PAULICIANS

A sect of heretics, whose history is interwoven with that of the Greek church in the 9th and 10th centuries, who appear to have arisen in considerable numbers in Armenia, and to have adopted the name by which they are distinguished, from Paulus, one of their leaders, in order to avoid the imputation of connexion with the Mnnicheans, with which they were generally charged. Their opinions are to be collected only from the allegations of their enemies, who accused them of holding the doctrine of the two principles, and denying the Inspiration of the Old Testament to have proceeded from the Supreme God. At the same time, the charges which were brought against them, alleging their contempt for the worship of the Virgin and of the cro , seem to point them out as in some respect* [s. 921]