50 - Orthodox and heterodox

Summary

With only one exception, the Latin sermon collections made during the decades in which Wyclif and the Lollards greatly affected Church life in England including preaching were, as their descriptions earlier in this book have shown, orthodox. We can now inquire what image of the Lollards they present, what controversial topics they raise, and at what level they do so.

The most outspoken texts in this respect are the macaronic sermons in O, which deal with the Lollards with regularity and condemn their teaching with fervor. All twenty-five pieces mention them by name and warn against their doctrines. The most outstanding sermon in this collection, both for commenting on the Lollards in detail and for its historical perspective, is O-6. Evidently destined for the third Sunday in Lent, it uses as its thema “A strong man armed guards his court” (Fortis armatus custodit atrium suum, Luke 11:21). It begins by retelling a story from 2 Maccabees: When King Antiochus had oppressed the Jews for a long time, God sent them a knight from heaven, seated on a horse, clothed in a white garment, armed in gold, and shaking a spear in his hand (cf. 2 Maccabees 11:8). This account is then moralized twice. First, Antiochus stands for the devil, and the heavenly knight for the Son of God, riding on the Cross, clothed in human flesh, armed with divinity, and shaking the spear of his passion and death to overcome the devil.