Medieval Sourcebook:
Cathar Rites:
Traditio: Immersion in the Perfect Community, from the Lyons Ritual
Elder: [...] you must realize that when you are before the Church
of God you are
before the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, as the Scriptures teach.
For Christ said in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew,
"Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name
there I am in the midst of them"
And in the Holy Gospel according to Saint John he said,
"If a man love me he will keep my words, and my Father will
love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with
him"
And Saint Paul says in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
"Ye are the Temple of the Living God, as God hath said by
Isaiah, his prophet ; " I dwell in them and walk in them ; and I
will be their God and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye seperate, saith the Lord ; and touch not the unclean
thing ; and I will receive you , and will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty"
And in another place he says,
"Seek ye the profe of Christ Who speaketh in me"
And in the First Epistle to Timothy he says,
"These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee
shortly ; but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living
God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
And he said also to the Hebrews,
"But Christ is a Son over His own house, Whose house we
are"
That the Spirit of God is with the followers of Jesus Christ, Christ has
shown thus in the Gospel
according to Saint John ;
"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the
Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
with you forever ; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for
He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you
comfortless, I will come to you"
And in the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew He said,
"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
And Saint Paul said in the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is holy, which
temple ye are"
Christ shows it thus in the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew,
"For it is not ye that speak but the Spirit of your Father
that speaketh in you"
And Saint John says in his epistle,
"By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, for
He has given us His Spirit."
And Saint Paul said to the Galatians,
"Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of His
Son into your hearts, crying "Father! Father!" "
Wherefore be it understood that your presentation made before the sons
of Jesus Christ confirms the faith and teaching of the Church of God as
the Holy Scriptures tell us. For in former times the people of God seperated
themselves from the Lord their God. And they abandoned the will and guidance
of their Heavenly Father through the deceptions of the wicked spirits and
by submission to their will. And for these reasons, and many others, we
are certain that the Heavenly Gather would have pity on His people and
receive them again in peace and concord by the coming of His Son, Jesus
Christ, and now is the time. For you are here before the disciples of Jesus
Christ in the place where Father, Son and Holy Ghost have their spiritual
abode as is shown above, to receive that Holy Prayer which the Lord Jesus
gave to His disciples, so that your prayers might be granted by our Heavenly
Father. Therefore must you learn that if you would receive this Holy Prayer
you must repent your sins and forgive all men. For Our Lord Jesus Christ
says,
"If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your
Heavenly Father, forgive your trespasses."
Hence it is meet and right that you be resolved in your heart to keep this
Holy Prayer all your life according to the custom of the Church of God,
in purity and truth, and in all other virtues which God would bestow upon
you. Wherefore we pray the good Lord who bestowed upon the disciples of
Jesus Christ the virtue to receive this Holy Prayer steadfastly that He
may grant to you also the grace to receive it steadfastly, in His honour
and for your salvation.
The Elder then says the Lord`s Prayer and the
postulant follow him phrase by phrase after which the Elder will say :
Elder:
"We deliver you this Holy Prayer that you may receive it
of us and of God and of the Church, that you may have the power
to say it all your life, day and night, alone or in company, and that you
must never eat or drink without first saying it. If you omit to
do so you must do penance."
The Postulant replies;
"I receive it of you and of the Church"
Then he turns and give thanks and make his melioramentum
(bowing at the feet of the Elder).
Then the Elder asks the postulant,
"My brother, do you desire to give yourself to our faith?"
The postulant being asked three times, and answering "yes" on all, makes a bow and advances one step between each,
"Bless me",
to which the Elder replies,
"God bless and keep you"
At the third time bowing thus the postulant adds,
"Lord, pray to God for me ,a sinner, that He will lead me
to the good end"
and the Elder replies,
"God bless you and make you a good Christian and bring you
to the good end."
Elder:
"Do you give yourself to God and the Gospel?
Postulant:
"Yes"
Elder:
"Do you promise that henceforth you will eat neither meat
nor eggs, nor cheese, nor fat, and that you live only from water
and wood (i.e vegetables and fish) ,that you will not lie, that you will
not swear, that you will not kill, that you will not abandon your
body to any form of luxury, that you will never go alone when it
is possible to have a companion, that you will never sleep without breeches
and shirt and that you will never abandon your faith for fear of
water, fire or any other manner of death?"
