What creeds? Why did the secular authorities of many countries support the reformation?

What beliefs of the Reformation era do you know? What did they have in common, what was special? Why did the secular authorities of many countries support the Reformation?

Answers:

Lutheranism denies the possibility of mediation between man and the Lord. According to this teaching, only repentance and faith can save a person’s soul. At the same time, the clergy is assigned only the role of an advisor in the interpretation of sacred texts, but the believer still must decide for himself. Lutheranism opposed the luxury of the church, the monastic movement and reduced the number of church sacraments to a minimum. Zwinglianism went even further. It sought to purge the faith of everything that was not confirmed in the New Testament. Therefore, in particular, it denied the church sacraments as such - they are not described in any of the books of Holy Scripture. Calvinism also opposed monasticism, the luxury of the church, unnecessary sacraments and the role of the clergy as a mediator in a person’s conversation with God. However, Calvinism places more emphasis on human predestination. The theme of predestination in Christianity, dating back to St. Augustine, was fully expressed in this teaching. According to it, it was initially predetermined who was destined for heaven and who was destined for hell. A person does not know his purpose, but God gives him hints, for example, in the form of success in business. Calvinism approves of business activity, like any work, considering it a godly work. On the contrary, idleness, like the monks, is considered a sin. Monarchs often supported Protestantism in order to weaken the Pope or another monarch who fought against the Protestants. An important incentive was also the confiscation of church lands and other property, which passed to the secular authorities. Sometimes other motives also played a role. For example, Henry VIII of England was attracted to the idea of ​​becoming the head of a new church himself. Besides everything else, he saw no other way to dissolve his marriage, which he really wanted.

Reformation, one of the largest events in world history, the name of which denotes an entire period of modern times, spanning the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries (“Reformation period” -). Although very often this event is called more specifically the religious (or church) reformation, in reality it had a much broader significance, being an important moment in both the religious and political, cultural and social history of Western Europe.

The very term reformation, which in the 16th century. began to denote almost exclusively church transformations that were taking place at that time, initially, in the century, and was generally applied to all kinds of state and social transformations; for example, in Germany, before the start of the reform movement, projects of similar transformations were in wide circulation, bearing the names “Sigismund’s Reformation”, “Frederick III’s Reformation”, etc.

Starting the history of the Reformation from the 16th century, we make a certain mistake: the religious movements, the totality of which constitutes the Reformation, arose even earlier. Already the reformers of the 16th century. recognized that they had predecessors who were striving for the same thing as they, and now there is a whole literature dedicated to the predecessors of the Reformation. Separate the reformers of the 16th century. from their predecessors is possible only from a purely conventional point of view, because both of them play exactly the same role in the history of the centuries-old struggle with the Catholic Church in the name of purer religious principles. Since protests against the corruption of the Catholic Church began, reformers have appeared. The whole difference lay in the greater or lesser success of their preaching. Reformers of the 16th century managed to tear away entire nations from Rome, something their predecessors could not achieve.

Both in the era of the Reformation and in the previous period, the reformation idea itself developed in three main directions.

One can be called a Catholic direction, since it sought to reform the church, holding more or less firmly to church tradition. This trend, which originated at the end of the 14th century, in the century caused an attempt to reform the “church in its head and members” through councils (see Gallicanism), convened in the first half of the century. in Pisa, Constance and Basel. The idea of ​​reforming the church through councils did not die even after the failure of these attempts. With the beginning of the Reformation, it revived, and in the middle of the 16th century. The Council of Trent was convened for reform (see).

Another direction, based not on Holy Tradition, but mainly on Holy Scripture, can be called biblical or evangelical. In the pre-Reformation era, it includes such phenomena as the Waldensian sect, formed in the 12th century. in the south of France, Wycliffe's sermon in England in the 14th century, Czech Hussiteism at the end of the 14th and first half of the century, as well as isolated predecessors of the Reformation, such as Wesel, Wessel, Goch, etc. In the 16th century. To the same biblical or evangelical direction belongs orthodox Protestantism, i.e. the teachings of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and less significant reformers who based the reform on the Holy Scriptures.

The third direction is mystical (and partly rationalistic) sectarianism, which, on the one hand, more decisively than Protestantism broke ties with Sacred Tradition and often, in addition to the external revelation given in the Holy Scriptures, believed in internal revelation (or in general in new revelation), and on the other hand, it was connected with social aspirations and almost never formed into large churches. This direction includes, for example, in the 13th century. the preaching of the “eternal gospel”, many mystical teachings of the Middle Ages, as well as some sects of that time (see Sectarianism). In the Reformation era, the mystical direction was represented by Anabaptists or rebaptists, Independents, Quakers, and from the mystical sectarianism of this era, rationalistic sectarianism, Antitrinitarianism and Christian deism emerged.

