33. Лютеране, или протестанты

The son of a miner, brought up in severe poverty, Martin Luther (1483–1546) prepared himself for a career as a lawyer, but the unexpected death of his youth friend Alexius and other circumstances disposed him to accept monasticism in the Augustinian Order. Having no calling to this life, he could not curb his passionate nature by any feats of self-mortification and was exhausted under the burden of spiritual anguish. Then one of the elders reminded him of the apostolic symbol: “I believe in the remission of sins,” and with this, as it were, he gave the key to easing the burden of the thoughtless vow he had made. A trip to Rome in 1510, where he saw the carelessness and frivolity with which the papal clergy performed various church ceremonies, not only warmed him to this capital of Catholicism, but also supported him in the conviction that salvation does not require feats of piety, but only faith. Luther, however, continued to study science and, having achieved the degree of Doctor of Theology, became a university professor and preacher in Wittenberg. At this time, Pope Leo X, to complete the construction of the Church of St. Peter in Rome and, as they still said then, to cover his own expenses, announced the general sale of indulgences. The Dominican monk Tetzel 62 came to Wittenberg and, with unprecedented impudence, began to trade indulgences, as if he were some kind of commodity. Luther preached passionately against this blasphemy and on the doors of the church where he preached, he put up 95 provisions against the abuses of the papacy. Pope Leo X, carefree and devoted to secular entertainment, at first looked at Luther's prank very lightly. Seeing later how sympathetically his theses were received in Germany and other countries, he demanded him to Rome for trial, but it was too late. Luther acquired a strong defender in the person of Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, and then Luther's cause became associated with many popular interests in such a way that it was no longer possible to suppress it. The princes wanted to overthrow the yoke of the pope, and to diminish the power of the German emperor, the protector of the papal, and also to take advantage of the spoils from church property; the bishops also tried to get rid of the interference of papal legates in their affairs; scientists sought freedom in their research from papal tutelage; the peasants were looking for relief from their lot; in general, the reformation was given such importance as if the German people were freeing themselves from foreign Romanesque influence. Under these favorable conditions, the work of reform moved very quickly: three years after presenting the theses, on December 10, 1520, Luther, in the presence of many scientists, burned the papal bull that condemned him and thereby took a decisive step towards breaking with Rome; in 1524 he left the monastery and married the former nun Catherine von Bora, and in 1529 an alliance of German theologians and sovereign princes was formed, who finally broke with the pope. These adherents of Luther made themselves known by filing a protest against the definition of the Speyer Diet, which decided not to begin any transformation of the Church until the Ecumenical Council, which is why Luther’s followers adopted the name Protestants. Philip Melanchthon contributed greatly to the success of the reformation: he moderated Luther’s passionate impulses and compiled the so-called Augsburg Confession, which set out the distinctive dogmas of Lutheranism. The Lutheran faith restrained some deviations from Orthodoxy that were previously allowed in the Catholic Church, such as: the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, pouring in baptism, unleavened bread instead of leavened bread in the liturgy, some customs established in the Catholic Church, for example: organs during worship, open altars, places for sitting, and, on top of this, allowed many new retreats. Since it developed and was defined in the midst of a passionate and bitter struggle with Catholics, the following consequence arose from this: if in some places Catholicism deviated away from Orthodoxy or allowed any extremes in views, then Lutheranism represents the opposite extreme, so that from one comparison of these opposing teachings the truth of Orthodoxy is clearly revealed. The main dogmas of Lutheranism are the doctrine of justification by faith alone without good works (as opposed to the teaching of Catholics about the supererogatory merits of saints, which underlies indulgences) and the doctrine of the only source of faith - the Holy Scriptures, with the right to each believer to explain it according to his own understanding (as opposed to the insufficiently discriminating attitude of Catholics to traditions and the prohibition of popes from reading to the laity Bible). Admitting that a person finds in faith everything necessary for salvation, Luther rejected the need for those established by the Lord through grace, such as: the Church, hierarchy, sacraments, as well as the invocation of saints, veneration of icons and relics (through faith, Lutherans teach, believers enter into direct unity with Christ Himself); and those church customs that are established for the exercise of a person in virtue, such as: fasting, vows of monasticism, holidays other than the Lord's, travel to holy places, etc. By rejecting the Holy Tradition, Lutheranism undermines the authority of the Holy Scripture itself: according to Lutherans, everyone can not only interpret the sacred books, but also reject those of them in which they see a contradiction to any of their preconceived opinions. Thus, Luther himself questioned the authenticity of the sacred books recognized by the Church from the first centuries as undoubtedly apostolic, such as, for example, the Epistle of the Apostle James and the Apocalypse, mainly for the reason that they, more than other sacred books, contain passages affirming the Orthodox teaching about the justification of man, in addition to faith, and by good works. Having rejected the sacred hierarchy and the very sacrament of the priesthood, the Lutherans broke ties with the Apostolic Church and deprived their society of the meaning of the Church. A Lutheran pastor is nothing more than a layman, elected by society to preach and serve in the church. Secular power governs the church affairs of Lutheran society, and it itself merges with the state, being nothing more than one of the branches of the social structure or the administrations (functions) of the state mechanism (and here the contrast with Catholicism is evident, which is intensifying to put the Church in the place of the state). However, Luther, restrained by Melanchthon, was wary of bringing his views to extreme conclusions and stopped his reform halfway. He retained two sacraments - baptism and communion, but, by rejecting the sacrament of the priesthood, he deprived these sacraments of their power. In the sacrament of communion, Luther rejects the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts and teaches that in bread, with bread and under bread, the believer receives the true Body of Christ. Rejecting the invocation of saints, Lutherans, however, dedicate their churches to them. Prohibiting the veneration of icons, they decorate all their churches with sacred images. Zwinglius and Calvin extended their conclusions much further. – Previously, the sale of indulgences was the privilege of the Augustinians. Granting it to the Dominicans was the cause of division and enmity between these two orders. And here could be one of the reasons for Luther’s irritation against Tetzel. You might be interested in: