© dick van niekerk 1 In: Glasnik 54 (2010) 1-2, 25 -34 Skopje Makedonia The Bogomils: Mediaeval Gnostics or crypto – heretics? Keywords – Gnosis, Gnosticism, bogomils, heresy, mediaeval history of the Balkans Abstract – The alleged hypocrisy of the Balkan Bogomils often earned them the scorn of their contemporary orthodox critics. The Bogomils completely rejected the Orthodox Church, yet attended their services. They even allowed the sacraments to be administered to them. The author shows that this phenomenon of “crypto-heresy” can only be satisfactorily explained if we assign the Bogomils a place in the age-long gnostic tradition. The Bogomils exemplified a mediaeval variant of Gnosticism. Their crypto-heresy was a consciously chosen strategy, also common in other gnostic groups. Author: Dick van Niekerk -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- The Bogomils of the Balkans are often called “half-hearted hypocrites” in mediaeval literature about heretics. They completely rejected the dogmas and the sacraments of the Orthodox Church, yet attended the services of this same church. Indeed, they even allowed the sacraments of that church to be administered to them. Socially, this made the Bogomils invisible and, therefore, “dangerous” according to their orthodox critics. The scientific term used in this context is “crypto-heretics” i But does this qualification also apply to the Bogomils? In this article, I intend to show that the Bogomils are not crypto- heretics, but proclaim a mediaeval variant of Gnosticism. The Bogomils can hardly be called heretics, as they did not propagate a heresy grafted onto the Christianity of the church. They actually drew from totally other sources than orthodoxy. Their hypocritical behaviour, scorned by their contemporary critics, probably stemmed from a great concern to keep their inner teachings secret.