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Medieval Bosnian Church and Its Sacred Texts Symbolism Medieval Bosnian Church and its sacred texts symbolism ("true faith" and "true christians") One of the main characteristics of Christian Neoplatonism (Mysticism) is reading and interpretation of the Scripture symbolically or allegorically and not literally.1 Hence, the well- known biblical stories are of particular importance because they contain deeper allegorical truths, and Christian Mystics are those who go beyond the "external surface" of the sacred text, rather focusing toward the "true" or "inner" meaning of the biblical narrative. This incentive in correct interpretation of the sacred texts through the use of allegories and symbols has given the Christian mystics a tremendous influence within the religious community in which they habitated, at the same time depriving supremacy over "spiritual truth" from all those religious institutions that dealt only with the external and ceremonial aspects of faith through literal reading of the holy text. The "Apocalypse" or "Apocalypse of Jesus Christ" is the only prophetic book in the New Testament and was an ideal basis for the allegorical interpretation of often very mystical themes and symbols that we find there. Various "revelations" within "Apocalypse" imply visions, which usually have symbolic meanings. Thus, in "Apocalypse", we find special significance in numbers, things, characters or even parts of the body. Today, for most people, the term apocalypse marks the cataclysmic end of the world, but according to the original Greek term "apocalypsis" its basic meaning is "reveiling". It is a mixture of the word "apo" which means "raising" and the word "kalipsis" meaning "veil". In other words, the "Apocalypse" literally means "raising the veil" and it essentially refers to the "reveiling" of what is hidden ("the vision of celestial secrets that can clarify the earthly realities").2 1 Phillip Cary, Philosophy and Religion in the West, TTC 2 Bart Ehrman, How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, HarperOne, 2014. The image depicts "raising of the veil" where God reveals Himself to the created world through the Word of God- Logos ("The Apocalypse of "kr'stjanin Radoslav"). Throughout the Middle Ages (especially in the West), the "Apocalypse" is most read from all the books of the Old and New Testament.3 Its visions are so picturesque, but equally mysterious, allowing alternative and symbolic interpretations of the text within it, so the "Apocalypse" should primarily be seen in the context of Christian Neoplatonism (Mysticism) where at the beginning and at the end stands Logos (the Word of God, The Head of Christ) which reveals itself to the created world. 3 Josip Hamm, Apokalipsa bosanskih krstjana, Zagreb, 1960. The followers of the Bosnian Church apparently could not resist the mysterious power of the "Apocalypse" which was for them as a gospel itself. An even more direct proof of the great meaning of "Apocalypse" for the Bosnian medieval man are texts of the Bosnian "kr'stjans", the members of the Bosnian Church. "Apocalypse" has a special place in three manuscripts: Krstjanin Radoslav's manuscript, Hval's manuscript and manuscript of Venetian Marciana.4 In all three manuscripts "Apocalypse" has a prominent place. In Hval and the Venetian manuscript it is immediately behind the gospel and on the case of kr'stjanin Radoslav manuscript the "Apocalypse" is its major content along with only a few more prayers and the beginning of the Gospel of John. Apocalypse is the most widely read text in Bosnia and in Hval's collection it is immediately after four gospels, unlike the Eastern and Western church traditions.5 According to slavist Josip Hamm "Apocalypse" in Bosnia comes in the XI and XII centuries and generally Bosnian texts are of a great antiquity.6 According to Hamm, they are closely related in conjunction with Greek originals that spread in the Balkan western regions and their emergence is linked in the context of Byzantine cultural influence. The proof that Bosnian "kr'stjans" were indeed the followers of Christian Mysticism based on the neoplatonist tradition of allegorical interpretation of the sacred text lies in the fact that all three manuscripts contain a special part referring to the "Tree of Life", which is said to be capable twelve times a month to create and produce a yield (Drevo životno tvorešte plod dvanadeset krat na mjesec), which for Kniewald would mean that the Bosnian "kr'stjans" considered "Tree of Life" to be a woman.7 It is well known that the "Tree of Life" phenomenology, especially in its graphic form was closely related to the Neoplatonic "Tree of Porphyry" where life itself is represented as a female aspect that creates as a reflection of God's grace on earth through manifestation of the entire process of creation. "Tree of Life" is within