Thus, in the reform movement of the 16th and 17th centuries. we distinguish three directions, each of which has its own antecedents in the outcome of the Middle Ages. This allows us, contrary to purely Protestant historians of the Reformation, who associate it exclusively with the biblical direction, to speak, on the one hand, about the Catholic Reformation (this term is already used in science), on the other, about the sectarian Reformation. If the Catholic Reformation was a reaction against Protestantism and sectarianism, in which the spirit of the Reformation most sharply manifested itself, then the Protestant Reformation was also accompanied by a reaction against the sectarian Reformation.

Reformation and humanism

See the article Reformation and Humanism.

Medieval Catholicism no longer satisfied the spiritual needs of many individuals and even larger or smaller groups of society, who, often without noticing it, strived for new forms of religious life. The internal decline of Catholicism (the so-called “corruption of the church”) was in complete contradiction with the more developed religious consciousness and its moral and mental demands. The era immediately preceding the Reformation was unusually rich in works of accusatory and satirical literature, in which the main subject of indignation and ridicule was the corrupt morals and ignorance of the clergy and monks. The papacy, which lost itself in public opinion in the 14th and centuries. the debauchery of the Avignon court and the scandalous revelations of the times of the great schism, also became the subject of attacks in literature. Many works of journalism of that time, directed against the Catholic clergy, gained historical fame ("Praise of Folly" by Erasmus, "Letters of Dark People", etc.). The most developed contemporaries were also outraged by the superstitions and abuses of religion that had taken root in the Roman Church: exaggerated ideas about papal power (“the pope is not only a simple man, but also God”), indulgences, pagan features in the cult of the Virgin Mary and saints, excessive development of ritualism at the expense of internal content of religion, piae fraudes (“pious deceptions”), etc. The conciliar reform of the church concerned only its organization and moral discipline; Protestantism and sectarianism also affected the doctrine itself, with all the ritual side of religions.

The reasons for dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church lay, however, not in its corruption alone. The era immediately preceding the Reformation was the time of the final formation of Western European nationalities and the emergence of national literatures. Roman Catholicism denied the national principle in church life, but it made itself felt more and more. During the era of the Great Schism, the nations were divided between the Roman and Avignon popes, and the idea of ​​conciliar reform was closely connected with the idea of ​​​​the independence of national churches. At the Council of Constance, votes were cast on nations, whose interests the papacy then skillfully separated by concluding concordats with individual nations. Nationalities, especially those exploited by the curia, were especially dissatisfied with Rome - (Germany, England). The idea of ​​national independence was also in vogue among the spiritual, who did not at all think about falling away from Rome (Gallicanism in France, “people's church” in Poland in the 16th century). The desire to read the Holy Scriptures and perform divine services in their native language also played a role in the national opposition to Rome. Hence the deeply national character of the reformation of the 16th century.

The state power, which was burdened by the tutelage of the church and wanted an independent existence, also took advantage of national aspirations. The question of church reform gave the rulers a reason to interfere in church affairs and expand their power in the spiritual sphere. Wyclif and at one time Hus enjoyed the patronage of secular power. Cathedrals of the first half of the century. could only be realized thanks to the insistence of the sovereigns. The reformers themselves of the 16th century. they appeal to the secular authorities, inviting them to take the matter of reform into their own hands. The political opposition against the church was based on social opposition, on the dissatisfaction of the secular classes with the privileged position of the clergy. The nobility looked with envy at the power and wealth of the clergy and was not against the secularization of church property, hoping to enrich themselves at its expense, as happened in the era of the Reformation. In addition, it often protested against the broad competence of church courts, against the severity of tithes, etc. The townspeople also had constant clashes with the clergy on legal and economic grounds. Most dissatisfied were the peasants, over whom the power of bishops, abbots, and chapters, who owned populated estates and serfs, weighed heavily. Both aristocratic and democratic opposition to the clergy played a prominent role in the emergence of the reform movement in various countries. From a fundamental point of view, all this opposition, not in the name of the divine, but in the name of the human principles of a distinctive nationality, an independent state and an independent society, could justify itself in various ways.

