the Bogomils, another neo-Manichaean sect, who first appeared in Bulgaria in the early 10th century
You may want to read up a little bit on Marcion and Marcionism. The Wikipedia article is a fairly accurate summary. Here's the bottom line that you need to know: Marcion did not believe that the God that created the heavens and earth...the God of the Old Testament...was the same God that sent Jesus Christ. He believed a separate God sent Christ (who, btw, was all spirit and not really man). Marcion, thus, rejected all of the Old Testament canon. In addition, he threw out all of the Gospels, except for the one penned by St. Luke. Naturally, he also dismissed all of the remainder of the New Testament, with the exception of the Pauline Epistles.
Bottom line: are you guys SURE that you want to trace your history through this Constantine-Silvanus and these Paulicians? If that's where you get your patrimony, fine. Your business. But I really want to make absolutely sure you know what you're saying.
I thought you two might be interested to see where the Baptists apparently trace their patrimony.
See comment #13 - the “Paulicians were gnostics” argument is so out-of-date and disproven it’s not even funny. Only sources like, well, Wikipedia still rely upon it.