Bogomil

Member of a sect of Christian heretics who originated in 10th-century Bulgaria and spread throughout the Byzantine empire. They held the dualistic belief that the physical world was created by the Devil. Despite persecution, they were expunged by the Ottomans only after the fall of Constantinople 1453.

Their name derives from Bogomilus, or Theophilus, probably a Greek Orthodox priest who taught in Bulgaria 927–950.