19 Dualistic Heresies and Cults in Syriac Sources (Emmanouela Grypeou)

Vol. XXIII 2008 The Harp

Emmanouela Grypeou

DUALISTIC HERESIES ANDCULTS IN SYRIAC

SOURCES AND THECONSTRUCTION OF THEIMAGE OF THE HERETIC1

Syria has been a fertile soil for the flourishing of dualistic groupsand ideas, some of them peculiar Syriac such as the Bardaisanitesor the Quqites.2 According to heresiological reports, dualistic groupswere widespread in Syria. However, a comprehensive study ondualistic groups in Syriac literature is still lacking. Information ondualistic groups and their cults can be found in the Syriac literaturefrom the fourth century onwards until late in the Middle Ages. Mostof the sources demonstrate certain interdependence between them.They often derive their basic material from popular Greekheresiological sources, such as Epiphanius of Salamis’ Panarion.

In the present analysis, I will concentrate less on Gnostic ordualistic theology and mythology, but rather on reports, where dualistic

255-267

1 The present article is based largely on my book, ‘Das VollkommenePascha’. Gnostische Bibelexegese und Ethik, Wiesbaden 2005. Iwould like to thank Prof. Amir Harrak, who drew my attention to hisown research work on this topic and especially to his erudite andilluminating article: ‘Anti-Manichean Propaganda in Syriac Literature’,in Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56 (2004), 49-67.

2 See H.J.W. Drijvers, Bardaisan of Edessa, Groningen 1966 and idem‘Quq and the Quqites’, in: Numen 14 (1967), pp. 106-129.


257Dualistic Heresies and Cults in Syriac Sources...

The Harp Vol. XXIII 2008

256 Emmanouela Grypeou

worldviews are accompanied by reports of cults and more preciselyof cults that were considered to be ‘immoral’ and shocking. I wouldlike to follow, thus, the history and development of certainheresiological motifs and commonplaces in Syriac sources in orderto reconstruct through them the image of the ‘heretic’ in Syriacliterature.

The most notorious group with a dualistic theology, known forits immoral practices were a Late Antiquity Gnostic group, the so-called Borborites – known under this name from Epiphanius’ reportin his major heresiological work, Panarion. Their name would derivefrom the Greek word ‘borboros’ meaning ‘filth’, ‘mire’. It is notclear, if this was a name used polemically by their opponents or if itwas an ironic self-designation.3

Borborians are mentioned in the Syriac literature independentlyfrom Epiphanius and they appear even earlier than Epiphanius’detailed report. Ephrem (d. 373) mentions in his Hymns againstHeretics (22.4) the Borborians, who were repudiated by the Churchon account of their filth.4 Similar information without further detailscan be found in Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-c.466) (HaereticarumFabularum Compendium I.16) in the Panegyric on Rabbula, bishopof Edessa (411-434),5 , and in Theodore bar Koni (Liber Scholiorum,Mimra XI. 19). Finally, the Canons that are pseudepigraphicallyattributed to the Bishop Maruta of Maipherkat (d. 420), mention thefilthiness and lascivity of the Borborians, as well as that they use theblood of babies for magic.6

Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428) observes in hisCommentary on John 16:2 (c. 400) that the Borborites, who derivefrom Simon Magus, were the reason, why Christians were persecutedby Jews and Pagans. The Borborites or Borborians mixed with thepeople from the church, so that the pagans thought that it was thelaw of the church to marry the own mother, to eat the own childrenand to commit other defilements in secret.7

This passage indicates that the Gnostics were regarded asdangerous opponents of the Great Church, on account of theirproximity or even their identification with ‘orthodox’ Christiancommunities. The not uncommon in Roman society slander againstChristians of promiscuity, incest and cannibalism is not refuted assuch but it is attributed to heretics that are mistaken for Christians.8

An early hint for ‘immorality’ among Gnostics that areerroneously regarded to be Christians can be found in Justin, ApologyI. 26.9 Similarly, Athenagoras mentions that Christians are accusedof ‘Thyestean feasts’ and ‘Oedipodean intercourse’ (Legatio proChristianis III). The reference to ‘Thyestean feasts’ and‘Oedipodean intercourse’ implies that the Christians were accusedof incest and cannibalism regarding their own children.10 A detailedaccount of these accusations can be found in Minucius Felix,Octavian IX.28.11

3 See St. Gero, ‘With Walter Bauer on the Tigris: Encratite Orthodoxyand Libertine Heresy in Syro-Mesopotamian Christianity’, in: Ch.Hedrick-R. Hodgson Jr. (eds), Nag Hammadi Gnosticism and EarlyChristianity, Peabody Mass. 1986, p. 292, note 26.

4 See Ephraem the Syrian, Hymnes contra Haereses, ed. E. Beck, CSCO169, Louvain 1959, p. 579; and also Des heiligen Ephraem des SyrersSermones IV, p. 69, ed. E. Beck, CSCO 335, Louvain 1973, where theBorborites are mentioned in a list of heretics.

5 See ‚Panegyrikos auf Rabulas’, in: G. Bickell, Ausgewählte Schriftender syrischen Kirchenväter, Kempten 1874, p. 197.

6 See A. Vööbus (ed.), The Canons Ascribed to Maruta of Maipherkatand Related Sources, CSCO 439, Louvain 1982, p. 21.

7 See Commentarius in Evangelium Johannis, ed. M. Vosté, CSCO115, Louvain 1981, p. 290.

8 See P. Waltzing, ‘Le crime rituel rapproché aux chrétiens du II siècle’,in: Bulletin de la classe des Lettres. Académie Royale de Belgique XI(1925), pp. 205-239.

9 Cf. Dialogue with Trypho 35.6.10 The same information is repeated by Eusebius, Church History IV.7.11

and Tertullian, Apology VII; Ad Nationes XV.11 “Now the story about the initiation of young novices is as much to be

detested as it is well known. An infant covered over with meal, that itmay deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be stainedwith their rites: this infant is slain by the young pupil, who has beenurged on as if to harmless blows on the surface of the meal, with darkand secret wounds. Thirstily—O horror!—they lick up its blood; eagerlythey divide its limbs. By this victim they are pledged together; with thisconsciousness of wickedness they are covenanted to mutual silence.Such sacred rites as these are more foul than any sacrileges. And of





Incest and cannibalism constitute fundamental taboos of humansociety. The transgression of these fundamental taboos excludes the‘heretic’ de facto of any thinkable society. As N. Cohn stresses,cannibalism was a stereotypical accusation in Roman society, whichwas used against political opponents that were supposed to be extremelydangerous and criminal.12 So, according to Dio Cassius, Catiline madehis fellow-conspirators to take an oath on the entrails of a slaughteredboy that they afterwards ate (Roman History, XXXVII, 30).

The accusation of the ritual sacrifice of children is a commonplace in the religious polemical literature. In the Wisdom of Solomon12:3-5, the pagans are accused of magic, unclean rites and theslaughtering of children during their mystery-cults.13

In the Christian heresiological literature, it is the Montanists thatare first accused of sacrificing children for their Eucharisticcelebration or for Easter. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) accuses theMontanists in 348 of “cutting the throats of unfortunate little children,and chopping them up into unholy food, for the purpose of their so-called mysteries” (Catechetical Lectures 16).14 This accusationbecomes soon a cliché in heresiological literature.

In certain extensive Syriac accounts, the Borborites, arecommonly and stereotypically accused of promiscuity, incest andcannibalism. Some reports contain also more detailed descriptionsof ritual cults. Barhadbeshabba of Bet Arbaia mentions in his History(late sixth century) that the sect of the ‘Barborians’ marry theirmothers and eat their children. They also perform a ‘disgracefulcult’, where they choose ten virgins that they take in a ‘house ofdefilement’ that they call the ‘Holy of Holies’. At the moment, whenthe priests bless the ‘mystery’, they have intercourse with them andthe virgin that would conceive, is put in the position of Mary andworshipped. The actual ‘mystery’ is described as follows: they piercethe newborn baby, conceived in the mystery and the blood of thischild flows over flour that they offer to the believers. Its flesh isconsumed by the priests. The king of Persia Peroz found out aboutthese practices and expelled all Christians from the land because oftheir ‘defilement’.15

Similarly to the accounts of the early Church Fathers, the‘orthodox’ Christians are unfairly persecuted because of the‘misdeeds’ of the heretics. The ceremony described in this accountbears features of a hieros-gamos-ceremony in the context of thecelebration of a ‘mystery cult’. Moreover, it contains associationswith a special ‘Mary-cult’ and of course with a peculiar ‘Eucharistic’rite. This report reminds vaguely of the Collyridians, orPhilomarianites, known from Epiphanius, that were worshippingMary as a goddess and were offering cakes or small breads (collyris)(Panarion 79.7).

Michael the Syrian in his Chronicle repeats this informationabout the Borborites adding some interesting details.16 He remarksthat they are called in their language ‘malioune’, that is, “the filthyones” in Syriac, which might indicate a Syrian origin of the sect.These were expelled from Persia as ‘Manicheans’ and fled toArmenia. They pretend to lead a monastic life and men and womendress in black frocks. They go (back?) to Syria, where they take

their banqueting it is well known all men speak of it everywhere; eventhe speech of our Cirtensian testifies to it. On a solemn day theyassemble at the feast, with all their children, sisters, mothers, peopleof every sex and of every age. There, after much feasting, when thefellowship has grown warm, and the fervour of incestuous lust hasgrown hot with drunkenness, a dog that has been tied to the chandelieris provoked, by throwing a small piece of offal beyond the length of aline by which he is bound, to rush and spring; and thus the consciouslight being overturned and extinguished in the shameless darkness,the connections of abominable lust involve them in the uncertainty offate. Although not all in fact, yet in consciousness all are alikeincestuous, since by the desire of all of them everything is sought forwhich can happen in the act of each individual.”Transl. R.E. Wallis,Ante-Nicene Christian Library, IV. Edinbugh 1868-69, p. 177f.

12 Europe’s Inner Demons, London 1975.13 12:3-5 “Those who dwelt of old in thy holy land thou didst hate for their

detestable practices, their work of sorcery and unholy rites, theirmerciless slaughter of children and their sacrificial feasting on humanflesh and blood”.

14 Cf. Augustine, De haeresibus 26 and 27; Epiphanius, Panarion 48.15.7.

15 Histoire, ed. F. Nau, P.O. 9.5, 1913.16 Chronique, Cap. 30 (313), ed. J.-B. Chabot, vol. IV, p. 312 T.; vol. II. p.

284 V, Bruxelles 1963.





over the monasteries. They celebrate a feast, where they pierce achild, the way the Manicheans do, and prepare from its blood thecommunion that they mix with the blood of a white hen. All Christiansthat eat from it become bewitched. They also conduct orgiastic riteswith incestuous character. In the morning they put on again theirblack frocks and they pretend to be Christians.

The ceremony in this report bears clearly a witchcraft character.Michael, who could not have possibly known surviving Borborites athis time, thinks of groups that practice libertinistic rituals, but pretendto be strict ascetics. The so-called ‘tactic of deception’ was acommon accusation against Gnostics by the earlier heresiologists,who were claiming that Gnostics were intentionally hiding their realidentity, towards the Roman society as well as towards the Christiancommunities. The ‘tactic of deception’ was in accordance withGnostic beliefs regarding their detachment from the world.17

Gregor bar Hebraeus in a similar to Michael’s account, considersthe ‘Barburianer’ to be a branch of the Manicheans. According toBarHebraeus, they celebrate first an orgiastic feast and the childthat is born out of this ceremony, is ritually sacrificed. They alsoperform magic.18

Heresiologists copy each other but as we can see the reportsvary not insignificantly in the details. Epiphanius of Salamis’ reportof libertinistic Gnostic groups is widely believed to belong to therealm of imagination. Still, it is commonly acknowledged to haveserved as a model for later polemics against heretics. The veracityand reliability of Epiphanius is not the subject of the present articlebut his notorious report that seems to have created a newheresiological tradition, deserves our attention. So, according toEpiphanius, the Borborites, “if a woman becomes pregnant [aftera ritual intercourse], they extract the foetus at the stageappropriate for their enterprise, take this aborted infant, and cut

it up in a trough shaped like a pestle. And they mix honey, pepperand certain other perfumes and spices with it to keep from gettingsick and then all the revellers in this <herd> of swine and dogsassemble and each eats a piece of the child with his fingers”(Pan. 26.5.4).19

In spite of the seemingly obscene character of this passage, weshould note that Epiphanius does not talk explicitly of cannibalism –not in this passage and notably, not in any of his numerous and lengthyaccounts of Gnostic groups. The shared meal here, again an imitation(or parody?) of a ‘Eucharistic’ rite, is an aborted foetus. Accordingly,the Gnostics of late Antiquity are accused neither of incest nor ofcannibalism. To my mind, the tradition that can be found in Syriacsources constitutes a peculiar development that combines elementsfrom various heresiological polemical traditions.

Accusations of practicing cults of the same kind can be foundalso against other allegedly Gnostic or dualistic groups, such as thePaulicians and the Tondrakians in Armenia or the Euchitesaccording to Michael Psellos.20

In the Mandean literature we find similar accounts as wellbut in the context of polemics against Christianity. The Mandeanreports serve primarily as a warning for the Mandeans to be

17 See H. Kippenberg, Die vorderasiatischen Erlösungsreligionen inihrem Zusammenhang mit der antiken Stadtherrschaft, Frankfurt a.M.1991, p. 392ff.

18 Chronikon Ecclesiasticum, Louvain 1972-77, ed. Abeloos-Lamy, p. 219f.

19 F. Williams, The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Leiden 1987, p. 86.20 The Paulicians that are often associated in the source literature with

the Manicheans, were accused by the Armenian Catholikos John ofOjnun in the seventh century, of incestuous and adulterous sexualintercourse, as well as of ‘Eucharistic’ rites, where they mix theblood of children with flour, see Opera, ed. and transl. by J.B. Aucher,Venedig 1844, p.86. The Tondrakians are accused in the ninth andtenth centuries of similar practices. More precisely, they used tobring to their evil leader, whenever he likes, a virgin and the childthat is born after this union, it is sacrificed and consumed ritually,see J.R. Russell, ‘The Mother of All Heresies’, in: Revue des étudesarmeniennes 4 (1993) pp. 273-293. The Thracian Euchites, who areoften identified with the dualistic sect of the Bogomiles, were alsosupposed to kill children, born after an orgiastic night, and to consumea magical potion made out of their blood and flesh of children, bornafter an orgiastic ceremony, see Michael Psellos, Dialogus deOperationes Daemonum V, PG 122, col. 832.





resistant against Christian mission and not to partake in Eucharisticceremonies. 21

The Manicheans, probably the best known dualistic religion, werealso accused of practicing ‘hideous cults’. Reports of obscene rites amongthe Manicheans can be found already in Augustine (De natura boni 45-47) but also in other early sources.22 According to Augustine, these ritesconsist in the mixing of sperm with flour that is used later for their Eucharist.But no reference is made to sacrifices of children of any kind.

In the anonymous Chronicle of Khuzistan from the seventhcentury, edited by Guidi23 , the Manicheans in Syria are accused tosacrifice people in the service of magic. According to this source,these Manicheans used to capture a man at the beginning of a yearand to imprison him in a house under the earth. They would look afterhim throughout this year and they would kill him as a sacrifice to thedemons. At the end, they would practice magic and divination with hishead for an entire year. So they would kill one man each year.

Furthermore, they would bring a virgin and they would all sleepwith her. The child that would be born out of this intercourse, they

would boil immediately, until its flesh and bones would become likeoil. They would then pound it in a mortar and they would prepare itwith wheat flour and they would make small cakes out of it. Theywould offer these cakes to anybody that would join them. This personthen would never again renounce Mani.

As we observe, certain information that is mentioned in othersources considering the Borborites, such as the ceremonial preparationand sacrifice of children born out of ritual sexual intercourse, isrepeated here for the ‘Manicheans’. Similarly, the general context isthe practice of magic. The sacrifice of grown-up people is a newelement, however.

Theodore bar Koni reports also about the Manicheans that theywould sacrifice people to the demons and that they would copulate withoutshame but with no further details (Liber Scholiorum., Mimra XI, 58).

According to the Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Mahre:“the Manicheans of Harran, had a monastery there, where they usedto celebrate once every year a great and violent feast during whichthey used to offer sacrifices. During this great feast, they used topractice divination. As their feast approached, they had the customof grabbing and imprisoning a man for one year, to slaughter in theirfeast. They used to take off the head, put a coin in its mouth andplace it in a niche, to worship and practice divination with it.”24 Thisreport refers to the year 764-765.

The motif of the use of the head of a captured man for divinationpurposes can be found also in some detail the Fihrist of al Nadim(tenth century) among other Arabic sources.25 In the Fihrist, it ismentioned that the ‘Sabians of Harran’ would take a man of a certain(mercurial) constitution and they would put him for long time in oiland borax and then they would perform magic and divination with

21 In the Ginza, they describe a so-called ‘rite of life’, where a Jewishboy is killed. Then they take his blood taken and they bake with itbread that they then offer as food (Ginza, p. 227.10ff.). They also spraymenstrual blood of a whoring nun in wine that they put in cups thatthey give as a drink. This report is clearly a polemical description ofthe Christian Eucharist, where interestingly enough the Christiansare accused of killing a Jewish boy, probably Jesus, for the preparationof the Eucharist.Another rite is called the ‘sacrament of the temple’: according to thisrite, seven ‘holy men’ gather and sleep with a woman, who becomespregnant. After seven months they abort the foetus and they take ittogether with the placenta and bake it with flour and butter. This iscalled the ‘sacrament of the housel’. All the people who partake in it,are becoming bewitched, Ginza, p. 228.15ff. The Mandean sourcesknow also of unclean rites among the Manicheans, see Ginza,p.229.17ff. see M. Lidzbarski, Ginza – Der Schatz oder das grosseBuch der Mandäer, Göttingen 1925.

22 Leo the Great, Sermons XVI.4.23 See Th. Nöldeke, ‘Die von Guidi herausgegebene syrische Chronik’,

in: Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe derkaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 28 (1893), pp. 1-47.

24 A. Harrak, Chronicle of Zuqnîn, Toronto 1999, p. 203.25 On Arabic sources referring to the ‘prophetic head’ in connection to

the Sabians of Harran, see T. Green, The City of the Moon God:Religious Traditions of Harran, Leiden 1992, pp. 94ff., A. Harrak, Anti-Manichean Propaganda, pp. 53ff, J.B. Segal, ‘Sabian Mysteries’, in:E. Bacon (ed), Vanished Civilizations: Forgotten People of the AncientWorld, London 1963, pp. 201-220.





his head, as they believed that he would be animated by the planetMercury.26 Additionally, Ibn al-Nadim reports that according to theChristian Abu Yusuf Isha’ al- Qatiy’I, when al-Ma’mun visited Harranaccused the inhabitants of being ‘Adherents of the Head’ whom hisfather, Harun al-Rashid had met 40 years ago.27 Ibn an-Nadim reportsalso about the sacrifice of a new-born child, boiled and baked tocakes for their mysteries.28

It is probable, that this information about the Sabians of Harran,a cult of star worshippers was inspired by the account of theManicheans or they were even perhaps confused with the Manicheansof the Syriac sources.29 As we saw above, according to pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, Manicheans in Harran were accused in765 C.E. of a similar practice. Characteristically, el-Mamun callsthem ‘zendiq’ in the above quoted passage. Although this term means‘heretic, unbeliever’ in the Islamic literature, the Manicheans werealso called “zendiq.”30

Theodore bar Koni reports that Mani introduced the worship ofthe demons as Gods as well as the worship of the sun, the moon andthe stars and all sorts of horoscopes (Liber Scholiorum, MimraXI.58). Consequently, it might have been a common misperceptionafter the seventh century, to confuse star worshippers such as theHarranians with the Manicheans. Fr. de Blois suggested that theenigmatic Sabians (Sabiun) of the Qur’an were actually Manicheans,

‘those whom Muslim writers on pre-Islamic Arabia called thezanadiqa among the Quraysh’.31

In any case, as we can see this peculiar divination method withthe help of a severed head becomes also part of the Arabic polemicsagainst ‘unbelievers’, probably following Syriac reports on theManicheans.

The use of a head for divination purposes is known also in Jewishliterature. In the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen 31:19 we read:“When Laban had gone to shear his flock, Rachel stole the images(the teraphim). For they should slay a man, a first-born, cut off hishead and sprinkle it with salt and spices. They would write magicalformulas on a plate of gold and put it under its tongue. Then theywould set it up on the wall, and it would speak to them. And it was tothese (idols) that her father bent down.”32 It seems that the teraphimwere understood in Jewish tradition to be mummified bodies or headsworshipped and used for divination (cf. 1 Samuel 19:13.16; Zechariah10:2). Actually, it was only in the Jewish literature that I could findimmediate parallels to the ‘Manichean’ head-cult. It appears thatJewish traditions about the teraphim and about divination practicesof the ‘pagans’ have influenced the Syriac polemical literature aboutthe ‘Manicheans’.33

26 See The Fihrist of al-Nadîm, ed. and transl. by B. Dodge, vol. II., N.Y.and London 1970, p. 753ff. On human sacrifice among the Sabiansof Harran, see D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus II, St.Petersburg 1895, pp. 386-87; M. Tardieu, ‚Sabien coraniques et„Sabiens“ de Harran’, in: Journal Asiatique 274 (1986), p. 5f.; S.Gündüz, The Knowledge of Life, Oxford 1994, pp. 211f.

