Tolstoy—to whom Chelčicky has often been compared—than that of the modern disturbers of public order. Horror of bloodshed and of all violence is indeed one of the distinctive tenets of Chelčicky, and absolute obedience to all, even the most unjust authorities, is enjoined by him. Chelčicky's ideal is the communism of the primitive Church such as he imagined it. The source of all evil is the "donation of Constantine."[1] When the Church was then for the first time enriched, an angel, Chelčicky tells us, spoke the words: "To-day has poison been infused into the Church of Christ." This mystical conception of the primitive Church is the foundation of most of Chelčicky's tenets. As the primitive Christians had no part in the government of the Roman empire, therefore no true Christian can hold any office of state. He may, indeed must obey, but he should not command. In the primitive Church, according to Chelčicky, all were equal. Therefore the "bands," that is, the temporal and ecclesiastical grades and ranks among men, are hateful "to the meek and poor Lord Jesus." In his intense hatred of all temporal and spiritual authority, Chelčicky sometimes appears to expound very modern ideas, but we must always remember that we are reading the words of a writer of the fifteenth century and of a fervent Christian.
Very characteristic of Chelčicky is his hatred of bloodshed. While the magisters of the Calixtine Church had, after a prolonged discussion, decided that war in self-
1 The fable of the "donation of Constantine" and its fatal consequences is met with constantly in mediæval literature. Dante alludes to it in the Inferno (Canto xix. v. 115-118)—
"Ahi Constantin di quanto mal fu matre Non la tua conversion ma quella dote Che da te prese il primo ricco patre."
- ↑ 1
