The Ancient Mysteries of the Cathars
Antonin Gadal
introduction
At the end of the eleventh century, Western Europe slowly began to awaken the " centuries of darkness " that followed the fall of the Roman Empire .
This awakening brought a true renewal of the world and men in many aspects of life .
These were times of great change .
Pontose the religious view. The men became conscious of their spiritual needs , and came a yearning for a deeper and more intense interior life . The Roman Church had become a powerful political stronghold , in a very prosperous institution oriented outdoor power equipment , which , however, did not reflect the spiritual essence of the living criatianismo .
For this reason , countless religious movements that appeared to a greater or lesser extent , differed from the official religion imposed by Rome .
In southern France, called Occitania, in the region of Albi , born and flourished various religious communities , later known by the name of " the Cathars ."
The best known , and which greatly influenced the Western world , was the group of Cathars (a word which comes from the Greek katharoi , which means pure ) . While confessing themselves Christians , were quickly removed from the Church of Rome and declared heretics .
The Cathars based their faith in the Bible and especially in the Gospel of John , who interpreted purely spiritual form . There was no hierarchy among them , all were brothers . He was the Master and only God was the Father , and the greater must be the servant of all .
Christianity meant to the Cathars " Gnosis " , the inner knowing that is the only true God. And God is love . Everything else in the world is an illusion .
According to his teachings , the man must rise above ring of matter to reach God . All the ties that bound man to the perceived world should be broken . And the only way to get it was moving away from this world and especially of himself , having nothing more to you. Only in this way it was possible to achieve a pure and immaculate heart , it could go the way of the Holy Grail , the path of the stars .
The Cathars denominated endura this process of collapse. To accomplish this purification is needed to go through a long and difficult initiation. During four years of austerity - sleeping , working , eating and praying in the caves of Ussat - Ornolac - the faithful passed through a process of transformation as a caterpillar , through its metamorphosis into chrysalis turns into a beautiful butterfly.
Who led successfully the endura , received the consolamentum * , the baptism of fire that sealed a definitive break with the world . The men who received this sacrament were called Pure , Perfect, Good - men * .
Because of this Gnostic view of Christianity , the Cathars clashed openly with the Roman Church . Within their religious community , the Spirit occupies a central place in the tri-unity of the divine essence : the Paraclete , the Comforter, the Renovator of the world . For them , the world is saved by the Spirit , which is love, and not by the martyrdom and atonement. For this reason , the Church of the Cathars was called the Church of Consolation Church of Love .
The community of the Cathars was not formed only by Perfect, but also by numerous faithful - believers - who might experience the power of love the Paraclete , although they had not realized the endura . Some of these believers received the sacrament of consolamentum shortly before his death .
The Cathar religion snatched both the yearning heart of men who longed for renewal of faith , which until the mid-twelfth century much of the south of France had converted to Catharism . The influence of the Church of Rome was remarkably reduced in the region , but also in other parts of Europe the desire for spiritual development has been growing and manifesting in different ways.
The response of Rome before these developments was overwhelming . Relying on the idea that this " heresy " threatened the power of the Roman Church and , therefore , should be totally extinguished , the persecution of nonconformists all of Europe began . The time of the Inquisition began. Thousands and thousands of people across Europe were brought to the stake.
Also the Cathars suffered this fate . With the enactment of a " crusade against the Cathars " in the Lateran Council in 1215 , Pope Innocent III outlawed all omovimento Cathar . Whole armies were organized . Town after town and village after village fell into the hands of the Crusaders . After lengthy interrogations , the cáraros were burned in mass or bricked up alive . His last great refuge, the castle of Montsegur fell in 1244.
And it was not until 1329 that Rome managed to extinguish all traces of so peaceful and spiritual Catharism . At least , that was what was believed . However , the spirit can not be killed , burned , immured . The Spirit is eternal and omnipresent.
The path of the Holy Grail remains open for every true seeker. Hidden from the eyes of the world , the legacy of the Cathars was transmitted for centuries , man to man.
So this heritage came to this day by the hand of Antonin Gadal , the last Cathar patriarch in turn disciple historian Adolphe Garrigou.
A. Gadal tells us in this book , an extraordinarily beautiful form , in the person of young Matheus , who roamed the way believers who wished to be initiated into the mysteries of the Cathars.
May this book be a beacon for the modern seeker and, guided by its light he could find, this time also, the wonderful treasure of the Holy Grail.
This symbol is located in the cave " Acacia " in Ussat , and expresses a clear and surprising way "the way of the Holy Grail ."
The curve at the top symbolizes the path of the stars , the path of transformation (or Transfiguration ) , through seven planets , embodied in the "seven communities in Asia " , veiled expression of glorious way back through the seven cosmic planes .
