The Waldensian movement was started by a lay follower of the church, rather than by a priest or monk. His name was Peter Waldo and his goal was to return to a purer Christianity.
But he did not do this in the manner that other reformers had done before him. The Waldensians had no interest in creating a monastic order, but rather, flourished on the idea of bringing other laypeople to the Gospels.
This was important in Peter Waldo’s time in the 1170’s A.D., because the Gospels were only available in Latin or Greek.
Peter Waldo and his Journey into Waldensianism
Waldo, who was married and had made his living as a merchant, underwent a spiritual crisis wherein he began to feel that his life was not keeping with the teachings of Christ in Holy Scripture. He had become very rich and he worried that this wealth had come at the expense of his spiritual well-being.
Inspired by stories of St. Alexis and his wife, who made vows on their wedding day to live a life of celibacy and give everything they had to the poor, Waldo eventually decided that he wanted to become a wandering preacher and give everything away.
Hiring two priests to translate parts of the New Testament into French so that he could study them, he became more and more convinced that his life was not in keeping with the Gospel.
His wife, however, was not happy with that decision and appealed to the archbishop of Lyons to stop her husband from following this desire. In response, the archbishop did forbid Waldo to preach without the approval of the church. Waldo allowed his wife to retain all their possessions and then left his family to live what he called an "apostolic life."
Waldensians versus Albigensians
Waldensian preachers traveled two-by-two like the apostles and set out to lead what they perceived to be more moral lives. But Waldo was not only never given permission by the church to preach, but he and his fellow Waldensians were excommunicated for not following that order of the Catholic Church in the 1180s. Pope Lucius III made the pronouncement.
Waldensians were often mistakenly compared to the Albigensians, but this was quite inaccurate. The Albigensians changed Christian Doctrine to fit their chosen lifestyle, whereas, the Waldensians did not do this. Waldensians believed in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ in His humanity. Albigensians, on the other hand, believed that Christ had only experienced the crucifixion metaphorically. In their view, Jesus Christ was unable to experience suffering because of His divinity, and therefore, transcended the cross.
Heresy According to the Early Church Fathers
The Early Church Fathers often charged heretics with using and twisting the scriptures to justify their false beliefs.
“They have boldly falsified the Sacred Scriptures, rejected the canons of the ancient Faith, and ignored Christ. Instead of inquiring what the sacred Scriptures say, they laboriously seek to discover what form of syllogism might be contrived to establish their impiety,” according to (Eusebius) A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers.
Another of the huge heresies in Catholic Church History included the Pelagians, but one of the rarely heard of heretical sects from the early church were the Adamites.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics, by Charles S. Clifton.
- A Catholic Dictionary, by William E. Addis and Thomas Arnold, M.A.
- Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott.
- A Short History of Christian Doctrine: From the First Century to the Present - By Bernhard Lohse.
- The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325 - 1870, by Philip Hughes.
- A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers, edited by David W. Bercot.
 |
