The Fire and the Accusation

“La Sorcière” by Martin van Maële (1900)

In the history of Christianity, the worship of Satan was a frequent accusation from the Middle Ages onward. The Albigensians, a Gnostic Christian movement deemed heretical, were among the first formally accused of Devil-worship during the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.

These charges extended to secretive groups like the Knights Templar, who were said to worship a being called Baphomet — a distorted reference to Mahomet, prophet of the enemy. Similar accusations erupted during the European witch trials, with confessions often extracted under brutal torture.

Some scholars argue that real antinomian sects may have existed alongside mass hysteria and persecution. Whether historical or imagined, the eternal fire of accusation has burned for centuries in the shadow of power.