Peter Chelcicky
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Peter Chelcicky¹ (Czech Petr Chelčický) (ca. 1390 - ca. 1460) was a Christian and political leader and author in the 15th century in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) from about 1420-60.
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Chelcicky's Background
Peter Chelcicky was born about 1390 in southern Bohemia. Some believe Chelcicky was part of the south Bohemian gentry. Some have called him a peasant, and some have called him "an impoverished knight". After 1420 he left Prague and lived in his native village of Chelčice, near Vodňany. While there he produced a number of writings. He was influenced by the thought of the John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. A number of scholars also believe the Waldenses influenced the views of Chelcicky. He died around 1460.
Chelcicky's Teachings
Peter Chelcicky's teachings included many "new" ideas that appear to permeate present Christian religious thought, though it took the Anabaptists and Baptists to later popularize them.
Church and State
Chelcicky called the Pope and the emperor (the church and the state) "whales who have torn the net of true faith", because they established the church as the head of a secular empire. Chelcicky believed that Christians should follow the law of love, and in so doing should not be compelled by state authority. The believer should not accept government office, nor even appeal to its authority. For the true believer to take part in government was sinful. He argued that capital punishment and other forms of violent punishment were wrong. His positions on government have led many to refer to Chelcicky as an anarchist.
Non-violence and War
As early as 1420 Chelcicky taught that violence should not be used in religious matters. Chelcicky used the parable of the wheat and the tares² (Matthew 13:24-30) to show that both the sinners and the saints should be allowed to live together until the harvest. It is wrong even to kill the sinful. Christians should refuse military service. If the poor refused, the lords would have no one to go to war for them. Chelcicky taught that no physical power can destroy evil. Christians should accept persecution without retaliating. He believed war was the worst evil, and thought soldiers were no more than murderers. He even opposed defensive war. He believed the example of Jesus and the Gospel was an example of peace.
Communal living
Chelcicky was a communist in the original Christian sense. There must be complete equality in the Christian community. There would be no rich or poor, as the Christian relinquished all property and status. Christians could expel evil persons from their community, but could not compel them to be good. He believed in equality, but the State should not force it upon society, and went so far as to proffer that social inequality is a creature of the State, and rises and falls with it. According to Kautsky in Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation, "The nature of the first organisation of the Bohemian Brethren is not at all clear, as the later Brothers were ashamed of their communistic origin, and endeavoured to conceal it in every possible way." Some of Chelcicky's statements tend to indicate that he thought only the poor were genuine Christians.
Priesthood of the believer
Chelcicky criticized the use of force in matters of faith. The Christian should strive for righteousness of his own free will. He must not force others to be good; goodness should be voluntary. The Christian must love God and one's neighbor, and this is the way to convert people rather than by compulsion. Any type of compulsion is evil. He also taught that Christians should not participate in political power struggles.
Chelcicky's Writings
On Spiritual Warfare is probably his first work. In it, Chelcicky argued that the Taborites had participated in violence through the devil's deceit and the lust for the things of the world. He also criticized the chiliasts, opposed physical warfare, and noted that obligations of debts gave lenders power over debtors. In On the Triple Division of Society Chelcicky criticized the nobility, clergy, and the middle class. In it he described how they subject the common people and ride them "as if they were beasts". One of his last works was Net of Faith. In it he showed how the apostles treated all people as equals, and considered Christ as the only head. It was in this book that he argued that the emperor and the pope were the two great whales that burst the net of faith. These are three of the numerous books and pamphlets he composed.
Chelcicky's Influence
Chelcicky has been called "the foremost thinker and writer of 15th Century." Chelcicky certainly was an influential thinker among the Bohemian brethren of his day. Beyond his own time, his influence can be seen in the Moravians (Unitas Fratum), Unity of the Brethren (Jednota Bratrska), and even the Baptist Union in the Czech Republic (also known as the Unity of Brethren Baptists³). Important similarities can be seen between his teachings and the Contintental Anabaptists, and, to a lesser extent, the English Baptists, though no direct connections have been shown to exist. He emphasized the New Testament as the exclusive and final source to know the will of God. He held two sacraments - baptism and the Lord's Supper. He encouraged people to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.
"Whoever is not of God cannot truly enjoy or hold anything belonging to God, except as the man of violence unlawfully enjoys and holds what is not his own." - Peter Chelcicky
External links
- Chelcicky's Nonviolence (http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ11-Chaucer,Wyclif.html#5)
- The Bohemian Brethren (http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1897/europe/ch03.htm) - from Karl Kautsky's Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation
Footnotes
- 1. The name may also be seen as Peter Chelciki, Peter Chelciky, Peter Chelčicky, Peter Chelčický, Petrus Cheltschitzky, Peter of Chelcic, et al..
- 2. As did the Waldenses
- 3. The first Baptist association was called The Chelčicky Unity of Brethren.