A Study of Peter Chelčický's Life and a Translation from Czech of Part I of His Net of Faith (1947)/Part 2/Section 4a
CHAPTER XIV
THE CHURCH LOSES ITS PERFECTION THROUGH THE DONATION OF CONSTANTINE
All this having been said and done I shall return to the beginning, that is, to Peter's net which is the net of faith and with which he has been sent out for the spiritual fishing.Recapitulation (We read of) how he inclised a multitude of fishes; we also described how that great shoal was organized by the fisher-apostles. And now we shall speak about how it happened that the net, filled with many fishes, began to break.
No one at the time of fishing knew that the net of faith had inclosed also a great number of adverse fishes because they remained quiet in the net for a long time after Peter and other apostles. However, after a certain period of time, when men were sleeping and lulled into security,1 their enemy came in the night and sowed weeds among the wheat. So when the plants came up, and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
Where else could this heavy slumber have befallen except here among the priests showered with riches and domains by the Emperor? Those men slept, benumbed by a heavy dream, (intoxicated by their newly won wealth) after a poverty to which they had held by faith. Formerly they preached about the poverty of Christ and his disciples and other faithful priests after them; now they reject poverty having accepted domains and imperial honors and even precedence over imperial authority.2The DonationofConstantine (In their former estate) they accepted poverty as (a part of faith) commanded by Christ and his example. It shows that the priest must have been stunned in dream and have a blackening of his heart to be able to make this quick and easy change: after poverty, to plunge into such luxury and such an exalted position in the world. In the beginning he hid in caves, among rocks and in forests for Christ's name, and behold, now the Emperor guides him around Rome, seating him on a white mare – or was it a white horse? No matter! It always was a 'bird of ill omen'.3 – paying him homage ostentatiously before the whole world.Pope Sylvester's Triumph That is the way it was recorded by those who wrote down what they saw for future generations: multitudes in Rome ran to behold that wonder shouting, "Papa, Papa! The Pope! What is it? What goes on? Look there, the Emperor himself saddled the horse and, seating the Priest, he leads him through town!4
Inasmuch as he has done this, it seems to me that he has desecrated the purity and innocence of the apostolic state and that he has not followed properly and sincerely the true faith. Probably he (later) regretted the time when he had to hide in caves and in forests before pagans; for in those days they were killed for the faith in Christ, therefore hiding wherever they could. And that is very hard to the priests of sensuality and comfort of today; they have become accustomed to honors and to physical licentiousness. They could hardly go back to be again the despised of the earth, to administer the legacy of the apostles, to be hunted like dogs and to hide before Constantine.
We understand that there are two people in Bohemia who would like to be priests with this burden of the priestly office.5 But a dissipating and inactive life pleases much better the majority of the priesthood. It was, indeed, very agree able to Sylvester of a corporeal heart and an incomplete faith to see the Emperor beneath him, leading the horse. In that moment he did not fear him though he was afraid before.
It was then and there that the net became greatly torn, when the two great whales had entered it, that is, the Supreme Priest wielding royal power with honor superior to the Emperor, and the second whale being the Emperor who, with his rule and offices, smuggled pagan power and violence beneath the skin of faith.The Two Big Whales Enter the Net And when these two monstrous whales began to turn about in the net, they rent it to such an extent that very little of it has remained intact. From these two whales so destructive of Peter's net there were spawned many scheming schools by which that net is so
also/greatly torn that nothing but tatters and false names remain. They were first of all the hordes6 of monks in all manner of costumes and diversified colors; these were followed by hordes of university students and hordes of pastors; after them came the unlearned hordes with multiform coats-of-arms, and with them those of the wicked burghers; and so the whole world and its wretchedness has entered Peter's net of faith with these evil hordes.
And the multitude of these wretched hordes arrogate to themselves pagan and worldly rule, every one of them endeavoring to have dominion over the others.Imperialism They try to embrace as much of the earth as they are able, using every means and every ruse or violence to get hold of the territory of the weaker, sometimes by money and at other times by inheritance, but always desiring to rule and to extend their realm as far as they can. And in order to rule they divide: some are lords spiritual and some lords temporal. The spiritual lords are: the Pope who is the lord over lords; the lord cardinal; the lord legate; the lord archbishop; the lord patriarch; the lord pastor; the lord abbot; the lord provost (and there are as many abbots and provosts as there are monasteries and orders endowed with estates); the lord provincial; the lord prior, the lord magister universitatis. And the temporal lords are: the lord Emperor; the lord king; the lord prince; the lord magnates; the lord burgrave; the lord knight; the lord page; the lord judge; the lord councillors; the lord mayor; the burghers.
And all these lords draw power to themselves so strenuously that not only have they torn the net between them but they tore and divided among themselves earthly kingdoms, that the sovereign, the king, has no one to rule over, nor has he enough income to maintain himself and his retinue.Investiture For the ruling abbots have taken over wide areas of land, the canons and nuns took possession of cities, castles, regions, villages. And of the other party, the noblemen and their pages have possessed the remainder so that in this whole area there isn't in many a mile a single village left for the king to rule over. The country squires would like to have had a foreign king, a rich German, who would add alien countries to his own; for they, having received the king's dominion, will not give it up but would prefer to obtain additional lands from those he has conquered.
