DEFINICIÓN DE TÉRMINOS Y CONCEPTOS:

The spread o f Bogomil ism in the region o f Lm isa can be attested by two different sources both chronologically and artistically. B efore we exam ine them it is useful to refer briefly to this dualist heresy. T he beginnings o f the m ovem ent w hich first appeared in Bulgaria go back to the end o f the 10th century. The head o f the heresy, Pop B ogom il (contem porary with the T sar Peter) was preaching that the world was governed by two opposite forces (God and his inferior Satanael) and that prosperity or disaster depended entirely on the outcom e o f their battle. His view s caused great sensation in the poverty stricken Bulgaria o f the tim e,and they w ere soon transplanted to Byzantium . 2?

The first of our sources, the D ialogus de daem onum o p eratio ne which was possibly com posed during the 12th century had been traditionally attributed to Psellos. H ow ever and as G autier skilfully show ed the exact identity o f the author rem ains a rather im possible task, 28 B pa^, a m ilitary official who participates in the dialogue testifies to the existence of the sect in Elassona: a native of the town had, by virtue of his possession by the dem ons, the ability o f prophesizing to his com rades his arrest by

Opa^, the persecution of their religion and the uprooting of their worship. He was also able to describe © pa^ before he could even see him. A fter his repeated refusals to reveal to © pa^ the source o f his supernatural pow ers, he was finally forced to adm it

26 Avramea, Byzantine Thessaly,\9 \-\95

22 Obolensky, Bogomils, 168-229; Paraskevopoulou, Aspects, 95-126 28 Obolensky, Bogomils, 183; Gautier, 'De Daemonibus', 128-131

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that he had acquired them after his m eeting with a rascal o f Libyan origin. The description of his introduction into the secrets o f dem onology is described with hair- raising details.

D uring a night the Libyan led him to a m ountain, ordered him to taste a certain herb, vom ited into his m outh and finally covered his eyes with som e ointm ent. Im m ediately, a throng of dem ons appeared to his im agination one o f w hich took the shape o f a crow and entered into his m outh. From that day onw ards he was able to prophesy on a perm anent basis with the exception o f Holy W eek and the day of the R esurrection. 29 belief in dem ons, how ever is totally incom patible with the physical-spiritual austerity o f the Bogomils who certainly were not Satanists. Therefore the nature o f the text leads us to conclude that either the author intended to slander the B ogom il heresy or he was describing the convictions of another group of heretics and possibly the M assalians. A dditionally, as O bolensky has argued the author had no direct contact with the heretics and probably w rote from hearsay or rum our. 30 fyfo m atter how credible the details o f the incident are, the m ere fact that a m ilitary official w as dispatched to Elassona to arrest the ring-leaders o f the heresy, highlights the spread o f B ogom ilism in T hessaly before the end o f the 12th century and the state’s concern to preserve the orthodox faith of its subjects.

O ur second source is the letter itself which patriarch Cos mas (1075-1081) sent to the m etropolitan o f Larisa. In this letter, directed against the heretics, he placed an anathem a on "Pope Bogom il who under Peter em peror o f Bulgaria, had w elcom ed this M anichaean heresy and spread it in Bulgaria." 31 In total, twelve anathem as w ere to be read in the Parish C hurches on Sundays and feasts against the Bogom il dogm as, their supporters and their confederates. The anathem as, as G ouillard rem arks, constituted a w arning fo r the faithful and an official renunciation o f B ogom ilism . 32 T he m etropolitan was finally instructed to take personal interest in the catechism and the

29 Gautier, op.cii, 160-161 39 Obolensky, Bogomils, 184

31 Gouillard,'t/rti! source grecque", 371-372 32 ibid, 362

salvation of the heretics. W e are not how ever, in position to know w hether the letter was sent to other m etropolitans o f the W est where the heresy had spread, being thus an encyclical letter or it was specifically addressed to the m etropolitan of Larisa. Although this point rem ains obscure, our source attests the vigorous presence o f Bogom ils in the region o f Larisa during a period that the em peror Alexios was m aking every possible effort for the removal o f the Bogomil threat.

D uring the seventies o f the 12th century the existence of five Bogomil churches in the extended Balkan territory -one o f them , the Ecclesia M elenguiae was situated in the Peloponnese- confirm s the obstinate perseverance o f Bogom il pockets against the state's persecutions, as a result, as Angold points out, of provincial non-conform ity. 33

C . T h e C u lt o f S t. A ch illeio s

The religious life o f Larisa was intim ately connected to St. A chilleios, its first legendary m etropolitan and patron-Saint. The influence which his cult exercised on the local population is confirm ed by the two versions o f his Life (preserved in the codex 212 o f the A thonite m onastery o f Dionysiou with m inor discrepancies betw een them ) and the Ka n o n es and A k o lo u th ia e (they w ere read in the C hurch fo r his com m em oration) h istorically interesting liturgical texts w hich are nevertheless chronologically very distant from the events they describe.