Reformation in Germany

Reformation in Switzerland

R. in German Switzerland began simultaneously with R. Germanic. Here the teaching of Zwingli arose, which spread to western Germany, but did not receive the same significance there as the Augsburg confession did. There was a big difference between both R.: in comparison with Luther, the theologian and mystic, Zwingli was more of a humanist and rationalist, and the Swiss cantons, in contrast to most of the German lands, were republics. On the other hand, in both countries the religious issue was resolved in one direction or another by each principality, each canton separately. In parallel with the matter of church reform and under its banner, purely political and social issues were resolved in Switzerland. The Swiss Union, which arose at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, took shape gradually; the original cantons (Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden), and after them those that were the oldest members of the union (Zug, Bern, Lucerne, Glarus), enjoyed some privileges in it compared to those who joined later. Among these cantons, placed in less favorable conditions, was, by the way, Zurich. The political inequality of individual parts of the Swiss Union caused mutual displeasure. Another sore spot in Swiss life was mercenary activity; it brought demoralization to both the ruling classes and the masses. The patriciate, in whose hands the power was, enjoyed pensions and gifts from sovereigns who sought an alliance with Switzerland, and traded in the blood of their fellow citizens. Often because of this, it was divided into hostile parties, due to the intrigues of foreign governments. On the other hand, mercenaries who went to serve foreign sovereigns developed a disdain for work, a passion for easy money, and a penchant for robbery. Finally, there was no guarantee that Swiss mercenaries would not happen to fight in hostile armies. The ecclesiastical and political reforms were united in Switzerland in this way: the social elements who wanted change, namely the younger cantons and the democratic classes of the population, sided with both, while the older cantons (Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Zug, Lucerne, with Freiburg and Wallis) and patrician oligarchies took up arms in defense of the old church and the previous political system. Zwingli immediately acted as both a church and state reformer; he found it extremely unfair that the old cantons, small and ignorant, had the same importance in the general diet as large, powerful and educated cities; At the same time, he preached against mercenarism (see. Zwingli). Zwingli's reform was accepted by Zurich, and from there it spread to other cantons: Bern (1528), Basel, St. Gallen, Schafhausen (1529). In the Catholic cantons, the persecution of the Zwinglians began, in the Evangelical cantons the resistance of the Catholics was suppressed. Both sides were looking for allies abroad: in 1529, the old cantons entered into an alliance with the Habsburgs and with the Dukes of Lorraine and Savoy, the reformed ones - with some imperial cities of Germany and with Philip of Hesse. This was the first example of international treaties based on religious relations. Zwingli and Philip of Hesse had an even broader plan - to form a coalition against Charles V, which would also include France and Venice. Zwingli saw the inevitability of armed struggle and said that you should beat if you do not want to be beaten. In 1529, a land peace was concluded between the hostile parties (in Kappel). “Since the word of God and faith are not things that can be forced,” the religious question was left to the free discretion of individual cantons; in the domains under common union control, each community had to decide the issue of its religion by a majority vote; Reformed preaching was not allowed in Catholic cantons. In 1531, an internecine war broke out in Switzerland: the Zurichians were defeated at Kappel, and Zwingli himself fell in this battle. Under the treaty of 1529, the Catholic cantons were forced to renounce foreign alliances and pay military costs; Now the reformed had to submit to this condition, but the decree of faith retained its force. Zwingli did not have time to give his reform a completely finished form. In general, Zwinglian R. received a more radical character than Lutheran R. Zwingli destroyed everything that was not based on Holy Scripture; Luther preserved everything that did not directly contradict Holy Scripture. This was expressed, for example, in cult, which in Zwinglianism is much simpler than in Lutheranism. Much more freely than Luther, Zwingli interpreted Holy Scripture, using techniques that were in use in humanistic science, and recognizing broader rights for the human mind. The basis of the church structure was the Zwinglian principle of community self-government, in contrast to the Lutheran Church, which was subordinate to princely consistories and offices. Zwingli's goal was to call again to life the primitive forms of the Christian community; for him, the church is a society of believers that does not have a special spiritual leadership. The rights that belonged to the pope and the hierarchy in Catholicism were transferred by Zwingli not to the princes, as with Luther, but to the entire community; he even gives her the right to displace secular (elective) authorities if the latter demands something contrary to God. In 1528, Zwingli established a synod, in the form of periodic meetings of the clergy, to which deputies from parishes or communities were also admitted, with the right to complain about the teaching or behavior of their pastors. The Synod also resolved various issues of church life, tested and appointed new preachers, etc. Such an institution was established in other evangelical cities. Allied evangelical congresses were also formed, since little by little it became a custom to resolve general issues through meetings of the best theologians and preachers. This synodal-representative government was different from the consistory-bureaucratic one established in the Lutheran principalities of Germany. However, even in Zwinglianism, secular power, in the person of city councils, actually received broad rights in religious matters, and religious freedom was recognized not for an individual, but for an entire community. It can be said that Zwinglian R. transferred to the republican state the same rights over the individual that Lutheranism transferred to the monarchical state. The Zurich authorities, for example, not only introduced the Zwinglian doctrine and worship, but also forbade preaching against the points they adopted; They took up arms against the Anabaptist preaching and began to persecute sectarians with expulsion, imprisonment and even executions. Swiss R. developed further in Geneva, where Protestantism penetrated from the German cantons and where it caused an entire political revolution (see Geneva). In 1536-38 and 1541-64. Calvin lived in Geneva (q.v.), who gave a new organization to the local church and made Geneva the main stronghold of Protestantism. From here Calvinism (q.v.) spread to many countries.

Reformation in Prussia and Livonia

Outside of Germany and Switzerland, R. was first adopted by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order (q.v.), Albrecht of Brandenburg (q.v.), who in 1525 secularized the order’s possessions, turning them into the secular Duchy of Prussia (q.v.), and introducing Lutheranism into them R. From Prussia, R. penetrated into Livonia (see).

Reformation in the Scandinavian countries

In the 20s of the 16th century. Lutheranism began to establish itself in Denmark (see) and Sweden. Both here and there, R. was connected with political upheavals. The Danish king Christian II, under whose rule all the Scandinavian states were united, looked with extreme displeasure at the independence and power of the Danish church and decided to take advantage of R. in the interests of royal power. Being related to the Elector of Saxony and having found sympathy in the circle of people who sided with Luther, he sent the rector of one of the Copenhagen schools to Wittenberg with instructions to select preachers for Denmark. Soon after this, Lutheran preachers arrived in Copenhagen and began to spread the new teaching. Christian II issued a decree prohibiting paying attention to the papal bull against Luther (1520), and even invited Karlstadt to Copenhagen. When an uprising occurred in Denmark and Christian was deprived of power, the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, elected in his place (1523), under the name of Frederick I, pledged not to allow Lutheran preaching in churches; but already in 1526 the new king aroused the displeasure of the clergy against himself by non-observance of fasts and by marrying his daughter to the Duke of Prussia, who had just changed his faith and secularized the possessions of the Teutonic Order. At the Diet in Odense (1526-27), Frederick I proposed that the clergy receive confirmation in the clergy and grants of prelatures not from the pope, but from the Archbishop of Denmark, and to contribute to the state treasury money that had previously been sent to the Roman Curia; The nobility added to this the requirement not to give lands in the future as collateral or for use by churches and monasteries. The bishops, for their part, expressed a desire to be given the right to punish those who deviated from Catholic dogmas. The king did not agree to this, declaring that “faith is free” and that one cannot “force anyone to believe one way or another.” Soon afterwards, Frederick I began to appoint persons he liked to episcopal positions. In 1529, Protestantism established itself in the capital itself. Frederick I managed to take advantage of the mood of the parties to become master of the situation. He began to give monasteries into fief ownership to the nobles, forcibly expelling the monks from them, but at the same time did not give much freedom to new preachers, fearing the mood of the lower classes of the population, who continued to gravitate towards Christian II. This was how the full introduction of R. in Denmark was prepared, which took place after the death of Frederick I. In Sweden, Gustav Vasa was enthroned by a popular movement, when the Swedes already had their own preachers of Lutheranism - Olai and Laurentius Petersen and Laurentius Anderson. Gustav Vasa, who was thinking about the secularization of church lands, began to provide patronage to the Lutherans, began to appoint bishops in addition to the pope, and instructed the Swedish reformers to translate the Bible. In 1527, he convened a Diet in Västerås, with representatives of the urban and peasant classes, and demanded, first of all, an increase in the funds of the state treasury. Having met opposition, he announced that he was abdicating the throne. Strife began between the classes; the end result was that they agreed to the innovations demanded by the king, sacrificing the clergy to him. The bishops were obliged to help the king with money and hand over their castles and fortresses to him; All church property remaining for the remuneration of the clergy was placed at the disposal of the king; A royal official was appointed over the monasteries, who was supposed to take excess income from their estates to the treasury and determine the number of monastics. For their assistance, the nobles were rewarded by church and monastery fiefs, which left them after 1454. At first, the king was content with part of the income from church lands, but then he imposed heavier taxes on them, at the same time beginning to appoint priests in addition to bishops and prohibiting the latter ( 1533) carry out any reforms in the church without his consent. In conclusion, he introduced a new system of church organization in Sweden, establishing (1539) the office of royal ordinator and superintendent, with the right to appoint and replace clergy and audit church institutions, not excluding bishops (the position of bishops was retained, but their power was limited to consistories; bishops remained members of the Sejm). R. was introduced in Sweden by peaceful means, and no one was executed for their faith; even very rarely they were removed from their positions. When, however, heavy taxes aroused discontent among the people, some clergy and nobles took advantage of this to raise a rebellion, but it was soon suppressed. Lutheranism spread from Sweden to Finland.

