HERESY
258
HERESY
small number who are dissatisfied with the Church
as she now is, and because no secular power lends it
support. For the same reason, and proportionately,
a thousand small sects have failed, whose names still
encumber the pages of church history, but whose
tenets interest only a few students, and whose adher-
ents are nowhere. Such were, in the Apostolic Age,
the Judeo-Christians, Judeo-Gnostics, Nicolaites, Do-
cetas, Cerinthians, Ebionites, Nazarenes, followed, in
the next two centuries, by a variety of .Syrian and
Alexandrian Gnostics, by Ophites, Marcionites, En-
cratites, Montanists, Manicha'ans, and others. All
the early Eastern sects fed on the fanciful speculations
so dear to the Eastern mind, but, lacking the support
of temporal power, they disappeared under the
anathemas of the guardians of the dcposilum fidei.
Arianism (q. v.) is the first heresy that gained a strong footing in the Church and seriously endangered its very nature and existence. Ai-ius appeared on the scene when theologians were endeavouring to harmon- ize the a|3parently contradictory doctrines of the unity of God and the Divinity of Christ. Instead of un- ravelling the knot, he simply cut it by bluntly asserting that Christ was not God like the Father, but a creature made in time. The simplicity of the solution, the ostentatious zeal of Arius for the defence of the "one God ", his mode of life, his learning and dialectic ability won many to his side. "In particular he was sup- ported by the famous Eusebius of Nicomedia who had great influence on the Emperor Constantine. He had friends among the other bishops of Asia and even among the bishops, priests, and nuns of the Alexan- drian province. lie gained the favour of Constantia, the emperor's sister, and he disseminated his doctrine among the people by means of his notorious book which he called BA\uaov 'Entertainment 'and by songs adapted forsailors, millers, and travellers." (Addisand Arnold, "A Catholic Dictionary", 7th ed., 1905, 54.) The Council of Nica?a anathematized the heresiarch, but its anathemas, like all the efforts of the Catholic bishops, were nullified by interference of the civil power. Constantine and his sister protected Arius and the Arians, and the next emperor, Constantius, assured the triumph of the heresy: the Catholics were reduced to silence by dire persecution. At once an internecine conflict began within the Arian pale, for heresy, lacking the internal cohesive element of au- thority, can only be held together by coercion either from friend or foe. Sects sprang up rapidly: they are known as Eunomians, Anomoeans, Exucontians, Semi-Arians, Acacians. The Emperor Valens (.'J64- 378) lent his powerful support to the Arians, and the peace of the Church was only secured when the ortho- dox Emperor Theodosius reversed the policy of his Eredecessors and sided with Rome. Within the oundaries of the Roman empire the faith of Nica>a, enforced again by the General Council of Constanti- nople (.381), prevailed, but Arianism held its own for over two hundred years longer wherever the Arian Goths held sway: in Thrace, Italy, Africa, Spain, Gaul. The conversion of King Recared of Spain, who began to reign in 586, marked the end of Arianism in his dominions, and the triumph of the Catholic Franks sealed the doom of Arianism everywhere.
Pelagianism, not being backed by political power, was without much difficulty removed from the Church. Eutychianism, Nestorianism, and other Christological heresies which followed one upon another as the links of a chain, flourished only so long and .so far as the temporal power of Byzantine and Persian rulers gave them countenance. Internal dissensions, stagnation, and decay became their fate when left to themselves. Passing over the great schism that rent East from West, and the many smaller heresies which sprang up in the Middle Ages without leaving a deep impression on the Church, we arrive at the modern sects which date from Luther and go by the collective name of Protes-
tantism (q. v.). The three elements of success pos-
sessed byArianism reappear in Lutheranisni and cau.se
these two great religious upheavals to mo\'e on almost
parallel lines. Luther was eminently a man of his
people: the rough-hewn^ but withal sterling, (lualities
of the Saxon pea.sant lived forth vmdcr liis religious
habit and doctor's gown; his winning voice, his piety,
his learning raised him above his fellows yet did not
estrange him from the people: his conviviaHty, the
crudities in his conversation and preaching, his many
human weaknesses only increased his popularity.
When the Dominican John Tetzel began to preach in
Germany the indulgences proclaimed by Pope Leo X
for those who contrilnited to the completion of St.
Peter's Basilica in Rome, opposition arose on the part
of the people and of both civil and ecclesiastical
authorities. Luther set the match to the fuel of
widespread discontent. He at once gained a nimiher
of adherents powerful both in Church and State; the
Bishop of Wiirzburg recommended him to the protec-
tion of the Elector Frederick of Saxony. In all ]irob-
ability Luther started on his cru.sade with the laiidalile
intention of reforming undoubted abuses. But his
unexpected success, his impetuous temper, perhaps
some ambition, soon carried him lieyond all bounds
set by the Church. By 1.521 , that is within four years
from his attack on abuse of indulgences, he had propa-
gated a new doctrine; the Bible was the only .source
of faith; human nature was wholly corrupted by
original sin. man was not free, God was responsible for
all human actions good and bad; faith alone saved;
the Christian priesthood was not confined to the
hierarchy but included all the faitliful. The mas.ses of
the people were not slow in drawing from these doc-
trines the practical conclusion that sin was sin no
longer, was, in fact, ecjual to a good work.
With his appeal to the lower instincts of human nature went an equally strong appeal to the spirit of nationality and greed. He endeavoured to .set the German emperor against the Roman pope and gener- ally the Teuton against the Latin; he invited the .secular princes to confiscate the property of the Church. His voice was heard only tco well. For the next 1.30 years the history of the German people is a record of religious strife, moral degradation, artistic retrogression, industrial breakdown; of civil wars, pillage, devastation, and general ruin. The Peace of 1648 established the princii)le: Cujus rtgio illius el religio; the lord of the lanil shall be also lord of re- ligion. And accordingly territorial limits became re- ligious limits within which the inhal)itant had to profe.ss and practise the faith imposed on him by the ruler. It is worthy of remark that the geographical frontier fixed by the politicians of 1648 is still the dividing line between Catholicism and Protestantism in Germany. The English Reformation, more than any other, was the work of crafty politicians. The soil had been prepared for it by the Lollards or Wycliffites, who at the beginning of the sixteenth century were still nu- merous in the towns. No English Luther aro.se, but the unholy work was thoroughly done by kings and parliaments, by means of a series of penal laws un- equalled in severity.
(c) Pcrslslence oj Heresy. — We have seen how heresy originates and how it spreads; we must now answer the question why it persists, or why so many persevere in heresy. Once heresy is in possession it tightens its grip by the thousand subtle and often unconscious influences which mouhl a man's life. A child is born in heretical surroundings: before it is able to think for itself its mind has been filled and fashioned by home, school, and church teachings, the authority of which it never doubted. When, at a riper age, doubts arise, the truth of Catholicism is seldom apprehended as it is. Innate prejudices, educational bias, historical distortions stand in the way and frequently make approach impossible. The