Postulant:
"Yes" ]
[...] you wish to receive the spritual baptism whereby the Holy Spirit
is given in the Church of God with the Holy Prayer by the laying on of
hands of the Good Men. Of this Baptism Our Lord Jesus Christ said in the
Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew ;
"Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ; teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, even unto the end of the world"
And in the Gospel of Saint Mark he said,
"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned".
And in the Gospel fo Saint John He said to Nicodemus,
"Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God"
And John the Baptist spoke of this baptism when he said,
"I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than
I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen ;
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire".
This gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands has been instituted
by Jesus Christ as Saint Luke tells, and he said that his friends would
confer it as Saint Mark says,
"They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover"
And Ananias conferred this Baptism on Saint Paul when he was converted.
For Saint Luke says thus in the Acts of the Apostles,
"Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and
John, who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive
of the Holy Spirit , for as yet He was fallen upon none of them.
"
Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. This
Holy Baptism by which the Holy Spirit is given the Church of God has kept
from the Apostles until now, and it has come from the Good Men to the Good
Men until now and shall do till the end of the world And you must understand
that power is given to the Church of God to bind and to loose, to forgive
sins
and to retain them, as Christ said in the Gospel of Saint John,
"As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when
he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them "Receive
Ye the Holy Ghost" ; whatsoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them,
and whatsoever sins ye regain, they are regained"
And in the Gospel of Saint Matthew he said to Simon Peter,
"I say unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock
I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
and again
"If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which
is in Heaven. For wheresoever two or three are gathered in my name there
am I in the midst of them"
And in another place he said,
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast
out devils"
And in the Gospel of Saint John he said,
"He that believeth on me, the works that I do he shall do
also"
and in the Gospel of Saint Mark he said,
"These signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name
shall they cast out devils,they shall speak with new tongues, they
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not
hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover"
And in the Gospel of Saint Luke he said
"Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions
and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means
hurt you."
And if you wish to receive this power you must keep all the commandments
of Christ and the New Testament according to your ability. And know that
He has commanded that man shall not commit adultery or murder or lie, that
he must not swear any oath, that he shall not seize or rob, nor do to others
what he would not have done to himself, that man must forgive whoever wrongs
him and love his enemies, pray for his detractors and accusers and bless
them; and if anyone strike him on one cheek, turn to him the other also,
and if anyone takes away his cloak, to leave him his coat also ; and that
he should neither judge nor condemn, and many other commandments which
the Lord made for His Church. Also you must hate this world and its works
and the things of the world, for Saint John says in his epistle ,
"O my beloved, love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world the love of the Father
is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life , is not of the Father
but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but
he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever"
And Christ said unto the Gentiles,
"The world cannot hate you, but me it hates because I bear
witness of it that its works are evil"
And in the Book of Solomon, it is written,
"I have seen all the works that are done under the sun,
and behold, all is vanity and vexation of Spirit"
And Jude the brother of James said for our instruction in his Epistle,
"Hate the solid garment of flesh"
And by these witnesses and any others you must keep the commandments of
God and hate the world. And if you continue well to the end, we have the
hope that your soul shall have life eternal.
[ And the Credent shall say,
"I have this will, pray to God for me that He will give
me His power"
Witness:
" Parcite Nobis. Good Christians we pray you by the
love of God that you grant this blessing, which God had given you,
to our friend here present."
Credent, after
making his melioramentum:
"Parcite Nobis. For all the sins I have ver done
in thought, word and deed. I ask pardon of God, of the Church, and
of you all."
Assembly of Cathars and Witnesses:
"By God and by us and by the Church, may your sins be forgiven
and we pray God to forgive you them"
Adoremus, Patrem, et Filium et Spiritum Sanctam.
Adoremus, Patrem, et Filium et Spiritum Sanctam.
Adoremus, Patrem, et Filium et Spiritum Sanctam.
The source for this on the net seems to be
http://home.sol.no/~noetic/traditio.htm
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain
and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document
is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution
in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate
the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial
use.
Paul Halsall November 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 20 Oct 2025 [CV]
|
