Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

By Udalricus Campiliensis († c. 1358)

(AI Translation)

It is read in Matthew 7: That the Lord sees that we must be heedful and beware of false prophets, who are wolves in sheep’s clothing. For there are false prophets who deceive. They are heretics, because their faith is false, their life is puerile, and their doctrine is false. The second group are the unscrupulous sinners, because as they sin, they are promised a long life, or sufficient reparation at another time, or they are not to be terrified by the magnitude of their sin, or, being unable to contain their lubricity, they sin all the more truly after confession, or they simultaneously indulge in their lusts; they enter into religion or place their expectation of an increase in sin upon the mercy of God. The third group are false Christians and wicked religious people who live evil lives, not deceiving others, but themselves. The fourth group are carnal friends.

Old Testament (Left)
It is read in 1 Kings 22: That Zedekiah, possessing iron horns, prophesied falsely to the kings regarding their success. Just as the Lord taught us to beware of false prophets, so too must kings and those holding power necessarily beware of false flatterers. Zedekiah justifies himself in everything and chooses any sycophant, just as he himself is; indeed, in the kingdom of the powerful and mighty, he justifies all the perverted actions of simpletons, and thus he commits false inversions until he captures those he instructs. For he announces success to all with his "iron horns," so that their promise might appear to occur and happen with firm truth. And thus, he builds up many with his words, whom he afterwards destroys and scandalizes with his deeds, because they are false.

Old Testament (Right)
It is written in 1 Kings 13: That the man who followed the false prophet was seized by a lion. For just as he advised that we must beware of false prophets so as not to follow them for thirteen years, so too must we not accept these same false prophets, lest anyone be led astray. Therefore, consider diligently: If a devout man and holy prophet, having been followed and led away by a false prophet, was such that he transgressed the command of the Lord and was therefore killed by a lion, how much more must we understand that we should be on guard if we have accepted heretics, or flatterers, or evil counselors, or those who are religious in appearance but not in action, and have despised the laws of the Lord? Because that horrible lion—that is, the devil—will surely deliver us to eternal death in the manner that is just, and to this we must undoubtedly be surrendered if we follow false teachers.

Nature (Left)
The Experimentator says: That a wolf gathers leaves upon himself and, hiding thus, catches goats who look for bushes with leaves to eat, pouncing on them and devouring them. The wolves mean the false ravagers or heretics, who gather upon themselves the fronts and green leaves of willows, in that they adorn themselves with the color of eloquent speech and the words of eloquence to protect the simple; having seduced the simple and wishing to feed themselves upon them, they seize them in that same way. The wolf may also be understood as "the flesh," because one who does not wish to beware of the snares of his own cravings will have them lying in wait for him; deceived by their appearance, and when he is entirely unaware, they will devour him once he bites their alluring leaves.

Nature (Right)
Ambrose and the Experimentator say: That a fox rolls around and feigns death, and when the birds arrive and approach it incautiously, they are captured and devoured. This means worldly men who drag themselves through the mud, who involve themselves in the acquisition of riches through subtlety and wickedness, these are to be reckoned as if dead in their foolishness. When the birds—that is, the religious and the simple and pious—not understanding the color of these subtleties, think they have found a place of rest for themselves, then the fox of the world devours them along with whatever wealth they might have.