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Christian Churches of God
No. B2
Waldensians
(Edition 1.0 19980913-20060320)
This paper is the translation of the condemnation of the Waldensians and the political
arguments used by the Roman Clergy to condemn the Waldensian Barbes after their
Inquisition by the English monk Raymond of Daventry on the way to the Lateran Council.
Christian Churches of God
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AUSTRALIA
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(Copyright  1998, 2006 Wade Cox)
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Waldensians
Waldensians
Preface
The Sabbatarian Church was long extant in
Europe and had been established there from
the early Church of the first and second
century. The outline history of the Church has
been covered in the papers General
Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping Churches
(No. 122) and the Role of the Fourth
Commandment in the Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God (No. 170).
As we said in paper No. 170; “We can tell with
certainty that the Church was called, by the
Catholic system, by various names in its
different locations to disguise the widespread
and uniform structure of its doctrines.
However, the Church of God organisations had
differing opinions as to its government and its
emphasis (e.g. Presbyterian and Episcopalian
in the Western Waldenses). We know that it
was called Cathar or Cathari and hence
Puritan in the English. It was also called
Bulgar, Khazzar, Vallenses, Albigensian,
Waldensian,
Sabbatharier,
Sabbatati,
Insabbatati, Passaginians, among others. The
term Sabbatharier seems to be a construction
meaning Arian Sabbath-keepers.
We know that the commonality of views was
generally understood and reflected itself in the
vernacular language. For example, the term
poor bugger in English is a common
expression to convey sympathy for an
unfortunate person undergoing some trial or
torment. This is often confusing to modern
Americans and even to Australians, as the
word bugger and buggery has specific legal
meanings relating to sodomy. The term,
however, has another meaning which shows
the application to the elect during the
Inquisitions. The Oxford Universal Dictionary
holds the term to be derived in the Middle
English from the French bougre and the Latin
Bulgarus or Bulgarian, or a heretic (or also
usurer). It was held to be in reference to
heretics to be used especially of the
Albigenses. This was its first meaning. The
second and pejorative meaning in relation to
sodomy was a later term from 1555 and
seemingly to denigrate the sect who had been
persecuted for some three centuries. The term
pauvre bougre or poor bulgar as applied to the
Albigensians came to be in the English poor
booger. The use as bogle or boggle in North
English around 1505 is of uncertain derivation
but came to be associated with phantoms and
thence a quasi-proper name for the devil
(hence, bogieman etc.). Certainly the term
poor bugger had its origin in the Albigensian
Crusades. However, one may be forgiven for
asking what did the Bulgars have to do with
the Albigensians? The answer is simple. The
Churches of God, from its branches in what is
known as the Pergamum era (Rev. 2:12 ff)
called the Paulicians, came into Europe from
the
relocations
under
Constantine
Capronymous and John Tsimiskes (see the
paper General Distribution of the Sabbathkeeping Churches (No. 122)). These
relocations in Thrace spread into the Bulgars,
the Southern Slavs especially in Bosnia and
also into Hungary and Romania. They spread
west and, from the fifteenth century, linked up
with the remnants of the Sabbatati in the west
called Vallenses or Waldensians. We can tell
with relative certainty the extent of their
doctrines from the thirteenth century, and with
absolute certainty what the eastern branches,
especially in Hungary and Romania, were from
the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
The Albigensian Crusades
The conduct of the Albigensian Crusades of
the thirteenth century is outlined in the paper
General Distribution of the Sabbath-keeping
Churches (No. 122). The groups were without
doubt Sabbath-keepers. The desire of the
Roman Catholic Church to disguise this fact
has led to some extraordinary claims regarding
the linguistic derivation of the name Sabbatati.
However, we also know that they were
Unitarians. They are recorded as being extant
before the year 934, when they were
complained of by Atto bishop of Vireulli as
had others before him.
They were first called Vallenses in 1179 in the
condemnation of them by Raymond of
Waldensians
Daventry. The elders, or barbes (uncles),
Bernard of Raymond and Raymond of Baimiac
were condemned as heretics by Raymond of
Daventry in 1179 before the Lateran Council,
not for their Sabbath-keeping but for their
Unitarianism. The treatise written against them
in 1180 by Bernard of Fontcaude then took up
the name Vallenses in the title which is
Adversus Vallenses et Arianos. They were thus
subordinationist non-Trinitarians. This work of
1180 seems to have disappeared this century,
but the work Liber Contra Vallenses written in
1190 by Bernard of Fontcaude still exists. The
Vallenses of that time appear to be Unitarians
and seen as distinct from Arians. This is a
correct view and one upon which the Church
of God would insist. Arianism, which
according to the Catholics allegedly sees the
Holy Spirit as a creation of the son, is distinct
from biblical Unitarianism. They are both
viewed as the same, or similar heresy by the
Catholics, who may also have invented the
doctrine of the creation of the Spirit by the son,
as there is no actual record of this view in the
texts attributed to Arius (see also the papers
Arianism and Semi-Arianism (No. 167) and
Socinianism, Arianism and Unitarianism (No.
185)).
The Albigensians were not simply a branch of
the Vallenses. The Albigensians were in two
divisions, the Vallenses or Waldensians and
the local Cathari or Puritans. The Cathari held
quite distinctive and heretical views of good
and evil based on a form of Gnosticism and
Manichean Dualism. The distinction, among
others, is made by Ray Roennfeldt in his thesis
(An Historical Study of Christian Cosmic
Dualism, Andrews University) (cf. the paper
Vegetarianism and the Bible (No. 183)). The
faith was often attacked by this dualist
tendency. Where the Church was established,
many so-called converts among the monastic
orders often developed bizarre views. The
Bogomils are an example. In the Bogomils and
among the Bosnians, monastic asceticism
accompanied an heretical dualism and
attempted to undermine the general body of
the faith. Errors also appear in earlier branches
of the Paulicians. One error was that of the
Melchisedekians
who
created
another
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structured order developed from the Unitarian
view. Melchisedek was held to be the angelic
mediator and Christ the human mediator,
below him. The Catholic writings seize on
these contemporary heretical groups and link
them to the Church at the time. They attribute
these erroneous views to the Church, thus
obscuring the true doctrines.
The entire Albigensian crusade was levelled
against both elements by Rome in the
thirteenth century. The Albigensians had
protection in the south of France under
Raymond Count of Toulouse. The Vallenses or
Sabbatati were the greater and more
widespread, and extended into Spain. We can
reconstruct the doctrines of the Vallenses from
the Spanish branch of the Sabbatati because of
the intense persecution they suffered.”
The actual doctrines of the Waldensians can be
seen from the Spanish Inquisition and the
edicts against them there. Those edicts are also
contained in the paper The Role of the Fourth
Commandment in the Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God (No. 170).
What is important in this work is the political
direction and condemnations of these people
as shown in the translated work here.
It is asserted, quite incorrectly that the sect
appeared under Lucius, which is demonstrably
false, as we know from other councils as early
as the eight century at least and histories
before that.
We see from the prologue that the Archbishop
Bernard of Narbonne had condemned them
previously but was unable to stamp them out.
The prologue recounts the condemnation under
Raymond of Daventry.
We know from this text, which was highly
selective and defamatory that they refused to
accept the authority of the Church of Rome
and its bishops and prelates. They refused to
worship in its churches and preferred to
worship in rooms and houses and
unconsecrated
buildings.
The
pagan
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symbolism of the Churches themselves is not
canvassed here for obvious reasons but it is
clear that is the case from the arguments
against their avoidance of these buildings.
The dignity of the provosts are argued in
Chapter II as the very financial structure of the
Church was attacked by another religious
system and thus they reasoned it had to be
destroyed.
Chapter III argues that dignity of the Soul is
the responsibility of the priests. This very point
was the center of the dispute as the Soul
doctrine was an anathema to the Waldensian
Church who depended entirely on the
Resurrection of the Dead and argued that the
priests had become apostate and were
disqualified on grounds of their immorality.
Thus, the chapter spends time on slander
because it was that issue that was to protect the
priests. Nevertheless, it did not save the
Roman church as it still faced the Reformation
on the same grounds a few centuries later.
In Chapter IV it is clear that those of
rudimentary education, including what were
referred to by the Roman priests as laymen,
were used by the Waldensians to teach and the
authority of the apostles were cited in this
manner. The church condemned that position
as they sought to ascribe to the Roman church
the authority of Scripture and its interpretation
and the right to educate and qualify teachers.
In Chapter V we get down to the real issue of
the power of the bishops and prelates in
diocese and in parishes and the Waldensians
did not recognise their systems and divisions
and preached wherever they could. It is also
obvious that when this was written that
marriage is raised as an issue. It must be
remembered that by 1175 over the period of
the Lateran Councils the monastic sodomites
had seized control of the Church and the
Waldensians were another great threat to the
power of these people. It had taken the Roman
Church centuries to remove married priests
and in this century by 1175 they had finally
succeeded.
Waldensians
In this chapter also we see an attempt at
stifling what are the understanding of the
mysteries of God as lifting the cover of a pit on
so-called arcane matters of the Scriptures.
Chapter VI shows that the teaching of the
Waldensians was contrary to the Roman
Church on a number of matters and the
Waldensians held to follow God rather than
man and obey Scripture. The Roman defence
here was that the church was the authority for
the interpretation of Scripture.
As this was an inherently political act in those
centuries they were thus in opposition to the
political power which was sanctioned by the
Roman system.
In Chapters VII and VIII they attack the role of
women in the Church as the Waldensians used
women very powerfully. There were houses
and places where men could not access and the
women were ordained as deaconesses and sent
into those areas to preach and perform the
sacraments. The monastic Sodomites had spent
centuries stamping out the deaconesses from
the Roman Church and had just finally
succeeded and the Waldensians threatened this
hard won victory. Because the barbes were not
warlike they accused them of being effeminate
also. Many of these priests were soldiers and
many murdered the Muslims in the East and
the Christians who opposed them in the West.
We see below the central issue where they say:
“See that it is clear that they do not lead firm
men astray but corruptible women, who
deserve to be led astray, especially those
burdened by sins. They also led astray men
with feminine weakness, just as is written: “A
gathering of bulls amongst the cows of the
population.” (Psalm lxvii) He calls the heretics
bulls, those who are proud and untamed in
their faults. They are those who congregate
amongst the cows of the population; that is,
amongst those who may be easily led astray.”
Chapter IX is directed at the heart of the
Waldensian attacks on Roman Catholic heresy
and innovation. The giving of alms for the
Waldensians
dead to get them out of manufactured plights
(such as purgatory and limbo) are defended
here in this chapter and show that the rejection
of the Waldensians of these dogmas were the
very issues that were to cause the Reformation
later. Indeed, it was with these people that the
Reformation commenced.
It is with the very right of the Church to
control absolution that we are concerned here.
Chapter IX goes on into Chapter X with the
concept of heaven and hell and purgatory.
Thus, the denial of purgatory is seen as
conveying direct access to heaven and hell.
This error shows that we are dealing with the
Cathar Puritanism as well and that there are
two doctrines here, one of the Resurrection
seen with the Waldensians and the Cathar
heaven and hell error, which nevertheless
rejected purgatory.
Chapter XI confirms this view as they then go
on to attack the other view, which is of the
Resurrection and which rejects Heaven and
Hell entirely. That was the Waldensian view
and that of the Church of God from the
beginning. Indeed it was the original view of
the Church at Rome as we know from the R
document. That document has been examined
in the paper Original Doctrines of the
Christian Faith (No. 88).
In Chapter XII we get down to the rejection of
the Roman Church buildings and the reference
to Stephen saying in Acts that the Most High
does not dwell in buildings made of hands.
Note the use of the term “praying to the
church” by the Roman writer here as though
the idols and relics are themselves sacred,
which is what the real objection of the
Waldensians was to the practice here.
Thus, the real issue was not that churches were
not to be used to congregate, but rather the
practice and teachings there were contrary to
the laws of God and were idolatrous. However,
the Roman Catholic writer does not properly
canvass this issue, as it might further
compromise his argument and reveal the true
nature of Waldensian objections.
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From this time forward, and from the Council
of Geneoa, the Sabbatarians were delivered up
in chains to be burned.
***************
Prologue
I. While Lord Lucius of famed memory was
presiding over the Holy Roman Church, new
heretics suddenly raised their heads. They
called themselves the Waldensians, having
chosen the name from some prophet of future
events, who came from dense Valle, and
therefore they involved themselves in the deep
and weighty haunts of sin. These men,
although condemned by the pontifex maximus,
by their rash deeds cast forth the poison of
their perfidy far and wide through the earth.
II. On account of this, Archbishop Bernard of
Narbon, honoured in religion and the grace of
God, and zealous in God’s law, on behalf of
God’s Church, set this strong defence against
them. He called as many clerics as laymen, as
many religious men as heathens, to come to a
verdict. What more can I say? With the matter
most diligently investigated, their heretics
were condemned.
III. Nonetheless, afterwards they dared both
privately and publicly to spread the seed of
their wickedness. From this they were called to
return to a debate between both clerics and
laymen, although it was beyond what was
required. And, lest the matter be drawn out too
long, an arbiter was elected by both sides, a
certain priest, Raymond of Daventry; a man
without doubt religious and god-fearing, of
noble birth, but nobler in behaviour.
IV. Therefore, the day appointed for the matter
having arrived, the sides met together, and
those men, just as many clerics as laymen,
were accused by true Catholics as being from
that very fraternity in which they think evils.
And with them pleading their case one at a
time, the matter was debated for a while, back
and forth, and from both sides many
authorities were brought out. The allegations
of the sides were heard; the aforesaid judge
gave his opinion through a written decision,
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and he pronounced that there were heretics in
the chapters, just as they had been accused.
V. They defended their own point of view,
however, with evidence and arguments; I must
reply to these, as a Catholic. So that I may
protect the Catholic faith by the testimonies of
the Scriptures, I have interwoven them in this
present little work, having combined it with
other works against other heresies. All these
things, however, I have written most of all for
men to be instructed: whether they are fellow
clerics or those who have been brought into an
offence or scandal against the faithful, over
whom they command, because they were
working either with a lack of authority or of
books, and did not resist the enemies of truth.
For these men are not strengthened by the
Catholic faith, nor are they revived by the
nourishment of the sacred Scriptures. Whence,
abandoned by spiritual men, they rebel, as if
beggars in the state of this present world, lest
they mean to return to the homeland, indeed to
Paradise. For the cause of preventing greater
evil is a just one, for there to be thrown from
the sheep-flock of Christ the hungry wolves,
that is, the heretical and tyrannical demons,
neither by the voice of praise nor the rod of
discipline and severity.
Waldensians
obedient to the Roman Church, which is full of
the power of restraining and freeing, and has
the authority to manage other Churches.
Against their argument that one need not be
obedient to the Pope, nor to the other prelates
II. Because of this, nor are they obedient to the
bishops, nor to the priests; since, by the
testament of the blessed Gregory, those
bishops who are chosen to lead this way of life
take the place of the disciples of Christ, and
have the authority to bind or to free. Therefore
by this authority there exist the Roman Church
and the other bishops, just as it is said:
“Whatever you bind on earth, it will have been
bound in heaven; and whatever you free on
earth will also have been freed in heaven.”
(Matth. xvi) They bind the aforementioned
heretics with the shackle of excommunication,
with the Apostle: “being ready to punish all
disobedience.” (II Cor. x.) As Augustine said
in Against Johannes, “thus a Christian ought to
fear nothing more strongly than to be separated
from the body of Christ.” For if one is to be
separated from the body of God, he is not a
limb of it, and he is not nourished by His
Spirit. The Apostle said, “But he who does not
have a part of the spirit of Christ is not of
him.” (Romans viii.) This also comes from the
words of the Apostle: “Every Christian,
beloved ones, who is excommunicated by the
priests is said to be given up to Satan. How is
this? It is because the Devil is outside the
Church, just as Christ is within the Church.
And because of this, it is as if he who has been
removed from the ecclesiastical community is
given to the Devil. And those, whom the
Apostle preaches to have been handed over to
Satan,
are
shown
to
have
been
excommunicated from him.” This is indeed
what the Apostle also said to the
Thessalonians: “If there is someone who does
not obey our words in this letter, note this: do
not associate with him, so that he might be
ashamed.” (II Thess. iii.) Take note that the
Apostle demands disobedience to be
condemned, and that the offender be removed
from society and interaction with others, so
that, having been thrown out, he might be
ashamed.
I. First, therefore, they argue regarding
disobedience, because they are indeed not
III. The Apostle also said to the Hebrews: “Be
obedient to your superiors, and be subordinate
VI. Therefore, I beg, let them take up, if they
please, the poor gift of this little work, and let
them commend to memory the evidence of the
sacred fathers, so that, God have mercy, they
might have impenetrable armour against the
governors of darkness, against the spinners of
falsehood, against the cultivators of wrong
dogma, that is, against those pagan heretics; in
order that, by the primal grace of God, they
might both be strong to triumph over them,
and merit the receipt of the unwithered wreath
of glory from the supreme shepherd, because
of this course and the teaching of these
subjects.
Chapter I
Waldensians
to them. For they are watchful over your souls,
as if about to give an account (of them).”
(Hebr. xiii.) He also said to Timothy: “Let
those elders who govern well be worthy of a
double honour, and those especially who work
in words and deeds.” (I Tim. v.) The elders
have a double honour, that their instruction
might be obeyed and they might minister aid to
others with due respect being shown. The Lord
also spoke, so that he might show that
obedience must be extended to the prelates:
“The scribes and Pharisees sit on the throne of
Moses. Therefore whatever they say to you,
obey them and do.” (Matt. xxiii) Also: “He
who hears you, hears me; and he who spurns
you, spurns me.” (Luc. X)
IV. Therefore Christ and the Apostles state that
one must be obedient to the bishops and the
elders: as a consequence whoever does not
obey them lives disobedient to Christ and his
apostles. Every error and incident of
disobedience, as the Apostle demonstrates,
“receives just punishment as its reward.”
(Hebr. ii.) How therefore must they flee those
who have neglected the teachings of Christ and
his Apostles? Since those disobedient exist,
they must be held as pagans and tax collectors,
since the Lord said: “if someone does not hear
the (teachings of the) Church, let him be to you
as if a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matth. Xviii)
V. Moreover, one must abstain from
interaction with such men, as is clear from the
prescribing words of the Apostle to the
Thessalonians. For even according to Mosaic
Law, if a man is not obedient to the order of a
priest, he must be executed, lest the people be
corrupted by the evil of disobedience. Thus
one finds in Deuteronomy: “Let the man be put
to death by judicial decree, who will show
himself arrogant by not obeying the order of a
priest who at that time serves the Lord your
God, and you will remove this evil from the
people of Israel: and all the people, hearing
this, will be fearful, so that no one afterwards
will swell with pride.” (Deut. xvii). Therefore
see how clear it is, how great is the crime of
disobedience, when a man who does not obey
a priest is put to death by the corporeal sword.
In this time of true grace, because God does
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not wish the death of sinners, but that they
might be converted and live (Ezech. xxxiii),
they are not killed physically, but with a
spiritual sword, and they are removed from
participation in trust through the decree of the
bishop, so that, since they have been rejected,
they might be ashamed and repent.
VI. Indeed, whoever are disobedient are
lumped together as infidels. As Samuel said:
“to fight against him is to practise witchcraft”
and “not to obey him is to commit the crime of
idolatry.” (I Samuel xv). The blessed Gregory
spoke concerning this topic also: “Obedience
is that alone which possesses the merit of faith;
a man without this is proven to be faithless,
even if he might appear trustworthy.” The
Apostle also mentions the sin of disobedience
amongst the capital (mortal) crimes when
speaking of “those gentiles replete with every
sin: malice, fornication and avarice.” (Rom i).
And a little later: “the doers of evil, not
obedient to parents” (ibid.). To parents, just as
the learned orthodox Christians comment,
either actual or spiritual. And a little further
on: “they who do things of such a kind are
worthy of death: not only, however, those who
do these things, but also those who consent
that they be done.” (ibid.) Following
Ambrosius, consent is when someone could
censure the act, but remains silent, or when
hearing of this, approves of it.
VII. It is no wonder if those who are
disobedient to Ecclesiastical power deserve
eternal death. For by the evidence of the
Apostle: “There is no power, except through
God, and those things which come from God
are set in place. And so he who resists
authority resists what has been ordained by
God. Those who resist, however, procure
damnation for themselves.” (Rom. xiii)
Therefore let those aforementioned heretics,
and those who agree to these things, listen to
the instruction of the Apostle, when he says:
“Let every spirit be subject to the higher
power.” (ibid.) Just as, indeed, the Apostle
writes in the Acts of the Apostles: “The Holy
Spirit placed the bishops to rule over his flock
and the Church of God which he won with his
own blood.” (Acts xx) Therefore he who resists
Page 8
the bishops through pride sins against the Holy
Spirit. For even when the Judaeans were
muttering against Moses and Aaron, the
answer was: “your grudges are not against us,
but against God.” (Exod. xvi) Judas of Jacobus
said to this end “Woe to those who die in
defiance, together with Korah!” (Jud. 11)
Korah and his accomplices rebelled against
Moses and Aaron, the priests of the Lord, and
without delay the fire of Heaven was sent.
They burst into flames. Therefore they, who
contradict the order of the priests, perish, like
Korah, in defiance, and on that account are
burned up by the heat of the eternal fire.
Whence the “woe”, for there is to them eternal
damnation.
VIII. Moreover, through the disobedience of
Adam many sinners were created; and through
the obedience of Christ, who was totally
obedient to the Father, even to death, many
just men have been spawned. Therefore
whoever lives disobedient carries the image of
that old man. Against this the Apostle says:
“Just as we have carried the image of an
earthly man, let us carry the image of a
heavenly one.” (I Cor. xv) Wearing the virtue
of obedience, just as they were thrown out of
Paradise because of their disobedience, let us
return all the more through our obedience, as if
along another road. “Obedience is better than
making sacrifices, and to obey is better than to
offer a slaughtered ram.” (I Kings xv) This is
because through sacrifices another flesh is
honoured, but through obedience one’s own
intention is rightfully glorified. Solomon said:
“the obedient man will speak of victories.”
(Prov. xxi) This is because while we are
humbly subordinate to the voice of another, we
ourselves conquer our own hearts. From all of
this it is clear how great the virtue of
obedience is, and how great is the crime of
disobedience.
Chapter II
The dignity of the provosts is examined, and
how they should be deferred to and obeyed
I. So that it might be clearly understood, by
how much priests surpass others, and what
deference and obedience must be paid to them,
Waldensians
the words of the Saviour should be considered.
He said to a leper who was cured: “Go, show
yourself to the priest and offer a gift as a
testament, as Moses ordered.” (Luc. v) Indeed,
it is the duty of priests to discern and to judge
who are Catholics and who have been
contaminated with an heretical disease.
Whence is the reason that since the Lord
healed many sick men, he often sent lepers to
priests. In the body of a leper the colour is
varied, which signifies the truth in the heretical
man intermixed with falsehood. Clearly the
Lord did not wish the leper, even if purged, to
be attached to the society of men without the
judgement of a priest, so that he might show
him, who had wandered from the unity of
Catholicism, and who had perhaps repented by
chance, that he may not be attached to
assemblies of faithful men without the
decision of a priest. He is ordered to make, in
show of his devotion and humility, an offering
to the priest; so that equally he might show
himself obedient to the priest, he sacrifices his
victim, with divine knowledge kissing his
hand [that is, with the Church looking on].
II. Also, some clerics provide food, but others
graze as if sheep: the first live from the altar,
the latter truly ought to give offerings. The first
are able to give sinners to Satan, but the others
sit before them; nor should they bear those
things, which are the province of God without
the counsel of the former. Whence Jerome
wrote in to Heliodorus: “One thing for the
cleric, another for the monk. Clerics feed
sheep, I graze. They live from the altar, for me
is placed an axe as if at the root of a fruitless
tree. If I do not bring an offering to the altar, it
is not permitted me to sit before an elder.
They are permitted, if I sin, to send me to
Satan in the destruction of flesh, so that my
spirit might be safe at the day of the Lord.” He
also wrote in to Rusticus: “The Church has a
Senate, a gathering of elders, without the
judgement of which no monk is allowed to act.
Rohobo’am the son of Solomon laid waste to
the kingdom because he did not wish to listen
to his own elders. The Romans also have a
Senate, and all things are done with its
approval, and we have our own Senate, a
gathering of elders.”
Waldensians
III. Moreover, he who doubts divine law ought
to run without delay to the priests and to
question (them). For they are the men through
whom the Creator of all faithful men
commanded that the people feed. This what
the Lord did to his own five disciples when he
gave them seven loaves of bread, that they
might place them before the crowds. He
provided a spiritual doctrine for priests who
succeed to the course of the disciples: so that
they, as if good stewards, are ministers of food
to the souls of the family of God, so the hungry
do not want for food in the course of this life.
Hence it is written: “who do you think is a
trustworthy and prudent steward, whom the
Lord appointed above his own family, so that
he might give a measure of wheat to them
from time to time?” Whence the Lord struck
down Paul, and Saul besides, in the street, but
he did not teach what they ought to do; he sent
them, however, into the city of Anania to the
disciples, to be taught. And neither did the
angel, who appeared to the religious centurion,
give up the matter on trust, but he ordered
Simon to be fetched so that the man might be
instructed through him who ought to do it.
IV. From these examples it is may be clearly
understood that no one ought to presume to
teach another the way of perfection, except if
he lives in a Christian community, that is, in
the Holy Church, and is a disciple of Christ.
Since Christ (or his messenger) did not want to
teach Saul or the Centurion, they showed that
the guardianship of the Church must be held
invulnerably, and none, without exception,
may hold it, apart from those who have
succeeded to the course of the disciples, that
is, the bishops and the men of the Church, to
whom the Lord entrusted this duty. As it is
written, and as Malachia testifies: “The lips of
a priest guard knowledge, and they bring out
the law from his mouth, because he is the
messenger of the Lord of Hosts.” See how
great is the merit of a priest. For he is, as is
written in Ezekiel, the treasury in the house of
the Lord; he guards the treasure of wisdom and
knowledge in his own breast, and from his
mouth, with the Lord’s command, the law
must be sought. This the Lord himself taught,
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by the evidence of the Evangelist, by example,
when he sat in the temple, amongst the learned
men, and listened to them, and asked them
questions. He taught likewise in the holy
Church that the most heavenly knowledge
must also be learnt neither in the forum nor in
the streets, so that as much as it is well
understood and committed to memory, so
much in the Church will there be more leisure
for attentive study in matters not temporal but
divine.
V. How true is it, that a priest, an angel of the
Lord, is called a messenger? Certainly he is
sent to announce celestial justice, and therefore
even if he is to be personally despised, he must
be honoured as a proxy of the Lord. From the
evidence of the blessed Gregory: “Often a
powerful man has a contemptible slave, and he
demands from him some response, either from
strangers or perhaps from his own family; a
person should not be despised when speaking
as a servant, because he is preserved in the
reverential heart of the Lord who sent him.”
And therefore some priest, even if by chance
he is rightly despised by someone ought to
preserve in his own mind reverence for the
Lord for whom he is sent.
VI. Sinners ought to confess their crimes to
priests, so that they might be absolved from
the fetters of their guilt. The Lord says this on
the matter, to a man dead for four days:
“Lazarus, come out of doors.” (John xi) Since
he had come forth while alive, through the
disciples he was loosed from his bonds, and
the Lord ordered them: “Untie him, and allow
him to go away.” (ibid.) The dead come out
when a sinner confesses his crime. The
disciples untied him when he came out (of the
tomb). The preachers of the Church ought to
exonerate him who merits it, who was not
ashamed to confess what he has done. Indeed,
Judas confessed his crime, but he was not a
disciple of Christ, but of the Jews. He said: “I
have sinned, by betraying noble blood.”
(Matth. xxvii) And his confession did not aid
him.
VII. Not only should the presbyters absolve,
but they should also bind the guilty, and hand
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over to Satan the destruction of the flesh, so
that the spirit might be safe. Whence the Lord
said: “Their sins, which you remit, are remitted
by them, and those you remember, will be
remembered.” (Matth. xvi) Indeed, by the
evidence of Gregory, the disciples, in the study
of whom the bishops occupy themselves, for
the sake of God, do not absolve the sins of
some, but absolve those of others. The Apostle
also said of a fornicator: “I have decided in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (that is, for the
sake of him, and for his glory); “to hand (this
man) over to Satan, so that the spirit might be
safe on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I
Cor. v) He handed the man over to Satan so
that he might be physically badgered and that
he might repent. According to some, either the
death of the body must be understood, or else
excommunication, that is, the consignment to
Satan... For in this way the devil has no rule
over a man after he had been vindicated by his
faith. But after a man, on account of a sin, is
cut off from the sacraments of the Church,
which are for him amour against Satan, let him
then be tied under Satan’s yoke.
Waldensians
prayer of the priest saves him and that through
it God heals the sick man and forgives his sins.
So too, therefore, he saves, as long as the
prayer of the elders aids the body and the
mind, in relieving sickness and remitting sins.
Equally the Apostle punishes those who bring
forward heretics and desert the elders; since he
orders the elders to be brought forth, not the
heretics. Silently, he also reprehends even
those very Christians who, when they are sick,
do not go to the elders, but send to the doctors;
and who with the order reversed, afterwards
send (for the elders); since often the weakness
of the mind is the cause of corporeal infirmity.
Whence the Lord resolved the sins of a
paralysed man who had been brought to him
first, saying, “son, your sins are forgiven;”
(Luc. v) and afterwards his body became
healthy. “For once the cause is discerned, the
effect is relieved.”
VIII. Moreover, the Holy Spirit reckons up the
dignity of a priest readily (that is, what he
deserves), and through him cares for the
chosen people, concerning which Caiphas
prophesied when he was bishop. There the
Evangelist clearly bestowed the gift of
prophecy on the divine sacrament, saying:
“since he was pontiff” (John xi) (that is to say,
pontifex maximus). He passed as water through
the stone canals to the places of the spice-men,
that is, as a waterer of spiritual grace, often
flowing through the obdurate and unfeeling
minds of the governors; he poured into and
watered the spirits of the virtuous, which were
sown and scented with perfume.
X. It is the role of the priests to decide on
questions, which arise concerning the
Christian religion. Whence Moses, climbing
the mountain, said to the senior men of Israel:
“Wait here, until we come back. You have
Aaron and Hur with you, and if some question
arises, you will take it to them.” (Exod. xxiv)
Indeed questions arising amongst believers,
concerning belief or Christian worship, should
be referred to the bishops and the elders. It
comes from this that because of these and
other necessities bishops (from individual
cities) and elders (from individual churches)
are appointed by the papacy. Wherefore the
Apostle said to Titus: “I left you in Crete, so
that you might set right the matters which need
attention, and appoint elders from each town,
just as I assigned you to do,” (Tit. i) In the Acts
of the Apostles it is held that Paul and
Barnabus set up elders in each Church.
IX. The blessed James also showed how
necessary and useful is the order of priests,
when he said: “Who amongst you is
weakened? Let him send for the elders of the
Church, and let them pray over him, anointing
him with oil in the name of the Lord. For this
prayer in faith shall save the sick man, and the
Lord shall heal him: and if he has sins, they
will be forgiven.” (James v). See both that the
XI. Truly it must be observed that the bishops
are received in the name of the elders, just as
in the Letter to Titus before, and similarly the
priests, as was seen a little above in Acts. For
the position is can be reversed and sometimes,
in the name of bishops, sometimes lesser
priests are named, just as in Philippians, where
the Apostle says: “Paul and Timothy, the
servants of Jesus Christ, to all devout people
Waldensians
who are in Philippi, with the bishops and the
deacons.” (Phil. i) For in one city there are not
many bishops, or, speaking about the bishops,
he places the silent bishops in a lower order,
that is, (the order) of the deacons, except that
he calls the bishops priests. Sometimes
bishops are called greater priests in appropriate
contexts, just as even daily communication
demonstrates.
XII. This said on transgressions, one should
know what is in the New Testament, when the
question arises whether it behoves believers to
be circumcised, and the law of Moses to be
observed: Paul and Barnabus resolved that
believers should so remain as they and those
same Apostles might consider proper, and that
they (from other places) should go up to the
apostles and elders in Jerusalem regarding this
question. “And they decided to see the apostles
and elders about the matter.” (Acts xv) And
together the apostles and elders decided the
question; and they worked out regarding this, a
letter of instruction for the believers
necessitated, just as is written in the Acts of
the Apostles.
XIII. From this example it is clear that when
doubt arises regarding the practice of the
Christian faith, one must have recourse to the
highest patriarch, who performs his duty like
the blessed Peter; and to others, both
archbishops, who represent the apostles, and
bishops, who preserve the course of other
practices, whom Luke, in Acts (as quoted
above) called elders (presbyters), and finally to
elders. For if the Apostles Paul and Barnabus
did not take it up themselves to decide such a
great question, except in consultation with the
apostles and the elders, and once a thorough
exploration of the question had been made; it
must be considered alarming how much
presumption and madness there is about these
matters which concern the faith of God and
His system, that people questions not the
priests of Christ but others, and especially
heretics or evil Catholics.
XIV. To this, the Apostle, in the letter to the
Corinthians, says regarding transitory matters
that the faithful ought not to have the matter
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decided before unbelievers, but before holy
men: “Does someone of us, having business
against another, dare to be judged by sinners,
but not the holy? You do not know that we
will judge the angels? How much more
pertinent is this in secular matters? But if you
are to judge the world, are you incapable of
judging trivial matters?” (I Cor. vi) And later:
“So too is there not a wise man amongst you,
who is able to settle a dispute between his own
brethren? But a brother contends with another
brother for judgement, and this in done before
unbelievers? Indeed, already it counts against
you, that you have court cases amongst
yourselves.” (ibid.) If therefore the holy (that
is, the believers, not the unbelievers) ought to
pass judgement in lesser matters, so much
more are unbelievers unworthy to judge on
matters regarding the Christian religion and
faith. Especially since Moses warns each and
every one, saying: “Question your father and
he will relate matters to you: question your
betters, and they will speak to you.” (Deut.
xxxii) Who is the father, or the betters, whom
we ought to question, if not the guardians of
spirits, who educate us in pious behaviour, as
if they are rearing spiritual sons? And because
by worthiness or merit they surpass us, they
are called our “betters”, or by another name
our “seniors”. About whom Saint Peter says,
writing to the faithful: “I supplicate those
seniors who are amongst you, I, a fellow senior
and witness to Christ’s sufferings. Nourish the
flock of God which is amongst you.” (I Petr.
v) And a little after: “Likewise, young men, be
obedient to the older men.” (Ibid.)
XV. See that it is clearly of importance, this
flock of the faithful which ought to be
nurtured, indeed, by their own seniors. For just
as the blessed Gregory says: “the Holy
Scripture calls those men old, who are mature
in respect of the dignity of their habits, not the
length of time, as it is written: old age is
venerable, not in a long-lasting age, nor in the
calculation of the number of years; old age is,
however, the mature wisdom of a man, and old
age marks a spotless life.” Also, young men
are said to be those who are not weighed down
by any dignity of wisdom. He is first to order
some of the apostles to be subordinate to the
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older ones, so that extreme levity (lit, the
lightness of lightnesses) might be weighed
down by the dignity of dignities, following that
text: “you shall be holy when with an holy
man, and innocent with an innocent.” (Psal.
xvii) In which words those men, who do not
obey the wishes of the elders (that is, the
prelates) are censured, and so are seen by the
Apostle Paul to be disobedient.
XVI. Finally, just as the Lord said to them, in
the character of Aaron the priest and his sons,
“it is the mark of a priest to decide between the
sacred and the profane, between the worldly
and the unworldly (or, “the clean and the
unclean”), and to teach all lawful things which
God dictated to the children of Israel through
the hand of Moses.” Just as is written in
Leviticus: “The Lord said to Aaron: you shall
not drink wine or anything else which causes
inebriation, and then enter the Tent of my
presence, and you and your children, or else
you will die; this law is eternal for your race.”
