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. It is important to point out that Christian mystics believe that the words of the Bible have numerical and semantic value and significance, so that there is a certain mystical connection between the world of the sacred text and the human person. In other words, God is revealed through holy text, which is also the meeting place of God and man. Often during this "encounter" the mystic who studies or rewrites the sacred text is very much absorbed by the divine power so that during "ecstasy" he actually writes a new text directly inspired by the divine presence manifested in a unique way through the mystic and his writing.
There is tremendous influence that the philosophy of Neoplatonism had on the formation of certain Christian beliefs, especially the concept of soul ascending to the Heaven which was extremely popular among communities of Christian Mysticism. Today every Christian inherits the idea that when the body dies it goes to earth and the soul goes to Heaven, which in essence represents a very Platonistic idea that Christianity has integrated into its theology. The implication of this Platonistic idea of the soul ascending to the Heavens is very important and its influence will have a decisive impact on most people to this day. According to this concept, we do not belong to the earth, but our true home is in Heaven. Yet all this has no backing in the Bible where not only that this idea is not mentioned anywhere, but quite the contrary, Adam and Eve were created not from the immaterial but from the material substrate, that is they were created from the earth, they eat the material food, the earth is their "home" and soul has not fallen or descended to Adam and Eve, but people are born on earth because they essentially belong there.12 The only place to mention the immaterial souls in the Bible is at the very end waiting on the altar that God ends up with Last Judgement to be able to return to their bodies again. From this literal reading of the biblical text, according to Bible the immaterial souls are not happy in the heavenly state of "bliss" and that they want to return back to the body.13 Also in the Bible, the Heavens are referred to as the city of "New Jerusalem" descending from above, indicating that "we" do not go to the Heavens, but the Heavens are coming to us. Also in the
11 Vjekoslav Štefanić, Glagoljski zapis u Čajničkom javanđelju i Radosavljevu rukopisu. Zagreb : Zbornik Historijskog instituta, 1958. 12 Cary, Philosophy and Religion 13 Ibid Bible, there are only two people who went to Heaven: Elijah and Jesus, but it is important to point out that they went there physically with their material bodies and did not wait death for their soul to ascend and also it is expected for them to return to earth again. 14 Regarding all that, we can say the eschatology of the New Testament is quite different than Platonistic tradition so we have a certain schism between dogmatized Christians focused on literal reading of the Bible and Christian Neoplatonists (Mystics) focused on allegorical reading of the Bible, especially New Testament. This does not mean however that Christian Neoplatonists (Mystics) never used New Testament, but that they used it by interpreting the text in it symbolically and not literally. This was considered to be a great threat to many in the dogmatized social environment of the Middle Ages because it took away the absolute primacy and authority of the Church in matters of theology and correct understanding of the Bible. This may also be the key to understanding the persistent condemnations of the Catholic Church towards the Bosnian Church members in relation to their supposed "rejection" of the New Testament, although domestic sources within the Bosnian Church clearly indicate that Bosnian "kr'stjans" used it intensively. They have read and explained the New Testament in a different way, based on allegorical symbolic reading of the sacred text where the "resurrection of the body" for Neoplatonists (Mystics) does not refer to the resurrection of the material body as believed by medieval Catholics and Orthodox, but the spiritual body (soul) that only belongs to the world Above.So, among the manuscripts belonging to Bosnian Church there are two very damaged parchment fragments from Monteprandon in Italy which are of great importance. Sante Graciotti15 has been able to read certain segments within the manuscript that relate to some of the beliefs fostered by bosnian "kr'stjans" such as faith in the resurrection of the soul rather than the material body.16 This doctrine fully fits in with the views of the Byzantine Christian neoplatonists of the 11th and 12th centuries. From the records from the trials of Michael Psellos, Ivan Italos and Eustratius of Nicaea, they are accused also because of their belief in the resurrection of the soul rather than of the body. Italos defended himself from these allegations, stating that matter is subjected to change and disintegration and that he believed in the resurrection of the spiritual and not the material body.
