In fact, the monastic movement was to a large degree a rejection of the Church state with its wealth, power, and wars. This is why the Church refused, and still refuses, to support them. Monks and nuns produced crops, bread, jam, wine, liqueurs, and cheeses while they illuminated stunning manuscripts and sang some of the most beautiful music mankind ever created. Monasteries became citadels of learning in a violent age, enclaves for Christians who refused to take up arms.Though the Church put aside its interdiction on Christians bearing arms, many of the monastic orders, such as the Franciscans, rigorously maintained the rule. At the same time, many sects arose that operated like the early Christians, outside of the machinery of state, shunning the politics of power. One of the first such groups was the Cathars, in the French-Catalan region of Languedoc.The Cathars were inspired by the pre-Constantinian Church and traced their theology to a third-century Mesopotamian prophet named Mani, who had contact with not only Christians but Buddhists when he traveled to India.