(Lev. x.) And “So that you may have the
knowledge to discern the sacred from the
profane, the polluted from the clean, and so
that you might teach the children of Israel all
my laws, which the Lord spoke to us through
the hand of Moses.” (ibid.). From which
matter it appears clearly that it is the role of the
elders, not others, to determine who is holy,
that is, Catholic, and who is profane, that is,
heretical; or, who are clean of the stain of a
crime, and who are not clean (that is, who are
criminal). Moreover, he has charge of teaching
the faithful the laws of God. Therefore it is
damnable for others, who are not of the tribe
of Levi (that is, from the clerical order), to
usurp their duty in judging or teaching.
XVII. See that I have collected a little material
about many things to show how great is the
dignity and authority of both bishops and
priests: by which I think that those who thus
far have been rebels against them must humbly
submit to them.
Chapter III
Against those who disparage the guardian of
souls
Waldensians
I. But there are those who disparage the
guardians of souls, and those who censure
them with danger to their own souls: let me
say a little to correct them. Let listen those of
such a kind who, with the evidence of the
Apostle: “are detestable slanderers of God, and
blabbermouths, and trouble-makers who
deserve death.” (Rom. i) A slanderer is he who
diminishes the good qualities of a neighbour as
much as he is able, and places upon him evil
qualities which he does not have. A
blabbermouth however is one who secretly
passes on evil from neighbour to neighbour. A
trouble-maker is he who willingly inflicts
some disgrace or dishonour on a neighbour,
either in word or in deed. The Apostle also
said to the Corinthians: “If he who is called a
brother is a liar” (that is, a slanderer), do not
take food with him.” And following:
“Slanderers will not possess God’s kingdom.”
(I Cor. Vi)
II. Therefore since a slanderer or liar must not
be received into a community of the faithful
and deserves death, seeing that he is someone
who shall not possess the kingdom of God;
particularly however, he is prohibited from
slandering a guardian of the people. Whence
Paul, when it was ordered by the head priest
Ananias that he be struck in the mouth, being
ignorant that he was the head priest, said:
“May the Lord strike you, you white-washed
wall! And those who stood by said, ‘do you
slander the high priest of God?’” Paul
answered: “I did not know, brothers, that he is
the high priest. For it is written that you shall
not speak evil to the ruler of your people.”
(Acts xxiii) See, however, that it is openly
permitted that the leader of the people act
against the law, and (it is permitted) for him to
decide that a man be struck, and Paul says that
slander must not be committed, and he
demonstrates this by the authority of the
Scripture. Therefore they weigh up carefully,
how much damnation those who speak slander
against the guardians of the Church deserve; if
the Apostle forebears to slander an unbeliever,
and one acting out deeds contrary to the law,
from the time he realised him to be a leader of
men. And he said that he had committed
Waldensians
slander because he did not know that he was
the ruler over the people.
III. Moreover, Ham saw the naked genitals of
his father Noah and laughed; and he was
damned with his descendants, when Noah said:
“slanderous Canaan will be a boy slave to his
brothers” (Gen ix) Therefore one ought not to
add to the evils of his own betters, or rashly to
divulge them, or to rejoice when seeing them:
otherwise he will be damned into posterity;
that is, in the future. Truly the sons of Noah,
coming with their backs turned, covered the
private parts of their father with the cloak from
their backs, thrown over him. Just as the
blessed Gregory said: “Because the good
(sons) were obedient, they were so unhappy
with the harm done to their superior that they
hid his genitals from others: and deciding on
this course of action and revering their
guardian, they did not wish to see what they
covered.”
IV. And let those aforementioned slanderers
take notice that holy David humbly obeyed
Saul who was a king, although an arrogant
one, but chosen by God: but Saul persecuted
and wished to kill David; but finally, once his
own crimes were weighed up, he was reproved
by God, and David was chosen by the Lord for
the governorship of the kingdom. Therefore
things were such, and since David obeyed the
evil king, it is written about him: “Who, like
David, has come into all things, entering your
kingdom, leaving it, and proceeding to the
power of a king?” On the other hand, although
he was able to strike the king who was
persecuting him, he prostrated himself in an
expression of humility, saying: “Whom do you
persecute, King of Israel, who is it? a dead dog
and a flea.” Therefore let subordinates learn
from this, it is permitted for humble men, and
innocents, once they have preferred the powers
of God to their own, to defer to a wise men
against their own judgement, not to disparage
them, to obey them, not to speak against them.
Likewise David, when his servants wanted to
attack Saul, who had entered the cave where
they were hiding. He crushed them with an
answer, that he ought not send a band of the
Lord against a Christian. He rebelled secretly
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however, and cut off the hem of Saul’s cloak.
And because he did this, afterwards David
berated himself. See that although he
considered himself anointed by God and
chosen, it was permitted to him to seek to kill,
but David did not wish to, and because he had
cut the hem of Saul’s cloak, he regretted it.
Regarding this episode the blessed Gregory
said: “The deeds of those who have been
placed in positions of power through the sword
of words must not be borne, even when they
are rightly judged as being worthy of
punishment. If a tongue is mistaken, whether
against them or in lesser matters, it is
necessary for a heart to be ‘burnt’ by inflicting
punishment on it, up to the point at which he
punishes himself. And when those in high
power err, let them be afraid of His judgement
against them, by which they placed themselves
in command. For when we in positions of
power wander, we oppose the judgement of
Him who offered them to us.”
V. See that I have demonstrated, with the
authorities of the Holy Scriptures and with
sacred examples, how much reverence must be
shown, once disparaging has been removed,
and that towards the prelate’s deference must
be shown, not disparagement or slander.
Otherwise we both go against the orders of
God and do not stand in the footprints of the
holy.
Chapter IV
Against their argument that all, even laymen,
should preach. And what they say about this,
and what we say against them.
I. Heretics argue: everyone, everywhere,
should preach, without regard for condition,
age or sex. And since many who in appearance
are called Christians are led into this error,
having recovered some of them back by grace,
and proving the remainder (to be heretics), let
us see, God willing, on what line of arguments
or authorities they support themselves, what
may be said by Catholics to weaken these
arguments which are hollow within, and lastly
what Catholics draw on in their own argument.
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II. First of all, they say that every person who
knows how to sow the word of God amongst
the people must preach. James says about this:
“It is a sin for someone to know how to do
good, and not to do it.” (James iv) However, if
we know how to preach a sermon, and we
cease doing so, have we sinned gravely?
When indeed the heretics draw on the
Scripture for their own argument, it provides a
response: it is written in the Gospel that the
Devil spoke to the Lord Jesus: “‘I know who
you are, Holy Son of God.’ And Jesus
threatened him, saying: ‘Be silent.’” (Mark. i)
See that the Lord did not wish to preach
through the mouth of the Devil, although he
said that he know him; lest by chance in
offering a falsehood he might deceive half-wits
as to the truth, as though he had seduced a
woman into degradation. So too, student, the
name of Christ should not be sent out from
your mouth, even if you know how: lest, in the
manner of a poisoner, while you are believed
to deliver, with all the guilelessness in the
world, drinking cups coated with honey, you
have poured in poison and mixed it in.
Regarding evil men indeed it is written: “the
bile of dragons is their wine, and the incurable
poison of adders.” (Deut xxxii) The incurable
poison of adders is the dogma of the heretics,
because whoever drinks it, that is, learns about
it by actively listening, without doubt is
granted death.
III. Moreover, the Apostle did not say that it is
good for the knowledgeable to teach, rather
that it is good for them to act. (James iv)
Therefore, this statement must be understood
to concern him who understands what is good
and does not act upon it, and who sins in this
matter. It does not apply to him who knows
how to teach what is good and does not do it.
For not every man sins when he does not teach
what he knows: he sins all the more deeply, if
he teaches when he himself, however, is a liar.
For David says: “God said to the sinner, ‘why
do you explain my justice and declare my
testament through your mouth?’” (Psal. xlix)
And the Apostle says this: “Do you, who teach
others, not also teach yourself? Do you, who
are glorified in the Law, dishonour God
Waldensians
through the false enactment of that Law?”
(Rom ii.)
IV. Also, they draw on this for applause for
their error: “He who hears this must say,
‘come!’” (Rev. xxii) To this the blessed
Gregory said: “The more he received in his
heart the voice of celestial love, the more let
him return the voice of exhortation out of
doors to his neighbours.” Gregory also said
“In how much you avail of divine largess, give
ladles of good words to your neighbours.”
V. To this we respond: that if these things are
diligently scrutinised by them, the passages are
of no use to them in their erroneous
observations. When he said: “he who hears
this must say, ‘come!’” it should be
understood from this that the man who does
not hear the voice of fraternal love inwardly in
his heart, or who does not hear the voice of
God through the ears of his body, or through
his heart (although that is a part of the body);
or yet someone not filed with this service,
should not say “come.” For who, when he
does not submit to the word of God, and does
not fulfil it with his works, is able to attract
another to that obedience through his guise?
Or, how does he construct the obedience in
another, which he demolishes in himself?
Therefore those who do not heed the word of
God exist in disobedience all the more deep,
just as was demonstrated above, and ought not
teach others. Whence the blessed Gregory gave
this homily: “As much as you may think you
have advanced, even so draw others with you,
and desire to have companions on the way of
God.” And it is clear from these words that the
blessed Gregory advises people to exhort their
neighbours; those who have advanced and
were on the path of God; and he advises them
that they should draw others along with
however much they have advanced. But
heretics do not advance, but rather they fall
back, and they are not on the path of God;
rather, as it is written: “He makes them wander
in the wilderness, not on the path.” (Psal. cvi)
Therefore they ought not to encourage others.
For their works, if faith is wanting, are of this
kind, even if they are of great power and a
short cut along the road.
Waldensians
VI. Also they draw upon for their argument
what is said in the Gospel of Mark: John
answers the Lord, saying: “‘Teacher, we have
seen someone casting out devils in your name,
a person who does not follow us, and we
forbade him do it.’ Jesus said, however, ‘Do
not forbid him. For there is no one who does a
virtuous deed in my name and can easily speak
evil about me, for who is not against you is
with you.” (Mark ix)
VII. They say: See that they say that he does
not follow the apostles; and however, because
he cast out devils in the name of Christ, the
Lord ordered them that they not prohibit it.
Therefore, if we preach the name of Christ,
although we do not follow bishops or other
priests, they ought not to stop us.
VIII. But we respond to this that the passage
does not aid them, but rather it harms them.
For the man both did good things, because he
cast out demons, and he did them in the name
of Christ, just as if he had faith, and he did not
speak evilly. Regarding this matter, although a
man might not follow the apostles in body, he
must not be prohibited from doing good deeds,
because by living spiritually, according to the
faith, and doing (good) works, he follows the
apostles and does not introduce contrary
dogma. But these men are both unbelievers
and without obedience, “which possesses merit
in faith alone.” Since, following the Apostle,
“It is impossible to please God without faith.”
(Hebr. xi) And works actually take them
further away from the road of faith; and
through them they do not approach God, but
withdraw from him, and become tellers of lies,
and cultivators of contrary dogmas. Therefore
those who act against the priests of Christ
should be prevented from doing so. On these
topics learned Catholics have also written,
saying that the communal sacrament, which
exists with us, does not exist in heretics and
bad Catholics, but we ought to detest this and
put a stop to the division and the notion
opposing peace and truth, by which they
oppose us and do not, with us, follow the Lord.
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IX. Also, they say that the Apostle supports
them when he says: “Some preach Christ on
account of their jealousy and quarrelsomeness,
but some on account of their goodwill.” (Phil.
i) For some envy the glory of the Apostle and
aim to gain it, trying to bring peace to
themselves by the praise-worthy action of
preaching. Others preach Christ because they
wish all men to come to the recognition of the
truth. A little later, the Apostle says: “What
does it matter? Provided that Christ is
announced in every possible way, whether
through truth or through opportunism. I rejoice
because of this, and I shall continue to
rejoice.” (ibid.) See that they say, “the Apostle
rejoices,” in whatever way Christ “is preached,
whether by jealous men or by good, with good
intentions or with distorted ones.” Therefore,
why do the bishops not likewise rejoice when
Christ is preached by us but actually contradict
us? To this I say that it is a great concern by
whom Christ is preached: by Catholics or by
non-Catholics. That Christ is preached
sometimes by good Catholics, sometimes by
bad (that is, those jealous or having hate for
their brothers), is the same as the sheep of
Christ being looked after now by shepherds,
now by mercenaries. Regarding this it is said:
“On the chair of Moses sat the scribes and the
Pharisees; do what they say to you, and do not
do what they do.” (Matth. xxiii) Regarding
good men, however, the Apostle says:
“Remember your former leaders, who spoke to
you the word of God. And imitate their faith,
taking note of their manner of living and their
death.” (Hebr. xiii) Regarding non-Catholics,
that is, heretics, it is said: “Take notice of the
false prophets who come to you in the clothes
of sheep. Within, however, they are ravenous
wolves.” (Matth. vii) And as if someone had
asked in what way true prophets may be
differentiated from false ones, the Lord
advised: “You will recognise them by their
fruits.” (ibid.) Because they suppress the
faithful, they blaspheme against God in their
deeds, if not in their words. Most easily,
however, they may be discerned through their
lack of patience in times of adversity. They are
identical to good men in fasting, speech and
things of that kind. Therefore they may be
discovered not in their leaves (that is, in their
Page 16
speeches), but in their product. Whence the
Apostle: “I shall come quickly to you, if the
Lord wishes it, and I shall become acquainted
with not just the speech of those who are
proud, but their power. For the kingdom of
God lies not in words but in power.” (I Cor. iv)
As if he were saying “I shall not become
acquainted with their foliage, but their fruit.”
X. Moreover, Christ is the truth, just as he
said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
(John xiv) Therefore he who makes up and
spreads contradictory dogma does not preach
Christ. Therefore the Apostle spoke about
those bad Catholics (that is, the mercenaries)
who speak nonetheless about Christ (that is,
the truth). These men however fabricate their
own lies and on that account attention must be
paid to them, along with the orders of the
Lord, that is, that one must be diligently
beware of them. And so we do not rejoice in
their preaching, because they do not preach
Christ, but falsehood, and because they are not
guardians, nor hirelings, but wolves, since
shepherds must be heard and imitated, as just
now we proved using the Apostle’s evidence.
Hirelings must be heard, so that the matters
which they teach through the Word might
happen, but they are not to be imitated in their
labour, just as the Lord said. Wolves must be
attended to and shunned. Whence the Apostle:
“I ask, brothers, that you take notice of those
who make dissension and obstacles to the
doctrine which you teach, and I ask that you
turn away from them; for in this way they do
not serve the Lord Christ, but their own
stomachs; and through sweet speeches and
benedictions they seduce the hearts of the
innocent.” (Rom. xvi) See that people of such a
kind should be avoided. And why? Because
they make dissension, removing those who
trust them from the sentiment of the faithful,
and even making offence against their
neighbour, since it is written: “Live without
offence to the Jews and the Gentiles and the
Church of God.” (I Cor. x) In this, indeed, take
care that you “please everyone by doing
everything” which is permitted to be done or
forbidden to be done (that is, that you do or do
not do). On that account he joins opposition to
and stumbling blocks for them together,
Waldensians
because whoever believes anything else goes
against how many other believers, “dashing
against the stone of offence and the rock of
scandal.” Whence the Apostle called them
“sinning against their brothers and wounding
their weak conscience.” An example of this is
seen in them: “you sin against Christ,” whose
limbs they are. (I Cor. viii) The Apostle
therefore orders that dissension be avoided,
when he says: “I beseech you, brothers, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you
say the same things and there are not factions
amongst you. But rather be smoothed in the
same feeling” (that is, wishing the same thing)
“and knowledge” (that is, belief). (Cor i) On
the other hand, he ordered them to beware of
offence, when he said: “Resolve all the more
that you will never place a stumbling block for
your brother, or make a cause of offence.”
(Rom xiv)
XI. Therefore the heretics who make
dissension and stumbling blocks act contrary
to the doctrine of the Apostle, and are
therefore to be shunned.
XII. On the other hand, they use as evidence
for their own position what Moses said to
Joshua. For when Joshua wished to stand in
the way of two men who had remained in the
camp and were prophets; Moses said to him,
“Do you rival my interests? Would that
someone would allot to all these people the
power of prophecy; and would that the Lord
give to them his Spirit.” (Num xi) See that the
heretics say, “Moses did not envy the prophets,
on the contrary he desires that the whole
population are prophets. The order of clerics
resists us, however, and envies the prophets,
that is, the exponents of the mysteries of the
word of God.” Prophecy is the foreknowledge
of future events, the revelation of things
hidden away, or the exposition of dark
mysteries. There are therefore clerics similar
not to Moses, but to Joshua, both because they
do not follow in the footsteps of the holy, but
of the jealous, and they sin and must not be
heeded when they speak against us.
XIII. To this we say that just like Moses, we
wish that the whole population would
Waldensians
prophesy and that the Lord would give to them
his Spirit, and also the truth, of which we
cannot speak enough, and that the mouths of
all should sound. “But everyone has a peculiar
gift from God [that is, a gift peculiar to
himself], one this, another that. He gave the
gift of apostleship to some, others he made
prophets, others evangelists, others shepherds
and learned men.” (I Cor. vii) This is similar
to what the Apostle said: “I wish all men to be
as I myself” (ibid.), as containers, but “each
has a peculiar gift from God.” The mark of
God however is not dissension, but peace, just
as the Apostle teaches in every holy Church.
Therefore prophecy is not given to all. And I
say that prophecy is not given to them, for
prophecy is the gift of God; they, however,
make dissension and stumbling blocks, as was
said above. Therefore God is not with them,
since he lives in the peaceful and the
concordial. Whence the Apostle: “Have peace,
and the God of peace and love will be with
you.” (II Cor. xiii) And elsewhere:
“Supporting each other in love, be anxious to
preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of
peace.” (Ephes. iv) These men however neither
have nor love Catholic peace, but rather they
make dissension and discord amongst the
Christian people. And therefore because some
follow them, some others are irresolute as to
whether they ought to follow them or true
Catholic men. Therefore there is not in them
the unity of the Spirit, which is preserved in
the restraints of peace.