It is clear that a royal realm fares better among pagans than among these confused Christians who have appropriated to themselves dominions. For among the pagans there are no such ecclesiastical lords, so increased in numbers and so useless as sores on a body, for pain is the only thing they give. Really, pagan kings rule much easier since they have no ecclesiastical authority, a nobility richer than royalty and greedy to add king's possessions to their own domains. Nor had the Jews to contend with such (feudal) domains; there was only one chief lord among them, to with, the king. There were no peers but only a greater or lesser number of warriors and brave men which the king had at his disposal, making out of them his officials. But the Jewish priests were not supposed to have any temporal power nor inherited land grants, for God granted them only tithes from the people for their livelihood.7 For these reasons a Gentile or Jewish earthly kingdom could carry on much easier than among these befuddled men who imagined to count something in Christ's eyes, and yet cannot attain to the least pagan justice – they who themselves sprang from the pagans, making themselves into nobility in spite of Christ's intentions!
And, just as temporal government cannot exist properly with too great a number of lords, similarly and more so, Christian faith cannot stand and be preserved with a multitude of wicked hordes and a crowd of lords, so useless and destructive of faith, men who cause division, inequality, haughtiness, oppression, hatred, conflicts and violence of some against others. Even though they boast of being of one faith, they are far behind the pagans in respect to unity which is rent by their wicked machinations.
Our faith can encompass a great number of people for salvation, but they all must be of one heart and of one spirit, and nothing is further than that from the divided parties.8 Their acting is far removed from the spirit of Christ, they are far removed from one another; the people are removed from the lords, who constantly clamor to be promoted in order to have dominion over others, and they are proud as peacocks, which pride is a most abhorrent thing to faith. And all these wicked hordes and multitudinous lords try to be different from one another and it is with those differences that they measure faith, tearing up Peter's net. The se hordes, each one of them being established under different laws and special human justice of their own choosing, behave as if they were superior to and truer than the law of Christ. By this attitude they deviate completely from faith, and in doing so they rend and tear the net of faith.
And as they depart from the law of Christ on account of their own special laws, there results division of one horde against another because every one of them glories in its own laws,Sovereignty
and Anarchy regarding them superior to the laws of other hordes; (among the ecclesiastical hordes, for instance) one thinks to be superior because of its law ordering the wearing of cheap garments, or because they must eat no meat, or because they must not talk, or because they must sing sad tunes, or because they must get up early, or because they must fast a great deal, or because they must keep long matins. These and other particularisms of their laws split these orders, embuing them with predilection for their own exclusive law and an inclination to disparage, hate, and speak ill of the laws of others. And this contempt breeds dissolution of that unity which faith favors and maintains; by losing true unity they offend and wound faith. All the temporal lords who, begotten by Constantine and established through deception in the name of faith, enjoy pagan ruling and pagan sodomitic living; they put themselves apart from Christ and cannot be partakers of his fellowship; they feel contempt for one another, are prouder than the devil, oppress through power and throttle the weak through violence. All of them offend faith with their destructive particularities, tearing the net in the degree in which they are contrary to faith.
Social InequalitiesTherefore, when we try to appraise the spiritual situation we cannot compare the body of Christ with the Roman Church which divides (society) into three groups:
1) the first group being that of the lords, kings and princes, who fight, defend, and attack;
2) the second group being that of spiritual priesthoods who pray;
3) and the third being the workers in bondage who are supposed to provide for the physical needs of the other two classes.
If the body of Christ is divided by such an order of things, what inequalities are there present! Naturally, this order is agreeable to the first two classes who loaf, gorge and dissipate themselves. And the burden for this living is shoved onto the shoulders of the third class which has to pay in suffering8a for the pleasures of the other two guzzlers – and there are so many of them! When the weather is sultry and hot, pilgrims look for rest under a cool roof, and in the same way they hurry anxious to become lords. When they cannot be lords, they ask to be at least their lackeys a in order to be, in some way, partakers of their abundant tables and luxuries, getting up and sitting down in emptiness. Yes, the priests too, hurry, anxious to be knighted, and they even like to lackey for the princes' because of their overburdened rich tables. It is these two groups of lazy gluttons who, for their own pleasures, drain the working people of their blood, and tread on them contemptuously as if they were dogs.
If one member rejoices, all rejoice together;
If one member suffers, all suffer together.9
They love one another; if they have something good, they divide equally; if something bitter befalls them, they drink it together comforting one another. But in that three-cornered body, some are sadly weeping while others make fun of them; some sweat in terrible labors while others loiter in pleasant coolness. All these inequalities, so offensive to truth, have been brought about by the sundered wicked hordes. And they forget especially the words which he spoke preparing himself for death and praying for his disciples that they might remain faithful and for those chosen for salvation. In that prayer he said:
I do not pray for these only (that is, the disciples), but also for those who are to believe in me through their word, that they might all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. The glory which Thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and Thou in me, that they may become perfectly one.10
In that passage it is declared that the people who went to please God and be saved through the death of Christ – a salvation for which Christ prayed here –Una Sancta must be united in this divine unity and be perfect in it so that all those who believed in him through apostolic preaching until our own day might be one, remaining in the unity in perfection, and in equality. Like members of one body, they, too, must have equality in grace, obedience, mutual help, long-suffering befitting those who have one God, one Lord and Father or all, one faith, and one law for all their doing.
