Tares and Wheat *

Many a good truth has been upheld by wicked men for their own purposes. And good men have caused much wickedness in their zealotry."

"The Armleder."

Dietrich hesitated. "That was one such case. There were good men among them." He fell silent thinking of the fishwife and her boy in the Frieburg market.

"There was a leader among the Armleder," Joachim said slowly, "called 'Angelus' "

Dietrich was a long time silent, "that man is dead now," he said at last. "But through him I learned a terrible truth: that heresy is truth in extremis. The proper object of the eye is light, but too much light blinds the eye."

"So, you would compromise with the wicked, as the Convectuals do?"

"Jesus said the weeds would grow with the wheat until the Judgment," Dietrich answered," so one finds both good men and bad in the Church. By our fruits we will be known, not by what name we have called ourselves. I have come to believe that there is more grace in becoming wheat than there is in pulling weeds."

"So might a weed say, had it speech," said Joachim. "You split hairs."

"Better to split hairs than the heads beneath them."


~ Michael Flynn, Eifelheim


*Matthew 13:24-30