The Dualism of the Cathar Religion
By Robert Ambelain
“They recognize and confess to know two Gods, or two Lords: A Good-God and an Evil-God."
- Cf. Bernard Gui Op: “Manual of the Inquisitor”.
“They recognize and confess to know two Gods, or two Lords: A Good-God and an Evil-God."
- Cf. Bernard Gui Op: “Manual of the Inquisitor”.
The dualism of the Cathar Religion asserts the existence of an Absolute, Supreme God, existing in Himself and by Himself, exterior to all creatorial manifestation. When the Supreme Being entered into the Act with the intention of exercising His all-power on the Creatures, two modes of manifestation appeared simultaneously, hypostasis of two secondary lords, the Good-God and the Evil-God.
Not everyone is aware that the Scriptures have several meanings representing various levels of thought. The historical material sense corresponds to a spiritual non-temporal meaning, and the Gnosis is only concerned with the latter. That is, the texts which follow are, of course, taken exclusively in the spiritual sense.
In the first verses of Genesis we find certain dualism:
“In the Beginning (in' principio: in the principle), God created the Heavens and the Earth... God separated the Light from the Darkness... God named the Light: Day, and He called the Darkness Night.... It was the Evening and the Morning[1]… God separated the Waters-Above from the Waters-Below[2]… God made the great Luminaries, the Sun and the Moon… God created Man in His Image, He created him Male and Female. (Genesis 1: 1, 4, 5, 7, 16 and 28).
In Ecclesiasticus, we see effectively this affirmation (Vulgate Version):
“Good is set against evil, and life against death; so also is the sinner against a just man. And so look upon all the works of the Most High, two and two, and one against another.” (Ecclesiasticus 33:15)
That there exists a Supreme God, exterior to this duality of manifestations, and that briefly the Divine Unity is the One Reality, is evidently an undisputable fact – Perfection not being able to divide itself.
But that in the concrete, with the appearance of Manifestation, we find ourselves face to face with two secondary gods, is no less certain.
“0 give thanks unto the God of gods....”
“0 give thanks to the Lord of lords...” (Psalms 136:2-3)
“Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords…” (Timothy 6:15)
“For though these be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be many gods, and lords many” (Corinthinans 8:15)
Their creation is the work of the Supreme God, thus the Father said of the Son:
“Before the Day Star I begot thee” (Psalms 109:3) Vulgate
It states that the Word was begot (and not created) before Lucifer, who is named the Day Star in the Scriptures frequently. But, on the other hand, the creation of His adversary is likewise the work of the Supreme God.
“Behold I have created the smith (the worker) that bloweth the coals in the Fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his works, and I have created the waster (murderer) to destroy.” (Isaiah 54:16)
The Worker is evidently the Demiurge (worker, in Greek) and the Murdered is Death, identified with the Devil.
“...that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)
With their appearance, the Word and the Adversary are the object of a mysterious choice on the part of-the Father:
“Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau...” (Malachi. 1:2)
Now Esau symbolizes the Worker, and Jacob symbolizes the Supplanter. Esau signifies here the Demiurge, and Jacob is the image of Christ. As Jacob supplants his brother in the Biblical account (Genesis 28:6) Christ.. supplants the Prince of this World. From whence comes the mysterious verse:
“I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second. child that shall stand up in his stead." (EccIesiaste 4:14)[3], [4]
That the Supreme God was the initial Author of two secondary gods ,the Scriptures tell us:
“I create Light and create Darkness... (Isaiah 45:1)
“I make Peace and create Evil... (Isaiah 45:7)
“See, I have set before thee this day Life and Good and Death and Evil... (Deuteronomy 30:15)
"The day is thine, the night also is thine
thou hast prepared the light and the Sun... (Psalms 74:16)
"If my Covenant be not with the Day and the Night…” (Jeremiah 33:25)
Allusion to the two successive Covenants, that of Sinai and that of Golgotha, also proves that the two metaphysical polarities, Light-Darkness, Day-Night, Good-Evil, are concurrently used by the Supreme God to properly govern His Mysterious Work.
* * *
Aware of the abysses of Evil, the Supreme God, Onniscient and Omnisapient, keeps them more or less in the state of Non-Being, in order to allow the potentialities-of-Good to come into Being.
