St. Gildas the Wise (450/500-570) was an eminent British monk and historian who built monasteries and churches. His ecclesiology is contrary to that dogmatized at Vatican I.
§ 66. Britain hath priests, but they are unwise; very
many that minister, but many of them impudent ; clerks she hath, but certain of
them are deceitful raveners; pastors (as they are called) but rather wolves
prepared for the slaughter of souls (for they provide not for the good of the
common people, but covet rather the glut- tony of their own bellies),
possessing the houses of the church, but obtaining them for filthy lucre's
sake; instructing the laity, but showing withal most depraved examples, vices,
and evil manners; seldom sacrificing, and seldom with clean hearts, standing at
the altars; not correcting the commonalty for their offences, while they commit
the same sins themselves; despising the commandments of Christ, and being
careful with their whole hearts to fulfil their own lustful desires, some of
them usurping with unclean feet the seat of the apostle Peter; but for the
demerit of their covetousness falling down into the pestilent chair of the
traitor Judas; detracting often, and seldom speaking truly; hating verity as an
open enemy, and favouring falsehoods, as their most beloved brethren; looking
on the just, the poor, and the impotent, with stern countenances, as if they
were de- tested serpents, and reverencing the sinful rich men without any
respect of shame, as if they were heavenly angels, preaching with their outward
lips that alms are to be disbursed upon the needy, but of themselves not
bestowing one halfpenny, concealing the horrible sins of the people, and
amplifying injuries offered unto themselves, as if they were done against our
Saviour Christ; expelling out of their houses their religious mother per- haps,
or sisters, and familiarly and indecently entertaining strange women, as if it
were for some more secret office, or rather, to speak truly, though fondly (and
yet not fondly to me, but to such as commit these matters), debasing themselves
unto such bad creatures; and after all these seeking rather ambitiously for
ecclesiastical dignities, than for the kingdom of heaven; and defending after a
tyrannical fashion their achieved preferments, nor ever labouring with lawful
manners, to adorn the same; negligent and dull to listen to the precepts of the
holy saints (if ever they did so much as once hear that which full often they
ought to hear), but diligent and attentive to the plays and foolish fables of
secular men, as if they were the very ways to life, which indeed are but the
passages to death; being hoarse, after the fashion of bulls, with the abundance
of fatness, and miserably prompt to all unlawful actions; bearing their
countenances arrogantly aloft, and having nevertheless their inward senses,
with tormenting and gnawing con- sciences, depressed down to the bottom, or
rather to the bottomless pit, glad at the gaining of one penny, and at the loss
of the like value sad, slothful and dumb in the apostolical decrees (be it for
ignorance or rather the burden of their offences), and stopping also the mouths
of the learned, but singularly experienced in the deceitful shifts of worldly
affairs ; and many of this sort and wicked conversation, violently intruding
themselves into the preferments of the church, yea rather buying the same at a
high rate, than being any way drawn there- unto, and moreover as unworthy wretches,
wallowing (after the fashion of swine) in their old and unhappy puddle of
intolerable wickedness, after they have attained unto the seat of the
priesthood or episcopal dignity (who neither have been installed or resident on
the same), for usurping only the name of priesthood, they have not received the
orders or apostolical preeminence, but how can they who are not as yet fully
instructed in faith, nor have done penance for their sins, be any way supposed
meet and convenient to ascend unto any ecclesiastical degree (that I may not
speak of the highest) which none but holy and perfect men, and followers of the
apostles, and (to use the words of the teacher of the Gentiles) persons free
from reprehension, can lawfully and without the foul offence of sacrilege
undertake.
§ 67. For what is so wicked and so sinful as after the
example of Simon Magus (even if with other faults he had not been defiled
before), for any man with earthly price to purchase the office of a bishop or
priest, which with holiness and righteous life alone ought lawfully to be
obtained; but herein they do more wilfully, and desperately err in that they
buy their deceitful and unprofitable ecclesiastical degrees, not of the
apostles or their successors, but of tyrannical princes, and their father the
devil; yea rather they raise this as a certain roof and covering of all
offences, over the frame of their former serious life, that being protected
under the shadow thereof, no man should lightly hereafter lay to their charge
their old or new wickedness, and hereupon they build their desires of
covetousness and gluttony, for that being now the rulers of many they may more
freely make havock at their pleasures. For if truly any such offer of
purchasing ecclesiastical promotions were made by these impudent sinners (I
will not say with St. Peter), but to any holy priest, or godly king, they would
no doubt receive the same answer which their father Simon Magus had from the
mouth of the apostle Peter, saying: " Thy money be with thee unto thy perdition."