Christian Neoplatonism the reflection of the Cataphatic theology ("revelation" or "descending" of God) through the female aspect of the totality of material creation that takes place constantly before the eyes of believers. In addition to the role of female in nature and the concept of creating as a positive symbol of God's grace and the revelation of God to the created world, the Bosnian texts of the "Apocalypse" always mention some kind of "beasts", most often in the form of winged snakes or dragons, alluding to the concealed Satan deceiving the female aspect. However, the "Apocalypse" always ends with a story of destruction of the "beast" by the action of the celebrated Christ when the heavenly kingdom is finally established and where death is destroyed within the image of New Jerusalem. I znamenje velje javi se na nabesih: žena oblčena v slnce, i luna pod nogama jej, i na glavi jej vijenac ot zvjezdju dvanadeset... I javi se ino znamenje na nebesih, i se, zmij črman velij, imije 4 Ibid 5 Mak Dizdar, Stari bosanski tekstovi, Sarajevo : Bosanska riječ, 2012. 6 Hamm, Apokalipsa bosanskih krstjana 7 Ibid glav' sedam, a rogov' deset, i na glavi jego vin'c sedam... I inizložen bist zmij veliki i zmij drevni, naricajemi dijavol i sotona, lasten vsu vaseljenu, i vložen bit v zemlju, i anđeli jego s njim uloženi biše.8 Divoš' gospel 8 Dizdar, Stari bosanski tekstovi The "Venetian" Manuscript and Daničić's Gospel The allegorical interpretation of this motif is also found in the example of the biblical story of Adam and Eve about how the snake deceived Eve to persuade Adam to take forbidden apples from Heaven. For Christian Neoplatonists (Mystics), this story is a symbol of eternal truths that are not just related to that unique event, but it is a pattern that has occurred and happens again for all of us. Adam means "mind", Eve means "senses" and a snake trying to decieve Eve is "pleasure." Therefore, the "pleasure" in the form of a serpent (Satan) decieves the "senses", and then these decieved "senses" lead the "mind" to want "lower" things.9 Here we have a Platonistic concept that refers to the idea that the "mind" should look into something "higher" and "better" 9 Cary, Philosophy and Religion than this world, but the problem is in "senses" which are in the service of the "beast" (Satan) craving and lusting for "lower" material things and in this lies the major cause of our troubles. Another example of allegorical reading of the sacred text in the context of Christian Neoplatonism (Mysticism) is the biblical story of creation where we have a Platonistic metaphor of a craftsman or architect who has a blueprint in his head how the city is going to look like. In other words, the Mind of God or the Word of God (the Logos; Christ's Head in Christian Mysticism) contains a blueprint or some type of template how the world is going to look in the Lower (material) world. Based on that template or idea within God's Mind, God creates. Therefore, transcendental God which can be initially presented as a letter does not create directly, but through Logos, the Head of Christ or the Word of God (Above), which contains all the complete knowledge necessary for creation, and this perfect potential of creation will reach its full manifestation in the material world (Below) "revealing" itself only and exclusively through Christ. A confirmation of this is found in the ceremonial text of Kr'stjanin Radoslav, which he wrote for Kr'stjanin Gojslav: Iskoni bi slovo, i slovo bi ot boga, i bog bi slovo... I slovo plot bi i v'seli se v'nj. I vidihomo je slavu, jako inočedago ot oca, ispl'no blagodit i istina... Jako zakon Mojsijem dan' bi, a blagodit i istina Isuhristom bi dana.10 Kr'stjanin Gojslav's Manuscript 10 Hamm, Apokalipsa bosanskih krstjana Some authors studying old Bosnian texts came to the conclusion that they are not the product of some organic development, but that they used dead forms and deliberately distorted letters for some specific purposes. For these authors purpose of these practices was that the average readers does not understand it, so it was in the function of cryptography.11 However, my opinion is that this phenomenon within Bosnian religious texts should be seen primarily from the aspect of the practice of Christian Mysticism. For the Christian Mystic "Apocalypse" is not just a text about God, but the very God who speaks. That is, it is not just a text that speaks of the world, but the inspired text is a created world because the "Apocalypse" contains something of God in every word and every letter. Mystics therefore, from the very beginning pay serious attention on the sacred text of the Bible, which is of the utmost importance and the key to understanding God and the created world because each word has a deeper meaning recognized only by ones that are part of the mystical community.
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