According to the original Life, St. A chilleios was born in Cappadocia. At a very early age he lost his parents and distributed his property to the poor. A fterw ards he visited the Holy Places and Rom e before he arrived at Thessaly where he was ordained bishop o f Larisa with the solid vote of the bishops o f the adjacent areas. His reputation as a distinguished prelate reached C onstantine the G reat who invited him veiy soon to p articipate in the First Ecum enical C ouncil in N icaea (3 2 5 ).34 T here he bravely confronted Areios and overwhelm ed the heretics with his arguments and with a m iracle

33 Obolensky, 'Papas Niketas', 491-492; Angold, Byzantine empire, 89 34 However he is not recorcd in the olTicial lists of the Council

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he perform ed. After the end o f the Council he was again present in C onstantinople at the dedication cerem ony o f the city where he met an old bishop called M etrophanes and received his blessings. Having received lavish im perial gifts he returned to his flock in Larisa.

T he last part o f the L ife show s great interest. H aving acquired the divine charism a to foretell his death he called som e stone curvers Ul6o^6ol) w hom he ordered to prepare a reliquary {XdpuaKcù for the burial of his body. He gave the last adm onitions to his flock and he surrendered his spirit to God after a m etropolitan tenure o f thirty five years (so his death can be safely placed between 360-365). The reliquary o f the Saint soon becam e a source of m iraculous healing for the suffering population but at a certain tim e w as, for unknow n reasons, forgotten by the L arisaeans and rem ained hidden under the ground for three hundred years. It was revealed in the 10th o f February o f unidentified year and only after the appearance o f divine signs. From then onw ards it regained its previous significance as a renow ned shrine and healing centre. 35

H ow ever the transcription o f the original Life -dated in the m iddle o f the 13th century- does not m ake any m ention o f the above cited chronological details, refers to the incident in a very general way and justifies the hiding of the reliquary as a response to the im m inent threat of being vandalised by the hands of sacrilegious persons [lua jip (3ep-qXoju r o v r o v è<f>djrra)i'Tai), 36 T his m inor differentiation consisted a

burning issue which has engaged the attention o f m odern scholars. G ouloulis has argued that as the author o f the transcription o f St. A chilleios' Life was w riting at a very late stage, he got confused by the obscure exti'act and considered the period of the three hundred years, during which the reliquary rem ained buried, as an exaggeration. T he solution which G ouloulis proposes is based on the idea that the 13th century transcription was an evolution o f the original Life and that the two texts report -apart from the bulk o f their content- two chronologically distant events. Putting too m uch

35 Sofianos, 'Agios Achilleios', 135-147 36 ibid, 148-172

em phasis on the word contained in the transcription, he suggests that there was a second, deliberate this time, hiding of the holy relics as a result o f the concern of the local Church to secure them against the Iconoclasts, apparently during the reign o f C onstantine V (741-775). 37

H is argum ent though interesting at first sight, is proved to be w rong after som e consideration. Firstly, because he uses as a totally credible and independent source a transcription that was com piled nine centuries after St. A chilleios death and four after the putative Iconoclastic threat to the holy relics. Secondly, because if such a threat really existed, by no m eans would the author o f the original Life have failed to mention it. T he author, Joseph the H ym nographer, com piled the Life and the Kanon, with the intention to com m em orate the recent disclosure of the holy reliquary and the restarting o f its m iraculous healing. He lived during the 9th century and apparently witnessed the reactiv atio n o f St. A chilleio s cult in L arisa visiting the town on his w ay to C onstantinople in the end o f 842 ju st a year before the definite prevalence o f the Iconophile policy. 38 A possible hiding o f the relics due to C onstantine V 's harsh iconoclastic policy was a very recent event and therefore it would have been recorded with all the possible details draw n, if not from his personal know ledge, at least from the preservation of the local tradition.

U ndoubtedly, the evidence provided by the L ife is insufficient to give us a reasonable explanation for the three hundred-year period of oblivion o f St. A chilleios' reliquary. It is also im possible to accept that the Larisaeans ceased to com m em orate their patron-saint for such a long period. It is therefore tem pting to believe that Joseph possibly m eant that during this period the L arisaeans w ere unable to w orship freely Achilleios and to celebrate with all the established customs the translation o f his relics in the streets o f the town. R elics represented the physical praesentia o f the Saint in the earthly com m unity and the access to his influence and patronage dem anded that he w ould be present in their m idst, and not confined in a distant and unknown grave. 39

37 Gouloulis, Taphos', 229, 234, 239 38sofianos, "Agios Achilleios", 103 39 Hunt, 'Relics', 176

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O ur hypothesis m ay be further corroborated by the archaeological evidence; the basilica that was excavated in the acropolis o f Larisa and dated by D eriziotes in the 6th -7th centuries is believed to be the church that was built upon the tom b o f St, A chilleios. An inscription that was found very close to it tells us: KaL tovto rà

epyoH... 'Axi-XXeLov dpxi^m aK O Trov (this too is the w ork... o f the A rchbishop A ch illeio s). 40 Iq spite o f R isos reservations w e can identify the person o f our inscription with A chilleios, the archbishop o f L arisa m entioned in a letter o f Pope A gapetos in 535. 41

The dating of the construction o f the basilica during the episcopate o f Achilleios seems capable o f giving a reasonable explanation to our historical problem : the tom b o f St.A chilleios rem ained until the 530's inadequately protected being either uncovered or covered by a jerry-built ecclesiastical building. A t this point the archbishop Achilleios ordered the building o f the basilica on the occasion of his election by the Patriarch and w ith the intention to com m em orate his nam esake and patron Saint o f Larisa. His decision can be explained by his concern to provide a safe shelter to the holy tom b in the eve o f the 'D ark Ages'. It is additionaly in absolute accordance with the religious building activity attested in G reece in the course o f the 6th century. 42 The Slavs, as we have already seen, were fim ily established in the Balkans and in 540 they attem pted their first descent in G reece passing through Thessaly and besieging w ithout success Therm opylai. T heir continuous invasions and subsequent settlem ents in the vicinity of Larisa did not result in the capture o f the town; they nevertheless hindered the norm al evolution o f ecclesiastical life in the region and rendered alm ost im possible the devout worship o f St. A chilleios. The critical character of the decades that were to follow and the initiation of Iconoclast policies from 720 onw ards suppressed the religious feeling o f the local population that was expressed freely only in 842 with the absolute pacification o f the Slavs, the restoration of icons and the reactivation o f St.A chilleios

40 Deriziotes, 'K iism aia,202

41 Risos, 'Vlachs o f Larisa',204; Avramea, Byzantine Thessaly, 192

42 Two basilicas in Thebes and the Basilica of St. Demetrios in Thessalonica have been dated to the first quarter of the 6th century; Avramea, Byzantine Thcs,mly, 153; Splescr, Thessalonique,211

cult. W alter has additionally argued that the interest in relics was especially intense after the trium ph o f O rthodoxy in 843. 43 Thus it is not accidental that the decade o f the 840's fits perfectly with the three hundred years o f the oblivion of the Saint's reliquary, recorded by the L ife. W e should also notice at this point that the reactivation o f the Christian orthodox cult in Larisa was dictated by the need of the local adm inistration to dom esticate the Slavs, win them over as tax-payers and integrate them as full m em bers o f the local society.

G ouloulis has rightly detected the close links betw een the cults o f St. D em etrios and St. A chilleios; these links stem m ed from their function as legendary figures w ho facilitated the repulse and the subsequent conversion of the Slavs, from the ability o f their tom bs to produce holy oil, and from the relief provided to their w orshippers through the m iracles they executed. 44 The M iracles o f St. D em etrios refer to the m eeting o f the two Saints in Tem pe after the capture of Thessalonica by the A rabs in 904, and the Life o f St. N ikolaos o f V ounaina records that after Euphim ianos (dux of Thessalonica) lost his hope o f being cured by St.D em etrios he resorted to the tom b o f S t.A chilleios in Larisa. 45 r is also interesting to notice that the churches built to com m em orate the two Saints were com pleted at roughly the sam e chronological fram ew ork and m ore particularly during the decade 525-535. T heir construction can be taken as a token of a new period of prosperity that can be attested in G reece proper and certainly in M acedonia a few years before Justinian's ascension to the throne.46

T he shrine o f St. A chilleios was rapidly rendered one o f the m ost im portant C hristian centres in G reece and attracted a great num ber of pilgrims. At the end o f the 9th century the founders of the m onastery o f Sou me la, Saints Barnabas and Sofronios v isited the holy tom b on their way to Pontos. 47 A ccording to the legendary (synaxarion) o f St. Phantinos, the Saint starting his travel from A thens stopped at

43 Walter, Art and Ritual, 145 44 Gouloulis, Taphos', 237-238

45 pG , 116, 1389-1392; Sofianos, Agios Nikolaos, 146 46 Spieser, Thessalonique, 211-213

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Larisa and paid tribute to the holy relics. 48 R was exactly this extended reputation o f the Saint’ s tom b that attracted the Bulgars o f Sam uel in the last quarter o f the century. Sam uel's perseverance to capture the town may have been dictated not only by political and territorial but also by purely religious considerations. The ten-year siege of Larisa eventually took the character o f a 'holy war' betw een C hristians as the Bulgarian king w as anxious to establish his em pire on firm C hristian grounds and thus to win the sym pathy of the Rom an citizens. T aking the tow n, he captured a large num ber o f citizens, but show ed the traditional respect for the relics of a renow ned Saint. Sam uel did not destroy the church and tomb o f St. A chilleios and left a part o f the Saints' relics