THE BULGARIAN BOGOMIL HERESY AS A HISTORICAL MYTH. BETWEEN HISTORIOGRAPHY, RELIGION AND ESOTERICISM

The article concentrates on the study of the historiographic concept of a dualistic religious tradition, embodied in the form of various heretical movements in Medieval Europe and the Middle East. The study focuses on the history of the Bulgarian Bogomil heresy, which played an important role in this historical concept as a link between the Eastern dualistic sects and the better known Western European Cathars. It is shown how in Bulgarian historiography this concept of continuity, while maintaining its general structure, get rethoughts in various ideological contexts. The analysis of the Bulgarian historians’ discourse is based on methodological positions formulated as a result of modern discussions among researchers of the Cathar heresy. The “Bogomil myth” of Bulgarian historiography is viewed as existing at the intersection of various discursive fields: religious, from which the model of the genealogy of heretical teachings was borrowed; academic, which included various ideological interpretations; esoteric, which is examined using the example of the adaptation of this concept by the Bulgarian theosophical community of the early 20th century – the World White Brotherhood, which used the image of the Bogomils to legitimize its teachings through the construction of a historical myth.