medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Good day, eh?
You asked:
> How would you distinguish between schismatics and heretics?
The quick and dirty answer is "Very carefully".
In modern times, and I suggest among many
theologians of the middle ages, a heretic is
one whose confessed belief is at such variance
from orthodoxy as to result in the loss of his
eternal salvation.
Immediately you see the problem. Who or what
defined "orthodoxy"? Vincent of Lerins said it
is what the Church has always and everywhere
taught. This definition has its own set of problems.
A schismatic is one whose confessed belief,
while not damning in and of itself, is such as
to bring about disharmony and open discord
and division within the Church. And once more
problems leap to mind. When one proclaims
a doctrine at variance with what is at least
locally accepted, the local ecclesiastical
authorities proclaim his deviation, he refuses
to recant, and many locals follow him out
of the established local ecclesiology, who has
brought about the division: the one proclaiming
the doctrine at deviance from locally received
truth or those who have excommunicated him?
The answer to that question would seem to have
much to do with who then wears the label of a
schismatic.
You ask a question that for us dogmaticians is
worth several pages of serious discussion. I
dare say the same may be said for our predecessors
in the middle ages. I hope you have provoked
a discussion that will deal with the matter far
more astutely than have I in this brief response.
Cordially,
Frank
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