Reformation in England

The English king soon followed in the footsteps of the Danish and Swedish kings. Already at the end of the Middle Ages, there was a strong national, political and social opposition against the church in England, which manifested itself in parliament, but was restrained by the government, which tried to live in peace with Rome. In some circles this has been happening since the 14th century. and religious ferment (see Lollards). We were in England at the very beginning of the 16th century. and the real predecessors of R. (for example, Kolet; see). When the Revolution began in Germany and Sweden, Henry VIII reigned in England, who at first was extremely hostile to the new “heresy”; but a quarrel with the pope over a divorce from his wife pushed him onto the path of R. (see Henry VII I). However, under Henry VIII, the rejection of England from Rome was not accompanied by any clear idea about the R. church: there was no person in the country who could play the role of Luther, Zwingli or Calvin. The people who helped Henry VIII in his church politics - Thomas Cromwell and Cranmer, the first as chancellor, the second as archbishop of Canterbury - were devoid of creative ideas and did not have around them a circle of people who clearly understood the goals and means of religious reform. The king himself at first thought only about limiting papal power in legal and financial terms. The first attempts in this sense were made in 1529-1530, when a parliamentary statute prohibited clergy from acquiring papal dispensations and licenses to combine several benefices and reside outside the place of their ministry. Soon the annates were destroyed and it was declared that in the event of a papal interdict, no one had the right to carry it out. Parliament, in 1532-33, determined that England is an independent kingdom, the king is its supreme head in secular affairs, and for religious affairs its own clergy is enough. The Parliament of the 25th year of the reign of Henry VIII decreed that anyone who opposed the pope should not be considered a heretic, abolished appeals to the pope, and destroyed all his influence on the appointment of archbishops and bishops in England. When asked (1534) on this issue, the Oxford and Cambridge universities responded that, according to Holy Scripture, the bishop of Rome does not have any special power in England. The ecclesiastical assemblies of the districts of Canterbury and York drew up ordinances to the same effect; similar statements were made by individual bishops, chapters, deans, priors, etc. In 1536, Parliament expressly prohibited, under penalty of punishment, the defense of papal jurisdiction in England. Instead of a prayer for the pope, a petition was introduced: “ab episcopi romani tyrannide libera nos, Domine!” On the other hand, already in 1531 Henry VIII demanded from the clergy that he be recognized as “the sole patron and supreme head of the church and clergy in England.” The convoy of the Canterbury district was embarrassed by this demand and only after much hesitation agreed to recognize the king as protector, master, and even, as far as the law of Christ allows, head of the church. With the last reservation, the York convoy also accepted the new royal title, declaring at first that in secular affairs the king was already the head, but in spiritual affairs his primacy was contrary to the Catholic faith. In 1534, Parliament, by an act of supremacy, declared that the king was the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England and should enjoy all the titles, honors, dignities, privileges, jurisdiction and income inherent in this title; he is given the right and power to make visitations, to reform, correct, tame and suppress errors, heresies, abuses and disorders. So, in England R. began as a schism; At first, except for the change of the head of the church, everything else - dogmas, rituals, church structure - continued to remain Catholic. Soon, however, the opportunity opened up for the king, recognized as the head of the church, to reform the religion and secularize the monastic property. The latter produced a whole revolution in land and social relations in England. A significant part of the confiscated estates was distributed by the king to the new nobility, this created a whole class of influential defenders of church change. Archbishop Cranmer, who sympathized with Lutheranism, wanted to make corresponding changes in the Anglican Church, but neither the king nor the higher clergy showed any inclination towards this. During the reign of Henry VIII, four orders were issued about what his subjects should believe: these were first of all the “ten articles” of 1536, then the “Instruction of the Christian”, or the episcopal book of the same year, then the “six articles” of 1539 . and, finally, “The Necessary Teaching and Instruction of a Christian” or the royal book of 1544. With all his attraction to Catholic dogmas and rituals, Henry VIII was not, however, constant in his decisions: he was sometimes under the influence of opponents of the papacy (Cromwell, Cranmer), then under the influence of secret papists (Bishop Gardiner of Winchester, Cardinal Paul), and in accordance with this his views changed, always finding the support of an obedient parliament. In general, until the fall of Cromwell (executed in 1540), royal policy was more anti-Catholic, but the Six Articles leaned heavily towards Catholic concepts and institutions, even sanctioning monastic vows - after the destruction of the monasteries. The “Six Articles” were introduced with such cruelty that they were nicknamed “bloody”. Papists and true Protestants were persecuted equally. Under Henry VIII's successor, Edward VI, the final establishment of the Church of England took place, still existing, with slight modifications, as it received it about 1550. The king's supremacy was preserved, but the "six articles" were abolished and replaced by new "articles of faith." (1552), to which should also be added the “general missal” approved by parliament. The dogmatic teaching of the Anglican Church was brought closer by Cranmer to the Lutheran, but under Queen Elizabeth changes were made in it in the Calvinistic sense. In general, the Anglican Church bears traces of a compromise between Catholicism and Protestantism. During the short-term (1553-1558) reign of Bloody Mary, an attempt was made to restore Catholicism, accompanied by a new religious terror. Her sister Elizabeth restored the church of her father and brother. During her reign, Puritanism began to develop (see), from which sectarianism (future independents) began to emerge already in the eighties. Thus, in England, next to the royal R., folk R. also occurred. The Anglican Church, during the creation of which by Henry VIII and Edward VI, as well as during its restoration by Elizabeth, the main role was played by non-religious motives, under certain conditions could become national, that is, find support among the people, could establish itself in their life as a state church ; but it was not “purified” enough to satisfy real Protestants, it was not so imbued with inner religiosity as to act on the mind and feeling of an individual. It was created rather to satisfy the known needs of the state than to satisfy the spiritual needs of the individual. Meanwhile, England, in the end, was also affected by the religious movement of the century. Those who were no longer satisfied with Catholicism had to choose between Anglicanism and Puritanism, between the church, which was based on certain interests, conveniences, benefits, and second thoughts, and the church, which with extraordinary consistency developed in its teaching and implemented the word in its structure God, as the reformers of the 16th century understood him. Politically, the Anglican Republic, which owes its origin to the crown, became a factor that strengthened royal power. In addition to the fact that the king was made the head of the church, R. weakened the political power of the clergy by removing from the upper house the abbots who stood at the head of the monasteries, and the distribution of secularized estates to the secular aristocracy for a time made it more dependent on the king (for the economic consequences of secularization, see below). this word). In Puritanism, on the contrary, the freedom-loving spirit of Calvinism developed, which fought in neighboring Scotland and on the mainland against royal absolutism. A decisive clash between the Episcopal Church and Puritanism occurred in England in the 17th century, during the struggle of the Stuarts with the parliaments. The history of the English Revolution is closely connected with the history of the English Republic.

