This is Communio Sanctorum, the history of the Christian Church, season two.

This episode is titled Heretics Part 1. What is Heresy?

We start a new series here in Season 2 of Communio Saint-Torum, and this time we'll take a look

at some of the notable heretics and heresies in church history.

Most of these we covered in season one, but this time we're going to go a bit deeper.

As we do, we just might discover that some of those movements and groups that have been classed as heretical weren't.

Averent, maybe, but heretical?

Not.

As has been said, the winner's write history.

They get to tell the tale.

It seems at least some of the reporting of church officials

misrepresented and mischaracterized the position of those they opposed and were able to stamp out.

When the writings of these groups were systematically rounded up and destroyed, well, all we're

left with is the account of their opponents, a questionable source at best.

That's not to say that every group deemed heretical wasn't. Many were. In the early centuries,

most were, but during the late Middle Ages, many of the groups labeled heretical may have simply

been outsiders to the politically accepted

norm. As we begin, we need to carve out a little time to define precisely what we mean by

heresy. The English word heresy is a transliteration of the Greek word heresis, which simply

means party, as in a sect, a group of people gathered

around some identifying and unifying feature. The early use of the word was neutral,

as is seen in the three ways that it's used in the Book of Acts. But the word took on a strongly

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