Book of the Secret Supper

The Book of the Secret Supper (Cena Secreta), also known as Interrogatio Iohannis (The Questions of John), The Book of John the Evangelist and The Gospel of the Secret Supper was a Bogomil apocryphal text from Bulgaria, possibly based on a now lost Paulician treatise, which also became an important Cathar scripture.^[1] The book was translated into Latin and introduced to Italy in the late 12th century, then taken to Provence before the Albigensian Crusade by the Cathar bishop Nazarials or Nazario.

Two manuscripts survive; one was found in the archives of the Inquisition in the French town of Carcassonne in Languedoc, a Cathar stronghold, and the other was kept in the National Library of Vienna, Austria. There are significant differences between the two texts indicating independent manuscript traditions.^[2]

A postscript added to the Carcassonne manuscript by the Inquisitors states, "This is the Secret of the heretics of Concorrezzo, brought from Bulgaria by Nazarials, their bishop. It is full of errors."^[3]

^ Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin, eds. (2003). The Gnostic Bible. Boston: Shambala. p. 740. ISBN 978-1590306314.
^ Owens, Lance S. "Interrogatio Johannis". The Gnostic Society Library – Cathar Texts and Rituals. The Gnostic Society Library. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
^ Wakefield, Walter L.; Evans, Austin P. (1991). Heresies of the High Middle Ages. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. p. 458. ISBN 978-0231096324.

[1] Barnstone, Willis; Meyer, Marvin, eds. (2003). The Gnostic Bible. Boston: Shambala. p. 740. ISBN 978-1590306314.

[2] Owens, Lance S. "Interrogatio Johannis". The Gnostic Society Library – Cathar Texts and Rituals. The Gnostic Society Library. Retrieved December 1, 2018.

[3] Wakefield, Walter L.; Evans, Austin P. (1991). Heresies of the High Middle Ages. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. p. 458. ISBN 978-0231096324.

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