portance of actually being the body of Christ during the ceremony. Wycliffe argued that it merely represented Christ symbolically and never actually changed substance at all. This idea took firm hold in the Reformation, despite Wycliffe's mental instability which grew during the later part of life, in which he did such things as proclaim the pope the anti-christ. The more dangerous of the pair at the time of the Council was John Huss, former rector of theology at the University of Prague and the leader of the Czech reform movement. His incessant and vocal protests of the church's immorality and simony caused him to be excommunicated, but he still continued his preaching. The Council, after intense political maneuvering, managed to have Huss brought to them under the pretense of protection. When he learned of the Council's intentions to trap him, Huss tried to escape. He was caught and labeled "heresiarch-" archbishop of all heretics. As he was being escorted out of the city, surrounded by tens of thousand of marchers, he began reciting Mass in German (not Latin, as was mandatory) and was burned on the spot as a heretic. When the story was told of Huss's refusal to recant even during his execution, the Reformation gained a great following because of his heroic martyrdom. These are but a few examples of the troubles of the period. As time went on, the church attempted to reunited with the Greek Orthodox branch after the fall of Constantinople to the Muslims in 1453. It met with some success politically, but little movement on the part of the actual Greek clergy. The succeeding popes began handling the church more like a political power, with its basis in the Vatican, than a religious force. This tendency turned it away from the major heads of Europe and continued to plunge the papacy and the church into sinfulness, decadence and vulgar hypocrisy. The Renaissance was in full swing by the time Martin Luther entered into the limelight. Luthe...
