Jeremiah (Church Slavonic: І҆еремі́а Bulgarian: Йеремия, Yeremia) was a 10th-century Bulgarian priest and writer usually associated with the origins of Bogomilism. The earliest mention of him is found in a work of Patriarch Sisinnius II of Constantinople (c. 996–999). He is sometimes associated with, though more often distinguished from, the priest Bogomil.
Bulgarian historian Yordan Andreev describes Jeremiah as one of the chief followers of Priest Bogomil, the founding figure of Bogomilism. In contemporary sources, Jeremiah was described as Bogomil's “son and disciple”, the former in the figurative sense. Indeed, Croatian Slavist Vatroslav Jagić identifies Jeremiah with Bogomil himself, a hypothesis that has been accepted by some scholars and rejected by others.
Jeremiah was the author of a number of apocryphal texts, most notably Tale of the Cross Tree, and several fables. Due to their heretical nature, his works were included in medieval indices of forbidden books. According to Andreev, Jeremiah's works do not contain any traces of Bogomilism, but rather a different look at Christianity.
References
- Dimitri Obolensky The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo-Manichaeism p271 - 2004 "APPENDIX II THE POP JEREMIAH The Bulgarian priest (pop) Jeremiah is frequently associated in historical sources with the pop Bogomil. He is mentioned for the first time in the tenth century by Sisinnius II, patriarch of Constantinople"
- Emil Ivanov Georgiev Literatura na izostreni borbi v srednovekovna Bŭlgariia 1966 "ова можеше да става, докато не бяха познати произведенията на Йеремия. Днес можем да посочим убедителни факти, които говорят, че Поп Богомил и Поп Йеремия са две различни лица. Източниците добре разграничават единия от другия. "
- ^ Андреев, Йордан; Лазаров, Иван; Павлов, Пламен (1999). Кой кой е в средновековна България [Who is Who in Medieval Bulgaria] (in Bulgarian). Петър Берон. p. 177. ISBN 978-954-402-047-7.
- Zlatar, Zdenko (2007). The poetics of Slavdom: the mythopoeic foundations of Yugoslavia. Peter Lang. pp. 534–536. ISBN 978-0-8204-8135-7.
- History of early Russian literature Nikolaĭ Kallinikovich Gudziĭ - 1970 -"... Greek indexes but also those circulating in Bulgaria, particularly— and in considerable numbers— the Bogomil apocryphas, here attributed to Pope Jeremiah "