Apropos Amazon Synod
CONCERNING those ten lepers whom the Lord cleansed
when he said: Go, shew yourselves to the priests; we may ask why it was that he
sent them to the priests, so that, as they went, they were cleansed. For with
none of the others on whom he bestowed bodily blessings is it found that they
were sent to the priests, except the lepers. For that man was also cleansed
from leprosy, to whom he said: Go, and show thyself to the priest, and offer
for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
THEREFORE, it is to be asked what this leprosy
signifies: for the men whom he delivered from it were said to be cleansed, not
healed. Now it discolors the skin before it destroys health and the use of the
members. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to understand by lepers those men
who have not the knowledge of the true faith, and so put forth various
erroneous doctrines. For they do not hide their ignorance, but bring it forth
to the light as the greatest knowledge, and proclaim it with high-sounding
phrases.
MOREOVER, there is no false doctrine that is not
intermingled with some form of truth. Therefore when, in a man's discourse or
argument, truth is unequally mixed with falsehood, then the different colors in
one body are like leprosy, which causes different colored spots to appear on
the human body like the mingling of truth and falsehood.
SUCH men as these are so shunned by the Church,
that, if it can be done, she banishes them far from her, so that they cry out to Christ with a loud
voice, as did those ten which stood afar off, and lifted up their voices, and
said: Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us.
The fact that they called him Master, by which name I know not whether
any others who besought the Lord for bodily healing, so called him, is, I
think, sufficient to show that false doctrine was the leprosy which the good
Master removed from them.
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