Magyar Egyház, 1994 (73. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
1994 / 3. szám
MAGYAREGYHÁZ 9. oldal REFORMATION On the occasion of the Reformation’s 477th Anniversary. It gives us a great pleasure to publish the following article on the life of the earliest Reformers. JOHN WYCLIFFE John Wycliffe, who has been called “the morning star of the Reformation” was born, it is believed, in a village which bears his name, near Richmond, in Yorkshire, about 1324. Being destined for the priesthood, he was educated at Queen’s and Merton Colleges, Oxford. A terrible plaque, known as the “Black Death,” swept over Europe, and scourged England in 1348. This awoke Wycliffe to a sense of his spiritual condition, and he began the diligent and systematic study of the Bible. He derived great spiritual comfort from these studies, and came to have a clearer conception of the true faith of God than was held by any man in England at that day. He was unwilling to keep this knowledge to himself, and resolved to make it known to others, that they might share in the joy it brought him. He was aware of the opposition he would encounter from the clergy, whose system he was about to attack, and he began with caution. About 1360 he became involved in a dispute with the mendicant friars, upholding the authority of the parochial clergy over them. Wycliffe was a man of profound learning, a popular teacher, and an eloquent speaker. He was master of the theology of the Church as well as deeply learned in the Scriptures. He became bolder, and now publicly declared that the clergy had banished the Scriptures, and demanded that the word of God should once more be set up as the chief authority in the Church. Wycliffe took up the cause with great fervor, and defended it with such ability that he won the royal favor, and was rewarded with a professorship of divinity at Oxford, and was made a chaplain of the king. He took advantage of the opportunities offered by this position to assail the corruptions of the clergy, and to labor for the restoration of the Scriptures. Two years later he was sent to Bruges as one of the royal commissioners to settle the dispute between the king and pope. He was absent two years, and upon his return was rewarded with the prebendary of Aust in the collegiate church of Westbury and the lector of Lutterworth. He also retained his professorship in the university. He had seen much during his residence abroad to convince him to the actual condition of the papacy. He now began to teach from his chair in the university, and from the pulpit, that the pope’s supremacy was a false claim that might be lawfully resisted, that the pontiff might be reprimanded for his errors even by a layman, and that “the gospel is the only source of religion.” These bold doctrines gave great offence to the clergy. Courtenay, Bishop of London, a stern but honest prelate, resolved to call Wycliffe to account for such utterances. He summoned him to appear before the Convocation assembled at St. Paul’s to answer to the charge of heresy. Wycliffe appeared before the body on the 19th of February, 1377, accompanied by his patrons, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the actual ruler of England, and Lord Percy, Earl Marshal of England. An altercation broke out between Lancaster and Courtenay, and the assembly ended in a tumult; the people of London siding with their bishop, attacked the Duke and Earl Percy, and attempted to destroy the magnificent palace of the Savoy—the residence of the former. It was saved through the interposition Courtenay, Wycliffe was dismissed with a warning to preach no more heresy. He paid no attention to this warning, but taught even more boldly than before. He denied that the pope was the head of the Church—“Christ alone”, he said, was its head. He declared also, that a man could not be excommunicated, unless he, by his own sins, had cut himself off from the convent. The pope now took up his own cause, and in obedience to the papal order, the Archbishop of Canterbury summoned Wycliffe early in 1378, to appear before a synod of the clergy at Lambeth Palace. Wycliffe obeyed. The people resented the interference of Rome in the affairs of England, and with great unanimity upheld the cause of Wycliffe. He was, therefore, released with a warning to discontinue his teachings. He paid no attention to this admonition, and resumed his lectures, sermons and writings. His greatest work was the translation into English of the whole Bible from the Latin Vulgate, which he completed about 1383. He was assisted in this work by pupils and learned friends and by their aid copies of the translation were multiplied. In 1381 Wycliffe took his boldest step by lecturing at Oxford against the doctrine of transubstantiation. This turned many of his old friends against him and even the university was numbered among his opponents. Courtenay, who was now the Archbishop of Canterbury, called another synod which pronounced Wycliffe’s opinions heretical and urged the most vigorous measures for their suppression. The archbishop also brought a bill into Parliament, which passed the House of Lords, for imprisoning all persons who should preach heresies and notorious errors. As soon as bill passed the Lords, the archbishop began to act