14 Ibid 15 S. Graciotti, I frammenti bosniaci di Monteprandone edizione e interpretazione. Roma : Ricerche slavistiche, 1995. Vol. 42 16 Anica Nazor, Rukopisi Crkve bosanske. Vidi u: Fenomen “krstjani” u srednjovjekovnoj Bosni i Humu : zbornik radova. – Sarajevo : Institut za istoriju, 2005. Bosnian leaflets from Monteprandon
The meaning of the term "vjera" (faith or fidelity) in Christian Neoplatonism is of great importance for understanding and correct explanation of many formulations found within texts and manuscripts of the Bosnian Church. Namely, the concept of "vjera" is closely related to the ethical moral categories guaranteed in the sacred books, which refer to the entire religious community. According to Christian Neoplatonist Clement, Jesus and the apostles have laid down certain rules in which all members of the community need to believe and adhere to them (the so- called "ecclesiastical norm"), so being a "kr'stjan" (christianus) meant accepting and respecting "vjera" as a set of moral rules based on the Bible.17 Giving "vjera" is therefore a certain type of moral commitment of a member of the "kr'stjan" community to behave in accordance with the ethical norms revealed in the sacred books, so any "nevjera" or infidelity would have been seen as disobedience to "vjera" or fidelity, largely on the grounds of disregarding the previously assumed obligations of Christian morality and ethics and therefore such an individual must have been punished by the religious community to which he belongs. "Vjera" as religious category will also become a very important determinant of the Bosnian social contract known as "vjerna služba" and "vjera gospodska". This in essence implies a reciprocity in relationship between the subordinates and superiors in Bosnian feudalism, where both subjects are mutually dependent on respecting the norms of morality founded on the sacred books of Christianity.
The Bosnian Church based on Christian Neoplatonism (Mysticism) goes much further than ordinary "vjera" (faith; fidelity), introducing another category of "prava vjera" (real faith; true fidelity). Ordinary "vjera" refers to the external aspect of the religious community reflected through the external respect for Christian moral norms and rules, aswell as literal reading of sacred texts in relation to all members of the religious community. On the other hand, "prava vjera" refers only to the religious elite that deals with advanced or true Christianity, where attention is directed to the true or inner aspect of faith through the discovery of deeper mysteries of Christianity mostly through allegorical and symbolic reading of religious texts.
This was primarily based on the teaching of Christian Neoplatonists such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen. Clement was convinced that there are two types of Christians, those who are interested in advanced learning of Christianity and who were in the minority and those who are majority and not capable or ready for advanced studies of true faith.18 Most Christians did not reach the level of ethical perfection or intellectual understanding of faith, but at the same time he did not make a sharp difference between them.19 Specifically, Clement emphasizes that there are two different phases in which Christians are found, but yet both are on the same common path of salvation. In other words, every person can be on that path, but only a minority can actually reach the final phase of "prava vjera" (true faith) and be true believers.20 Clement encouraged believers to go beyond ordinary faith based on everyday ethical norms, toward attaining true faith based on perfect knowledge, a deeper understanding of the mystery of Christianity and unity with God resulting in salvation.21 For Clement to be a true Christian, it means to be turned toward the spiritual aspect of understanding the sacred books that is rooted in their symbolic understanding and the plurality of their spiritual meaning.22 On the other hand, to be just a Christian and to only have ordinary faith meant reading the Bible literally and simply not understanding the deeper meaning of the sacred writings. Clement saw in himself a person
17 David Brakke, Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas, TTC. 18 Ibid 19 Ibid 20 Ibid 21 Ibid 22 Ibid capable of leading loyal Christians from the state of ordinary faith to the state of advanced true faith, proving this by claiming that through the apostolic inheritance he received secret teachings not recorded in the Bible. According to him, Christ conveyed this secret true knowledge to his apostles and the apostles continued to convey that unwritten secret teachings to his disciples (within the texts of the Bosnian Church we have syntagm: "prava vjera apostolska" or "apostles' true faith") and that Clement himself received them.23 Contrary to Gnostics and Manichaeans which were considered to be those who undermine and attack Christianity and endanger the organization of the ecclesiastical community, Clement believes that his teaching, which is largely based on Platonistic philosophical tradition (Christian Mysticism), actually corrects, refines and promotes Christianity and represents true Christianity based on advanced Bible studies through the plurality of allegorical and symbolic representations of the sacred text, as opposed to ordinary Christianity based only on faith and ethical categories associated with the literal reading of the Bible.
