The Net of Faith. The Corruption of the Church, Caused by its Fusion and Confusion with Temporal Power 12+

📘 The Net of FaithThe Corruption of the Church, Caused by its Fusion and Confusion with Temporal PowerHaving thus learned the essence of Chelčický’s teaching, I with much greater impatience waitedfor the appearance of The Net of Faith in the journal of the Academy. Buta year, two, three years passed, and the book did not appear. Only in 1888 I learned that theprinting of the book, which had been begun, had come to a stop. I got the proof-sheets of as muchas had been printed, and I read the book.The book is in every respect remarkable.The contents are quite correctly rendered by Pýpin. Chelčický’s fundamental idea is this, thatChristianity,having united with the power in the time of Constantine and having continued todevelop under these conditions, has become absolutely corrupt and has ceased to be Christianity.The title “The Net of Faith,” was given by Chelčický to his work, because, taking for his motto theverse of the Gospel about calling the disciples to become fishers of men, Chelčický, continuingthis comparison, says, “Christ by means of His disciples caught in His net of faith the wholeworld, but the larger fish, tearing the net, jumped out of it, and through the holes, which theselarger fish had made, all the others went away, and the net was left almost empty.”Leo TolstoyThe large fish that broke through the net are the rulers, emperors, popes, kings, who, in notrenouncing their power, did not accept Christianity, but its semblance only.