All the R. examined, except the Swiss ones, had a monarchical character. In the second half of the 16th century. Calvinism appears on the scene, which in Scotland and the Netherlands defeats the Catholic Church, taking on a revolutionary character.

Reformation in Scotland

Royal power in the Middle Ages was weak here: the feudal aristocracy was distinguished by a special spirit of independence, and the common people were also imbued with a sense of freedom. The Stuart dynasty that reigned here was in constant struggle with its subjects. The Scottish revolutions of the reformation period were only a continuation of previous uprisings; but with the establishment of Calvinism, the struggle of the Scots with royal power acquired the religious character of a war between the chosen people of God and idolatrous sovereigns and was accompanied by the assimilation of the political ideas of Calvinism. In 1542, the Scottish king James V died, leaving behind a newly born daughter, Mary. Her mother Maria, from the famous French family Guizov, became regent of the state. Even during the lifetime of James V, reformation teachings began to penetrate into Scotland from Germany and England, but at the same time his followers began to be persecuted and executed. Many of them left their homeland; including the historian and poet George Buchanan (q.v.) and theology professor Knox (q.v.). When, during the regency of Mary of Guise, Scotland was at war with England, the government called for help from the French army, and after repelling the English invasion, it kept it in the country for the purposes of internal politics. It was during these years that Knox appeared on stage. Returning from Geneva in 1555, Knox already found many followers of R. in Scotland, both among the nobles and among the people. He began to preach the new teaching and organize its supporters for the common church life and for the struggle ahead of them. At the end of 1557, several Protestant nobles (including the queen’s half-brother, later Earl Murray) entered into a “covenant” among themselves, pledging to renounce “the host of the Antichrist with its abominable superstition and idolatry” in order to establish the evangelical community of Jesus Christ. They also combined a religious motive with a political one - dissatisfaction with the regent, who, through the marriage of her daughter to the French Dauphin, seemed to want to merge Scotland and France into one and, following French policy, again began to oppress Protestants. The masses began to join this union; The “lords of the congregation,” as the initiators of the movement were called, demanded from the ruler and parliament the restoration of the “divine form of the original church,” worship in the native language according to the Anglican “common missal,” and the election of priests by parishes and bishops by the nobility. Parliament did not agree to this; The regent, who was trying to raise her daughter to the English throne, united with supporters of the Catholic reaction on the continent to suppress heresy in Scotland. This caused Scottish Protestants to turn to Elizabeth for help (1559); A violent popular revolution began in the country, with an iconoclastic character, with the destruction and looting of monasteries. The ruler deployed military force against the Congregation of Christ. Civil strife occurred, in which France intervened; the English queen, for her part, provided assistance to the Covenanters, who were joined by some Scottish Catholics, fearing the domination of the French. The "Lords and Commons of the Scottish Church" decided to take power from the regent; Knox compiled a memoir in which he argued, with quotations from the Old Testament, that overthrowing idolatrous rulers was a matter pleasing to the Lord. A provisional government was formed; one of its members was Knox. In 1560, the warring parties were reconciled: according to the Treaty of Edinburgh, French troops were withdrawn from Scotland; Parliament (or rather, the convention), which consisted of a huge majority of supporters of R., introduced Calvinism in Scotland and secularized church property, distributing most of the confiscated lands among the nobles. The Scottish Church, called Presbyterian, adopted from Geneva the severe regime of Calvinism and placed very highly the clergy who governed it in their synods. Due to the participation of the nobility in the Scottish reform movement, the republican organization of the Scottish Church was also distinguished by its aristocratic character. See Calvinism, Presbyterians, Mary Stuart.