“He knoweth what is in the darkness... (Daniel 1:22)
“Yeah, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness
and the light are both alike in thee... (Psalms 139:12)
Likewise, it comes to pass that the Supreme God alternates the use of these two opposing Powers – Light and Darkness – according to the mysterious unfoldment of a plan beyond our comprehension.
“Prepare to meet thy God, 0 Israel...
“...that maketh the morning darkness...(Amos 4:12-13)
“...that maketh the day dark with night (Amos 5:8)
Besides, the Supreme God reserves the right to withdraw from the temporary manifestation one of the two Potentialities Light-Darkness, even the one He Himself had previously chosen, utilized and favoured. Thus, according to Israel, exoteric Christianity and the great Churches of the East, as well as those of the West, have ,rejected the Gnosis. In their turn, He abandoned them.
“The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off. (Jeremiah 33:24)
According to Israel, exoteric Christianity would therefore lose the Divine Presence, the Holy Spirit. And indeed, very soon towards the IVth Century when, owing to Constantine, the Church did repudiate the to the Gnosis to become its Persecutor, and to know the fervor of temporal power and the thirst for gold, then the grace of Charisms started to die out little.
When we re-read all of Chapter 23 of Ezekiel carefully, we recall the following Keys:
1. The elder of the two daughters is named OHOLA, the Hebrew word signifying “tent.” The younger is named OHOLIBA, Hebrew word signifying “My tent is in her.”
OHOLA is therefore the Old Covenant, designated by the Tabernacle, which the sons of Israel carried with them until the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
OHOLIBA is the new Covenant, because “My tent is in her,” that is to say that “The Temple is in us,” as Christ is himself identified to the Temple.
“But he spake of the Temple of his body.” (St. John 2:21)
2. From these obtained clues understand that one, then the other -Israel first of all, then the exoteric Church next – will lose the favour of the Supreme God, for:
“Son of Man, wilt thou judge AHOLAH and AHOLIBAH? Yeah, declare unto them their abominations ...And with their idols have they committed adultery (spiritual) and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire... (Ezekiel 23:36-37)
The Church had to pass through the fire at the stake at. first made true Christians. This is why:
“And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy. One for a flame. (Isaiah 10:17)
That there exists a sort of Dark Natter, an Eternal Substance, of which the Supreme God sets himself to bring the successive creations into Being is proved by:
“And God said: Let there be Light,
and there was light.
And God saw the Light, that it was good,
and God divided the Light from the Darkness.” (Genesis 1: 3 - 5 ).
Therefore Light and Darkness was mixed (in principio) in the First Principle. This is this Dark Substance.
“Now, God is Light, and in Him is no darkness, at all.” (John 1:5)
In consequence, this Dark Substance where all is diffused and confused, is exterior to the Supreme God, it is in the presence of Him, and, it is not Him. However, God being the Eternal Creator (he does not change) this Dark Substance is eternally at His disposition.
- translated fromL'INITIATION, #3, 1966
[1]When we carefully re-read Genesis 1 :3-5, we will see that the Darkness has preceded the Light. This is why, in Israel, the day begins at sunset.
[2]The mysterious Watersdesignate the “levels” of the Spiritual Creatures, two primitive Hierarchies, from whence come all others.
[3]The translation of the Vulgate by Saint Jerome textually states: “ax utero ante luciferum genuii te!” which signifies plainly: “from my womb, before the Day Star. I have begot thee...” This is the Catholic translation.
The Jewish and Protestant translation says: “from the womb of the Morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth: These two versions are contradictory. The first brings forth the Word before Lucifer, the second gives birth of the Word from the womb of Lucifer, at least He draws His life there (Knowledge).
Although this text of the Psalmist is formal, both are engendered of the Father, when the Angels are merely created. This will confirm the primitive tradition, related by Lactance: “God, before creating the World, brought forth a Spirit resembling Him, and full of His virtues. He afterwards brought forth another, in idiom the divine imprint did not dwell. He was jealous of his Elder who, dwelling there attached to the Father earned His Affection. Lactance: “Divinae Institutiones 11,9”
[4]The Ecclesiasticus, one of the “Wisdom Books,” which appears only in the Catholic Bible, is not to be confused with Ecclesiastes. It is by Jesus son of Sirach (260 B.C.).
NO NEW TRUTHS.
“If it is true that we are emanated from one universal source of truth, then no truth should appear to be new to us; and by the same token, if no truth appears to be new to us, but seems to be only a memory or a representation of that which is hidden in us, then our birth must have taken place within the source of universal truth.”
-Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
B-O-O-K-S
“Concerning books, I have clearly stated my viewpoints when I said that Man was the only book written by the hand of God; any other book could be only a development or a commentary of this original text. Therefore, our first fundamental, duty is to read deep in the book of Man – the only book written by the hand of God.”
- Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
Not everyone is aware that the Scriptures have several meanings representing various levels of thought. The historical material sense corresponds to a spiritual non-temporal meaning, and the Gnosis is only concerned with the latter. That is, the texts which follow are, of course, taken exclusively in the spiritual sense.
In the first verses of Genesis we find certain dualism:
“In the Beginning (in' principio: in the principle), God created the Heavens and the Earth... God separated the Light from the Darkness... God named the Light: Day, and He called the Darkness Night.... It was the Evening and the Morning[1]… God separated the Waters-Above from the Waters-Below[2]… God made the great Luminaries, the Sun and the Moon… God created Man in His Image, He created him Male and Female. (Genesis 1: 1, 4, 5, 7, 16 and 28).
In Ecclesiasticus, we see effectively this affirmation (Vulgate Version):
“Good is set against evil, and life against death; so also is the sinner against a just man. And so look upon all the works of the Most High, two and two, and one against another.” (Ecclesiasticus 33:15)
That there exists a Supreme God, exterior to this duality of manifestations, and that briefly the Divine Unity is the One Reality, is evidently an undisputable fact – Perfection not being able to divide itself.
But that in the concrete, with the appearance of Manifestation, we find ourselves face to face with two secondary gods, is no less certain.
“0 give thanks unto the God of gods....”
“0 give thanks to the Lord of lords...” (Psalms 136:2-3)
“Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords…” (Timothy 6:15)
“For though these be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be many gods, and lords many” (Corinthinans 8:15)
Their creation is the work of the Supreme God, thus the Father said of the Son:
“Before the Day Star I begot thee” (Psalms 109:3) Vulgate
It states that the Word was begot (and not created) before Lucifer, who is named the Day Star in the Scriptures frequently. But, on the other hand, the creation of His adversary is likewise the work of the Supreme God.
“Behold I have created the smith (the worker) that bloweth the coals in the Fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his works, and I have created the waster (murderer) to destroy.” (Isaiah 54:16)
The Worker is evidently the Demiurge (worker, in Greek) and the Murdered is Death, identified with the Devil.
“...that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.” (Hebrews 2:14)
With their appearance, the Word and the Adversary are the object of a mysterious choice on the part of-the Father:
“Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau...” (Malachi. 1:2)
Now Esau symbolizes the Worker, and Jacob symbolizes the Supplanter. Esau signifies here the Demiurge, and Jacob is the image of Christ. As Jacob supplants his brother in the Biblical account (Genesis 28:6) Christ.. supplants the Prince of this World. From whence comes the mysterious verse:
“I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second. child that shall stand up in his stead." (EccIesiaste 4:14)[3], [4]
That the Supreme God was the initial Author of two secondary gods ,the Scriptures tell us:
“I create Light and create Darkness... (Isaiah 45:1)
“I make Peace and create Evil... (Isaiah 45:7)
“See, I have set before thee this day Life and Good and Death and Evil... (Deuteronomy 30:15)
"The day is thine, the night also is thine
thou hast prepared the light and the Sun... (Psalms 74:16)
"If my Covenant be not with the Day and the Night…” (Jeremiah 33:25)
Allusion to the two successive Covenants, that of Sinai and that of Golgotha, also proves that the two metaphysical polarities, Light-Darkness, Day-Night, Good-Evil, are concurrently used by the Supreme God to properly govern His Mysterious Work.
* * *
Aware of the abysses of Evil, the Supreme God, Onniscient and Omnisapient, keeps them more or less in the state of Non-Being, in order to allow the potentialities-of-Good to come into Being.
“He knoweth what is in the darkness... (Daniel 1:22)
“Yeah, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness
and the light are both alike in thee... (Psalms 139:12)
Likewise, it comes to pass that the Supreme God alternates the use of these two opposing Powers – Light and Darkness – according to the mysterious unfoldment of a plan beyond our comprehension.
“Prepare to meet thy God, 0 Israel...
