himself tells us,[1] it was the influence of Milic, who had dealt with the same subject, that induced Matthew to write his treatise. It differs little from the many other eschatological works written in Bohemia at this period. This treatise, which was long attributed to Hus and figures in the older editions of his work, obtained more celebrity than any other work of Janov, and was translated both into German and into Bohemian. It contains, in numerous “distinctions,” a mystic description of Antichrist. The sixth and last treatise has great interest with regard to the development of the Hussite movement. It is entitled De Abominacione in Loco Sancto, and, to borrow the words of Dr. Kybal, is full of general and impassioned attacks on the ecclesiastical community of his day, founded on the language of the Old Testament and of the Revelation. Perhaps fearing that the vehemence of his attacks might be attributed to personal motives, Matthew here lays particular stress on the point that it was only his love of Christ that induced him to write.[2]
The fourth book of the Regulae contains but one treatise, which is entitled A Question whether it is permissible to each and all holy Christians to receive Communion daily, that is to say, to partake of (manducare) the Body and Blood of Christ. Matthew here again enters on a subject which obviously interested him more than any other. This treatise takes the form of an answer given by Matthew to a friend, a pious priest who was troubled by the question of frequent communion that then occupied all thoughtful minds in Bohemia. Matthew here, as elsewhere, appears as a staunch upholder of frequent communion.[3] He vigorously attacks those priests
- ↑ Dr. Kybal, Matej z. Janova, p. 63, n. 3.
- ↑ “Nam et ista scribens fateor quod nihil aliud me in illud perurget nisi dileccio domini nostri Jesu Crucifixi cujus stigmata pro modulo mee infirmitatis vilitatis in me ipso cupio deportare et quia igitur zelus domus sue comedit et opprobria exprobancium Jesu crucifixo ceciderunt super me, ideo ista loquor et scribo.” (Regulae, quoted by Dr. Kybal, Matej z Janova.)
- ↑ . . . “meipsum ad hoc obtuli et distinavi in Christo Jesu ut sim promotor et propugnator crebre communionis corporis et sanguinis domini Jesu Christi. . . .” (Kybal, Matej z. Janova, p. 72, n. 3.)