Reformation in the Netherlands

R. penetrated into the Netherlands in the first half of the 16th century. from Germany, but Charles V, who strictly observed the Edict of Worms here, suppressed the emerging Lutheran movement with the most brutal measures. In the fifties and sixties, Calvinism (q.v.) began to spread rapidly in the Netherlands, at the same time as political opposition began against the despotism of Philip II of Spain. Little by little, the Dutch Republic turned into the Dutch Revolution (q.v.), which ended with the founding of the Dutch Republic (q.v.).

Reformation in France

Protestantism appeared in France in the first half of the 16th century, but the real reformation movement began only in the fifties, and French Protestants were Calvinists and were called Huguenots. The peculiarity of the French reform movement in social and political terms was that it involved mainly the nobility and, to some extent, the townspeople. The religious struggle here also took on the character of a struggle against royal absolutism. This was a kind of feudal and municipal reaction, combined with an attempt to limit royal power to the states general. In 1516, according to the Bologna Concordat (see), the pope ceded to the French king the right of appointment to all the highest church positions in the state, thereby subordinating the French church to royal power. When R. in other countries discovered its connection with popular movements, Francis I took up arms against R., finding that it was politically dangerous and “serves not so much for the edification of souls as for the shock of states.” Under both him and his son Henry II, Protestants were severely persecuted, but their numbers grew. In 1555 there was only one properly organized Calvinist community in France, but in 1559 there were already about 2 thousand of them, and the Protestants convened their first synod (secret) in Paris. After the death of Henry II, with his successors weak and incapable, royal power fell into decline, which feudal and municipal elements took advantage of to assert their claims, combined with the ideas of Calvinism. But R. in France failed to win a victory over Catholicism, and the royal power eventually emerged victorious from the political struggle. It is remarkable that Protestantism here had an aristocratic character, and the extreme democratic movement marched under the banner of reactionary Catholicism.

Reformation in Poland and Lithuania

In the Polish-Lithuanian state, R. also ended in failure. She found sympathy only in the most prosperous and educated part of the gentry, and in cities with a German population. A struggle arose between the gentry and the clergy over influence in the state, as well as over church courts and tithes - a struggle that was especially strong in the diets of the mid-16th century, when the gentry elected predominantly Protestant ambassadors. This gave temporary success to Protestantism, which was favored by the indifferentism of the clergy, who dreamed of a national church, with its own cathedrals and a popular language in worship, but zealously defended its privileges. The forces of the Polish Protestants were, however, divided. Lutheranism spread in the cities, the Greater Poland gentry gravitated towards the confession of the Czech brothers (Hussites), and the Lesser Poland gentry began to accept Calvinism; but also among the Lesser Poland Church of the Helvetic Confession (q.v.) in the sixties, an anti-Trinitarian schism began. The royal power under Sigismund I strictly persecuted the new believers; Sigismund II Augustus treated them tolerantly, and more than once attempts were made to push him onto the path of Henry VIII. The Polish gentry did not sympathize with Lutheranism for its German origin and its monarchical character; Calvinism, with its aristocratic-republican character and the admission of a secular element, in the person of elders (seniors), into church administration was much more suitable to her aspirations. Calvin entered into correspondence with the Poles, among whom in the mid-fifties even the thought of inviting him to Poland arose. The Poles invited their compatriot, Calvinist Jan Laski (see), to organize a church in Poland. The gentry character of the Polish Republic is also evident from the fact that Polish Protestants derived the right to religious freedom from their gentry freedom; reforming the churches on their estates, the landowners forced the peasants to give them the tithes that had previously been paid to the Catholic clergy, and demanded that their subjects attend Protestant services. Rationalistic sectarianism in Poland also had an aristocratic character (see Socinianism). The Polish revolution reached its greatest strength in the fifties and sixties of the 16th century, and in the seventies the Catholic reaction began. In Lithuania, R. had the same fate (for Protestantism in northwestern Rus', see the corresponding article).