But (alas!) perhaps they who order and advance these ambitious aspirers, yea
they who rather throw them under foot, and for a blessing give them a cursing,
whilst of sinners they make them not penitents (which were more consonant to
reason), but sacrilegious and desperate offenders, and in a sort instal Judas,
that traitor to his master, in the chair of Peter, and Nicholas, the author of
that foul heresy, in the seat of St. Stephen, the martyr, it may be, at first
obtained their own priesthood by the same means, and therefore do not greatly
dislike in their children, but rather respect the course, that they their
fathers did before follow. And also, if finding resistance, in obtaining their
dioceses at home, and some, who severely renounce this chaffering of
church-livings, they cannot there attain to such a precious pearl, then it doth
not so much loath as delight them (after they have carefully sent their
messengers beforehand) to cross the seas, and travel over most large countries,
that so in the end, yea even with the sale of their whole substance, they may
win and compass such a pomp, and such an incomparable glory, or to speak more
truly, such a dirty and base deceit, and illusion. And afterwards with great
show and magnificent ostentation, or rather madness, returning back to their
own native soil, they grow from stout- ness to stateliness, and from being used
to level their looks to the tops of the mountains, they now lift up their
drowsy eyes into the air, even to the highest clouds, and as Novatus, that foul
hog, and persecutor of our Lord's precious jewel, did once at Rome, so do these
intrude themselves again into their own country, as creatures of a new mould,
or rather as instruments of the devil, being even ready in this state and
fashion to stretch out violently their hands (not so worthy of the holy altars
as of the avenging flames of hell) upon Christ's most holy sacrifices. (The
Works of Gildas and Nennius, Translated from the Latin [trans. J. A.
Giles; London: James Hohn, 1841], 59-62)
Gildas’ reference to the chair or seat of St. Peter have
nothing to do with the Bishop of Roem, but are a symbol of apostolicity, and he
sees the priests and bishops as successors of the apostles in general. (“George,”
Errors
of the Latins: Notes on the Differences Between Traditional Roman Catholicism
and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and an Analysis of Their Historical Controversies
[June 25, 2021], 282)
§ 108. What need many words? The example of Matthias is
apparently laid before you for your confusion, who was chosen into his place,
not by his own proper will, but by the election of the holy apostles, or rather
the judgment of Christ, whereat ye being blinded, do not perceive how far ye
run astray from his merits, while ye fall wilfully and headlong into the
manners and affection of Judas the traitor. It is therefore manifest that he
who wittingly from his heart termeth you priests, is not himself a true and
worthy Christian. And now I will assuredly speak what I think: this
reprehension might have been framed after a milder fashion, but what availeth
it to touch only with the hand, or dress with gentle ointment, that wound which
with impostumation or stinking corruption is now grown so horrible, that it
requireth the searing iron, or the or- dinary help of the fire, if happily by
any means it may be cured, the diseased in the meanwhile not seeking a
medicine, and the physician much erring from a rightful remedy? O ye enemies
of God, and not priests ! O ye traders of wickedness, and not bishops! O ye
betrayers and not successors of the holy apostles! O ye adversaries and not
servants of Christ! Ye have certainly heard at the least, the sound of the
words, which are in the se- cond lesson taken out of the Apostle Saint Paul,
al- though ye have no way observed the admonitions and virtue of them, but even
as statues (that neither see nor hear) stood that day at the altar, while both
then, and continually since he hath thundered in your ears, saying:
"Brethren, it is a faithful speech, and worthy of all acceptance." He
called it faithful and worthy, but ye have despised it, as unfaithful and
unworthy. " If any man coveteth a bishopric, he desireth a good
work." Ye do mightily covet a bishopric in respect of avarice, but not for
spiritual convenience and for the good work which is suitable to the place, ye
want it. "It behoveth therefore such an one, to be free from all cause of
reprehension." At this saying we have more need to shed tears than utter
words ; for it is as much as if the apostle had said, he ought to be of all
others most free from occasion of rebuke. "The husband of one wife,"
which is likewise so condemned among us, as if that word had never proceeded
from him; "Sober, wise ;" yea, which of ye hath once desired to have
these virtues engrafted in him, "using hospitality." For this, if
perchance it hath been found among ye, yet being nevertheless rather done to
purchase the favour of the people, than to accomplish the commandment, it is of
no avail, our Lord and Saviour saying thus: " Verily, I say unto you, they
have received their reward." Moreover, "A man adorned, not given to
wine; no fighter, but modest; not contentious, not covetous:" O lamentable
change! O horrible contempt of the heavenly com- mandments! And do ye not
continually use the force of your words and actions, for the overthrowing or
rather overwhelming of these, for whose defence and confirmation (if need had
required) ye ought to have suffered pains, yea and to have lost your very
lives. (The
Works of Gildas and Nennius, Translated from the Latin [trans. J. A.
Giles; London: James Hohn, 1841], 98-100, emphasis in bold added)
Gildas does not see St.
Peter in the Papal sense, and he is perfectly in harmony with Orthodox ecclesiology.
(“George,” Errors
of the Latins: Notes on the Differences Between Traditional Roman Catholicism
and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and an Analysis of Their Historical Controversies
[June 25, 2021], 281)
§ 109. But let us see what followeth; “Well governing
(saith he) his house, having his children subjected with all chastity.”