XIV. Therefore I am not jealous of their
prophesying, because they are not prophets,
except perhaps false ones, regarding whom the
Lord said: “Be on your guard against false
prophets” (Matth. vii) and so on. Jeremiah too
spoke to the Israelites regarding this: “Your
prophets saw for you false things; they did not
show you your sin, with the purpose of
encouraging your repentance.” (Lam. ii) Of
such a kind are they who are seers for the
Christian people, and they assert falsehoods.
Since it is written: “Shout, do not cease to tell
my people of their sins, and the sins of them of
the house of Jacob.” (Isa. lviii) The heretics,
on the contrary, do not announce to the faithful
the sins which they have committed, and they
Page 17
do not urge them to repent. Therefore rightly
are they cast away, as if false prophets. The
Lord said also: “False Messiahs and false
prophets will rise, and they will give many
prodigious signs so that they might lead even
the chosen people into error, if it is possible.”
(Matth. xxiv) Even in later times false
Messiahs will gives signs and therefore
deceive many people. It is no wonder then,
when those who give no signs deceive the trust
of many and through sweet speeches seduce
the hearts of the innocent.
XV. To this they say: many laymen spread the
word of God amongst the believing
population, such as the blessed Honoratus and
the blessed Equitius, whom the blessed
Gregory records in his book of dialogues, and
in this time the holy Raymond, known as Paul,
to whose attestation of sainthood many
miracles occurred. Finally, the first apostles
were both monoglots (idiotae) and illiterate.
(Acts iv) And all these men, although laymen,
preach or preached the word of God. And
therefore we are imitators of their acts, and
should not be repelled, but rather heard.
XVI. To this, however, I shall respond that
true apostles were illiterate before their calling,
but “the Lord appeared to them in their minds,
so that they could understand the Scriptures.”
(Luc xxiv) He poured into them the Holy
Spirit, and he himself sent them to preach the
kingdom of God. Moreover, they did not
preach untruths, but the Catholic faith and the
will of the Lord. And because of this they
worked new and unusual miracles, through the
grace of God, “with God willing, by
confirming their speech, by accompanying
signs.” (Mark. xvi) But these men do not
understand the sacred writings, just as the
Apostle says: “some have lost the way, and
keep company with lies; they wish to be
learned in the laws, but they understand neither
what they say nor the arguments which they
assert.” (I Tim. i) They do not understand
because they lack faith, without which no one
is able to have the gift of intelligence, just as is
written: “Unless you believe, you will not
understand.” (Isa. vii) Also, they do not
understand because they do not act. If they
Page 18
were to do what is written, they would
understand well, just as is written: “The good
man comes to understanding in doing
everything.” (Psal. cx) The same happens
when the vine is taken from the farmers who
are not producing fruit, and given to others
who produce fruit in their own time. And a
talent was taken from a fat servant who did not
wish to carry out trade. Thus the Lord said to
the Jews: “May the kingdom of God be taken
from you” (that is, understanding of the Holy
Scriptures) “and it will be given to the tribe
who produce fruits.” (Matth. xxi) They truly do
not have the Holy Spirit because they go away
from the Holy Church, outside of which it (i.e.,
the Holy Spirit) is given to no one. Whence is
what the Lord said to the disciples: “Rule in
the town until you may be clothed in the power
from above.” (Luke xxiv) The Church indeed is
the city of a great king, in which leaders are
clothed in the power of the Highest. Whence
the impassioned Spirit: “He fills the whole
house where they are seated.” (Acts ii) That is,
(he fills) the Holy Church where the humble
receive the Holy Spirit. For it is written: “On
whom does my spirit rest, except upon the
humble, and the quiet and he who trembles at
my words?” (Isa. lxvi) They are truly not
humble as long as they place themselves
before the guardians of the Church. On the
contrary, humble David, who placed the proud
king before himself when he said: “Whom do
you persecute, King of Israel, who is it? A
dead dog and a single flea.” (I Kings. xxvi) It
should be noted how humble he regards
himself when he names himself a dead dog
and a single flea. And what of Saul, although
reproved by God, whom he (David) called the
King of Israel? To this let both heretics and
other arrogant Christians take note of how
greatly they ought to defer to the powers of the
Church, or of secular authorities, whose merit
in the eyes of God they ignore, if the holy
David held respect for the proud king, whom
he knew to have been reproved by God, and to
have elected himself to the governorship of the
kingdom.
XVII. Moreover, they walk restlessly, “doing
nothing,” as the Apostle says regarding those
similar to them, and “not minding their own
Waldensians
business.” And also regarding others, whom
the Apostle orders to “worship in silence,
eating their own bread.” (II Thess. iii) (That is,
of their own labour, not of another.) Since they
are arrogant, and restless, there does not repose
within them the Holy Spirit, who inhabits the
humble and the quiet.
XVIII. Their arguments regarding holy laymen,
that they have preached the Word of God,
would in no way be put forward, if they would
take note of the words of the blessed Gregory.
For he says regarding the blessed Honoratus
that he glittered with miracles even from above
through the virtue of abstinence, through
humbleness and through his other virtues. He
also transfixed the mound of a huge rock,
which was coming from the sky and about to
destroy his brothers, with an invocation in the
name of Christ and the sign of the cross,
through the extension of his right hand in
opposition. Gregory testifies that he had not
heard that Honoratus had the teaching of
another. Heretics cling to him, saying that they
receive the likeness of him after the disciples,
although they have no teachers. But let them
take note of the argument the blessed Gregory
applies. For he says: “The application of the
correct manner of life is for him not to dare to
be leader who has not learned to be
subordinate.” The same man said: “This liberty
must not be dragged down into imitation, lest
someone presume himself to be likewise filled
with the Holy Spirit; that is, presumes to be
untaught by a human instructor, since he
despises to be the student of a man, and he
then becomes a teacher of error.” and so on.
And also: “This should revered by the weak,
but not imitated.”
XIX. The blessed Equitius was also inspired
by an angel, and was sent. By night the
imposing youth stood near him in a vision, and
placed on his tongue a lancet, saying: “See that
I have placed my words in your mouth: go and
spread them.” That same Spirit shone with
chastity, clear-speech, zeal of intention,
doctrine, humbleness, prophecy and power in
driving unclean spirits away. It is therefore no
wonder if they are educated and sent from
God, and if so many, being strong in virtues,
Waldensians
preach, even if they are not members of a holy
order. Indeed, let the heretics learn from the
example of this man that they ought without
delay to be obedient to both the pontifex
maximus and the bishops. For called by the
Roman Pope through the protector Vitalianus,
Equitius continuously gave praise to God; and
ordered at once that some mares be prepared
within the hour; and he began to urge
Vitalianus most vehemently that they ought to
depart that same hour. But because Vitalianus
was tired from his journey at his command
they remained that night. The next day the
pontifex maximus decreed through another
announcement that Equitius, the servant of
God, should not move from his monastery.
Having heard this, the servant of God, made
however gloomy because they had not made
haste, remained. See that this holy man was
obedient to the Roman Pope, both in leaving
and in remaining.
XX. Also, the bishop Cadorius ordered this
same servant of God that he should in his
congregation take a man by the name of Basil,
who was foremost in magic arts and, fleeing
from Rome, was seeking Valeria, in the habit
of a monk. Therefore having been asked, the
blessed Equitius responded to the bishop:
“This man, whom you, father, commend to
me, I shall not view as a monk, but as the
devil.” And the bishop said: “You seek a
reason so that you might not have to execute
that deed for which you are a candidate.” To
whom the blessed Equitius said: “I shall
proclaim that he is the one when I see him; but
do not imagine that I do not wish to obey you.
I shall do what you order.” He was therefore
taken into the monastery. After only a few
days, when the servant of God was absent, this
same Basil deceived with his magic arts one of
the chaste virgins, over whom Equitius was
guardian. This virgin came down with a fever
and said that she would die immediately unless
Basil (the monk) would come and cure her.
The servant of God (Equitius) was sent for and
the matter was told to him, and he completely
cured the virgin. He saw to it that Basil was
thrown out of the congregation once it had
been recognised that he was an evildoer. See
that the man was obedient to the bishop in his
Page 19
acceptance of Basil, although he recognised
through the spirit of prophecy that the man was
evil. By these examples the heretics teach that
one should obey both the Roman pontiff and
the other bishops.
XXI. Indeed, it is true what they allege about
the blessed Raymond Paul, that he preached
when he was a layman, and the Church
received him. But the man of Catholic manner
of living preached honestly with the
permission of the bishops, leading no one into
error, but orthodox in all matters, obedient to
the guardians of the Church, burning with total
effort to collect souls for God, a most keen
opponent of the heretics on behalf of
knowledge and possibility; on that most rapid
river, which is called Difficulty, constructing a
bridge from the alms of the faithful and a ford
from every tribute, returning, so to speak, a
free path to wanderers and all travellers. He
did pious work in a place that is called the
Boni Pas, with others in need, according to the
appropriateness of the time. Therefore let the
heretics desist from drawing on this Catholic
man for the defence of their own error, a man
from whose footsteps they are recognised to
have deviated much.
XXII. I have said these things to confute the
arguments of the heretics, by showing the
certain authority of the sacred Scriptures. By
the evidence of the Apostle Paul they distort
the way in which they should be understood, to
their own ruin. Now it is my intention to
publish, with the Holy Spirit willing, both the
evidence and the reasons by which it is clearly
evident that they ought not to preach the word
of God, and that they should be heard by the
faithful.
Chapter V
That it is not permitted tothem to provide the
word of God to the faithful
I. Regarding laymen, there is the question of
whether they are able to spread the word of
God amongst the people, and on this point we
must distinguish Catholics from nonCatholics. There is no doubt if they are
Catholics and the honesty of their lives
Page 20
commend them; if their speech is grounded in
the salt of wisdom; and they know to vary the
degree of difficulty of their speech according
to the capacity of each individual listener, and
they prefer a certain path of study or to be
obedient to a Catholic of true faith, according
to the level of their achievement in knowledge
or in work, either to the will of the bishops or
the elders in whose area they might be; and
they are able, I think, to encourage those
around them. And if, moreover, they were not
married, neither would the weight of earthly
trouble oppress them. Indeed, if their life were
reprehensible, it would not be necessary to
listen to them. For the Lord said this: “Do
what they say.” It has not been said except
about those who sit above the seat of Moses,
that is, about the teachers and those learned in
divine law, whom God made superior to his
people. “God said to the sinner, however:
‘Why do you explain my justices and assume
my testament through your mouth?’” (Psal.
xlix) Yet David also spoke thus: “You will not
build a house for me because you are a man of
blood.” (II Reg xvi) A man of blood is not
permitted to build a temple of God because he
may dwell in carnal deeds and it is necessary
that he shame the minds of his neighbours into
building spiritually.
II. According to the Apostle, “May your
speech also be grounded in grace and in the
salt of wisdom so that you may know how you
ought to respond to someone.” (Col. iv)
Indeed, one responds to a mono-glot in one
way, a learned man in another, in different
ways to different persons. But how could a
layman be able to distinguish these modes,
when clerics hardly have this knowledge? And
indeed food is not palatable unless seasoned
with salt; neither is speech useful without
evidence of wisdom. Whence in Leviticus:
“Give salt in all offerings.” (Lev ii) That is,
may you have apostolic wisdom in every
speech and deed. If, therefore, a man does not
have apostolic wisdom in word and deed, his
speech is not useful, and he must on that
account be shunned. For the Apostle said to
Timothy: “Avoid profanities” (that is, heresies)
“and foolish discussions.” (II Tim ii) That is to
say, those things which are without fruit, even
Waldensians
if they are not so much evil as profane. “For
they progress towards much impiety,” that is,
against the worship of God, “and their speech
crawls along like a crab,” little by little,
corrupting those things which are healthy.
III. To this, a teacher ought to take note of the
capacity of his audience, so that he hands out
the correct measure of wheat (that is, of divine
words), “just as God set out the bounds for
each faithful man.” (II Cor x) Whence the
Apostle orders prophesy, that is, the revelation
of spiritual matters, to be supplied by those by
whom mystical things ought to be supplied,
according to the capacity for (that is, the
measurement of) the faith of them; lest there
be the situation where the discussion of
rudimentary matters are suffocated by
concerns of higher things, or conversely,
where the discussion of more advanced points
is frustrated by the necessity of discussing
more simple arguments. Otherwise, it would
happen that if the listener is offended by the
teacher’s words, then with God the guilty man
will be held a learned man. Whence it is
written in law: “If anyone uncovers a pit, or
digs one and does not cover it, and a bull or a
donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit is to
give as compensation the price of the
animals.” (Exod. xxi) To uncover a pit is to lift
intellectually the lid on arcane matters of the
Holy Scripture. He who has begun this
touches on the sublime senses of the Scripture,
but they are understood through silent
contemplation, not publicly. But whoever does
not touch upon the brute hearts of his listeners,
must answer as a defendant to the charge, if
through his words a mind, whether clean or
blemished, is caught in scandal.
IV. Moreover, if men superintend a certain
area, or are obedient, they become well known;
and because they are obedient to the Holy
Church, it is clearly revealed, since almost all
are located in some diocese, and since almost
every diocese has its individual boundaries.
Not only this, but in certain diocese the
established Churches are distinguished in
different ways by their own boundaries, as far
as a bishop does not have episcopal
jurisdiction except in his own diocese. And
Waldensians
neither does a priest have power in a different
parish, since it is written: let no one send a
scythe into another man’s harvest; that is, let
no one presume to be the judge of believing
men committed to another. And the Apostle
says: “Who are you who judges another man’s
servant? He stands or falls at the will of his
own master.” (Rom. xiv) If therefore it is not
possible for a bishop or a priest to exercise his
power in the normal course of events when
outside his diocese or parish, how much less
can an ignorant man and a layman be able to
send his scythe into another’s crop, that is, into
those people committed to another, without the
licence of a bishop or priest, to whose concern
the matter is relevant? And indeed they do not
labour in the vineyard, as the Evangelist
testifies, except drawn from the same family.
And in another place it is written how the head
of a household hired out his vineyard to
farmers, who would return to him the fruits in
their own time. Indeed, however, they did not
return the fruits to their lord, but rather they
killed his servants (they threw stones at one
and killed another) and in the end they also
killed the master’s son. Not one of them,
however, dared to transfer the ownership of the
vineyard to himself, as long as the master
tolerated their idleness and wrong-doings.
Since they were committed to a community,
although idle, although evil, as long as they
were tolerated by the Church, without the
permission and the licence of him to whom the
vineyard was trusted, not one of them
presumed to work, that is, to get rid of the
dead vines and to plant new ones, to use the
hoe of the Word, to think the vineyard to be
superfluous and to cultivate the necessary.
V. Finally, who is so foolish that he attends to
the feeding of another’s sheep without
consulting his master? For by the fact itself it
is suspicious, that he takes this on himself,
especially if he is low-born. And it is he, who
“does not enter through the door, but climbs up
through another way, and is a thief and a
bandit. But a thief does not come except so
that he may thieve, kill and cause destruction.”
(John x) And indeed, as the learned say, one
enters through the door by trusting in the Son
of God, and by imitating his humility, and by
Page 21
preaching for his love, not for reward from
others. Besides, if he is an unbeliever, or
arrogant or seeks his own things, not those of
Jesus Christ (Phil. ii), he is a thief, who says
that what is another’s is his own; and a bandit
is one who kills to get another’s property.
VI. From all these things it may be seen that it
is permitted to neither cleric nor layman whose
dwelling-place is unknown (nay rather even if
it is known where he may dwell), to cultivate a
vineyard (that is, a people) and to feed the
flock of another, without the permission of a
bishop of elder, whose concern it is. And if by
chance anyone presumes to do this, this
objection may be made: “Who made you ruler
and judge over us?” (Acts vii) It may be read
in the testament of the Evangelist that the same
man said this to Jesus regarding a crowd:
“‘Teacher, tell my brother to share the
inheritance with me.’ And Jesus said to him,
‘which man appointed me judge over you, or a
distributor of property?’” (Luke xii) And, if it
is resolved that in secular matters a judge must
be chosen, so that a man does not suddenly
nominate himself, how much more important
is it in divine matters? Also in the account of
the Apostle: “Neither should anyone take up
the honour for himself except he who is called
by God, just as Aaron was.” (Hebr. v) And
yet, wishing to show his faith in the invocation
of God from hearing God’s Word, and wishing
to spread his preaching from the fount of
divine grace, he said: “How will they pray to
Him, in whom they do not believe; or how will
they believe in Him, about whom they have
not heard; but how will they hear without there
being preachers; and how will men preach
without being sent out to do so?” (Rom. x)
From this connexion it is demonstrated that
others do not invoke God if they do not believe
in him; neither do they believe if they have not
heard; neither do they hear unless others
preach to them; neither ought those others
preach unless they have been sent. First
therefore is to be sent from God, from whom
all good things proceed; and so he who has
been sent ought to obey and to preach. So too
without doubt Moses was sent from God for
the children of Israel and after many pleas that
he not be sent, with God persisting in his wish,
Page 22
he obeyed. So too Isaiah, so too other blessed
prophets did not teach the people of God
except having been sent.
VII. Also, in the New Testament, other
apostles and disciples was sent by God to
preach His word. Whence they are called
Apostles, that is, ones who were sent. The
apostles Paul and Barnabas were also sent by
the Holy Spirit, but when the disciples were
fasting. They prayed for them and laid their
hands upon them, and apportioned them tasks,
which they took up. They did not, however,
receive the task of preaching, by which all the
way things had been done, both by God and by
the disciples. Then the apostles appointed
elders in individual churches. The blessed Paul
also ordered Titus that he appoint elders for
each city, that is, bishops.
