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The Waldensians (also known variously as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are a Christian movement and religious cultural group which appeared first in Lyon and spread to the Cottian Alps in the late 1170s. Today, the Waldensian movement is centered on Piedmont in northern Italy, while small communities are also found in southern Italy, Argentina, Germany, the United States, and Uruguay. The movement originated in the late twelfth century as the ''Poor Men of Lyons'', a band organized by Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection. Waldensian teachings quickly came into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. By 1215, the Waldensians were declared heretical and subject to intense persecution; the group was nearly annihilated in the seventeenth century and were confronted with organized and generalized discrimination in the centuries that followed. During the sixteenth century, Waldensian leaders embraced the Protestant Reformation and joined various local Protestant regional entities. As early as 1631, Protestant scholars–and Waldensian theologians themselves–began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation who had maintained the apostolic faith in the face of Catholic oppression. Modern Waldensians share core tenets with Reformed Protestants, for example, including the priesthood of all believers, congregational polity, and a "low" view of certain sacraments such as the Lord's Supper and Baptism. They are members of the ''Leuenberger Konkordie'' (Community of Protestant Churches in Europe) and its affiliates worldwide. Congregations continue to be active in Europe, South America, and North America, most of them under the label of the Waldensian Evangelical Church, but also within various German Landeskirchen. Organizations such as the American Waldensian Society maintain the history of this movement and declare they take as their mission "proclaiming the Christian Gospel, serving the marginalized, promoting social justice, fostering inter-religious work, and advocating respect for religious diversity and freedom of conscience." == Teachings == Waldensians held and preached a number of truths as they read from the Bible. These included: # The atoning death and justifying righteousness of Christ # The Godhead # The fall of man # The incarnation of the Son # A denial of purgatory as the "invention of the Antichrist"〔(Samuel Moreland (1658) ''History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont'' )〕 # Valued voluntary poverty They held that temporal offices and dignities were not meant for preachers of the Gospel; that relics were simply rotten bones which had belonged to one knew not whom; that to go on pilgrimage served no end, save to empty one's purse; that flesh might be eaten any day if one's appetite served one; that holy water was not a whit more efficacious than rain water; and that prayer in a barn was just as effectual as if offered in a church. They were accused, moreover, of having scoffed at the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of having spoken blasphemously of the Roman Catholic Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse.〔Inquisitor Reyenerious, AD 1250, and extracted by Allix (Chap. 22)〕 They rejected the perceived idolatry of the Roman Catholic Church and considered the Papacy as the Antichrist of Rome.〔Historical Studies,” Eugene Lawrence, pp. 202-204.〕 The "La nobla leyczon", written in the Occitan language and dated between 1190 and 1240,〔Bosio, Enrico: La Nobla Leyczon ''considérée au point de vue de la doctrine, de la morale et de l'histoire'', Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire Vaudoise, n° 2 (dic. 1885), pp. 20–36.〕 gives a sample of the medieval Waldensian belief. It is housed at University of Cambridge.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Waldensians」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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