Like Clement, Origen also believed that Christians were at different spiritual levels, but on the common path to salvation. He also wanted to help Christians move from the level of ordinary faith where the Bible is accepted and read literally toward the true level of deeper knowledge of the Bible in relation to its plurality of symbolic meaning. Origen also believed that Christ and the Apostles gave the Church certain rules, norms or canon in which all Christians must believe and adhere to them. Like Clement, Origen also said that Christianity is more than just a religion based solely on adhering to the moral principles contained in the ecclesiastical canon and reading the Bible without placing philosophical questions that would truly explain the sacred text. For Origen many of the "open" questions in the Bible are there for a reason, the apostles deliberately left them that way because they wanted them to be philosophically debated in search of the true meaning of the Bible.24 Those who deal with these real aspects, according to Clement and Origen are actually true Christians because they debate, speculate and study the Bible on a symbolic or allegorical level.25 In other words, Origen believed that a Christian should not be content only being a part of a church or religious community by accepting faith without any intellectual engagement, but on the contrary, the believer should take an active role in studying the "higher" or true part of his being with symbolic Bible study.26 However, according to Origen, the ecclesiastical canon or the rule of faith that gather the believers around a set of moral or ethical values is an important starting point for an intellectual journey that is reflected in a common goal: salvation or telos. According to him, answers of all "open" questions are found in the Bible and these questions in fact represent traces that God has deliberately left to humanity to be revealed. Although there is no guarantee that during the lifetime a true Christian will find all the answers that are hidden in the Bible, yet according to Origen believer should and must try to do it.27 From this we can clearly see why the Catholic and Orthodox churches were intimidated by
23 Ibid 24 Ibid 25 Ibid 26 Ibid 27 Ibid such mystical communities because they deprived them of religious authority by considering them theologicaly inferior since they did not deal with the deeper mystical meaning of the sacred writings. Origen's teachings, therefore, seemed to be extremely appealing to those Christians who did not fear one intellectual and deeper observation of faith through symbolic myths.
Discovering the Bosnian Church terminology with special regard to very important terms: "kr'stjani" and "pravi kr'stjani", we come to the conclusion that they contain an extremely mystical meaning based on the christology of Christian Neoplatonism. The term "kr'stjani" primarily refers to followers of faith of Christ and corresponds to the Latin word Christianus (plural: Christiani).28 This name began to be used for the disciples of Christ in the time of the Early Church and later it was embraced by monks. Numerous Bosnian Church texts contain very special intent aimed toward "revealing" God to the "kr'stjani" religious community through Christ (Christ's Head), but also they speak of "resurrection" or the return of Christ back to God through the monastic "kr'stjani" community (Christ's Body ).Therefore, Christ (Logos; Word of God) has a dual nature, the one that is divine (the Head), which refers to the "revealing" or "descending" of God to the ecclesiastical community and another nature that is human and refers to the need for the soul to leave the material body and to "rise again" to its true old divine nature and that could only be done through the faithful "kr'stjani" church of all its members (Body). From this it follows that the "pravi kr'stjani" (true Christiani) are members of the Bosnian Church upper hierarchy related to the higher internal aspect of the faith connected to the divine nature of Christ (the Head of Christ), while "kr'stjani" (Christiani) are ordinary monks within the wider church community (the Body of Christ), gathered around the common goal of salvation and the return of the soul to Heaven through a monastic life in their "hiža" (house) monasteries.