When all are one the things of God belong to all; otherwise they could not be one, dividing the things which are of God, usurping to themselves special divine rights, and elevating themselves at the expense of others, in violence.
Such a unity we are given in Christ's faith, for our conduct. Anything that deviates from that faith is sin. The above mentioned hordes which distinguish themselves from one another by peculiar laws and pagan administration, are not included in Christ's prayer, not one of them, because they are not united in his spirit and in his law, with him.
To be sure, the wicked men have entered into all kinds of unions, but Christ's disciples cannot be in them, since these unions cannot bear comparison with the law of Christ which is based on true honest goodness and in which the people of God are ruled by the truth of his word, in faith and in grace,Holy
Alliances like the household of one husbandman, standing in true obedience before God aside from whom there is no other lord. There can be no greater unfaithfulness to the rule of God than the division and sundering caused by these factions and their arrogation to themselves of laws apart from His law. The law of God will not as sent to their conflicting peculiarities; indeed, every horde tries to draw God down to itself, desiring to have its distinctive peculiarities sanctioned by the law of God. God can sanction only those things which grow out of His law; he cannot approve of anything which grows out of foreign roots. And there is only one law of God, perfect in itself, and so good that all can confirm themselves in it, that they "may become perfectly one" in Christ. This law will bring about an equality of all, they shall love one another as they love themselves, they shall carry each other's burden and each shall do to others as he wishes that they would do to him.11
This commandment could make one multitude out of a thousand worlds: one heart and one soul! There can be no better administration for mankind sojourning in this world;One World it will lead man into the fullest life, it will make man most precious to God, and man will become a gain to man. Who becomes acquainted with the law of God cannot create nor recognize nor obey any other law, for no other law is right. If there be one right law descended from God, any other law must needs be contrary. And the contrariness of human laws is made manifest to the law of God by creating multiform hordes under one "faith" (coupled) with superstitions and with the art of differentiation and particuliarization, with dissensions, with iniquitous thoughts which increase like tares springing up from bad seeds,12 tarnishing the whole crop. But the law of God is untarnished and enlightening souls.13 It is so effective and perfect that – no matter what tarnish and sins it finds on men – if men attach themselves to it believing, it will cleanse them from all sins,14 maintain them in innocence and keep them from being overcome by temptations. It can improve or do away with whatever dissenting heretical hordes it finds, that is, he will join them into one people, one faith, one interpretation of the faith, one love, one hope, if they but will believe the divine law. It will do this to fulfill the things for which our Lord prayed, "that they may be one as we are," as the Father and the Son are one.
The divine law is able to convert a sinful man to God, and to cleanse him from his sins; only the will of God can do this, not human statutes. M an can excel in perfection in accordance with human statutes, but if they have no goodness expected of God in fulfillment of His law, they count for nothing and remain apart from Him and His law.15 It has pleased God to choose only one perfection, sufficient to all people, and He has not established nor chosen any other laws under which the many hordes could justify their divisions and customs and interpretations and deeds.
We have spoken about the many hordes existing under the disguise of faith, which have strayed from the law of God and torn the net of faith, only by lip-service professing their belief, hiding behind sacred symbols of the glory of faith and so completely covered up by them that they appear like Christians when, in fact, they are the domestic enemies of faith and of the chosen ones of God.
2 In the Czech original an anacoluthon; here adjusted.
3 A reference to the first horse or the Apocalypse (war), Rev. 6:2 ("And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."). –
4 Reference to Sylvester I, (Saint), Pope (regnabat 314–335). He was made Pope after the death of Melchiades ("Miltiades"). At an early date legend brings him into close relationship with Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, but in a way that is probably contrary to historical fact. These legends were introduced especially into the Vita Beati Sylvestri (Duchesne, Liber pontificalis, Introd. cixff), which appeared in the East and has been preserved in Greek, Syriac, and Latin in the "Constitutum Sylvestri," an apocryphal account of an alleged Roman council which belongs to the Symmachian forgeries and appeared between 501–508, and also the Donatio Constantini. (Funk, Kirchengeschichtliche Abhandlungen und Untersuchungen, vol.I, pp.501ff). The legend of the Donation of Constantine was exploded by the humanist Lorenzo Valla. Concerning the story of Emperor Constantine holding the bridle of Pope Sylvester's horse, there is an interesting twelfth century mosaic depicting the theme in the Chapel of St.Sylvester, of the church of the Santi Quattro Coronati, in Rome.
5 Sentence not clear in the original.
6 This is one of Chelc̄icky̍'s technical terms. In the original the word is "rota" which has always a derogatory connotation. Literally meaning "horde," this expression sometimes connotes a profession, a caste, privileged class, an exclusive group, a faction.
8 An anacoluthon.
12 Matt.13:25–26.
15 I-Cor. 13:3.