of False Prophets,
Hans Schäufelein, 1517
Translation of the Holy Gospel According to Matthew (7:15-21)
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith to Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
A Message from St. Pope Leo the Great’s Sermons: “XVI: On the Fast of the Tenth Month”
But at all acts of godliness, dearly-beloved, which commend us more and more to God, there is no doubt that our enemy, who is so eager and so skilled in harming us, is aroused with keener stings of hatred, that under a false profession of the Christian name he may corrupt those whom he is not allowed to attack with open and bloody persecutions, and for this work he has heretics in his service whom he has led astray from the Catholic Faith, subjected to himself, and forced under divers errors to serve in his camp. And as for the deception of primitive man he used the services of a serpent, so to mislead the minds of the upright, he has armed these men’s tongues with the poison of his falsehoods. But these treacherous designs, dearly beloved, with a shepherd’s care, and so far as the Lord vouchsafes His aid, we will defeat. And taking heed lest any of the holy flock should perish, we admonish you with fatherly warnings to keep aloof from the lying lips and the deceitful tongue from which the prophet asks that his soul should be delivered (Psa 120:2); because their words, as says the blessed Apostle, do creep as doth a gangrene (2 Tim 2:17). They creep in humbly, they arrest softly, they bind gently, they slay secretly. For they come, as the Saviour foretold, in sheeps’ clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Matt 7:15); because they could not deceive the true and simple sheep, unless they covered their bestial rage with the name of Christ. But in them all he is at work who, though he is really the enemy of enlightenment, transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). His is the craft… his the ingenuity… he is the leader… he the author… his the authority and his the spirit… under his command and authority [are those who have] separated from the unity of the Church and severed connexion with the Truth.
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women especially should refrain from acquaintance and intercourse with such [decievers], lest while your ears are charmed unawares by their fabulous stories, you fall into the devil’s noose, who, knowing that he seduced the first man by the woman’s mouth, and drove all men from the bliss of paradise through feminine credulity, still lies in watch for your sex with more confident craft that he may rob both of their faith and of their modesty those whom he has been able to ensnare by the servants of his falseness. This, too, dearly beloved, I entreat and admonish you loyally to inform us (cf. Serm. X., 4), if any of you know where they dwell, where they teach, whose houses they frequent, and in whose company they take rest: because it is of little avail to any one that through the Holy Ghost’s protection he is not caught by them himself, if he takes no action when he knows that others are being caught. Against common enemies for the common safety all alike should exercise the same vigilance lest from one member’s wound other members also be injured, and they that think such men should not be given up, in Christ’s judgment be found guilty for their silence even though they are not contaminated by their approval.
Display then a holy zeal of religious vigilance, and let all the faithful rise in one body against these savage enemies of their souls. For the merciful God has delivered a certain portion of our noxious foes into our hands in order that by revelation of the danger theutmost caution might be aroused. Let not what has been done suffice, but let us persevere in searching them out: and by God’s aid the result will be not only the continuance in safety of those who still stand, but also the recovery from error of many who have been deceived by the devil’s seduction. And the prayers, and alms, and fasts that you offer to the merciful God shall be the holier for this very devotion, when this deed of faith also is added to all your other godly duties. On Wednesday and Friday, therefore, let us fast, and on Saturday let us keep vigil in the presence of the most blessed Apostle Peter; who, as we experience and know, watches unceasingly like a shepherd over the sheep entrusted to him by the Lord, and who will prevail in his entreaties that the Church of God, which was rounded by his preaching, may be free from all error, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
N.B. The above sermon by St. Pope Leo the Great is directed against the Manichaeans, who borrowed elements of Christian terminology to pull away Christians from the Church into their cults and occult practices. It was a serious issue in the early Church, with even the likes of the learned St. Augustine of Hippo being ensnared for about 9 years. This is not a dissimilar situation to our own period in which there exist many cults and ideologies that utilize Christian terminology to pull people away from the Church and, metaphorically, like wolves, devour their faith. As prescribed by St. Leo, vigilance, fastings, prayers, and, most importantly, keeping within the fold watched over by Peter’s crook by keeping to the scriptures and the traditions of the fathers, kept and will keep people safe. ~PPP