The mystical experience of "being in Christ" (syn Christo or kyrio) implies the identification of believers with Christ that we find so often in the texts of the apostles John and Paul, which is directly related and based on the Platonistic philosophy of imitation.29 All "kr'stjani" life is the imitation of Christ (Phil.7.2.) and unity with God in Christ is especially accomplished in the next life. So we can say that the resurrection of Christ automatically results in the resurrection of the community of believers in Him because they are in some kind of solidarity (Phil 1: 21; Gal 2:20).30
Since we can not see God as the First Principle, Christ is the only way we can have access to the vision of God as the main goal of mysticism. Since we have mixture of divine and human nature in Christ, there is hope that our human nature can be transformed into the divine and not only through Christ, but through all those who have undergone their lives according to Christ's rules and commandments. The members of Bosnian Church were proud of their "kr'stjani" name. Their name bothered the Catholic Church and we are informed about that through papal emisary Ivan de Casamaris. He met with Bosnian Church representatives 1203. at Bilino Polje (near
28 Rječnik JAZU 29 Bernard McGinn,The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the 12th Century,1996. 30 Ibid Zenica) and asked from them to call themselves brothers in the future instead "kr'stjani" so they would not be doing "injustice" to other Christians.Therefore, it is evident that in the name of "kr'stjani" (christiani), we have a special and intimate internal connection between the Bosnian monks and Christ Himself, which again reduces the significance and authority of all other religious communities such as Catholic Church where such special relationship has not been established. According to Bilino Polje statement, the question of the name was allegedly resolved with a bosnian monks' promise that they would no longer call themselves "kr'stjani" but simply "brothers".31 It is well known from subsequent domestic and Dubrovnik sources that this has never happened and that Bosnian monks continued to use the old name "kr'stjani" because it was closest to their Christian teaching and religious identity founded in mystical Christology.
Because the connection between "kr'stjani" and Christ is realized within the "kr'stjani" church which is the Body of Christ, this symbiotic connection is most beautifully presented through the allegory of love. "The Song of Songs" is an important and significant element of the Bible, and according to Christian Neoplatonist Ambrose "The Song of Songs" is in fact the allegory of love, where Christ is the center and the all-binding principle of the complete revelation contained in the Bible.32 For early Christianity, Christ is the key to understanding the true and pervading knowledge of the Bible. The whole intellectual and moral life of the true Christian is defined by Christ, so by revealing Christ in the Bible, we actually reveal the key to understanding the sacred text. "The Song of Songs" represents an association of love between Christ and the Church, or between Christ and the redeemed soul.
The Groom stands in front of the Bride in "The Song of Songs" just as Christ stands in front of the soul. Therefore their interaction and contact is filled with love that can best be represented in the metaphor of a mystical union or marriage. Marriage is in fact an allegory of the beginning of the spiritual, sacramental life symbolized by the marriage bond between Christ and the soul, although it is according to Ambrose, merely the metaphor of the union with the divine Good of God.33 So here we have one of those divine inspired texts that allude to the goodness and the beauty of human and divine contact. This connection is reflected in the term agape (love directed towards God) and eros (love directed towards human beings) through Christ.34 This may even be the reason why we have an old local name "Stone Wedding Guests" used for the stećak' necropolis in Bosnia.
Speaking of the "kr'stjani" church as the Body of Christ, it should be noted that the life of mystical community members is not reflected in a secluded individual path, but it is based on a common life within a church where love for Christ is actually love for others, especially the other brothers "in Christ" (other "kr'stjani"). This love and symbiosis between members of
31 Pejo Ćošković, Crkva bosanska u XV st, Sarajevo : Institut za istoriju, 2005. 32 Maria MacLean Kiely, Ambrose the Pastor and the Image of the ‘Bride’: Exegesis, Philosophy, and the Song of Songs, Washington DC, 2013 33 Ibid 34 Ibid "kr'stjani" monastic community came primarily within the religious community in whose center was the house or "hiža" in medieval Bosnia. However, it should be noted that "kr'stjani" can not be identified as monks known to the Catholic Church.35 Such approaches and explanations do not seem to succeed because of the simple reason that the Bosnian Church was a schismatic church different and separate from the Catholic and Orthodox Church. In their departure from the external view of Christianity found in these two churches based on the ceremonial and literal reading of the sacred text, at the same time "kr'stjani" emphasized the inner and mystical nature of Christianity founded in Christian Neoplatonism, so also we can say that its clergy and form of monasticism differed from the Catholic and Orthodox clergy and monks.The Bosnian Church did not follow the usual division: priests, monks and layman, as was the case with Catholics and Orthodox. This is one of the main reasons why any attempt to explain its organisation to Christian contemporaries was very complicated because they could not imagine them outside the system they belonged to. Also in this regard, one should also consider the impossibility that order of "kr'stjani" existed as branch of the Catholic monasticism because between the Catholic "ecclesiae bosniensis" and the Bosnian Church (from the 12th and 13th centuries) there is no continuity in their religous teachings but only in an organizational context.
