Peter de Bruys

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Peter de Bruys (also Petrus von Bruis , Pierre de Brois or Pierre de Bruys ; f. 1104 - 1125) was a southern French priest who became the founder of a group called heretical , the Brusians or Petrobrusians .

Life

The few reports about Peter de Bruys come from Petrus Venerabilis , who in his Tractatus contra Petrobrusianos described and condemned five of his teachings as "errors"; and from a remark in Abelard .

The sources indicate that Peter de Bruys was a native of Provence and a former Roman Catholic priest who gave up his priesthood around 1104. He preached in the Dauphiné and Provence, where he found followers, especially in the area around Toulouse , his teachings also spread in Gascony . According to Petrus Venerabilis, his ministry lasted about 20 years before he was thrown into the flames by an angry crowd in Saint-Gilles , where he set a cross on fire.

The year of his death is controversial, some scholars assume 1124/1125, others call it 1132 or 1137.

Teaching

According to Petrus Venerabilis, Peter de Bruys preached the following five points:

  • Rejection of infant baptism , since baptismal grace is only obtained through the understanding of the person being baptized;
  • Churches and places of worship are unnecessary and should be torn down because God hears the prayers of believers, no matter where they are, and would also answer the requests of the righteous;
  • Crosses should be broken and burned, for the object on which Christ suffered and died painfully is not worth worshiping but rather an object of abhorrence;
  • Rejection of the measurement sacrifice ;
  • Rejection of prayer, good works and alms in favor of the deceased, because nothing can help the dead anymore.

Aftermath

The movement appears to have continued for some time after Peter de Bruy's death. Heinrich von Lausanne , a former Cluniac, took up de Bruy's ideas and developed them further. After 1151, however, there is no more news about "Brusians" or "Henricians" (followers of Heinrich).

In the 19th century, Peter de Bruys and Heinrich were repeatedly viewed as forerunners of the Anabaptist movement or the Reformation by Martin Luther and Johannes Calvin . However, this has recently been rejected because de Bruys and Heinrich rejected the Old Testament and probably also the New Testament letters .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Peter von Cluny: Tractatus Contra Petrobrusianos. In: Patrologia Latina , ed. by Jacques Paul Migne , vol. 189 col. 720-850.
  2. ↑ Petrus Abelardus: Introductio ad theologiam II, 4. In: Patrologia Latina , ed. by Jacques Paul Migne, vol. 178, col. 979–1114, here col. 1056.
  3. ↑ Peter Of Bruys (Pierre de Brois) . In: James Strong, John McClintock (Eds.): The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature . Haper and Brothers, New York 1880 ( biblicalcyclopedia.com [accessed April 25, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Bruys . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 3, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 536.
  5. ↑ Nicholas Weber:  Petrobrusians . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 11, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1911.
  6. ↑ cf. his letter to several bishops, English translation by Robert Ian Moore: The Birth of Popular Heresy , pp. 60–62.
  7. ↑ Susanne Linscheid-Burdich: Suger von Saint-Denis: Investigations into his writings Ordinatio, De consecratione, De administratione . KG Saur, Munich and Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-598-77812-0 , p. 158 .
  8. ^ Adriaan H. Bredero: Christendom and Christianity in the Middle Ages . Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1994, ISBN 0-8028-4992-X , p. 218 .
  9. ^ William Cathcart: The Baptist Encyclopedia. LH Everts, Philadelphia, Pa. 1883, p. 912.
  10. ↑ Ch. Gotthold Neudecker: History of the Reformation from 1517–1532. Baumgärtner, 1843, p. 30.
  11. ^ Karl Rudolf Hagenbach : Lectures on the nature and history of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland. 1834, p. 109.
  12. ↑ Nikolaus M. Häring: Alanus de Insulis and the New Manichaeism . In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The forces of good and evil. Performances in the XII. and XIII. Century about their work in the history of salvation . Walter de Gruyter, 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-084877-9 , p. 158 .
personal data
SURNAME Peter de Bruys
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Peter of Bruis; Pierre de Brois; Pierre de Bruys
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French priest, founder of the Brusians or Petrobrusians
DATE OF BIRTH before 1104
PLACE OF BIRTH Provence
DATE OF DEATH 12th Century
Place of death Saint-Gilles , Gard