Readings for the Feast Day of John Wyclif
This reflection was shared by Fr. Daniel London at the monthly gathering of Associates and Oblates of the Community of the Transfiguration on October 30, 2019, with special guest Sister Teresa.
“Heavens be made steadfast by the word of the Lord; and all the virtues within by the spirit of his mouth” (Ps 33:6)
This is Psalm 33:6 according to the Bible translation of John Wycliffe, the great English heretic whom we commemorate today in the Episcopal church calendar. Wycliffe lived in 14th century England, the same time and place of Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, and Walter Hilton and other English mystics. Wycliffe was known as a great scholar and philosopher and “the jewel of Oxford.” He was also known as the “Morning Star of the Reformation” as he used Scripture to challenge papal authority and the doctrine of transubstantiation. However, he is perhaps best known for making the Bible accessible to everyday folk by translating the Latin Scriptures into the vernacular English. By doing this, he not only sparked the fire of the English Reformation, he also laid the groundwork for the global Anglican communion. Wycliffe was not inspired to translate the Bible into English because he loved the English language so much, but because he wanted everyday people to read and understand the Bible for themselves. If everyday people were speaking Cantonese, he would get working on translating the Bible into Cantonese. This idea gave birth to Article 34 of the 39 Articles of Religion which one of my seminary professors (John Kater) suggests to be the key element of Anglicanism: making the Word of God accessible to everyday people in language they understand. Article 34 states, “It is not necessary that Tradition and Ceremonies be in all places one, and utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversities of countries, times, and manners” as long as they “may be understanded of the people.” This idea opens the possibility for great diversity in Christian worship and biblical interpretation; and it is this idea, championed by John Wycliffe, that has made Anglicanism successful in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and beyond.
Although many of Wycliffe’s followers known as Lollards were burned at the stake for heresy (including the Bohemian theologian Jan Hus), Wycliffe himself died of old age. Thirty years after Wycliffe died, the Council of Constance ordered that his bones be dug up and burned to ashes, hoping that this would erase his influence and also make it impossible for God to raise his body at the Final Judgment. However, his influence remained stronger than ever. One chronicler named Fuller wrote, “They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighboring brook running hard by. Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine which now is dispersed the world over.”
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 