If we have in mind that the Bosnian Church is a very monastical church then it is not surprising that one of its main determinants relates to the life of members of the Bosnian monastical community headed by a "domestic" elder. It should be noted that in Bosnian and Dubrovnik sources there is more information about the existence of "kr'stjani" communities mentioned under different names. Bosnians simply called their religous habitats "hiža", the usual word used in the time to describe housing or place of living.36 The sources also acknowledge that the "kr'stjani" habitats were called "hiža" and that the names of its administrators were closely attached to them and that these were the centers of religious and ecclesiastical life in the area of the medieval Bosnian state. People from Dubrovnik for "kr'stjani" houses used the Latin word "domus" and the Italian "casa", often emphasizing the name of its elder aswell, or they simply called them in relation to their ecclesiastical affiliation (caxa dei paterini).37
The "hiže" in Bosnia were in the eyes of contemporaries the centers of spiritual, ecclesiastical and cultural life, attracting even layman from Dubrovnik, especially their merchants who stayed in them and kept inside their goods and contracts, but also there were pious women vowed to serve a certain time. Though "hiža" can not be equated with monasteries of Western and Eastern monasticism, because the differences between them were noticeably large, "kr'stjani" could find the role model for their way of life in the Early Christianity.38 That is why "hiže" are closest to Early Christian "oratories" (the "oratory" (greek: Proseuch) is a old Latin term generally used for places where public worship is performed, primarily as a house for prayer).The "oratory" differed from the church (ecclesia) by referring to smaller houses or homelike chapels where
35 Ćošković, Crkva bosanska 36 About meaning of the word "hiža": Rječnik JAZU III, 622 37 Ćošković, Crkva bosanska 38 Ibid close to the dormitory there would be located room with a smaller altar. St.Luke under the term "oratory" implies chambers where early Christians gather, keeping their secret teachings in the comfort and security of their "houses", while simultaneously commemorating a similar place where the Last Supper was held. There are several types of "oratories" such as monastic cells, private chapels, a private estate reserved for the monastery or a chapel associated with the gathering place of the religious community. The local nobility had great influence on the oratories because they were located in their land and they were originally built as part of a noble residence or castle. Most oratories are simple parallelograms with a stone altar and well in front and they are often found on some elevation.39
39 McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia: Oratory Oratory Di San Pellegrino (Bominaco, Patriarchi di Aquileia, Italy
The widespread and organizational unity of the Bosnian Church on the entire Bosnian state was reflected in its connection with the king, the nobles and other dignitaries who maintained religious and business ties with it. The Bosnian Church mostly recieved support from the Bosnian nobility since its religious communities and monasteries were located on their territory. The alliance between the nobility and the Bosnian Church was of crucial importance for the strengthening the influence of the nobility in Bosnia, but also the Bosnian Church itself. It is this alliance that will be of great importance for the formation of characteristic relations between the nobility and the rulers, but also between the ordinary Bosnian man and the nobility through the Bosnian "faith". Especially in the 15th century, we have a frequent appearance of "kr'stjani" in the service of the feudal lords.Thus, there were some cases when "kr'stjani" switched the service between feudal lords, like we have in a case of Radin Butković who also changed his place of residence with a new service.40 In the wider context of the relationship between nobility and representatives of the Bosnian Church, we can also speak about the diplomatic activity of "kr'stjani". They would have special tasks and were some sort of diplomatic emissaries and advisers of nobles. It is also well known that the "kr'stjani" were very active in the process of creating religous books for the Bosnian Church and its community. However, besides the members of the Bosnian Church hierarchy, there were also wealthy Bosnian noblemen in high social positions which also ordered these books for their private use.