VIII. From this it is clear that some men are
sent by God alone; some by God and man;
some neither by God, nor by man. Moses, John
the Baptist, and the above-mentioned blessed
Equitius are examples of men sent by God
alone. Indeed in the words of the blessed
Gregory: “The freedom of their life from
baser matter must not be dragged into
imitation; lest someone presume himself to be
likewise filled by the Holy Spirit, and he might
despise to be a disciple of men, and become a
teacher of error.” There are those who are sent
by God and man, just as the apostles were by
Christ, indeed a God and a man, and others
from by apostles or the bishops of their area.
This is what the Apostle said to the bishops,
whom he himself had appointed: “Take care of
yourselves and the entire flock, in which the
Holy Spirit placed you to rule as bishops the
Church of God, which he made through his
own blood.” (Acts xx) See, just as Acts
confirms, that he appointed them himself, but
he says that they are sent by the Holy Spirit.
There are others who are not sent by God; but
they come of their own accord, with their own
extreme presumption, and so that they might
lead others astray less blatantly, they lie that
they have been sent from God; as people who
are in fact able to make and interpret a
prophecy. “Woe to those who prophesy from
their own hearts; who act at the behest of their
Waldensians
own wills; who say, ‘the Lord says’, and the
Lord did not send them.” (Ezech. xiii)
Regarding whom the Saviour says in the
gospel of John: “All those who came before
me are thieves and brigands.” (John x) Those
who came had not been sent. For he said:
“They came, but I did not send for them.” In
coming there is a presumption of arrogance. In
being sent, there is the compliance of serving.
Therefore he says ‘woe’, that is, eternal
damnation, to those who say that they are sent
and are not, as if to liars, thieves and brigands
and presumptuous men. Indeed there are very
clear signs to identify those who are sent by
God: they have virtues: charity, peace,
patience, continence, goodwill, humility, and
obedience as an inseparable companion. To
this the blessed James said: “That wisdom
which comes from on high is first of all pure,
then
peaceful,
modest,
well-advising,
harmonious with good deeds, full of
compassion and good products; it is not
judgemental and is without hypocrisy.” (James
iii) See how evident are the signs of a wisdom
given by God!
IX. Those who are sent by God and man have
clear evidence that they were sent. Those who
come of their own accord were not sent;
neither do they have the evidence of the man
who sent them, nor of God, if they lack
charity, humility and obedience, and these
things, which, according to Bede, are the
inseparable companions of humbleness.
X. And from all these things it is more certain
that those who are not part of the sacred order
must not readily be heard by the common
people of God, unless they have visible
evidence that they were sent from God. And if
they will not be obedient to the guardians of
the Holy Church, it is clear that they were not
sent, but came of their own accord. For
“because all power comes from God and those
things which are from God are ordained, those
who resist the power work against the
arrangement of God; and those who resist the
ordination of God, acquire damnation for
themselves.” (Rom xiii)
Waldensians
XI. Moreover, those who have wives or are
oppressed by a weight of earthly care are not
suited to spreading the word of God. For by
the evidence of the Apostle: “He who has a
wife has a concern for worldly maters - how he
may please his wife - and is therefore divided.”
(I Cor. vii) Indeed, a preacher of the word of
God ought to have a heart free of all earthly
care, so that as much as he, being
perspicacious, may see those things which
escape others, so much may he himself incline
more truly to knowledge and life. For the eye
does not properly observe a defect in
something when it is full of dust itself. For
this indeed the Lord said to the first learned
man of the Holy Church: “Do not carry a sack,
nor a wallet.” (Luc. x) But what could he have
signified through the wallet, except the
burdens of the secular? And the first pastor of
the Church said: “It is not right for us, in order
to look after the money tables, to leave behind
the word of God. Let us chose for this work,
men of good testament, full of the Holy Spirit
and wisdom, and we will urge them to
preaching and the ministering of the Word.”
(Acts vi)
XII. Therefore once all the arguments given
above, regarding those learned in divine
speech, are considered, one may see that it is
dreadful to commit the weight of the Word to a
layman, especially since, indeed, it was
committed to the priests to teach all matters of
the laws, which God enjoined to the children
of Israel through the hand of Moses, as
Malachia says: “The lips of a priest are the
guardians of knowledge, and the law should be
sought from his mouth; because he is the angel
of the Lord of Hosts.” (Mal ii) These
conditions apply if the layman is a Catholic;
with the result that without the permission of a
bishop or elder he might not send his scythe of
words into his field, that is, the people, and
neither may he give a measure of wheat to a
family, over whom the Lord has not appointed
him as protector, nor should he feed the flock
of another if he comes across them, nor should
he work in another’s vineyard if he has not
been called.
Page 23
Chapter VI
I respond to the argument where they use the
Apolstle’s words: “One must obey God, not
men,” and regarding certain other matters
I. Without doubt a man (either cleric or lay)
who has lapsed into heresy must not be heard
by the faithful, but must be shunned. A heretic
is one who either follows an ancient or older
heresy or creates a new one. Of this kind are
those who say that one does not have to obey
the bishops, priests or, which is horrible to
mention! the Holy Roman Church. By this it
is agreed that men of such a kind are heretics
or unbelievers. It was said above: “For
obedience is the only thing which provides the
badge of faith.” Without this a man is
demonstrated to be guilty of being an
unbeliever, even if he appears to be faithful.
II. But, they say, we are obedient to God, not
to men, following Peter who said: “One must
obey God before obeying men.” (Acts v) The
Lord indeed enjoined the disciples, saying:
“Go into the whole world, preach the Gospel
to all creatures.” (Mark xvi) The leaders of the
priests and the high priests of the temple
prohibited even the elders from teaching or
preaching in the name of Jesus. When the
leaders of the Jews forbade teaching, Peter
argued, saying that Christ had ordered that they
teach all creatures: “One must be obedient to
God sooner than to men.”
III. But the above mentioned heretics cannot
defend their own error with this passage of
Scripture. For God did order them to teach.
For those, whom the Lord sends (as has been
said previously), show clearly visible signs of
humility, charity, other virtues and miracles,
and whose indivisible companion is
obedience:
“With the Lord willing, and
confirming the truth of their words with
subsequent evidence.” (Marc. xvi) These men
do not have such signs. Therefore they are not
sent from God and they ought not to speak.
Whence, when the blessed Job called his
friends, who were heretics, “fabricators of lies
and worshippers of a perverse dogma.” He
declared: “would that you were silent, so that
you might be thought wise!” (Job xiii) Also:
Page 24
“What does God need of your lying, that you
speak deceits for him?” (ibid.) And further:
“Will your windy words have an end?” (Job
xvi) And in turn: “sharp looks to me speak a
testament against me and false speech is
roused against my face, contradicting me.”
(ibid.) And again “my wordy friends” (ibid.)
and also “Take note of me, and be silent, and
place your finger over your lips.” (Job xxi) and
“your reply has been shown to fight against the
truth.” (ibid.) The Lord also said to Eliphaz:
“My fury is aroused against you and against
your two friends, because you did not speak
the truth before me, as did my servant Job.”
(Job xlii) In the opinion of the blessed
Gregory, Job is the image of the Holy Church
and his friends the figures of heretics, who are
said to be friends because in some observances
they are a part of the Holy Church; but by their
errors, which they make either themselves or
by following others, they are said to be
weavers of lies. And because they work to
defend their actions, they are said to be the
worshippers of a perverse dogma. And since
their malice lies concealed, they, who speak a
testimony against the Holy Church, are called
sharp looks, provided that they fight against it
even once, not by rational arguments but by
false and useless speeches; and thereby are
they called false speakers and wordy, and their
words windy. And therefore it is advantageous
for them to be silent. Whence, Job wished
both that they be silent and that they place their
finger over their lips and attend to the
guardians of the Holy Church when they are
speaking, satisfying what is said in James (V.
Chapt. i) “May every man be quick to listen
and slow to speak.”
IV. They provoke the wrath of God against
themselves because they teach a way other
than that of the Holy Church. Therefore God
answers neither their sacrifices nor their
prayers. However, if the Holy Church were to
make offerings or to pray for those who were
repentant, on their behalf, he would answer
them. Whence the Lord said to the friends of
Job: “‘Take seven bulls for yourselves, and
seven rams, and go to my servant Job; and let
him offer the burnt offering on your behalf; for
Job is my servant; he will pray for you; I shall
Waldensians
answer him, so that you might not reckon it a
foolish act. For you have not spoken the truth
before me, as my servant Job did.’ And they
did just as the Lord had spoken to them; and
the Lord answered the figure of Job, and he
yielded to the penitence of Job, when he
prayed on behalf of his friends.” (Job xlii)
V. Therefore let heretics cease to be verbose,
and let them, penitent, return to the holy
Church, leaving behind their arrogant
principles, as if through the sacrifice of bulls
and rams. The Church, with sacrifices and
prayers, intercedes on behalf of those who
stray; since the sacrifice or prayer of no one
outside the Church will be taken up.
VI. The Apostle was therefore sent by God and
the honesty of his life, the extraordinary nature
of his miracles and the orthodoxy of his
doctrine are attested. Therefore the Apostles
ought not to have obeyed the Jewish
unbelievers, the crucifiers of the Lord, and the
persecutors of the disciples, those members of
other faiths, believing indeed that the name of
the Lord might be snuffed out, as if
blaspheming against God; and God was
willing, and confirmed his speech with
accompanying signs, and even sent them. But
those who are not wholly obedient to the will
of God, and moreover obey unbelievers, that
is, exponents of heresy; those indeed were sent
neither by God nor man. It is agreed that they
do not obey God because they are not obedient
to those whom the Lord ordered to be obeyed;
those who sit on the throne of Moses, that is,
the bishops and the priests, those who hold the
place of Moses. While they rule over the
people of God, they rule and teach the will of
God, and correct the wicked. Thence it is
written: “On the throne of Moses sit the
scribes and the Pharisees: obey and do
therefore all that they ask of you.” (Matth.
xxiii) Moreover the Apostle says: “Obey those
who rule over you, and be subordinate to
them.” (Hebr. xiii) And Peter: “Young men, be
obedient to your elders.” (I Petr. v) Indeed he
called the elders the shepherds of the flock,
regarding whom he said previously: “Feed the
flock of God that is yours.” (Ibid.)
Waldensians
VII. From this it is most clearly apparent that
the aforementioned heretics are obedient
neither to God nor to the Apostles. Indeed,
they devote themselves to a reprehensible
notion; they obey perfidious men, purveyors of
heresy, with Catholic priests being held in
contempt. Others, as if sheep without a
shepherd, apply themselves to obedience to
none. These men the law of God calls “the
sons of Belial” (III Kings xxi), that is, “out of
the yoke.” In truth, the Lord, about to ascend
to the heavens, did not leave the sheep for
whom he cared without pasture; but he
entrusted them to the care of the blessed Peter,
saying: “Simon, son of John, do you love me
more than these other men? Look after my
sheep.” (John xxi) By which example, the
apostle and the apostolic man, God’s
shepherds, were instructed and took care to
command the faithful through time. For a flock
without pasture dies, and an army without a
leader, as a city without a governor, and a far
flung region without an overseer, just as is
written: “where there is no governor, the
people go to ruin.” (Prov. Xi)
VIII. From this and other similar examples let
the enemies of truth take note how foolish are
the actions of those who presume to live
without either God or man as guide.
Therefore, in the words of the blessed Peter,
they strive to show that they obey God, not
men, as if they cut Goliath’s throat with their
own swords, while they are actually proven to
obey neither God nor Catholic men. On that
account they must be shunned, as if
unbelievers or condemned, and neither greeted
nor received into the community; rather they
must be put to flight and removed from
everyday society. The Apostle says: “Do not
take to the yoke with unbelievers: for what is
the partnership of justice with iniquity? Or,
what common bond does light have with
darkness? What agreement is there between
Christ and Belial? Or what part does belief
have with unbelief? What consensus is there
between the temple of God and idols?” (II
Cor. vi) Also the Apostle: “Even if we, or an
angel from heaven, should preach to you a
gospel which is different from what we have
(already) preached to you, may he be
Page 25
condemned. Just as we have said before, even
now I say again: ‘if anyone shall preach to you
something which is different from what you
have accepted, let him be condemned.” (Gal i)
And also: “After a heretic has been punished
the first time and the second, avoid him,
knowing that he is subversive, and of what
kind he is.” That is, that he is ruined even he
who is so incorruptible, “and that he sins,
having been condemned by the appropriate
judge.” (Tit. Iii)
IX. Others are thrown out of the Church by its
own decision, on account of their crimes; but
heretics leave it of their own accord. The
Apostle orders the Thessalonians: “Do not be
associated with him who is not obedient to the
word” of that same Apostle. (II Thess. iii)
Also the blessed John: “God does not have
anyone who leaves [the Church] and who does
not remain with the doctrine of Christ.” (II
John ix) And a little later: “If anyone comes to
you and does not follow this doctrine, do not
receive him into the house; do not even greet
him. For he who greets him communicates
with evil works.” (II. John x) Also the blessed
Paul: “I exhort you, brothers, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away
from any brother who does not lead a regular
life, or does not live according to the tradition
which he received from me.” (II Thess. iii)
And also: “Shun profanities and idle speech,
for they lead to much impiety,” and so on. (II
Tim. ii) Again: “Do not be led astray by
different and foreign doctrines.” (Hebr. xiii)
and also: “Remove the evil man from amongst
you.” (I Cor. v) This is brought about when an
evil man is removed from the communion of
the Church through a disciplinary action of the
Church. And also: “You were going so well.
Who stopped you from obeying the truth?
You plotted with no man. The persuasion was
not from him who called you (that is, God) but
from the devil. A small amount of yeast makes
the whole dough rise.” (Gal. v) Also: “Do not
communicate with the unfruitful instruments
of darkness, but confound them all the more.”
(Ephes. v) Further: “Let none deceive you with
loftiness of speech.” (Col ii) And indeed,
loftiness of this type does not exist except in
words. Compare also John: “Do not believe
Page 26
every spirit, but examine the spirit to see if it
comes from God.” (I John iv) And the blessed
Peter: “Our most charitable brother Paul,
following the gift given to him, wrote to you,
just as he writes in all his letters. In these there
are some points that are difficult to understand,
which the unlearned and the unstable may
explain falsely, just as they do other parts of
the Scripture, to their own damnation. You
brothers, therefore, since you already know
this, guard yourselves closely, lest you be led
astray by the errors of the foolish, and you fall
from your own proper position of safety.” (II
Petr. Iii)
X. We have selected these words of the sacred
Scriptures, as if a reminder of salvation to be
contemplated by men faithful to Christ, to be
retained in memory, so that they may know
firmly that there must be no participation with,
nor society for, those perfidious heretics. Nor
should they be listened to, but treated as if
condemned, and shunned as if corrupted and
clearly shameless. Neither should one
associate with them, but they should be treated
as disobedient, and neither should they be
greeted, or received into your home, but
treated as men who are against Christ, and
avoided, as speakers of profane and foolish
words. Indeed, they draw themselves to
impiety in the manner of a crab; little by little
they infect healthy limbs, that is, the faithful,
and just as yeast leavens a mass of fine flour,
they inflate to pride those who have something
to do with them. Once the natural sweetness
of Catholic unity has been lost, they return
them acidic, that is, with their opinions
reshaped, and they are both corrupted, just as
the Apostle says, and deprived of truth,
believing that piety is profit, while preaching
for profit and not for the future. This is why
there must be no communication with them,
and they must be all the more vigilantly
rebutted.
XI. Whence the Apostle also says, making use
of the words of Isaiah: “The Lord says ‘go
from amongst them, and separate yourselves.
And do not touch anything unclean. I shall
receive you and be a father to you, and you
shall be to me sons and daughters,’ says the
Waldensians
Lord Almighty.” (II Cor. vi) He who is
separated from evil men does not imitate their
works. He who does not consent to the will of
sinners does not touch evil. He shuns the man
who is not sparing in the use of his mouth, but
he corrects however much is permitted. This is
the voice of heaven, which John heard, saying:
“Come out from here, my people, and do not
take part in their crimes, and do not receive a
part of their punishment: since their sins reach
all the way to heaven and the Lord has taken
note of their iniquity.” (Apoc. xviii) They do
not defile us in these two ways if we do not
acquiesce: but we confute them, since they are
acting out the works of darkness, and are
despoilers of the sacred Scriptures; unbelievers
and foolish, corrupters of minds, and
metaphorical wolves who snatch from and
break up the flock of the Lord, as is written:
“Within there are ravenous wolves.” (Matth.
vii) They have poisoned minds and the
intention, if the opportunity is given, of
pursuing people publicly and corrupting them
inwardly, and in the custom of thorn bushes or
thistles, making those bloody who come close
to them, and tearing them to pieces, as is
written: “Do they collect grapes from thorn
bushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matth. vii)
Chapter VII
Whom the heretics most readily lead astray,
and whom they do not
I. I shall show here how much heretics harm
the people of God, and let us see, the Holy
Spirit willing, whom they most readily lead
astray.
II. They lead astray women, those men who are
not manly (but who act effeminately), the
ignorant, liars, those who are not obedient to
truth and who fall into iniquity, the avaricious,
and finally those who do not have the sign (of
virtue) on their faces, that is, those who do not
have charity in their hearts. They lead the
women astray first, and through them the men;
just as the devil first beguiled Eve, and then
through her Adam. Similarly he tried to ruin
Job through his wife, when she said: “Do you
still keep to your faith? Curse God and die!”
(Job ii) The same thing happened to Pilate
Waldensians
through his wife when she said to him: “Have
nothing to do with that just man. For today, in
a vision, I suffered many things on account of
him.” (Matth xxvii) He wished to disrupt the
mystery of the passion of our Lord, lest
through his death Satan would lose his power.
The Apostle says to Timothy regarding
pseudo-christs and heretics: “They indeed have
the appearance of piety, but they do not have
the virtue associated with it. Shun these men.
From this group there are those who will
pervade houses, capture and take for wives
young women who are burdened by sins and
who are led by various desires.” (II Tim iii)
III. See that it is clear that they do not lead firm
men astray but corruptible women, who
deserve to be led astray, especially those
burdened by sins. They also led astray men
with feminine weakness, just as is written: “A
gathering of bulls amongst the cows of the
population.” (Psalm lxvii) He calls the heretics
bulls, those who are proud and untamed in
their faults. They are those who congregate
amongst the cows of the population; that is,
amongst those who may be easily led astray.
