ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES DE BULGARIE
INSTITUT D'ETUDES BALKANIQUES
ETUDES BALKANIQUES, 2001, No4

Professor Thomas  Butler, Harvard University

A SOLID CONTRIBUTION

I have read with much interest the book of' Georgi Vasilev "Bulgarski Bogomilski i Apokrifni Predstavi v Anglijskata Srednovekovna Kultura (Obrazat na Hristos Orach v poemata na William Langland "Videnieto na Petur Oracha')" - 'Bulgarian Bogomil and apocryphal ideas in medieval English culture (the image of Christ as Piers Plowman in William Langlands's The Vision of Piers Plowman)'¹

Dr. Vasilev's painstaking, well-documented work represents a solid and at times brilliant contribution to European cultural history, to the study of medieval English literature, as well as to the field of comparative religion. I am familiar with his earlier writings on Orphism and its relation to Bulgarian Bogomilism, in particular to the myth of Christ's descent into hell and his freeing of the imprisoned souls there (portrayed unforgettably in one of the frescos at Boyana Church). Vasilev's discussion - in his book — of the tenth-century Bulgarian priest Jeremiah's "Story of the Tree of the Cross", of the earlier, apocryphal Nicodemus's gospel, as well as of works like the "Cursor Mundi" supports his thesis that such works conveyed dualistic and Bogomil ideas to the English heretical movement called the Lollards. (Chapters III and IV).

Dr. Vasilev points out the Bulgarian contribution to the popular myth of Christ's return to earth as a plowman in a gesture of love to all mankind. In discussing the meeting between Christ and Satan, when Christ visits hell, Vasilev astutely contrasts moderate bogomilism and absolute dualism, as he discusses the description of Christ's visit in the Carcassonne version of the "Secret Book", as opposed to the Vienna version, which omits this scene. According to Vasilev, the fact that Christ subdues the devil in the Carcassonne manuscript is a sign of moderate Bogomilism, whereas in the Vienna mss., which does not mention this scene, the devil seems to retain coequal status (Chapter II).

In discussing William Langland's poem, "Piers Plowman", Dr. Vasilev takes into account a broad stream of cuttural influences, inctuding ancient Persian (Zoroastrian), medieval Bulgarian (Jeremiah's "Story of the Tree of the Cross" and the "Secret Book of the Bogomils"), Cathar apocryphal texts, and their equivalents in medieval England. He treats ancient mythology (the Orpheus legend) -in chapter V, as well as folklore (Christ as the culture hero of the common man). No aspect of the question seems overlooked by him, including vernacular education in Cathar schools.

Dr. Vasilev's account is bolstered by his knowledge of major medieval literatures, including Old Slavonic (Old Bulgarian), Angle Saxon, Anglo Norman, Provencal, Italian, medieval Latin and Greek. He is as familiar with Dante's "Divine Comedy" as he is with the Old Slavonic "Travels of Our Lady Through Hell", including the myth of her compassionate saving of doomed souls. He includes appropriate references to the graphic arts, including depictions of our Lady with saved souls embedded in her dress, as well as of Peter the Plowman (Christ), with an aureol of farm tools. In reading of how Christ taught farmers certain skills, we are reminded of the legends of St. Sava, the Serbian cutture hero, who is given credit for instructing farmers in cheese making, among other agricultural endeavors.

After a recent trip through Bosnia and Hercegovinia, where I examined Bogomil's grave monuments, I found myself agreeing with Dr. Vasilev on the reappearance of the cross as a religious symbol in Bogomil belief. Some of the Bogomil monuments I saw there have a cross, but instead of a body they have hanging clusters of grapes and a rosette where the head should be. Perhaps some of the early docetic ideas of Christ's only 'apparently' dying on the cross lingered on in these Bosnian and Hercegovinian depictions of the crucifixion. Some monuments featured a numinous tree of paradise, which one could also take as a cryptic reference to the "The Tree of the Cross."

Vasilev's vision of medieval culture delineates between an official, Church-controlled, stagnant, antihuman culture, and an unofficial, folk, and ever-evolving vernacular stream - a counter-culture that is both wise and loving, nourished by old myths and

more recent, apocryphal tales, gradually absorbed into the pre-renaissance literature which gave us Dante's "Divine Comedy" and Langland's "Piers PIowman".

Dr. Vasilev's bibliography is very thorough and offers a guide to all who want to delve into these clouded waters.

Vasilev's work is a masterful work which well deserves to be translated into English and presented to the professionalist's milieu as well to a larger public interested in old cultural and civilizational interactions.

--------------

¹Василев, Г. "Български богомилски и апокрифни представи в английската средновековна култура (образът на Христос Орач в поемата на Уилям Лангланд "Видението на Петър Орача")", издателство "Корени", София, 2001, 288 стр.