40 Михаило Динић, Из Дубровачког архива III, Српска Академија Наука и уметности, Београд 224. "Krs'tjani" hiža enjoyed the privilege of ius asylum which could not have been disrupted even by the ruler himself in case his political opponents sought refuge in them. For example, in 1403 during the conflict between Bosnian king Ostoja and Radišić family, one of Radišić nobles sought and received shelter "in the middle of Bosnia in some hiža where he was sure that the king could not do him any harm."41
In general, the relationship between the rich "kr'stjani" (mostly members of the hierarchy and closely connected with nobility) and the poor "kr'stjani" (ordinary monks) and the relationship between the Bosnian nobles and the wider community was most likely based on the moral categories that are directly related to the well-known prophetic Ezekiel's vision we find in the Old Testament, which was of particular interest to Christian neoplatonists such as Ambrose, Origen, and Gregory the Great. Referring to the text of Ezekiel 1.23: And below the abyss their wings are spread straight (rectae), one toward the other (alterius ad alterum) Gregory explains one symbiotic spiritual bond that needs to exist between the rich and the poor through the charity and prayer in the perfect christian community. Thus Gregory points out that when the wings are widespread and straight, it indicates that one person has devoted all good it has to the other person (impendit alteri). He confirms this conclusion with a couple of illustrations pointing out that those who have the wealth (terrain substantiam) can help those in need and poverty. Especially Gregory here focuses on the need of the rich to help the poor, but also the reciprocity of the poor toward the rich through prayer aswell. The author recognizes that those who are too concerned with the acquisition of earthly possessions are often in a deficit of urgency for prayer, while those who dedicate much time to prayer dont have even basic necessities. Therefore, Gregory focus the readers attention toward the need for the existence of reciprocity between these two groups of people who not only meet the human needs but they are in active process of the fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision at the present moment: When a rich man (dives) offers food and clothing to a poor man (pauper), and when a poor man offers his own prayer for the soul of a rich man (orationem suam animae impendit), then the wings of living beings are spread straight, one to the other (pennae animalium rectae alterius to alterum tenduntur). So also among members of the Bosnian Church' hierarchy we have influential "kr'stjani" who lived and died in riches such as "guest" Radin. In his last will Radin authorized his nephew to give charity money to the poor male and female "kr'stjani", and in return they have to pray on their knees to deliver us from the sin of our sins and to have mercy on the terrible judgment of all the ages, also the charity was especially instructed to be shared with the poor in the days of great Christian holidays.
A complementary relationship between giving and receiving for Christian Neoplatonists Ambrose and Gregory the Great was a sign that the person is noble and that four wheels or living creatures (symbols of the four evangelists) are in harmony and that Ezekiel's vision is realized before their own eyes. According to Gregory, to make "wings of living beings" widespread and
41 Ćošković, Crkva bosanska straight is imperative for each individual and community in general. The author supports this opinion with the statement in Peter 4.7-11 about providing protection to endangered and oppressed: If this person may be oppressed by a powerful person in this world, I share with him the comfort of my protection and deliver him from the violent hands, then In reciprocity, we spread our wings one toward the other so that we are touched by the love and mutual help of the good we receive. So the First Shepherd counsels us well when he says: The end of all things is near, so be clever and quick in prayer. Above all, have and cultivate one another's mutual love because love clears many sins. Be hospitable to each other without grumble because everyone recieved grace, so give it to another (1 Ptr 4.7-10). Remember that our wings are not now widespread if we bend them back only for our benefit. But they become straight again if we give what we have for the benefit of our neighbors ... Humblefully dedicate yourself to your neighbors, because you know that what you have you have not received from yourself.42
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