“...that maketh the morning darkness...(Amos 4:12-13)
“...that maketh the day dark with night (Amos 5:8)
Besides, the Supreme God reserves the right to withdraw from the temporary manifestation one of the two Potentialities Light-Darkness, even the one He Himself had previously chosen, utilized and favoured. Thus, according to Israel, exoteric Christianity and the great Churches of the East, as well as those of the West, have ,rejected the Gnosis. In their turn, He abandoned them.
“The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off. (Jeremiah 33:24)
According to Israel, exoteric Christianity would therefore lose the Divine Presence, the Holy Spirit. And indeed, very soon towards the IVth Century when, owing to Constantine, the Church did repudiate the to the Gnosis to become its Persecutor, and to know the fervor of temporal power and the thirst for gold, then the grace of Charisms started to die out little.
When we re-read all of Chapter 23 of Ezekiel carefully, we recall the following Keys:
1. The elder of the two daughters is named OHOLA, the Hebrew word signifying “tent.” The younger is named OHOLIBA, Hebrew word signifying “My tent is in her.”
OHOLA is therefore the Old Covenant, designated by the Tabernacle, which the sons of Israel carried with them until the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
OHOLIBA is the new Covenant, because “My tent is in her,” that is to say that “The Temple is in us,” as Christ is himself identified to the Temple.
“But he spake of the Temple of his body.” (St. John 2:21)
2. From these obtained clues understand that one, then the other -Israel first of all, then the exoteric Church next – will lose the favour of the Supreme God, for:
“Son of Man, wilt thou judge AHOLAH and AHOLIBAH? Yeah, declare unto them their abominations ...And with their idols have they committed adultery (spiritual) and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire... (Ezekiel 23:36-37)
The Church had to pass through the fire at the stake at. first made true Christians. This is why:
“And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy. One for a flame. (Isaiah 10:17)
That there exists a sort of Dark Natter, an Eternal Substance, of which the Supreme God sets himself to bring the successive creations into Being is proved by:
“And God said: Let there be Light,
and there was light.
And God saw the Light, that it was good,
and God divided the Light from the Darkness.” (Genesis 1: 3 - 5 ).
Therefore Light and Darkness was mixed (in principio) in the First Principle. This is this Dark Substance.
“Now, God is Light, and in Him is no darkness, at all.” (John 1:5)
In consequence, this Dark Substance where all is diffused and confused, is exterior to the Supreme God, it is in the presence of Him, and, it is not Him. However, God being the Eternal Creator (he does not change) this Dark Substance is eternally at His disposition.
- translated fromL'INITIATION, #3, 1966
[1]When we carefully re-read Genesis 1 :3-5, we will see that the Darkness has preceded the Light. This is why, in Israel, the day begins at sunset.
[2]The mysterious Watersdesignate the “levels” of the Spiritual Creatures, two primitive Hierarchies, from whence come all others.
[3]The translation of the Vulgate by Saint Jerome textually states: “ax utero ante luciferum genuii te!” which signifies plainly: “from my womb, before the Day Star. I have begot thee...” This is the Catholic translation.
The Jewish and Protestant translation says: “from the womb of the Morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth: These two versions are contradictory. The first brings forth the Word before Lucifer, the second gives birth of the Word from the womb of Lucifer, at least He draws His life there (Knowledge).
Although this text of the Psalmist is formal, both are engendered of the Father, when the Angels are merely created. This will confirm the primitive tradition, related by Lactance: “God, before creating the World, brought forth a Spirit resembling Him, and full of His virtues. He afterwards brought forth another, in idiom the divine imprint did not dwell. He was jealous of his Elder who, dwelling there attached to the Father earned His Affection. Lactance: “Divinae Institutiones 11,9”
[4]The Ecclesiasticus, one of the “Wisdom Books,” which appears only in the Catholic Bible, is not to be confused with Ecclesiastes. It is by Jesus son of Sirach (260 B.C.).
NO NEW TRUTHS.
“If it is true that we are emanated from one universal source of truth, then no truth should appear to be new to us; and by the same token, if no truth appears to be new to us, but seems to be only a memory or a representation of that which is hidden in us, then our birth must have taken place within the source of universal truth.”
-Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.
B-O-O-K-S
“Concerning books, I have clearly stated my viewpoints when I said that Man was the only book written by the hand of God; any other book could be only a development or a commentary of this original text. Therefore, our first fundamental, duty is to read deep in the book of Man – the only book written by the hand of God.”
- Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin.