Heresies and witchcraft in medieval Europe. Canon law

Christianity arose in the 1st century. AD in the Roman province of Judea. The time of its emergence was characterized by a deep crisis experienced by the Roman Empire. In Rome itself, internal decay reigned, terrible emptiness and moral depravity at the top. The atmosphere of uncertainty and expectation of the end of the world favored the emergence of various cults of Eastern religions (the cult of the Egyptian gods - Isis and Osiris, the Iranian god - Mithras, etc.), which emphasized those elements that Christianity later borrowed from them - the suffering of a dying God and his resurrection, hope for an afterlife. This faith was brought by a new religion - Christianity , which, among other things, addressed all people, without distinction of their nationality and class, as equal before God. Christianity was born in the womb Jewish religion, but soon deviated from it.

Judaism - the first monotheistic religion (recognizing one God), which arose more than 3 thousand years ago, the main postulates of which were the following:

• - Jews are the chosen people, since God, through Moses, gave them a law, having accepted which the Jews entered into a special relationship with God, entered into an agreement with him, which provided them with divine protection if all his instructions were observed;
• - according to the Torah, history is purposeful, its essence lies not in the destruction of the originally created perfection, but in the movement towards its highest point, towards the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, which will lead to rewards for good deeds, to the resurrection of the righteous;
• - faith in the coming of the Messiah - a savior sent by Jehovah God to establish justice. The Old Testament contained a prediction that the Messiah would come from the line of King David.

Jesus Christ (Christ in Greek means “messiah”) was such a messiah for his Christian followers. The Jews put him on trial as an impostor. This led to the identification of Christianity as a special religion, which added the New Testament of Jesus Christ, which was not recognized by the Jews, to the holy books of the Jews, which Christians began to call the Old or Old Testament.

New Testament - the main source of judgment about the political thought of early Christianity. It consists of four Gospels- from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the Acts of the Apostles and the Revelation of John the Theologian (better known by the Greek name “Apocalypse”). Initially, Christianity condemned slave-owning Rome. Thus, in “Apocalypse,” written in the 60s. I century AD, a terrible picture of the end of the world and the Last Judgment is drawn, containing severe criticism of Rome.

Christians were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, Christ the Redeemer, who, in a battle with the “beast-emperor,” would crush the kingdom of evil, and the thousand-year reign of justice promised by the prophets would be established.

In anticipation of the imminent coming, Christians sought to isolate themselves from the evil reality in their communities, where they led a common life according to customs directly opposite to those of Rome.

Basic principles of Christianity.

• - in the community the idea of ​​God's chosenness of individual peoples was overcome;
• - the equality of all believers was proclaimed;
• - unlike Rome, where the attitude towards physical labor was negative (it was considered a disgrace, the lot of slaves), in the Christian community everyone was obliged to work. “If anyone does not want to work, do not eat,” it is said in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians (2 Thess. 3:10);
• - Roman law protected the interests of private property; in the communities of the first Christians everything was common;
• - distribution according to work or according to need: “They distributed it to everyone, depending on the need of each” and “there was no one in need among them” (Acts 4: 32-35);
• - in Rome the cult of luxury dominated, among Christians the cult of restraint. The first Christians condemned wealth, linking it with the oppression of the poor. Acquisitiveness was declared incompatible with faith in God: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).

These principles allow us to speak of “Christian communism,” the peculiarity of which was that it was “closed” in religious communities, and was not universal, and was of a consumer rather than productive nature. As M. Weber noted, “a genuine charismatic desire for the salvation of one’s own soul must be apolitical in its essence. Earthly orders (the state) were recognized as independent in relation to Christian dogmas, characterized either as devilish or absolutely unimportant for the salvation of the soul - “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s”” (Matthew 22:21). The political and legal reality was condemned.

In the I and I centuries. AD Christian communities spread throughout the Roman Empire. The ranks of adherents of the new religion grew; they also began to be replenished by people from the wealthy and educated classes. This led to changes in the social composition, organizational principles and ideology of Christian communities. At the same time, the evolution of Christianity was predetermined by the unrealizability of the proclaimed ideal, disappointment in hopes for the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

By the middle of the 2nd century. a church apparatus was formed. The leadership of the communities passed into the hands of bishops, presbyters, and clerks, who formed the clergy (clergy) standing above the believers.

The original teachings of Christians underwent significant changes. The ideas of the “imminent coming of the Messiah” and the “millennial kingdom” were replaced by the dogmas of the already past coming, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, as well as “retribution after the grave.”

Universal equality was interpreted as equality before God in universal sin before God. Preaching “love for enemies,” the clergy declared the condemnation of the Roman Empire a grave sin.

Gradually there was an adaptation to political reality: it was justified principle of loyalty to the existing government and the principle of humility. Thus, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans says: “Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, but the authorities that exist are established by God.”

This position became fundamental for Christianity and opened the way for it first to be legitimized, recognized along with other religions (Edict of Milan, or Milan, Edict of 313 by the emperors Constantine and Licinius), and soon to the transformation of Christianity into the dominant religion (324). Constantine became the first Christian emperor. The Church sanctified his power, and a union of throne and altar arose. The persecuted church became dominant. In 380, under Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395), Christianity became the state religion (“Edict of the Catholic Faith”).

At the beginning of the 4th century. AD The Christian Church changed its social composition. If previously the bulk of its followers were slaves and proletarians, now they were representatives of the middle class and aristocracy. The state church became universal - Catholic or universal. The monopoly of the Christian Church on ideology, politics, and subsequently on the law, established after the recognition of Christianity as the official religion, could not but be criticized. Currents that deviated from the official tenets of the Christian religion were called heresies (translated from Greek - teaching).

Heresies had their own epistemological and socio-political roots. The epistemological aspect came from the natural desire of a thinking person to explain with the help of reason the basic dogmas of the Christian faith (about the trinity of the deity and the God-manhood of Christ). The socio-political basis of heresies was determined by the discontent of the common people, who suffered from exploitation and violence.

The characterization of the content of heresies can only be specific historical, since at different stages they differed significantly. However, some common features can be identified: all heresies saw an ideal in early Christianity, only the more moderate of them were limited to efforts to reorganize religious and church life, and the more radical - to all spheres of social life. Heresies arose in the centers of intellectual life of society, which coincided with the centers of development of crafts and trade, and therefore socio-political life.

By the IV-V centuries. heresies concentrated in the Eastern Mediterranean. The developing cities of the East produced a rich range of heresies: Arianism(Alexandria), Nestorianism(Constantinople), Donatism(Carthage), etc. The first heresies arose on the basis of the so-called Trinitarian disputes, i.e. polemics on the interpretation of the dogma of the trinity of the deity. The official church defended the cornerstone dogma of the Christian faith about the holy trinity (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the “same” triune deity), and its opponents argued that God the Son, i.e. Jesus Christ cannot be equal to God the Father, but only similar to him (Arians), and some of the heretics saw in Christ only the human race (Nestorians). Politically, the first heresies, although sometimes linked with a broad popular movement (Donatism), more often reflected passive social protest, ethical contradictions and separatist aspirations of individual provinces of the Eastern Prefecture.

The second significant surge in heretical teachings is associated with the rise of crafts and trade in the cities of Western and Southern Europe in the 11th-12th centuries. In the western regions of Bulgaria (now Bosnia) a movement arose Bogomilov(bogomolets); appeared in Lombardy, northern Italy paterenes; in Lyon, southern France - Valdeis(followers of Pierre Waldo, a rich merchant who gave his property to the poor), in Languedoc, also in the south of France - Albigensians. All these heresies went down in history under the general name "Cathars"(clean).

Bogomils We paid attention to the fact that already at the very beginning of the New Testament it is clearly said about two otherworldly forces: the good God Christ is opposed by the evil devil, to whom, as it is said there, belongs all the kingdoms of the world. From a comparison of these ideas with the text: “No one can serve two masters... cannot serve God and mammon (wealth),” it follows immutably that the devil (an evil god) is wealth. The conclusions from this were quite specific: in the Bogomil legends it is described that the devil took a note of servitude from Adam when he, expelled from Paradise, began to plow the land - for himself and for all his offspring, since the land was appropriated by him, the devil. Since then, the peasants have been in bondage to the servants of the devil, who seized the arable land.

In terms of their theological content, the Cathar heresies were aimed at criticizing the foundations of Catholic dogma. Continuing the traditions of the Arians, the Cathars opposed the orthodox interpretation of the trilitary issue. From the Nestorians they inherited very high demands for peace. The medieval clergy did not meet the moral requirements of the Cathars, so their role as a mediator between God and the laity was not recognized. A new element of the teaching was the denial of church cult and the seven Christian sacraments, the demand for a cheap church - without church tithes, without a large clergy, without large feudal property.

To eradicate heresies, the Christian Church organized a series of crusades (the Albigensian Wars, the first third of the 13th century), and established inquisition and "mendicant" orders ( Dominicans and Franciscans)(late XII - early XIII century). Finally, trying to knock the formidable weapon - the Holy Scriptures - out of the hands of heretics, Pope Gregory IX issued a bull (1231) prohibiting the laity from reading the Bible.

In the second half of the XIV - XV centuries. a new rise of religious dissidence began. In the heretical movements, two independent movements clearly emerged: burgher And peasant-plebeian heresy. Burgher heresy expressed the interests of the townspeople and part of the lower nobility, was directed mainly against the priesthood, whose wealth and political position it attacked. This heresy demanded the restoration of the simple structure of the early Christian church, the abolition of monks, prelates, and the Roman Curia. Its prominent representatives were John Wycliffe (c. 1330-1384), doctor of theology and professor at Oxford University in England, and Czech theologian Jan Hus (c. 1370-1415).

Heresies attracted the broad masses of the urban lower classes and the peasantry thanks to the idea of ​​​​a return to the simple structure of the early Christian church and especially the reorganization of life on the basis of social justice. Plebeian heretical movements are represented by speeches wandering Lollard priests- followers of Wycliffe in England, who demanded the transfer of land to peasant communities and liberation from serfdom and tried to put into practice the simple, ascetic lifestyle of the early Christians; and Taborites led by Jan Zizka in the Czech Republic. Through the combined efforts of church and secular authorities, both the Lollards and the Taborites were defeated.

• Gospel (Greek) - good news.
• Torah (Hebrew teaching, law) - a collection of laws governing the world, a description of the universe. The Jewish Bible-Torah in Hebrew includes the Written Torah (the Pentateuch of Moses, the Books of the Prophets and the Scriptures) and the Oral Torah (Talmud) - a commentary on the Written Torah. The Torah in the broad sense of the word also includes the Code of Jewish Laws Shulchan Aruch, the books of Kabbalah and commentaries on them. The Written Torah was almost completely included in the Christian Bible and partially, in the form of distorted retellings, gems, ideas and laws - in the Koran.

In modern society, the issue of religious choice continues to be a source of controversy. Heresy is a person’s conscious deviation from religion, which is officially accepted by society. Initially, this concept had nothing negative under it, meaning, if translated from Greek, “flow”, “direction”. But already at the time its coloring became extremely negative. This state of affairs was dictated by the conditions of that world and the important role of the official church, which had not only spiritual, but also secular power.

Causes of heresies

The problem of the separation of believers from the church truly began to manifest itself in the 11th century, expressed in the emergence in Western Europe of teachings opposing

Such teachings had to be eradicated for the rule of the one church. Since the 15th century, this has been the responsibility of the Inquisition. There are now many known martyrs who suffered from this cruel organization. The reasons for the emergence of heresies lie in the following:

1. Growth of cities.

2. Allocation of townspeople to a special class.

3. Acute struggle between feudal lords and vassals.

Early destinations

The hotbeds of heresy in Europe were precisely those countries in which urban life was most developed. These include France, Italy, Germany, Holland. What were the first medieval heresies? Firstly, they were characterized by weak organization of groups. Thus, the most famous heretics of that period were the Albigensians. Their split from the church was called the Cathar heresy. Their sudden rise was most likely due to the Crusaders. Initially, the teaching arose in the East, from where it was cultivated by Europeans. The Albigensians argued that everything around them is evil that should be abandoned. Thus, they insisted on a way in which one could become free from all material things. For them, heresy is not just a doctrine, but a way of life.

In their views, one can immediately note a certain dualism, duality: there is always a struggle between good and evil, life and death, poverty and wealth. However, despite the desire for acquisitiveness, only the leaders of the doctrine adhered to this theory in practice. In addition to the middle class, the Cathars were also supported by wealthy feudal lords who shared the idea of ​​secularizing the lands of the church. When an Albigensian approached the end of his life, he performed a rite of purification, after which he became “perfect.”

Waldenses and their teachings

Heresy is the emergence of new trends in religion. Thus, the Waldensian heresy became a real scourge of society in the 12th century. It got its name thanks to the name of a merchant who gave everything he had acquired to the poor. Insisting on absolute poverty, this doctrine became so popular among the plebeians that it created enormous problems for the official church. The Waldensians fought against the inequality and injustice of life, associated primarily with the outrages of the feudal lords. Initially, the followers of this teaching were called the Lyon poor, although they spread throughout the south of Germany and France.

Heresies in the Christian faith

Christianity is one of the largest layers of theism. Therefore, the number of different splits from it was and will be the largest. Christian heresies can be divided into groups. The largest branches are considered Trinitarian, Gnostic and Christological.

The Gnostic heresy was a whole worldview that was based on faith in the divine origin of man, the mystery of his kinship with the Almighty. Trinitarian teachings were based on a distortion of the common understanding of the Holy Trinity for all believers. For example, they tried to generalize it with the help of the doctrine of the “dialectical logos” of the ancient Hellenes, which led to even greater confusion. Christological heresies, on the contrary, affected only the position of Jesus Christ in the system of biblical stories.

Deviations in Orthodoxy

The Orthodox Church was not spared such a phenomenon as heresy. It mainly includes Strigolniks and Judaizers. Strigolniki appeared in Pskov in the fifteenth century. They insisted on the abolition of bribery among clergy and completely criticized the very fact of hierarchy. As a result, they separated from the official Orthodox Church because they did not want to recognize the current bishops as their teachers and shepherds. They also denied going to temples. It was replaced by its own meetings, since the principle of the community was in effect, where an elder was elected.

The heresy of the Judaizers initially expressed the collective name for various splits from Orthodoxy. Later, by the eighteenth century, it acquired a more precise interpretation, hinting at the followers of Sharia and the “Subbotniks”. The latter believed only what was true and waited for the coming of the savior all their lives.

Thus, heresy is a very multifaceted concept that includes various types of beliefs. Over time, it has changed more and more, becoming in the modern world only part of a huge cauldron of worldviews.

Exploitation and violence, arbitrariness and inequality that took place in the Middle Ages provoked protest from the oppressed. Given the dominant position of religion in the public consciousness of the Middle Ages, such a class protest could not help but take on a religious guise. It took the form in Western Europe of various deviations from the doctrine and practice of the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy. Currents that are in opposition or directly hostile to the official doctrine are called heresies.