IV. They also beguile the ignorant. Whence it
is written in Proverbs: (Ignorance) is like “a
stupid and noisy woman, full of inducements
to sinning, and knowing nothing at all” and so
on. (Prov. ix) She says: “He who is slight
should come in my direction.” The stupid and
noisy woman is heretical perversity. She is
stupid through her fatuous intellect and noisy
because of her babbling. She is full of
inducements to sinning, and knowing nothing
at all” and so on. She says: “He who is slight
should come in my direction.” A slight man is
very stupid man, one deficient in common
sense.
V. They also lead astray the innocent or the
simple. Whence the Apostle: “Through
honeyed speeches and good words they seduce
the hearts of the innocent.” (Rom. xvi) They
even seduce those humble at heart; whence in
Proverbs: “There are those who have swords
for teeth and chew away with their molars that
they may consume the poor from the earth and
Page 27
the needy from all things1.” (Prov. xxx)
Heretics have swords in place of teeth; they
know that their depraved teachers may
consume more readily than be consumed, that
they may kill rather than make live. They pick
off the needy from the earth while leading
those with yet less common sense than they
themselves have, touching them as if dead in
their own body. Similarly they try to supplant
from the congregations of the faithful those
needy in all things (that is, those humble of
heart).
VI. They strive to lead astray those right in
heart. Whence: “Look! The sinners have
drawn their bows, prepared their arrows in the
quiver, so that they might shoot in the shadows
at those right in heart.” (Psalm x) Sinners, that
is, heretics, have drawn their bows; that is,
they have bent the scripture of the Old and
New Testaments, understanding it according to
their own mistakes; and they have prepared
their arrows: this means the poisonous words
in their hearts; and this, that they might shoot
in the shadows at those right in heart, this is
ambiguous. Either in the shadows means in a
guileless sense, and shadowy since there are
carnal and ignorant men. Or, it could refer to
in the shadowy moon, that is, the Church,
which was darkened at the beginning of the
faith, or which is obscured by the clouds of the
blasphemers, or, made bloody with the
slaughter of martyrs. The heretics shoot their
arrows in this darkness, because they know
that these times are advantageous for picking
off the sick. Once the sick have been led
astray, still they likewise resolve to drag off
those right in heart. Or, the children of the
Church are said to be like a dark moon while
they are sinners. Here the heretics shoot, when
they prepare the sacrament through such
ministers of the Church as those who deceive
the sick, when they suggest they themselves
attend to those things, which are the duty of
those ministers.
VII. From this it is clear that they lead astray
the infirm and the ignorant. The Apostle warns
against this happening, saying: “Let us be no
The Vulgate has hominibus for omnibus, but Bernard’s
reading is translated here.
1
Page 28
longer like little children, bobbing on the
waves and carried around by every wind of
doctrine, in the profligacy of men, in cunning
and the oppression of sin.” (Ephes. iv) We
shall not be, he says, prattlers in intellect; and
we shall be carried around by every other
pressing wind of doctrine. The doctrine of the
depraved, as if the wind of a tempest, compels
the ignorant and the infirm to perfidy, that is,
to shipwreck. This doctrine comes about in the
profligacy and the cunning of men, that is,
through men intrinsically worthless, and astute
in the deception of the naive. The doctrine of
these people always leads to wandering into
error; that is, that they lead them by some way
into sin.
Regarding this he also said
elsewhere: “Do not become imprudent, but
rather intelligent as to what is the will (of
God)” and so on (Ephes. v) And also:
“Brothers, do not be as boys in thought, but
have the malice of little children, and be well
formed in that thought.” (I Cor. Xiv)
VIII. Clearly they do not deceive the brave and
the wise. Whence in Proverbs: “In vain is a net
spread out before the eyes of birds.” (Prov i)
The eyes of the birds are here the hearts of the
blessed, supported by the feathers of virtue,
which in contemplating celestial things with
keen vision fly to the regions above. In vain
are the nets of deception spread out by the
impious in front of such men. For with divine
aid they easily transcend all their bonds and
reach higher knowledge.
IX. They also lead astray those who have not
received charity or truth. Or, if they have
received it, they are not saved because of it.
They also seduce those who agree to iniquity.
Whence the Apostle says, wishing regarding
the devil, who already works the mystery of
sin through pseudo-christs, to point out those
whom he deceives: “He will destroy him with
the revelation of his coming. The coming of
the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be
with all power and with pretended signs and
wonders, and in every seduction to sin, for
those who are to perish. This is on account of
the fact that they have not received the love of
truth, so that they might be saved. Therefore
God will send to them a strong delusion, so
Waldensians
that they might believe a lie, so that all might
be condemned who have agreed to sin instead
of to truth.” (II Thess ii)
X. And the Lord said in the Gospel of John: “I
come in the name of my Father and you do not
receive me. If another were to come in his own
name, you would receive him.” (John v) See
that he who does not receive Truth, which is
Christ, with the strict will of God, believes a
liar and receives the doer of error; and he who
does not believe the true signs of God, believes
liars, with the result that he removes himself
from truth and from His signs; he is attached to
a liar through lying signs. Whence David says
regarding reprobates: “Decide on a man
according to the works of his hands: return
their deserving to them; since they do not take
notice of the works of the Lord, or the works
of his hands, you will destroy them not rebuild
them.” (Psal. Xxvii)
XI. And finally they lead those astray, in
whom there is no sign of God, that is, charity,
or the virtue of faith. Whence it is instructed in
the book of Revelation to locusts, in the form
of heretics, that they not afflict the hay of the
earth, greenwood, nor any tree, except only
men who do not have the sign of God on their
faces. What does earth signify here, except the
holy Church? Just as is written: “The earth
stands in eternity.” (Eccl i) The hay of this
earth is the original believers, and those
fearing the time of tribulation, but until now
adhering to the faith and the unity of the whole
Church from the roots on behalf of power.
What else does greenwood signify, except
those who show their own courage, who
exhibit the life of the faithful by the origins of
their deeds? What else indeed does the tree
signify, except those men lofty in
contemplation or in the excellence of virtue of
their works?
XII. The heretics therefore do not harm these
three kinds of faithful; but they harm those
who do not have the “sign of God” that is,
charity. As the blessed John says, “in this
(sign) there is manifest the children of God
and the children of the devil.” (I John iii) And
the Lord: “Let them know this, that you shall
Waldensians
be my disciples if you have love for each
other.” (John xiii) Either the sign of God is the
power of God, regarding which John also
wrote: “This is victory, your faith, which
conquers the world.” (I John v) Therefore
these men who do not have the sign deserve to
suffer, just as “those who are in the dirt will
continue to be dirty.” (Apoc. xxii) “He will be
consumed by the iniquity of his sins.” (Psal
vii) They deserve to have teachers of such a
kind as those who hold God, the one teacher,
in contempt, through whom, since they are
blind, the blind fall into a ditch. This is said in
Hosea to the Heresiarchs: “You have been
made a trap for spies, a net spread over Mount
Tabor.” (Hosea. v) They are traps and nets in
whom those who lack the sign of God are
caught, in their investigation of the celestial
things which the heretics promised to them.
XIII. Therefore truly rightly have the heretics
been designated insatiable locusts, insects,
harming the fruits with their mouths more than
other small animals. Because “they have not
stood in truth, but have gone away from us;
because they were not like us. For if they had
been, they would have remained all the while
with us.” In debate they were positioned as if
jumping, having been defeated in one error
they would flee to another shade of reason,
always jumping about lest they appear to be
defeated. Truly they do harm with their
mouths, because, just as is written: “They have
sharpened their tongues as if serpents, and they
have the venom of adders within their lips.”
(Psal. xiii) They sharpen their tongues as if
serpents so that they might seduce the hearts of
the innocent with sweet speeches and
benedictions. And for them the adder’s venom
is not within their lips but under them, because
they do their harm not openly but secretly and
in the manner of snakes, through the tongue,
they instil the deadly poison of sin with a bite.
Whence they, more than other depraved men,
who are described as small animals, harm fruit
with their mouths, that is, they damage the
works and the power of certain faithful men.
Therefore they spoil and corrupt those things
that they do not carry within: and as a result
they are either deprived of the whole Catholic
faith, or they doubt it. For it is clear how great
Page 29
is their evil from the words of the blessed
James, who said: “he who hesitates” (indeed,
in faith) “is similar to a sea wave which is
moved by the wind ... this man must not think
that he will receive anything from the Lord.”
(James. I)
XIV. Indeed the avaricious also merit being
seduced, for the most part according to the
measurement of their own sins. Whence it is
recorded that the devil spoke when facing
Achab, a king, but a worshipper of idols. “I
will deceive Achab. And it was said: ‘In what
way will you deceive him?’ And he answered:
‘I shall step forth and shall be a lying spirit in
the mouth of all his prophets.” (II Par. xviii)
For Achab the King, with a great many sins
preceding him, deserved it and ought to have
been damned by such a deception: thus far he
who often wished to fall into sin, since he did
not wish to be forced to pay the penalty.
Hidden lawlessness in judgement is given to
malign spirits so that those whom they wish to
torment in the bonds of sin, they do not yet
wish to drag into the recompense of their
iniquity.
XV. Also he, who does not deviate from the
reprobate life, who does not turn his spirit
from the acting of sins, whenever he requires
something from a prophet, he hears those
things which God has placed there, which he
who must be damned deserves to hear. See
that even the house of Israel left the worship of
God in servitude to idols. They went in hope,
however, to the prophets, by whom they were
often deceived, requiring propitious messages.
Although they (who were doing something
wrong) heard propitious things from the mouth
of the prophets, what else could celestial
judgements do, except act so that a sinner is
captured in his own heart? Thus in such a way
a man commits a crime by following perfidy,
inasmuch as he has been deceived by the
flattering sermons of his prophets, even if he is
not already very fearful that he has committed
a crime; and as much as he might live secure
in his sin, so much afterward may he be
harshly snatched off to his punishment.
Page 30
XVI. But see that by the largess of God
humans publicly confess the true faith and they
refuse to be subordinate to any other creatures
in adoration. Therefore whoever consults a
prophet from a position of faith does so safely,
because he will hear what is worthy for his
faith to hear. I speak confidently, that he is safe
if he retires from other unclean people and
from depraved acts. For since Paul proclaims:
“and also avarice, which is the condition of a
slave to idols.” (Gal v) Whoever is still now a
slave to avarice is not free from the worship of
idols. If therefore he, who ties himself to
avarice, seems to be faithful, but solicits other
strange things, and desires to receive earthly
rewards, and longs for earthly glory and
regarding that same glory he consults a
prophet; it is most just that out of his own sin
he rightly hear propitious statements from the
mouth of the prophet, inasmuch as he does not
wish to hear the words of God in holy
eloquence regarding how he should despise
earthly matters and love celestial ones; this, by
the will of God, let him hear from the mouth
of his own prophet, whence he may sink,
bound more strongly.
XVII. See that from this it is clear that those
men avaricious in the worship of idols are not
free, although they may appear to have faith.
Whence, by the will of God, they hear this
from the mouth of their own prophet, whence
they fall, bound up. And let me say in general
that He hears him who does not model his
reprobate life, and God sets out those things
which the damned are worthy to hear; indeed a
case of the leaders of the blind being the blind.
Chapter VIII
Against their statement that women may
preach
I. Besides committing the errors I have already
spoken of, they err more gravely; for they
permit women, whom they admit to their
partnership, to teach, although this is contrary
to the doctrine of the Apostle. For it is written:
“Let the women be silent in Church, for it is
not permitted for them to speak. But if they
wish to learn something, let them ask their
husbands at home. For it is shameful for a
Waldensians
woman to speak in Church.” (I Cor. xiv) See
that the Apostle orders women to be silent in
the church building, or in congregations of the
faithful, but not in speech about, or in praise
of, God. He means they should not talk about
matters of doctrine, and they should not ask
questions in Church about the matter under
discussion, but rather they should ask their
husbands at home. He says more clearly
elsewhere: “Let a woman learn in silence every
subject. It is not permitted for a woman to
teach, nor to be master over her husband, but
rather she should be in silence. For Adam was
created first, and then Eve. And Adam was not
beguiled, but that woman was led to shame.”
(I Tim. ii) See that the Apostle says clearly that
a woman should be silent when she learns and
should not question a learned man of the
Church. She is also not permitted to teach, nor
to be master over her husband, for two
reasons: on the one hand, because she was
created after man, and on the other, because
she was seduced into the disobedience of the
law of God, as if he (the Apostle) says: and she
is not a man.
II. Therefore because of the argument of
timing (that she was created after), and
because of their establish fault, a woman is not
permitted to teach or to be master over a man,
and neither can she question a learned man,
because in the service of her sin, which she
brought upon herself, she must always be
modest and ought to shun public appearance
rather than to seek it. Also, the blessed Peter
said: “Let wives be subordinate to their
husbands so that even if some do not believe
in the Word, they might reap the benefit of it
through the wordless behaviour of their
women; they will reflect with reverence on
your holy way of life.” (I Petr. iii) See that it
is clearly stated here, how faithful women
ought to give benefit to their faithless
husbands, indeed through the example of their
holy way of life, and by the example of their
preaching without words. Because of this I
argue that if she cannot educate her husband
through speech (but by deed only), much less
is she able to teach others by using words. For
it is greatly to be feared that the old enemy,
making use of a primitive art, might seduce a
Waldensians
man through the speech of his wife. Such he
said to Job through his wife: “Do you still
remain in your simplicity? Praise God” (that is,
curse God) “and die.” (Job, ii) But her
husband, perfect in serenity and patience,
rebuffed her, saying: “You speak as one of the
stupid women.” (ibid.) And so too, although
placed in the dung-pile, he conquered the
(devil) who prostrated the first man in
paradise. This is said in the laws to women:
“You will live under the power of a man.”
Also in the evidence of the Apostle: “If a
woman takes care of her hair, there will be
glory for her, since her hair has been given to
her to serve as a veil.” (I Cor. xi) See what a
woman’s ambition ought to be: she ought to
veil herself as a sure sign of her subjugation:
“For the head of a woman is a man.” (Ephes.
v) And also: “Any woman who prays or
prophesies without a veiled head defiles her
head.” (I Cor. xi) And further: “Man was not
created on account of woman, but woman on
account of man. Therefore on account of the
angels a woman ought not to have power over
the head [that is, over the man].” (ibid.) For
these men the sign of piety and holiness is
gladdening.
III. By what boldness does a woman presume
to teach the words of God in public, when she
ought not to prophesy nor to pray to God
himself, unless she is veiled. And if the head
of a woman is a man, with what face does she
dare to teach a man, who is her own head
indeed? And if she ought to wear a veil as a
sign of subservience and chastity, that she
might remember her sin, for which she was
punished from the time of her first act of
disobedience, and that she might be
subservient to her husband. Neither should
she, since she is subservient, presume to teach
the law of liberty. Thus it is ordered in the
decrees of the 23rd division, by the sixth
Carthaginian Council: “A woman, however
learned and holy, must not presume to teach
men in an assembly. But a lay man, in the
presence of clerics, must not dare to teach
unless those clerics ask him.”
IV. Moreover the glorious Virgin, mother of
God, who “kept safe every word” showed
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herself to “transfer them to her own heart.”
(Luc. ii) and is not said to have preached.
Moreover, neither did Mary Magdalene, nor
anyone else of those women who followed the
Lord.
V. But, say the enemies of truth, women ought
to preach, on account of what the Apostle said
to Titus. He said to instruct “old women so
that they live similarly to those who life a holy
life; not criminals, not slaves to wine, but
teachers of good, so that they might teach
prudence to young women so that they might
love their husbands and care for their sons, so
that they might be prudent, chaste, sober, and
have a care for their home, good natured,
obedient to their husbands, so that there might
be no blaspheming the Word of the Lord.”
(Tit. ii) This must be noted. The Apostle did
not say that old women should teach their
husbands in public, but that they should
instruct the young women privately, indeed
however only so far that they might teach them
that modesty which they will subsequently
follow. He permits, however, only old women
to teach, who excel adolescents in age and in
maturity of behaviour, in these things which
are held in common with old men, which the
Apostle says to be superior: that the men are
sensible, modest, chaste, healthy in their faith
and in their love and forbearance. Let them
have those things which the Apostle subjoins
them to, on behalf of their sex, when he orders
them that they might live “a holy way of life,”
and so on. The heretics are therefore refuted, in
that women may not teach heresy to the wise,
but according to words preached, however,
they may not teach, except the women aged in
years and customs, and they in turn may teach
no one except young women. Nay rather, it is
clearly decreed to them (young women) that
they may not teach; this is because they are not
healthy in faith, and it has been proven that
whoever is without that is not obedient, just as
has been demonstrated above.
VI. They further strive to confirm this mistake
through the example of the prophetess Anna,
who (by the evidence of the Evangelist) in that
very hour in which the Lord was brought into
the temple, appearing unexpectedly began to
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confess to the Lord and to speak about him to
everyone who awaited the redemption of
Israel.