27 See Fihrist, op.cit, p. 751.28 See Fihrist, op.cit., p. 759. cf. Chwolsohn, vol. 2, p. 28.29 As A. Harrak states: ‘What Arab authors said about the Manicheans

was borrowed mainly from Christian sources as they themselvesconfessed while compiling their sources’ (Anti-manicheanPropaganda, p. 61).

30 See Chwolsohn, p. 130. In the Mandean literature the Manicheansare also referred to as ‘Zandiqe’, see Lidzbarksi, op.cit., p. 229.

31 See, Fr. de Blois, ‘Sabians’, in: The Encyclopedia of Qur’an, vol. 4,2004 p. 512.

32 transl. M. Maher, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis, Edinburgh 1992,p. 109. This account is based most probably on Pirke de RabbiEliezer 36. In PRE the victim has to be a ‘first-born man, red in colour’.In Tanhuma Yelammedenu (Parashat Va-Yetze 12) the victim is achild but the type of necromancy is the same. bSanhedrin 65bmentions the consulting of a skull for divination purposes. See alsoL. Blau, Altjüdisches Zauberwesen, Berlin 1914, p. 53.

33 A. Harrak, argues that the accusations against Manicheans in theSyriac sources go back to pagan anti-Jewish claims reported byJosephus in Against Apion II.89-96 in combination with II.112-114,see Anti-Manichean Propaganda, pp. 65f. Still, I believe that thosepassages from Josephus do not suffice to explain the anti-Manichean allegations in their full complexity, esp. consideringthe long heresiological and other relevant traditions preceding theSyriac sources.





As we can observe in the later reports about Manicheans, theemphasis is less on the accusation of immorality but on the practiceof magic. The accusation of practicing magic is a standardcommonplace against rival religious groups. The Manicheans becomehere dangerous magicians, not only because they practice a sort ofnecromancy but also because they kill innocent people for thispurpose. This presents us with a new element in the heresiologicalaccounts on dualistic groups. Although we can find several earlierreferences to the practice of magic or to the invocation of demonsamong Gnostics and Manicheans, the explicit practice of divinationand necromancy is mentioned first in the later Syriac chronicles.

Dualistic groups in Syriac literature lose their specific character,even if they are mentioned by name – and by the names that theywere known by, already in the second or third century. We note,instead, a shift in the interest of the accounts. They do not particularlyfocus on an exposition of theological doctrines – at the most theycite some bizarre mythological story - but they would go into detail todescribe cultic practices of an immoral or even criminal character.The heretic, the Borborite or the Manichean of our Syriac sources,is being thus stylised as the promiscuous, dangerous magician – animage that has followed dualistic groups, such as Gnosticism, sinceits very beginning in the figure of the legendary founder of Gnosticism,according to the Church Fathers, Simon Magus.34

The common element between the different reports on dualisticgroups is apart from their names their ritual life. Motives that arerepeated are the union of a priest with a virgin and the ‘eucharistic’use of the blood and/or the flesh of the child, born out of this union.These descriptions remind of pagan allegations against Christiansand are now used ironically enough by the Christians themselvesagainst ‘heretics’. The motif the incestuous intercourse as well as ofcannibalism mostly of the own offspring dominates the accounts.The historicity of these accusations cannot be proved but the practicingof unconventional behaviour patterns as well as obscure and shockingrites among marginal groups cannot be excluded either. Still, therepetition of the stereotypes, described above, are used in the Syriac

34 See for example, Epiphanius, Panarion 21.

sources in order to stigmatise “the other” as a monstrous outcast noton the grounds of his beliefs but almost exclusively on the grounds ofcultic practices.

Dr. Emmanouela Grypeou,Faculty of Divinity,Univ. of Cambridge,United KingdomE-mail: [email protected]

Documents

19 Dualistic Heresies and Cults in Syriac Sources (Emmanouela Grypeou)