The Main Reasons of the Orthodoxy and Heresy Controversy Between Church and Christian Mystics in the Middle Ages

Abstract

Christianity spread to different geographies with the mission travels of Paul and was subjected to pressure by the Roman State, the Jews and other pagans in the early period. Christianity was seen as a secret public movement in this period, then the Roman State accepted Christianity as the official religion in 381 and thus the Church became stronger institutionally. The Church pressured the opponents and regarded them as heretics because they undermined the church authority and adopted different religious understandings. This pressure was directed against the Gnostics, the Waldensians, the Bogomils, the Cathars, and finally the reformist Protestants. Another religious group, affected by the hunting of heretics, is the Christian mystics. In this study, it is revealed in what ways Christian mystics are seen as heretical by the church and conflicts between the Catholic Church and mystics. In this historical research on the struggle between the Church and the Christian mystics has been chosen the period between the 12th and 15th centuries because it has more samples.