9. The work of John Wyckliffe

English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe was a precursor (предшественник) of the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Hipswell, York­shire and was educated at Balliol College, Ox­ford University. He received a doctorate in theology in 1372 and taught philosophy at Oxford throughout most of his career, while nominally serving as a priest in a succession of parishes. Wycliffe gained prominence 1374 during a prolonged dispute between Edward III, King of England, and the papa over the payment of a certain papal tribute. Both King and Parliament were reluctant pay the papal levies. Wycliffe wrote several pamphlets refuting (опровергающие) the pope's claims & upholding the right of Parliament to limit Church power. He became known as a brilliant scholastic theologian and the most respected debater of his time. He entered royal service in 1374, when he was sent to Bruges to negotiate with papal representatives on the issue of tribute payments to Rome. The conference failed, but Wycliffe won the patronage age of John of Gaunt and leader of an antipapal faction (фракция) in Parliament. Becoming a figure in the anticlerical party of John Gaunt, Wycliffe attacked the rights claimed by the Church, calling for a reformation of its wealth, corruption, and abuses. He looked to the king as the legitimate authority for the Church purification. In 1376, Wycliffe enun­ciated the doctrine of "dominion as founded in grace," according to which all authority is conferred (дарованную) directly by the grace of God and is consequently forfeited (поплатился) when the wielder (владелец) of that authority is guilty of mortal sin. Wycliffe did not state clearly that he considered the English Church to be sinful and worldly (земной, светской), but his implication was clear. On February 19, 1377, he was called before the bishop of Lon­don, William Courtenay, to give account of 2. The interrogation ended when Gaunt, who had accompanied Wycliffe, became involved in a brawl (шумную ссору) with the bishop and his entourage. On May 22, 1377, Pope Gregory XI issued several bulls accus­ing Wycliffe of heresy. In autumn of the same year, however, Parliament requested his opin­ion on the legality of forbidding the English Church to ship its riches abroad at the pope's behest. Wycliffe upheld the lawfulness of such a prohibition, and early in 1378 he was again called before Bishop Courtenay and the Arch­bishop of Canterbury, Simon of Sudbury. Wycliffe was dismissed with only a formal admonition (замечание), however, because of his influ­ence at court. During 1378, Wycliffe and cer­tain Oxford associates defied (проигнорировали) Church tradi­tion by undertaking an English translation of the Latin Bible. After the Great Papal Schism began in 1378, Wycliffe's views became much more radical. In De potestate papae (On Papal Power, 1377-78) he rejected the biblical basis of papal authority, insisted on the primacy of Scripture, and advocated extensive theologi­cal reform. Ten conclusions drawn from his writings were condemned in 1382, and his Oxford disciples were forced to recant (отречся); but Wycliffe himself was neither tried nor person­ally condemned during his lifetime. In 1379, Wyckliffe repudiated the doctrine of transubstantiation.This declaration caused such that John of Gaunt withdrew his sup­port. Wycliffe in 1380 began to send out disciples, called Poor Preachers, who travelled the countryside ex­pounding (излагая) his religious views. The preachers found a ready audience, and Wycliffe was suspected of fomenting (подстрекал, раздувал) social unrest. He had no direct connection with the unsuccessful Peasants' Revolt in 1381, but it is probable that his doctrines influenced the peasants. In May 1382, Courtenay, now the Archbishop of Canterbury, convened an ecclesiastical court that condemned Wycliffe as a heretic and about his expulsion (изгнание, исключение) from Oxford.

Wycliffe retired to his parish of Lutterworth. After Wycliffe died on December 31, 1384, his teachings were spread far and wide. His Bible, appeared in 1388, was widely distrib­uted by his followers, called Lollards. Lollardism developed as a religious movement in the 1380s. The Lollards preached obedience to God, reliance on the Bible as a guide to Chris­tian living, and simplicity of worship. They rejected the richness of the mass, most sacra­ments, and the supremacy of the pope. They denied that an organized church was necessary for salvation (спасение). Most Lollards were poor priests or people who were not members of the clergy. They wore long russet (красновато-коричневые) gowns, carried staffs, and lived on what they could beg. Тhe move­ment gained many followers among the com­mon people. The movement began to lose sup­port after 1420. The Lollards helped to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation.

After his death, Wycliffe was condemned by the Council of Constance (May 4,1415), and his body was ordered exhumed and burned.