Heresy unrevealed?

[Ahimsa]

How does the Church deal with heretics, who don’t reveal their heresy? For instance, someone who believes in heresy X, but doesn’t talk about it openly, or doesn’t try to convince others of heresy X?

If Arius had not tried to teach others of his heresy (Arianism), wouldn’t he probably have gone to his grave without so much as a tempest in a teapot?

In other words, is heresy really heresy, if it stays ‘private’?

Danke schön!

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

How does the Church deal with heretics, who don’t reveal their heresy? For instance, someone who believes in heresy X, but doesn’t talk about it openly, or doesn’t try to convince others of heresy X?

If Arius had not tried to teach others of his heresy (Arianism), wouldn’t he probably have gone to his grave without so much as a tempest in a teapot?

In other words, is heresy really heresy, if it stays ‘private’?

Danke schön!

A person cannot be labeled a heretic unless they preach heresy. The heretic must openly preach his heresy, lead others astray, not recant before the tribunal and is then deemed a heretic by the Church. However, if someone merely believes in heresy unwittingly, he or she may not even be a sinner if they didn’t know what they were believing in was a heresy. There’s a certain amount of culpability that is assumed to the heretic themselves.

Bitte!