At the first stage of the evolution of feudal relations (late 5th - mid-11th centuries), the heresies that existed in Western Europe did not yet have a mass base. In the XI-XII centuries. there was a rise in heretical movements. Quite large groups of people began to take part in them. The areas of their distribution were Northern Italy, Southern France, Flanders, and partly Germany - places of intensive urban development. One of the first major heretical movements that had a European resonance was Bogomilism (Bulgaria, X-XIII centuries). The Bogomil teaching reflected the sentiments of the enslaved Bulgarian peasants, who opposed feudal-church exploitation and national oppression of the country by the Byzantine Empire. Views similar to Bogomilism and growing on approximately the same social soil (with Bogomilism) were preached in Western Europe in the 11th-13th centuries. Cathars, Patarens, Albigensians, Waldensians, etc. The heresies were given an oppositional character primarily by the sharp criticism they contained of the contemporary Catholic Church. Its hierarchical structure and magnificent rituals, the wealth it unjustly acquired and the clergy mired in vice, who, according to the heretics, perverted the true teaching of Christ, were sharply condemned. The programs of heretical movements, which expressed the interests of the most disadvantaged, plebeian-peasant masses, called on believers to return to the early Christian organization of the church. The Bible became a formidable and powerful weapon in the hands of heretics in their struggle against the Roman Catholic Church. Then the latter simply forbade the laity (bull of Pope Gregory IX, 1231) to read the main book of Christianity. The most radical of heretical movements also adopted some of the ideas of Manichaeism. The Manichaeans declared the entire physical world (natural-cosmic and social, human) to be the creation of the devil, the eternal embodiment of evil, deserving only of contempt and destruction. In the XIV-XV centuries. In the general flow of oppositional heretical movements, two independent movements clearly emerged: the burgher and peasant-plebeian heresies. The first reflected the socio-political interests of the wealthy strata of the townspeople and the social groups adjacent to them. The burgher heresy was closely related to the burgher concepts of the state, in which the urgent need for the formation of a unified national statehood was theoretically comprehended. The political leitmotif of this heresy is the demand for a “cheap church,” which meant the abolition of the class of priests, the elimination of their privileges and wealth, and a return to the simple structure of the early Christian church. Prominent representatives of the burgher heresy are Doctor of Theology and Professor at Oxford University in England John Wycliffe (1324-1384) and Czech theologian Jan Hus (1371-1415). J. Wycliffe insisted on the independence of the English Church from the Roman Curia, disputed the principle of papal infallibility and objected to the interference of church circles in state affairs. Peasant-plebeian heretical movements of the XIV-XV centuries. represented in history by the performances of Lollards (mendicant priests) in England and Taborites in the Czech Republic. The Lollards advocated the transfer of land to peasant communities and the liberation of farmers from the shackles of serfdom; in practice they implemented the ascetic lifestyle of early Christians.

Canon law in the Catholic Church is a set of rules issued by church authorities and contained in the canons of the church, that is, in the rules relating to the structure of church institutions, the relationship between church and state, as well as the life of members of the Church.

The norms of canon law are obligatory for all members of the Church. Canon law is based on Divine law, however, at the same time, it takes into account the requirements of revealed and natural laws in relation to a given place and time. In this regard, the Code of Canon Law, the main document containing the norms of canon law, is regularly republished. In addition to canon law common to the entire church, there is also particular canon law relating to the law of individual churches.

In addition to official doctrines and teachings, a number of very original political and legal ideas contain the so-called. medieval heresies(from Latin heuresis - selection, personal choice) - teachings hostile to official Christianity and the church, created by various sects(Latin sekta – way of thinking, teaching). The reason for their emergence and spread was the exploitation and violence, arbitrariness and inequality that existed within the feudal system, which quite naturally provoked protest from the oppressed. Given the predominance of religion in the public consciousness and with the support of the official church “the powers that be and those in power,” such a protest naturally took the form of religious heresies. Some other, non-Marxist researchers tend to view medieval heresies as a form of mass psychosis associated with the expectation of the end of the world (G. Lebon), or as a manifestation of people’s subconscious desire for self-destruction (I. Shafarevich).

The religious and philosophical foundations of medieval heresies were such teachings as Gnosticism and Manichaeism. The doctrine of Gnosticism arose as a result of the translation of ancient Jewish books (the Old Testament) into Greek by scholars from Alexandria in the 2nd century. ( Basilides, Valentinus, Marcion). From the point of view of the Gnostics, the reason for the existence of evil in the world is the participation of two gods in its creation: evil and good. The evil God, the creator from the Old Testament, created the human body, the evil and imperfect material world. The Good God, the Redeemer of the New Testament, created the soul of man and seeks to help him free himself from the shackles of the material world. Thus, the entire material world is cursed, and what is in it must be destroyed. The founder of the Manichaean teaching is the Persian thinker Mani(lat. Manicheus), who lived approximately 216–270. and came from a royal family. According to the teachings of the Manichaeans, in the world and in the human soul there is a constant struggle between the bright and the good principles, and the good is identified with the spirit, and the evil with matter. A person, following the example of Jesus, must achieve the liberation of his soul from dark forces. To do this, a “dedicated” person must lead an ascetic lifestyle (not eat meat, limit sexual pleasures and not engage in ordinary physical labor).

As for history, the rise of heretical movements dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries, when quite significant groups of people began to take part in them. The areas where heresies were most widespread were Northern Italy, Southern France, Flanders and partly Germany - i.e. places of intensive urban development. Moreover, if in the 11th – 13th centuries. the flow of oppositional heretical movements was not differentiated according to social and social characteristics (did not express the interests of specific social groups), then later, in the 14th - 15th centuries. Plebeian-peasant and burgher (urban) heresies began to stand out clearly.

One of the first heretical movements to spread throughout Europe was Bogomilism(Bulgaria, 10th – 13th centuries). It expressed the dissatisfaction of the enslaved Bulgarian peasants, who opposed feudal-ecclesiastical exploitation and national oppression of the country by the Byzantine Empire; Pre-Byzantine times and the Bulgarian kings until the 11th century were idealized. Views similar to those of Bogomil and generated by similar socio-economic conditions in Western Europe in the 11th – 13th centuries. preached patarens(after the name of rag pickers - a symbol of beggars), Albigensians, Paulicians(named after the preacher Paul) Waldenses(a brotherhood of mendicants named after the merchant from Lyon Pierre Wald), etc.

One of the largest heretical movements was Cathars(pure), which were divided into dualistic and monarchical. Dualistic They believed that the cause of earthly evil was the existence of two gods - good and evil: the good one created the human soul, and the evil one created matter, the Earth and the human body. Monarchical believed that there is one good God, but the material world was created by his eldest son (angel) who fell away from God - Lucifer or Satan. Both directions recognize that matter, all material and social relations and institutions are evil. Therefore, childbirth and the family, secular authorities and laws, courts and instruments of violence are the product of a dark force, and they should be destroyed (they hid from the world, they even killed pregnant women). They focused their propaganda on the lower strata of the city, but also enjoyed influence in the upper strata (for example, they formed the retinue of Count Raymond of Toulouse).

The common features of all the above heresies were:

1) Harsh criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, its hierarchical structure and magnificent rituals, unjustly acquired wealth and clergy mired in vice were sharply condemned - such a church, according to adherents of heresies, perverted the true teaching of Christ, the very principles of philanthropy, equality and brotherhood;

2) Rejection of state power and all existing social orders, social inequality, property and laws (Waldensians: “judges and authorities cannot sentence death without committing a sin”);

3) The demand to abolish or destroy all social institutions (power, family, property), a call for believers to return to the early Christian (communal) organization of the church, down to the community of property and wives; In particular, under the influence of these calls, the Cathars in France and Italy destroyed churches and killed bishops, the Taborites in the Czech Republic openly called for the destruction of secular authorities and clergy, and the Adamite sect, which stood out among them, completely destroyed the population of the town of Prcica (they took upon themselves the implementation of divine retribution) , and the Taborites in Gorodishche introduced order in the spirit of primitive communism.

4) Reliance on independently interpreted texts of the Bible as the ideological basis of their movements;

As a result, in 1129 the Council of Toulouse prohibited believers from possessing the books of the Old and New Testaments, and especially their translations into the vernacular. In 1231, by the bull of Pope Gregory 1X, the reading and interpretation of the Bible was prohibited for the laity.

The official church was not inclined to downplay the danger posed by the ideas of heretics. A medieval chronicler wrote about the Albigensian heresy (named after the city of Alba in the province of Languedoc in France): “The Albigensian error grew so strong that it soon infected 1,000 cities, and if it had not been suppressed by the sword of the faithful, it would soon have infected all of Europe.”

At the same time, by the 14th – 15th centuries. More moderate burgher heresies separated from the radical peasant-plebeian heresies. They expressed the interests of wealthy sections of the townspeople. Within the framework of numerous teachings of this direction, the need to create a stronger national state was substantiated, the demand for a cheap church was put forward, which, in essence, meant the abolition of the class of priests, the elimination of their privileges and wealth, and a return to the simple structure of the early Christian church. At the same time, adherents of burgher heresies opposed the equalization of property and social status, believing that the division of society into classes and the institution of private property were of divine origin.

The two most prominent representatives of the burgher heresy are a doctor of divinity and a professor at Oxford University in England. John Wycliffe(1324 – 1384) and Czech theologian, teacher at the University of Prague. Leader of the anti-Catholic and anti-German movement Jan Hus(1371 – 1415). Moreover, each of them formed his own political doctrine depending on the specific features of the situation in his country and his time. J. Wycliffe, in particular, insisted on the independence of the English Church from the Roman Curia, disputed the principle of papal infallibility and objected to church intervention in state affairs. Being close to King Richard 2, he became the ideologist of the movement for the resubordination of the church to the king. His more radical ideas (about property as a product of sin) were not accepted, and after his death his remains were seized and burned at the stake.

Jan Hus was a follower of Wycliffe’s ideas (they came to the Czech Republic through the wife of Richard 2, a Czech by nationality), and in his sermons he emphasized the need for the national liberation struggle of broad sections of the Czech people against the German feudal lords.

Peasant-plebeian heretical movements of the 14th – 15th centuries. were represented in history by performances Lollards(mendicant priests inspired by the ideas of Wycliffe) in England and Taborites (followers of Hus) in the Czech Republic. The Lollards, in particular, demanded the transfer of land to peasant communities and the liberation of peasants from all forms of feudal dependence, and took an active part in Wat Tyler's rebellion(1381) - and were persecuted (act of 1401 “On the desirability of burning heretics”). The Taborite camp was formed during the national Czech peasant war (in alliance with the urban lower classes and the small nobility) against the German nobility and the power of the German emperor after the death of Jan Hus himself - in the settlement of Tabor they gathered sectarians from all over Europe. In the spirit of radical ideas, they demanded the abolition of not only the Roman Catholic Church, but also the feudal institutions themselves (class privileges of the nobility, all forms of feudal duties), for universal equality and life in communities with egalitarian orders.

As a general result, both the Lollard movement and the Taborite movement were defeated by the combined efforts of the royal power, secular and spiritual feudal lords. So, for example, to fight the Albigensians, Pope Innocent 3 called feudal lords from Northern France and promised them the property of heretics. They killed 15 thousand in the first battle, and then they killed everyone in a row. The papal legate motivated it this way: “Kill everyone, God will recognize his own.” At the same time, less dangerous sectarians (for example, mendicant vagabonds - Waldenses (“Lyon brothers”) were subjected only to administrative persecution, and in contrast to them the mendicant order of Franciscans (named after the Catholic Saint Francis of Assisi) was created.

The radical ideas themselves received their echo in the early bourgeois revolutions of the 16th and 17th centuries. (Germany, Holland, England, for example, diggers and levelers). More moderate burgher heresies also developed, some of which were embodied in the ideology of the church-burgher Reformation of the 16th century.

In medieval Europe, heresy was a religious doctrine that recognized the basic ideas (dogmas) of Christianity, but understood and interpreted them differently than the dominant church.

Heresies can be conditionally divided into three types: those that were predominantly theological in nature; oppositional teachings that interpret doctrine differently and criticize the church organization; politically oriented heresies, not only criticizing the church, but also opposing the feudal order.

Politically oriented heresies, depending on their social base and the nature of political demands, can be divided into moderate (burgher) and radical (peasant-plebeian).

Burgher heresies expressed the interests of wealthy townspeople and defended the idea of ​​a “cheap church” (abolition of the class of priests, elimination of their privileges and a return to early Christian foundations). In their opinion, the hierarchical organization of the church, the concentration of great wealth in its hands, magnificent rituals and church services do not correspond to the New Testament. The Church has deviated from the true faith and needs to be reformed.
One of the representatives of the burgher heresy was Oxford University professor John Wycliffe, who spoke at the end of the 14th century. against the dependence of the English Church on the papal curia, the interference of the church in state affairs, criticizing the principle of papal infallibility. However, he considered the preservation of private property and class hierarchy to be principles pleasing to God.

The beginning of the Reformation in the Czech Republic was marked by the speech of Jan Hus against the privileges of the clergy, tithes and church wealth. Two currents soon emerged in the Hussite movement - the Chashniki and the Taborites. The Chashniki program was moderate in nature and boiled down to the elimination of the privileges of the clergy, deprivation of the church of secular power, secularization (transfer of secular power) of church wealth and recognition of the independence of the Czech church.

Peasant-plebeian heresies pointed out that the existing social order contradicted the idea of ​​equality reflected in early Christianity, and criticized the rich decoration of the church, class inequality, serfdom, noble privileges, wars, courts and oaths.

Historically, the first radical heresy was the Bulgarian Bogomil movement. The sharp and violent transition of Bulgarian society from a communal-patriarchal system to an estate-feudal system, the seizure of peasant lands by the king, the royal servants, the church, the burden of impoverished peasants with a mass of duties in favor of the rich gave rise to widespread doubt that all this was happening by the will of God. Confirmation was found in the New Testament, at the very beginning of which it is said that all the kingdoms of this world belong not to the good God, but to the evil devil. The Gospel about the temptation of Christ says: “And taking him to a high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the universe in a moment of time, and the devil said to him: I will give you power over all these kingdoms and their glory, for it was given to me, and I, to whom I want it, I give it; So, if you worship me, then everything will be yours.”

Bulgarian heretics paid special attention to the texts of the Gospels that give grounds to identify the devil with wealth: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (wealth).” From this the Bogomils concluded that wealth is the devil. The rich adorn themselves with crosses - instruments of execution - especially the church, which has sold itself to the devil. They said about church traditions, statutes and rituals: “This is not written in the gospel, but established by people.” Of all the rituals, the Bogomils recognized only fasting, mutual confession and the Lord’s Prayer. They argued that the end of the reign of wealth and violence was near: “The prince of this world is condemned... Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out.” The Bogomils created their own organization, based on the early Christian model, based on equality and community of labor. Their preachers (“apostles”) tirelessly proclaimed rebellious ideas and provided communication between communities.

Soon after its inception, the Bogomil teaching spread to other countries (Byzantium, Serbia, Bosnia, Kievan Rus). It had a particularly strong impact on the ideology of Western European countries, primarily Southern France and Northern Italy (“good people”, Cathars, Patarens, Albigensians).

To eradicate heresy, the popes organized a series of crusades, established the Inquisition and mendicant orders (Dominicans and Franciscans), Pope Innocent III ordered the destruction of all books of sacred scripture translated into the vernacular, and then in 1231 the laity were generally forbidden to read Bible.

New waves of heretical movements arose in the second half of the 14th century. The heretical idea of ​​the “millennial kingdom”, the “Kingdom of God” announced in the “Revelation of John” (Apocalypse) became widespread in the era of the classical and late Middle Ages.

The most radical heresies of this period are the Lollard (England) and Taborite (Czech Republic) movements. They opposed the Catholic Church, which deviated from the true tenets of Christianity, condemned class inequality, and advocated the abolition of serfdom and class privileges. The Lollard movement, which demanded the transfer of land to peasant communities and the abolition of serfdom, played a prominent role in the preparation of the largest peasant uprising of Wat Tyler (1381), one of the leaders of which was the preacher John Ball.

Both of these movements were defeated, but subsequently had a significant influence on the ideas of the Reformation.