VII. But let them take note as to what Anna
was. Her husband had died, and she was a
widow eighty-four years of age, “who did not
leave the temple, day and night, worshipping
by fasting and praying.” (Luc ii) Rightly
therefore was a prophecy given to her for such
daily abstinence, continence and uninterrupted
prayer. Let anyone bring out a woman of such
a kind and I shall willingly listen, not to her
teaching, but to her confessing her sins to God,
or confessing to the Lord in a confession of
praise. And neither is it said here, that she
taught or preached, but that “she spoke about
Christ to everyone who awaited the
redemption of Israel.” (ibid.) Preaching and
speaking are not the same thing. For everyone
who preaches or teaches speaks, but not
everyone who speaks preaches or instructs. For
a man speaks when he prays, but he is not said
to teach. She was therefore speaking about
Christ by confessing, that is, in praising or in
prophesying, not in teaching. For the gifts of
the Spirit, prophecy and doctrine, are different;
this may be evaluated from the words of the
Apostle when he says: “Now, brothers, if I
should come to you, speaking in tongues, what
use would I be to you, unless I were to speak
to you in revelation, in knowledge, in prophecy
or in doctrine?” (I Cor. xiv.) And also: “When
you come together, brothers, one of you has a
psalm, one a teaching, one a revelation, one a
message in strange tongues and another an
explanation for it. All of these add to the
building of the Church.” (ibid.) And also:
“You are all the body of Christ, each a part of
it. And God indeed has placed these in the
Church; first the Apostles, then the prophets,
then the learned men, then the virtuous, and
after them the people who are given the power
of healing, those who give help, rulers, and
speakers of strange tongues.” (I Cor. xii) And
also “Some are given by the Spirit a speech of
wisdom, while others are given, by that same
Spirit, a speech of knowledge. That same
Spirit gives faith to one, to another the One
Spirit gives the power of healing, to one the
power of miracles, to another prophecy. To
Waldensians
one he gives the ability to tell the difference
between those gifts which are given by the
Spirit and those which are not, to another he
gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, to
another the ability to interpret that speech.”
(ibid.) Since therefore one is the gift of
prophecy but the other is the speech of
teaching, I assert safely that Anna, or other
women like her, were prophets; it does not
however follow as a consequence that they
must be thought to have been teachers. In other
respects the Apostle forbids this, just as the
two are different things.
Chapter IX
Against their argument that the alms of the
living do not aid the dead; fasting, the rites of
the Mass and other arguments
I. And since it is the evil tendency of sinners to
fall into worse things (unless they recover their
senses), “so that those who harm continue to
harm, and those in dirt continue to be dirty, so
that the evil of sinners is exhausted,” (Apoc.
xxii) already these insane heretics dare to say
to those whom they seduce: the alms given by
living believers are no aid to the dead; neither
are fasting, prayers, nor even the celebration of
masses, nor prayers made on their behalf. This
heresy must be rebutted first by the canonical
authorities; next by the writings of the Catholic
fathers and by Catholic reasoning.
II. It is written in the Book of Maccabees, that:
“a man of such moral strength was Judas that
when a collection of money had been made, he
sent twelve thousand silver drachmas to
Jerusalem, so that a sacrifice might be offered
for the sins of the dead.” and so on (II Macc.
xii) See that the man was full of faith, burning
with zeal for the Law of God, praying much
for the people of God, devoted to God,
resisting tyrants, striving on behalf of the Law
of his God even unto death, for those “who
received death with piety.” (ibid.) He sent
twelve thousand drachmas to Jerusalem as a
gift. The Catholic Church gave him an
appointment that he might preach publicly and
serve as an example, making offerings on
behalf of dead believers, so that they might be
Waldensians
absolved from all their sins, when they might
rejoice in God without end.
III. Certainly, we read in the New Testament
that we ought to cease circumcision and
certain other practices of the Old Testament;
but nowhere may one read that sacrifices on
behalf of the faithful dead are not allowed.
Indeed it is rather the case that of the sins of
many believers, some are absolved here (on
earth), but some are absolved in the future.
Whence it is written in the Book of
Maccabees: “It is holy and proper to decide to
pray for the dead, that they might be absolved
from their sins.” (ibid.) Yet also the Lord said:
“But he who will speak words against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this
lifetime, nor in the future.” (Matth. xii) From
this argument it may be understood that some
sins may be forgiven in this lifetime and some
in the future. Consequently it may be clearly
recognised that what is denied to one is given
to others who have sinned less, or less
seriously. Of such a sort are unremitting and
idle speech, improper laughter, sins regarding
the care of familial matters, things which are
done almost without fault, or by those people
who know how to strive to avoid fault of this
kind. Also included are errors of ignorance in
matters which are not serious. This the blessed
Augustine says in his Enchiridion: “It must not
be denied that the spirits of the dead are
mitigated because of their piety while they
were alive, whenever an intermediary offers a
sacrifice on their behalf, or alms are offered in
a church.” And also: “whenever sacrifices are
offered, whether on the altars or as alms, on
behalf of all baptised people, these are actions
of thanks for very good men; those for the very
bad, even if they are of no help to the dead, are
some sort of the consolation to the living; and
those offered for the not very bad are merciful.
But they aid them, or at least give this help,
that their remission might be full, or at least
that damnation itself might be more tolerable.
IV. Furthermore, there are many examples of
how the prayers of the living are of aid to
Christians who have died. For consider, from
the evidence of the blessed Gregory, the
bishop Germanus of Capua, who visited the
Page 33
baths at Angulanum for the sake of his body,
on the advice of his doctors, so that he might
be washed. He came across Paschasius, the
deacon of the apostolic seat, already dead, who
was a man of miraculous sanctity, available for
the greatest works of alms, helper of the poor,
and humble, standing in prayer in the hot-bath.
He asked what so great a man as he was doing
there. Paschasius replied that he was appointed
to that place as a punishment because he had
sided with Laurence against Symmachus; and
because Symmachus was spurned, Laurence
was made Pope, although there were many
other believers who were against this, and they
were of greater authority. He said, however, “I
ask you to pray to the Lord for me: and in this
you know that you will be heard. If then you
return to these baths, you will not find me
here.” Germanus, a man of God, threw himself
into praying. A few days later he returned, but
he did not find anyone there, just as Paschasius
had already predicted.
V. In the same book, the blessed Gregory
responds to the episode when Peter asks what
may be done which might aid the souls of the
dead. “Even if sins cannot be remitted after
death, the holy offering of a healthy sacrifice
yet habitually benefit souls after death, even so
that the souls of the dead are seen on occasions
to wish for this themselves.” For when a
certain presbyter, in the diocese of the city of
Centumcellensis, was accustomed to wash in
hot baths as often as the necessity of his body
required it, an unknown man would remove
the shoes from his feet with great deference,
and he would admire his clothes and furnish
him with towels as he was going from the hot
bath, and set about all of his needs. And when
this happened more often, one day he gave the
man, as he was praying for himself, two
offertorial wreaths, seeking that they might be
accepted gratefully, because they were offered
to them in the grace of charity; but the man
humbly refused this offering, and said,
amongst other things: “If you wish to support
me, make an offering of this bread to God
Almighty on my behalf, and you will intercede
on behalf of my sins: and you will know that
you have been heard when you return to the
baths to be washed, and you do not find me
Page 34
here.” after these words he disappeared; and he
who appeared to be a man became known to
have vanished, because he was a spirit. And
that same presbyter for seven continuous days
grieved in tears on the other man’s behalf, and
everyday offered a healthy sacrificial animal.
When he returned to the baths afterward, he
did not find the man there. From this example
it is shown how much good sacrificing and the
giving of alms does for souls, when those from
amongst the living seek themselves the spirits
of the dead and declare the signs by which,
through alms, they appear to be absolved.
VI. A certain monk also, in the monastery of
the blessed Gregory, in great mourning over
the loss of three gold coins, which he had
hidden as if they were his own, was despised
by his brothers, so that they did not wish to
take an interest in his death, and he lacked the
burial of his brothers. Thirty days after his
death, after the blessed Gregory had
deliberated on the matter, for thirty continual
days a healthy victim was sacrificed. And after
this, appearing to him in a dream, he said that
he was well and that he had received
communion, since offerings had been made on
his behalf, for thirty days.
VII. See that from these examples it is clear
that prayers and the sacrifice of a healthy
victim bring much aid to the souls of the
departed, since through these things the
aforementioned Paschasius was absolved from
the sin of dissension and division, as was that
monk from the error of covetousness,
following the bitterness housed in his soul
after death and following the purging fires of
thirty days in torture.
VIII. This argument is strengthened and
confirmed by this evidence, with all skerricks
of doubt removed, and by the long-established
practice of the Catholic Church, which is, as
the Apostle says, “the safety and mainstay of
the truth.” (I Tim iii) He prays for the souls of
dead believers, both in the sacred ceremonies
of the mass and elsewhere. And indeed, if no
other authority were to be at hand, this
exemplar or argument ought to suffice: that is,
the custom of the Holy Church which has been
Waldensians
in practice for a long time. For if “in the
mouths of two or three witnesses stands every
word,” (II Cor xv), how much more important
is it if the whole Church all over the world
proclaim it together; for the Holy Spirit, just as
the Lord said, teaches the whole truth. This
fills the orb of the earth, that is, the Holy
Church, which is everywhere throughout the
world, and it does not permit the truth to lie.
For truth is the seven candles above the
candelabrum of the tabernacle. It has seven
parts because by the grace of the Holy Spirit it
stands for the Catholic Church, so that it may
not be placed in the darkness of sin.
IX. And so by these examples is Catholic
reason supported. For just as St. Augustine
said, “There is a certain way of living that is
not so good that it does not have need of these
things, and one not so evil that these things
may not benefit it after death. There is such a
thing as a good life that might not require these
things, and equally there is something in the
evil that may not by these things be helped
when it departs from this life. Therefore these
things are of benefit to those who are not very
evil, and they are the actions of a good life.
There is nothing that can aid the very evil after
death, except the comfort (of whatever kind)
of living men.”
X. It is no wonder if the benevolence or the
prayers of the living are of physical help to the
dead in the absolution of their crimes, when
they are of spiritual advantage to the dead for
the abolition of the criminal stain of falseness
or of other sins. The Holy Stephen prayed for
the fallen, and Paul was converted. They
prayed for a lame man, whom four men
carried, and his sins were removed from him
and health was restored to his body.
XI. Also, Christ was placed physically in the
sepulchre, but spiritually when descending into
hell he led out his own men: what wonder is it
therefore if the chosen, descending to the place
of purgatory, are later led out again when there
is sacrificed on their behalf a victim, which
will save the soul of each one from eternal
ruin, from which we are saved by the
mysterious death of the only-begotten son?
Waldensians
And if a prayer made on behalf of another is
profitable for him, what wonder is it if alms or
fasting are shown to be of benefit? There are
these words of the Apostle: “Pray without
ceasing.” (I Thess. v) Saint Augustine said: “It
is never right to cease praying, unless one
ceases to be just. He who always does good
things always prays.”
XII. And also: “Just as we have many limbs in
our one body, but not all the limbs do the same
thing, so too are we many are one body in
Christ, but individually members, one of
another, but God governs the body, so that
there is no division (that is, discord) in that
body.” (Rom xii) The body means the Church,
where there ought to be unity, “but in that
body itself the limbs take care of one another.”
(I Cor. xii) They ought to take care, I say, in
that body, which itself has the characteristic of
concern, that is, indifferent that one should not
act for the benefit of another less than for the
benefit of oneself. “If one member suffers all
the others suffer with it, and if one member is
glorified all the other members rejoice.” (Ibid.)
XIII. From this it is clear that just as different
limbs are collected and live within the same
body, so too different members are ruled in the
same Spirit of Christ and are preserved in His
unity. Whence it is that all faithful men have a
care for each amongst themselves, founded in
the body of Christ: so if one suffers the others
are sympathetic. And indeed, since some suffer
the fires of purgatory, others should aid them
and show them compassion “with concern
which is not at all sluggish.” (Rom. xii) They
should work as if working for their own
benefit so that others might be absolved.
Whence it is that by fasting, vigil, alms and by
the action of other pious deeds, by such
remedies help is managed for both the living
and the dead, established in the body of Christ,
through the unity of the faith and the bond of
love.
XIV. And no wonder, “He is the holy one and
the true one, who has the key of David, who
shuts and no one opens, who opens and no one
shuts, who has the keys of death and of hell,
who hears the desires of the poor and has an
Page 35
ear for their prayers.” (Apoc. iii), so that He
might absolve them whom the Church
absolves and bind them whom the Church
binds, just as He Himself said: “Whatever you
will bind upon the earth will be bound in
heaven and whatever you loosen upon the
earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matth. xvi)
Therefore if there are those whom the Church
has freed upon the earth, they are freed in
heaven, whether living or dead, (as long as
they are or were) believers. For he said
whatever.
XV. Still, it is written in the book of the
Dialogues that the blessed Benedict, on
account of a sin of the tongue excommunicated
two chaste women unless they would correct
themselves; who, not having altered their
previous customs, had shortly afterwards died
and had been buried in the Church. But when
the sacrifice in Holy Communion was
performed, they were seen to depart from the
church. Judgement was pronounced by the
Blessed Gregory: he gave an offering with his
own hand, ordering that it might be offered for
their benefit. Once the offering had been made
for them, neither of them was seen to depart
from the church. Indeed, they received
communion from the Lord through the servant
of the Lord. See from this it is clear how
greatly do offerings aid the souls of the faithful
dead. He was deemed worthy to bestow this,
since for men God was made flesh, so that He
could judge the flesh from souls.
XVI. The enemies of truth object to this,
however. They say that nothing can aid us after
death. They bring this testimony to the
evidence of their own error. For the Lord said:
“Walk while you have the light, lest the
darkness overtake you.” (John xii) And the
Apostle said: “Behold, now is the acceptable
time, now is the day of salvation.” (II Cor vi)
And also: “While we have the time, let us
work good for all, greatest however for the
households of faith.” (Gal. vi) And Salomon:
“Do immediately whatever your hand can do,
because neither work, nor reason, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom will there be in hell,
whither you are hurrying.” (Eccles. ix) And
David: “Since there is His mercy on earth.”
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(Psalm cxvii) From these words it is clear that
he who has despised to walk in the way of God
during this life is consumed after death by the
darkness of punishment, for God’s mercy is
allotted to those who do good works. For evil
men, however, there will not be mercy after
their lives are ended, but the judgement of
God, because then they are not able to provide
for themselves any help or safety. In these
circumstances the dead are not able to receive
protection or consideration from the kindness
of the living. For from the evidence of the
Apostle: “We must all appear before the
judgement of Christ so that each may receive
good or evil, according to what he has done
with his body.” (II Cor. v) See that according
to these words each man will receive in
judgement the good or the evil, which he has
done with his body. From this it may be
understood that after the destruction of the
body there is no benefit for a man if another
does something on his behalf.
XVII. To understand this, we must agree that
these authorities say that no man is able, after
death, to provide any aid for himself. For no
man who has neglected God and who
afterwards dies can deserve merit. However, if
someone, making a faithful offering through
charity will close off the final day, by the
prayers of the faithful or by pious acts he may
be saved. For he merits this so that he might be
helped by the faithful themselves, that amongst
the faithful he might preserve his faith in a
faithful life, and exist as a limb of the body of
Christ amongst the other limbs. Regarding this
the blessed Augustine said: “Let every desert
be preserved, from which someone can be
freed after the end of this life, or with which he
may be weighted down. Let none who has
neglected this prepare for himself to be
pardoned by God after he departs from the
world.” Therefore these things, which the
Church attends to often for the solace of the
dead, are not contrary to apostolic opinion, for
as it is said: “We shall all stand before the
judgement of Christ, so that each might
receive either good or evil, according to the
actions he has performed,” (Rom xiv) that yet
each established for himself his deserts whilst
he lived corporeally, so that these things might
Waldensians
be of aid. For these are not of benefit to all.
And why do they not benefit all, except if on
account of the different ways of life which
each has performed in his body? This the
blessed Gregory said: “This must be known,
that each will obtain nothing from at least the
lesser sins which warrants purgatory, unless he
merits it by good works which he has done
during his life, that he might gain it.” Whence
it is that he says that the above-mentioned
Paschasius “obtained this through the largess
of his own alms, so that then he was able to
merit grace, since he now could do nothing
[for himself].” That the Apostle said in the
body must be understood to mean the time in
which we live in the body.
Chapter X
Against those who deny the fire of purgatory,
and say that spirits, once loosed from the
body, go immediately to heaven or hell
I. There are those heretics who claim that souls
once loosed from the body immediately ascend
to heaven, or descend to the punishment of
hell, and they deny that the fire of purgatory
exists. Against this argue the authorities,
evidence and the doctrine of orthodox
Catholicism. For the Apostle says that Christ is
the foundation. And he joins to this: “If anyone
were to build above a foundation using gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, fire
will demonstrate of what stability is the work
of each one. If what he has built remains, he
will receive a reward; but if his work is burnt
down, he suffers the loss of it, but he himself
will be safe, just as if he had been through the
fire.” (I Cor. iii) Therefore this argument,
regarding the fire of purgatory to come, must
be accepted.
II. This must therefore be considered carefully:
he says that a man may be saved through fire;
not he who builds above the foundation using
iron, bronze or lead, that is, the greater sins,
and therefore the more permanent, and
thereupon ones that cannot be repaid; but
rather he who builds with wood, hay or straw,
that is, the lesser and less serious sins, which
the fire easily consumes. Augustine in his
Enchiridion wrote: “It is not unbelievable that
Waldensians
a number of the faithful either lie unaffected or
come to light through that very purgatorial fire,
according to how much more or less do they
love those good things which perish, by that
much more or less slowly or quickly are they
saved; such men as this, however, about whom
I am talking, will not inherit the kingdom of
God, unless they are remitted of their sins,
with the repentant in agreement. I say ‘in
agreement’ so that they might be sincere in
their alms.” The blessed John the Baptist also
said to the people regarding Christ: “He will
baptise you himself in the Holy Spirit and in
fire.” (Marc. i) Indeed, the Lord purges sins
through baptism and through the fire, either of
worldly suffering or of purgatory. Also, it is
written: “Place an empty pot over burning
coals until the bronze grows hot and melts and
is consumed by the glowing flame.” (Ezech.)
The pot is any faithful soul, now full of virtue
and good works, now empty, that is, imperfect.
And because the spirit clearly is not perfect in
sacred desires and works, but is befouled by
the red of venal sins, it is ordered to be placed
above the coals of the fire of purgatory, as long
as it may be tormented by the heat of the fire,
and in that fire the filth of less important sins
may be consumed. The greater the stain of sin,
the longer the period of time to remain in the
fire.
Chapter XI
Against those who say that the spirits of the
dead do not enter heaven or hell before
judgement, but are contained in another
place of shelter
I. There are, however, those who say that souls
enter neither heaven nor hell before
judgement. They assert that the souls of just
men are held in a pleasant place of shelter, and
those of the reprobate are held in a place of
punishment. The shelter for pious souls they
say is called Paradise, just as the place of
punishment for evil men is called Hell. After
the last judgement the chosen will inhabit
divine palaces and the sinners will be hurled to
the torments of Hell.
