Vicious priests in the texts of Late Antiquity and Early Modernity: The unity of topics and the difference of contexts

Abstract

The article considers the problem of early modern anticlericalism through the lens of topos studies. It is argued that the anticlerical description of the priest possesses the same traits in various philosophical and historical texts of the 17–18th centuries written by authors who did not share the same views even on the clergy. These traits, ambition and avarice, lead to the tyranny of the religious leaders, which is established by means of superstition and ritual (not by direct violence). Tyranny leads to the corruption of the laity, both morally and religiously. This description derives from Christian Antiquity when the predominantly rhetorical topos of the tyrant is projected onto the figure of the bishop. In patristic texts, this topos served as the cultural antimodel, as opposed to the image of the saintly bishop. The realization of this or that model depended on the qualities (vices or virtues) of the person carrying out the bishop’s duties. In the early modern texts, this topos is at the core of the image of the clergy as a whole, which is used to criticize the state of priests in general. The explanatory framework of this corrupted character of the clergy (which may vary) appears later than the stable image of vicious priests.