Imperfect therefore is the chastity of the parents, if the children be not also
endued with the same. But how shall it be, where neither the father, nor the
son, depraved by the example of his evil parent, is found to be chaste? “But if
any one knoweth not how to rule over his own house, how shall he employ his
care over the church of God?” These are the words, that with apparent effects,
should be made good and approved. “Deacons in like manner, that they should be
chaste, not double tongued, not overgiven to much wine, not followers of filthy
gain, having the mystery of faith in a preconscience, and let these also be
first approved, and so let them administer, having no offence.” And now
trembling truly to make any longer stay on these matters, I can for a
conclusion affirm one thing certainly, which is, that all these are changed
into contrary actions, in so much that clerks (which not without grief of
heart, I here confess,) are shameless and deceitful in their speeches, given to
drinking, covetous of filthy lucre, having faith (or to say more truly)
unfaithfulness in an impure conscience, ministering not upon probation of their
good works, but upon foreknowledge of their evil actions, and being thus
defiled with innumerable offences, they are notwithstanding admitted unto the
holy office: ye have likewise heard on the same day (wherein ye should with far
more right and reason have been drawn to prison or punishment, than preferred
unto priesthood) when our Lord demanded whom his disciples supposed him to be,
how Peter answered, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God;” and our Lord
in respect of such his confession, said unto him: “Blessed art thou Simon
Bar-jonas, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father who is in heaven.” Peter therefore, instructed by God the Father, did
rightly confess Christ; but ye being taught by the devil your father, do with your
lewd actions, wickedly deny our Saviour. It is said to the true priest, “Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock will I built my church:” but ye resembled “the
foolish man, who hath builded his house upon the sand.” And verily it is to be
noted, that God joined not in the workmanship with the unwise, when they build
their house upon the deceitful uncertainty of the sands, according unto that
saying: “They have made kings unto themselves, and not by me.” Similarly that
(which followeth) soundeth in like sort, speaking thus: “And the gates of hell
(whereby infernal sins are to be understood) shall not prevail.” But of your
frail and deadly frame, mark what is pronounced: “The floods came, and the
winds blew, and dashed upon that house and it fell, and great was the ruin
thereof.” To Peter and his successors, our Lord doth say: “And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” But unto you; “I know you not, depart
from me all ye workers of iniquity,” that being separated with the goats of the
left-hand, ye may together with them go into eternal fire. It is also promised
unto every good priest; “Whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, shall be
likewise loosed in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be
in like sort bound in heaven.” But how shall ye loose any thing, that it may be
loosed also in heaven, since yourselves for your sins are severed from heaven,
and hampered in the hands of your own heinous offences, as Solomon saith: “With
the cords of his sins, every one is tied?” And with what reason shall ye bind
any thing on this earth, that above this world may be likewise bound, unless it
be your only selves, who entangled in your iniquities, are so detained on this
earth, that ye cannot ascend into heaven but without your conversion unto our
Lord in this life, will fall down into the miserable prison of hell?
Neither yet let any priest flatter himself upon the
knowledge of the particular cleanness of his own body, since their souls (over
whom he hath government) shall in the day of judgment be required at his hands
as the murderer of them, if any through his ignorance, sloth, or fawning
adulation have perished, because the stroke of death is not less terrible, that
is given by a good man, than that which is inflicted by an evil person:
otherwise would the apostle never have said that which he left unto his successors,
as a fatherly legacy; “I am clear and clean from the blood of all: for I have
not forborne to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Being therefore
mightily drunken with the use and custom of sins, and extremely overwhelmed
with the waves (as it were) of increasing offences, seek ye now forthwith the
uttermost endeavours of your minds (after this your shipwreck,), that one plank
of repentance which is left, whereby ye may escape and swim to the land of the
living, that from you may be turned away the wrath of our Lord, who saith:
"I will not the death of a sinner: but that he may be converted and
live." And may the same Almighty God, of all consolation and mercy,
preserve his few good pastors from all evil, and (the common enemy being overcome)
make them free inhabitants of the heavenly city of Jerusalem, which is the
congregation of all saints; grant this, O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to whom
be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. (The
Works of Gildas and Nennius, Translated from the Latin [trans. J. A.
Giles; London: James Hohn, 1841], 100-2)
Instead of supporting the Roman interpretation, St.
Gildas teaches that the words spoken by our Lord in Matthew xvi. 16-19 to St.
Peter apply to “the true priest”, and the phrase “To Peter and his successors”
evidently refer to “every good priest”. By implying that every good and true
priest is a successor of Peter, Gildas passes over the Latin view that focuses
on the Bishops of Rome as the true successors of Peter, and that priestly authority
is derived from communion with the Roman Bishop. Nowhere in the greater context
does Gildas mention Rome at all, and nowhere in his extant works is there any
reference to the Bishop of Rome. (“George,” Errors
of the Latins: Notes on the Differences Between Traditional Roman Catholicism
and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and an Analysis of Their Historical Controversies
[June 25, 2021], 281)
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