Byzantine Heresiology in a Bulgarian Mirror

Byzantine culture, and especially its writing, is regarded as a treasure of models willingly and creatively adapted by medieval Bulgarians. This paper will look at the relationship of ideas about heretics present in Bulgarian literature and its relation to ideas prevalent in Byzantine literature. An important source of knowledge about heretics was not only ‘mainstream’ heresiology (e.g. John of Damascus, Euthymius Zigabenos), but also chronicles and anthologies like the Pandects of Nikon of the Black Mountain. We will examine different strategies of knowledge transformation and modes of transmission.