Not one of the great moments of Church history, the Council of Constance.
There was all that tidying-up, of course. 1000 years of power speaking cosily to power had left the rather embarrassing situation of three Popes. So that had to be sorted out.
Then they had the small matter of condemning Jan Hus and John Wycliffe. Wycliffe didn't bother defending himself, and was tried in his absence, having died 30 years previously. Bet poor old Jan Hus, having been promised he'd come to no harm - this was more of a public inquiry - wished he'd thought of that. He was condemned and subsequently burnt at the stake.
So today we shall celebrate by holding an Inquiry into the Holding of Annoying Theological Views. I've invited Drayton Parslow over from his manse to give evidence. But don't worry, I've told him he'll be quite safe.
I have been to Konstanz and when I was there I saw the place where Jan Hus was burnt at the stake. It appears the main reason that he was condemned was for offering communion in both kinds (bread AND wine). The Hussites were brutally suppressed and eventually disappeared altogether.
ReplyDeleteJan Hus is commemorated in the Unitarian symbol of a chalice, as a symbol of religious freedom (not that the Hussites were unitarian).
There is also an enormous monument to Hus in the centre of Prague.
Not sure that Wycliffe is commemorated anywhere, though Tyndale has a big monument on the Cotswolds, a statue in Bristol, and the nearest church to where he was a chaplain to a local family has a small exhibition about him.
Oh dear! Does this enquiry into annoying theological views mean censure of Desmond's innocent posts hereon? Gosh I do hope I'm not upsetting the Archdruid...
ReplyDeleteIsn't there a Wycliffe school in Croydon? Some memorial I suppose...
ReplyDeleteAlso:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wycliffecollege.ca/
Ah! it all comes back... it's Whitgift school in Croydon... it's so long (1960 something) that I had a girlfriend in Croydon... those were the days...
ReplyDeleteI love this story of Huss and the fulfilling of prophecy,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theologynetwork.org/unquenchable-flame/background-to-the-reformation/starting-out/the-prophecy-and-the-dream.htm
Even better than the Archdruid on election results!