In this way , one side of the material being of man ( the little triangle ) decreases steadily , becoming increasingly tenuous , more subtle , on the other hand the true man (the largest triangle ) ceaselessly in pure spirituality in divine power , increasingly large and wonderful. It is the mystery of the Alpha and the Omega and Alpha , the mystery of transformation ( of the Transfiguration ) unbroken , rising beyond the influence of matter , the absolute return of the " pure man - spirit , similar to the Father."
Who runs this way makes clear the three aspects of the one God who , with the aid of the Spirit sanctifies (the Moon ) , the freed man becomes the bearer of the kingdom of love , expressed by the downward triangle , symbol of the Deity who sacrifices himself .
Hence , again , the symbol of the triune , universal basis of all manifestation , and bright light sevenfold , whose sacrifice for the salvation and redemption is expressed by seven waves symbolizing the endless sea of cosmic wholeness humanity.
For this sacrifice, rises in the world fall , the Temple of the Spirit , the School of the Christian Mysteries , built on five pillars, five drops of Christ's blood ( the fivefold initiation into the Christian mysteries ) , through the three circles sevenfold ( See the book the initiatory Christian mystery : gloria Dei intact J. van Rijckenborgh ) .
Or put another way : the five Elohim the Father by the Son spilling . the Holy Grail , his blood , his love , in order that M. , Mary, the spiritual Mother of the Spirit , the Church of the Spirit , curadoura take the Living Water , the water of eternal life, to offer it to all truly seeking and being worthy of it , may actually receive it .
This symbol, which is the monogram of Christ, lies in Ornolac and consists of the following meanings:
The circle of eternity
Resch * P mysterious letter that represents the Son of God
The Greek letter Chi: Christ
The Alpha, the beginning
The Omega, the end
Caput Christi, inverted: symbol of death
Caput Christ, Right: Symbol of Life
Everything is in agreement:
Christ, God-the-Son, is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the beginning: life and death, the end: death and life.
The Patriarch of Sabarthes
Galad ( anagram name Gadal ) , the faithful guardian of the Grail , is the spiritual son that that long ago , over three quarters of a century , became known large number of historical riches of Sabarthes * - County of Foix .
The name of Adolphe Garrigou is still remembered in every home in the Upper Ariege, despite his death dating from 1897 . His austere life, all modesty and work , is an example .
Modest student , his successor followed his example as far as circumstances allowed . He was unable to produce things of the past as wanted : put the grottos and caves in fitness to complement the story , in a word , to fully experience the high spirituality that keeps radiating from the center of initiatory Ussat - Ornolac .
The underground galleries only reveal paulatinamenteo they heard and intuited , but even so, some points remain unclear .
The port * Pyrenean Catharism is vast , its complicated history remained unknown for almost centuries . The time had not sounded ; laurel there was reflorescido .
But behold , in all parts of our old Europe , sounded the awakening of the Holy Grail .
The Sabarthes was surprised with his manly tones , the enthusiasm of the Pure is noble in the way of love, the beautiful, the good, eternal and immortal path of the Holy Grail .
O dear Patriarch ! Your happiness should be great : nothing is lost from your teaching , which came from the great masters of yore !
GLOSSARY
* Consolamentum : the former Brotherhood knew two forms of consolamento ; consolamento of the dying , and offered them consolation and rest, and consolamento of the Living Dead , the Initiates .
* Pure , Perfect, Good - men : these names were given to those who , in the path of the Christian mysteries , had to be operated on their reformation and since then the service of the world and humanity as true disciples of Christ , the galgavam path of the stars , the path of transformation (or tramsfiguração ) . Alluding to this state of Puro , a young Brotherhood speaks of Gnostic reborn soul , the soul - spirit, which by its connection with the Spirit restored , again won the participation in the divine wisdom , the Gnosis .
* Port of Catharism : a port is a quiet place where boats are safe from the dangers of the sea , and where a solid breakwater protects against the fury of the waves , where the breakwater ends is a headlamp directs mariners , showing the good way .
In this sense it is the great circle Tarascon - Ussat - Ornolac , with its caves of initiation was called safe and peaceful harbor of Catharism , the mountain of Tabor , Tabor Pyrenean , the path of the Cathars to St. Bartholomew the breakwater ; Montsegur and , in the distance , toward the Occitania, refuge of Perfect, lit like a true spiritual lighthouse throughout the Languedoc .
* Resch : they are all part of the Gnosis , the Divine , living and profound science of pure Christianity. Signs and symbols that are also found in the catacombs - for example, the fish , the anchor , Chi , P. Resch , etc. .