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accept spirits loosed from the body. Paradise
receives the spirits of the perfect, and hell the
very evil. The fire of purgatory takes those
who are neither very good nor very evil. And
just as a very good place receives the souls of
the very good, and a most evil place receives
the evilest spirits, those of middling perfidy go
to a place which is moderately painful, a place
less grim than hell but worse than the earth.
The Apostle was one of the very good men, as
he said: “I wish to be released and to be with
Christ.” (Phillip. i) Christ, however, is at the
right hand of the God the Father, where
furthermore he intercedes for us. Therefore,
there can be little doubt but that he who wishes
to be with Christ after the dissolution of the
body, desires to be in heaven, where Christ is.
Whence he said clearly to the Corinthians:
“We know that if our earthly home is
destroyed, we have a building made by God, a
house which has not been built, eternal in
heaven.” (II Cor v.) See that the Apostle
knows without any ambiguity that after the
dissolution of the terrestrial home, that is, the
body, which is from the earth, he has an
everlasting home in heaven, not made by hand,
(that is, by the aid of another man), but rather
by God, that is, by divine work. Hence the
Lord said: “Where there is a body, there the
vultures will gather.” (Luc. xvii) Because souls
ascend to heaven once the bulk of the body has
been dissolved, where Christ is, not only
according to divine nature, but according to
human nature also, by which the corporeal
ascends to the heavens.
III. And also: “If someone should aid me,
should follow me, where I am, there will also
be my helper.” (John xii) And also: “If I shall
go away and prepare a place for you, I shall
then return and receive you to myself, so that
you are also where I am.” (John xiv) And
again: “Father, those whom you gave me I
wish to have with me, so that they may see my
renown, which you have given me.” Great
therefore is the reward of love and of good
works, and to be with Christ.
Chapter XII
II. But these men are not correct in their
assertion. There are indeed three places that
Against those who do not wish to pray in
church and assert that vows do not have to be
Page 38
made in the church. Here it is proven that the
Church must be prayed to, prayer must be
made there, and that is must be held in great
veneration. Here response is made to the
objections of those heretics, how they say in
the words of the blessed Stephen, ‘that the
Most High does not dwell in buildings made
by hand,’(Acts vii) and therefore not in the
church.
I. While they pile sin on sin, condemning in
their speech both the house of God and the
house of prayer, they prefer to pray in stables,
or in their own rooms, or in treasure-chambers,
rather than in a church. Even worse, they strive
to persuade women and the stupid that there is
no church, and nor ought they to pray.
II. Against these men I offer the testimony of
the sacred Scriptures, as the blessed Peter
taught: “so that those of the faithful who have
foreknowledge of this might guard themselves,
lest they be drawn into the error of the foolish
and fall from your own proper position of
safety.” (II Petr. iii) Therefore attention must
be paid that the house of God and the church
are called the house of prayer. It is written in
the books of the Evangelists how much
reverence must be shown. The Lord
discovered men selling sheep and cattle in the
temple, and pigeons; he found money-changers
seated, and when he made a kind of whip from
string, he cast all of them out of the temple, the
sheep and the cattle also, and turned over the
teeming tables of the money-changers. And he
said this to those who were selling pigeons:
“Go away from here, and do not do business in
the home of my Father.” (John ii) This is in
John. Mark says that the Lord would not allow
that “any carry a vase through the temple, and
he taught, saying to them: ‘Is it not written that
my house shall be called a house of prayer for
all nations? And you make it a den of
robbers.’” (Mark xi) According to Luke, after
he had done this, “every day he spent teaching
in the temple.” (Luke xxi)
III. See that he clearly calls the temple the
house of his father and his house, and the
house of prayer not only for him or the
apostles, but also for all men, that is, those
Waldensians
chosen Jews and gentiles. The heretics,
however, call it neither the home of God nor
the home of prayer, and neither do they take
care to pray with the chosen people. They
prefer to pray in their own homes more than to
pray in the house of God. From this it is clear
that they follow the Lord Jesus Christ neither
in words nor in deeds, while they blaspheme
the temple, which to such a degree He
venerated in speech and deed; nor do they pray
in that place where it is ordained that people
must pray. For they follow the beast (that is,
the Antichrist), who just as is said in the
Apocalypse: “appears in the blaspheming of
his own mouth, to blaspheme His name, His
tabernacle and those who live in heaven.”
(Apoc. Xiii)
IV. They blaspheme against the tabernacle of
God when they say that they would prefer to
pray in their own room or in a stable than in
the house of God. They blaspheme against the
name of God when they say that He did not
create the world and does not rule it. They
speak ill of those who live in heaven when
they say that the apostles, martyrs and the
citizens of heaven cannot alleviate any
suffering from suppliants.
V. Moreover, He used to teach in the temple,
as it is said: “He spent every day teaching in
the temple.” (Luc. xxi) There he heard the
learned men, just as was written regarding His
parents: “They discovered him in the temple
seated amongst the learned men, listening to
them and asking questions.” (Luc. ii) And
when they said: “We were looking for you
anxiously,” (ibid.) He answered: “Why did you
look for me? Do you not know that I must be
where my father is?” (ibid.) See that when he
was discovered in the temple, he replied that it
was His Father’s and it was necessary for Him
to be there.
VI. Pertaining to this it is written in the Gospel
of Luke about the disciples after the ascension
of the Lord: “They were always in the temple
praising and blessing God.” (Luc. xxiv) And
after the coming of the Holy Spirit, just as is
written in the Acts of the Apostles: “Everyday
they were in vigil in the temple.” (Acts ii) And
Waldensians
also: “Peter and John were going up to the
temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour,”
(Acts iii) when they healed a man who had
been lame from birth.
VII. Also, an angel of the Lord, leading the
Apostles out of prison, said: “‘Go, and
standing in the temple tell the whole gathering
the words of His life.’ And when they heard
this, they entered the temple at dawn and
began to teach.” (Acts v) And also: “It
happened to Paul as he was praying in the
temple that he fell into a trance and saw
Jesus.” (Acts xxii) The widow Anna also “did
not depart from the temple, worshipping night
and day.” (Luc ii) Also there was Simeon, “just
and devout, looking for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was in him. He also
came into the temple, inspired by the Spirit,
and received Jesus into his arms and praised
God.” (Ibid.)
VIII. From this it is clear that the Apostles
prayed and praised God in the temple, and
Paul saw Jesus there; there also they taught by
the order of the angel; also Anna did not depart
from the temple but worshipped the Lord night
and day. Simeon also, a holy man, filled with
the Holy Spirit in his own soul, came into the
temple and received Jesus and blessed him.
Why, therefore, do the impious heretics boast
that they serve the Gospel and follow the
apostles when they do not pray in the temple
but in their own room; nor do they teach in the
temple, but in the forum and even privately at
home?
IX. O the stupidity of it! Is it annoying to you
if God has a home in every city, farm and
castle, so that he might be honoured by his
own people, when many of you have not one
home but many for your whims? You also
have homes, one for eating, another for
sleeping and others for other uses. Why are
you jealous of the Christian people if they have
a house for prayer, for praising God or for
teaching the words of life? Also, because God
is of all things, not of one thing alone, He is
praised by all in the community.
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X. That a church is said to be a house of prayer
will be proven by reason and by authorities.
Church is said to be now the gathering of the
faithful, now the congregation of evil men,
now and the home of God, to which both the
former and the latter come. The church is said
to be the gathering of the faithful, whence it is
written: “Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ, and
Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved
fellow worker, and to Appia our dear sister and
Archippus our fellow-soldier, and the church
in your house. Grace be with you and peace
from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ.” (Philem. i) The church is said to be a
congregation of evildoers by David: “I hate the
church of the malicious.” (Psalm xxv) A
church is also said to be a house of prayer,
whence the Apostle said to the Corinthians:
“For when you assemble in church, I hear that
there are divisions, and in part I believe it.” (I
Cor xi) And a little later: “When you meet
together as one, it is not the Lord’s supper that
you take up for eating. For each one goes
ahead with his own meal, and while one is
hungry another is drunk. Do you not have your
own houses for eating and drinking? Or do
you despise the Church of God and humiliate
those who have nothing?” (ibid.) He clearly
says that the Corinthians, of whom some are
good and some are evil, meet in church that is
in the house of prayer, just as the true
explicators tell us. Then he states: “when you
meet together as one”. What does meeting
together as one mean, except all coming
together to one place, and which place can one
name as superior to a church? And since in
that place, that is, in church, they repaired
themselves, he admonished them, saying: “Do
you not have your own houses for eating and
drinking? Or do you despise the church of
God.” That is, do you not have other places
where you restore yourselves? Or since you
have other places you despise the church of
God, that is, the house of prayer, by eating and
drinking in that place? It is as if he said: “a
church is not a house for eating or drinking but
for prayer, and therefore if you have a house
for eating or drinking, refresh yourselves there,
not in the house of prayer, that is, in a church.
By that reasoning, he who eats or drinks in a
church of God despises it, especially if he has
Page 40
his own house for eating. For a church of God
is not a house for eating and drinking, but a
house of prayer.
XI. From this it is clear that the church of God
can be said to be the house of prayer. Besides,
if someone says that the church of God is said
to be faithful men, let him attend to what great
absurdity he follows. The Apostle, indeed,
chastises those Corinthians who were eating in
God’s church. Also, if God’s church is
understood to be the convocation of the
faithful, consequently he seems to reprehend
those men who eat in a gathering of the
faithful, and in such a way the Lord will
punish those who eat and drink with the
disciples. It follows therefore that one must not
eat with another, or that one must only eat with
unbelievers and accepting this argument is
highest madness. It is a concern, therefore, that
we must understand the church of God as the
house of prayer. Whence it is that through
etymology the church (ecclesia) is said to be
the ‘building of the clerics’ (aedes
clericorum), not because only they come into
this place, but because it is frequented other
believers and because it is their occupation to
guard it, close it, open it and there to celebrate
the divine mysteries.
XII. No wonder is it then if God’s church is
called both a congregation of the faithful and
the house for prayer where they meet, just as
the word house denotes both the building and
the people who live within it. When it is said
that the Lord entered into the house of the
prince of the Pharisees to eat bread on the
Sabbath (Luc xiv), the house signifies the
buildings. When however there is talk of the
prince, that “he himself believed, and the
whole house” (ibid.) the house here denotes
those living in the building. The word city
(civitas) likewise means both the place where
the citizens live and the citizens who live
there. It means the place in the passage “when
he saw the city, Jesus wept.” (Luc xix) It means
the people here: “When Jesus entered
Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying:
‘who is he?’” (Matth x) For the circle of the
walls or the place itself did not say, “Who is
he”, but the citizens themselves.
Waldensians
XIII. A synagogue is also said to be a house of
prayer in which the Jews meet. And the Jews
themselves said to the Lord regarding the
centurion: “He built the synagogue for us.”
(Luc vii) They meant by the word the structure
of the synagogue, which he built for them so
that they might pray. John also said to the
angel in the church at Smyrna: “You have been
blasphemed by them who say that they are
Jewish and are not, but are of the synagogue of
Satan.” (Apoc. ii) In this passage, without any
doubt he calls the Jews the synagogue of
Satan.
XIV. It is therefore quite clear both by the
evidence of the Apostle and by the reasoning
of other similar authorities that God’s church
is called as much the house of prayer as the
congregation of the faithful. For in the physical
structure of a church the variety or multitude
of stone or wood signifies the divers types of
the faithful. The floor and the roof mirror the
servient and the masters; the windows through
which the light of heaven pours are the learned
men through whom other believers are
illuminated, who are brought to light by the
light of God. The foundation, upon which the
whole weight of the church is grounded, is
Christ, who underpins our customs. The door
is faith; the altar, God; the width of the church
building, love; its height, hope; its length,
perseverance; its lamps or candles, the
Scripture or virtues; the cymbals, the sign of
jubilation. Therefore since the material
structure of a church reflects the spiritual, not
inappropriately is its name given, because
many signs represent the thing of which it is
the sign. The Prophet spoke regarding manna:
“Man ate the bread of angels” (Psal. lxxvii) not
because it was the bread of angels but because
that was a metaphor for it. Also, the Apostle
said to the Jews about the rock which was a
foundation for the water: “the Rock followed
them, and the Rock was Christ” (I Cor x), not
because the Rock actually was Christ but
because it was a metaphor for Christ who
makes us drink from the water of wisdom.
XV. Although we speak of the house of prayer,
that is, the church for praying in, the enemies
Waldensians
of truth cite the words of the Evangelist
against us: “You, however, when you pray, go
into your room and with the door closed pray
to your father in secret, and your father, who
sees in secret, will reward you.” (Matth vi)
From this, they say that one must pray in one’s
own room, and not in church.
XVI. If, however, one must pray in one’s own
room, and not in church, Jesus Christ, in
whose words there is no trickery, sinned, when
he called it the house of prayer, if there one
does not pray. If, however, he spoke the truth,
especially since Truth speaks truth, it is the
house of prayer because people must pray
there. Moreover, if one must not pray in
church, John and Peter sinned when they
entered the temple at the hour of prayer, at the
ninth hour of the day. Peter also sinned, as did
Anna, who did not depart from the temple,
worshipping night and day through fasting and
prayer. To think that this is so is the highest
madness. It is agreed, therefore, that one must
pray in church, from the authority of Christ,
from the example of the apostles and of many
other holy people.
XVII. Prayer must be made everywhere,
however, just as the Apostle said: “I wish men
to pray everywhere, raising their clean hands,
without anger or insincerity, and the women
should do likewise.” (I Tim. ii) And the
Prophet said: “In every region of His kingdom
let my spirit praise the Lord.” (Psal. cii)
Therefore although one must pray everywhere,
God wished especially for the there to be a
place reserved for praying, specifically and
only for the praying to and worshipping of
God, so that as much as prayer might be made
more attentively, so much might that place be
vacated for God, so that other things would not
take place there. Indeed other places are often
used for many other types of business. And
therefore if anyone were to pray there he
would often be interrupted whether he liked it
or not. “For dead flies pollute the sweet odour
of perfume.” (Eccles. x) Worldly affairs, just
like flies, make themselves intrusive and
confound the hearts of those praying, and as a
result the prayers, which by their own nature
Page 41
smell sweet, do not return to God the fragrance
of the suppliant.
XVIII. Therefore when the Lord said that one
should go into his own room to pray, he does
not advise that the physical bed is the place for
prayer, for He never did this: He never calls
the bed or the bedchamber the house of prayer.
Yet he calls the temple the house of God and
the house of prayer. This must not be
understood to mean the physical bed but the
spiritual. It is therefore called one’s own room,
or the secret place of the heart, where if the
conscience is good, a person weighs up
favourably; but if it is evil, then he is much
weighed down. He who will pray, therefore,
ought to enter the secret places of his heart so
that he prays not only with his voice but also
with his heart. Let him enter the chamber of
his heart lest the mind, overcome by external
matters, pollutes the fruits of prayer. Then
turned towards itself, the more, having spurned
other matters it vies to have leisure for God
alone, the more it may gain things more easily
through prayer. And therefore as long as it is
insisted that the mouth must be closed for
prayer, that is, that the sense of hearing must
be secured through the caution of the heart, so
that unlawful wishes might be restrained and
carnal desires prevented; but the Father of
heaven should be diligently prayed to with
whole intention of heart, and by this closing of
the entrance to the heart unexpected matters
should not provide an interruption. This is the
praying which reaches heaven. This beats
upon the ears of the Father of heaven. This
brings benefit is something was asked for.
Whence it is said, that: “Your Father, who sees
in secret, will reward you.” (Matth. Vi)
XIX. Moreover, because they do not wish to
pray in church, they extend against us this plea
in their sin, and cite as evidence what the
blessed Stephen said in the Acts of the
Apostles: “Solomon built a house for God, but
the Most High does not dwell in houses made
by hands, as the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my
throne, and the earth is my foot-stool. What
house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or
what is the place for my rest? Did not my
hands make all these things?’” (Acts vii) And
Page 42
they say that if the Most High does not live in
buildings made by hands, He does not live in
the churches, which are made by the hands of
men. But if He does not live there, why do we
go thither to pray?
XX. To this we respond: we must understand
God does not live in manmade places as those
buildings, which are not closed, or are not
contained by manmade things. For God is
immeasurable and cannot be circumscribed;
He is indefinable and therefore cannot be
limited or confined to one place. For whom is
heaven a throne and the earth a footstool - how
could He be contained in a house? When you
live in your own home there will you be
confined and nor will you ever be anywhere
else. But God does not live thus in temples
made by humans, to be shut therein, to be
never anywhere else.
XXI. Moreover, “God is the Spirit” (II Cor.
iii). He also said that God is not held in any
corporeal place but by Grace he lives in the
hearts of the chosen. Whence the Apostle said
to the Ephesians: “May the Father of Our Lord
Jesus Christ grant it to you that Christ will
dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephes. iii)
Waldensians
For faith is yours through Christ and Christ is
in your heart. The Prophet said: “He forsook
the tent of Shiloh, His own tent, where He
lived amongst the people.” (Psal. lxxvii) See
how God lived in His own tent, and He lived
there among the people. In such a way God
lives in churches, dwelling amongst men, and
therefore He would rather live there than
elsewhere, because sometimes many gather
there: with great devotion and burning faith
they congregate. God is worshipped through
supplication and by the comprehension of the
sacred food, that is, the body of Christ, and the
comprehension of the divine Word. Therefore
since God is always in the hearts of the chosen
ones, always and everywhere, let Him satisfy
them fuller and more completely in the
churches, when He sees them more resolute in
their entreaty. If, however, God is everywhere,
as he says: “I fill the sky and the earth” (Isaiah
xxiii) He is in manmade buildings, containing
it and ruling over it, but He does not live there,
as in the hearts of the chosen: He ‘lives’ there
through Grace, and in them He exists through
essence, power and presence.