Reformation in the Czech Republic and Hungary

At the very beginning of the Roman era, both of these states came under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty, in whose possessions, under the two closest successors of Charles V, Protestantism spread almost unhindered. By the time of the accession of Rudolf II (1576), almost all the nobility and almost all the cities of Lower and Upper Austria professed the Protestant faith; There were many Protestants in Styria, Carinthia, and Carinthia. Hussiteism was especially strong in the Czech Republic (see Utraquism), and in Hungary - Lutheranism among the German colonists (and partly among the Slavs) and Calvinism among the Magyars, as a result of which it was called here the “Magyar faith.” In both countries, Protestantism received a purely political organization. In the Czech Republic, by virtue of the “letter of majesty” (1609), Protestants had the right to choose 24 defensors for themselves, convene their representatives, maintain an army and impose taxes for its maintenance. Rudolf II gave this charter to the Czechs in order to keep them behind him when the rest of his subjects abandoned him: in the Habsburg possessions, as in other states, there was then a struggle between zemstvo officials and royal absolutism. Soon after, the mutual relations between the estates and the king worsened, and an uprising occurred in the Czech Republic, which was the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (see), during which the Czechs lost political freedom and were subjected to a terrible Catholic reaction. The fate of Protestantism in Hungary was more favorable; he was not suppressed as in the Czech Republic, although Hungarian Protestants repeatedly had to endure severe persecution (see).

Reformation in Italy and Spain (with Portugal).

In the Southern Roman countries there were only isolated apostasies from the Catholic Church, and R. did not receive political significance. In the thirties, among the cardinals there were people (Contarini, Sadolet) who thought about church reform and corresponded with Melanchthon; even in the Curia there was a party that sought reconciliation with the Protestants; in 1538 a special commission was appointed to correct the church. The work "Del Beneficio del Cristo", published in 1540, was compiled in a Protestant spirit. This movement was crushed by the reaction that began in the forties. In Spain, the connection with Germany, established as a result of the election of Charles V as emperor, contributed to the dissemination of Luther's writings. In the middle of the 16th century. there were secret Protestant communities in Seville, Valladolid and some other places. In 1558, the authorities accidentally discovered one of these Protestant communities. The Inquisition immediately made a mass of arrests, and Charles V, who was then still alive, demanded the most severe punishment for the guilty. The burning of heretics convicted by the Inquisition took place in the presence of Philip II, his half-brother Don Juan of Austria and his son, Don Carlos. Even the Spanish primate, Archbishop of Toledo Bartholomew Carranza, in whose arms Charles V died, was arrested (1559) for leaning towards Lutheranism, and only papal intercession saved him from the fire. With such energetic measures at the very beginning of his reign, Philip II immediately “cleansed” Spain of “heretics.” Individual cases of persecution for falling away from Catholicism occurred, however, in the following years.

Religious wars of the Reformation era

Religious R. XVI century. caused a number of wars, both internecine and international. Following short and local religious wars in Switzerland and Germany (see above) at the end of the first half of the 16th century. the era of terrible religious wars is coming, which have acquired an international character - an era spanning an entire century (counting from the beginning of the Schmalkaldic War in 1546 to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) and breaking up into the “century” of Philip II of Spain, the main figure of international reaction in the second half of the 16th century, and during the Thirty Years' War, in the first half of the 17th century. At this time, the Catholics of individual countries stretch out their hands to each other, pinning their hopes on powerful Spain; the Spanish king becomes the head of the international reaction, using not only the means that his enormous monarchy provided him, but also the support of Catholic parties in individual countries, as well as the moral and financial assistance of the papal throne. This forced Protestants from different states to draw closer to each other. The Calvinists in Scotland, France, the Netherlands and the English Puritans considered their cause common; Queen Elizabeth supported the Protestants many times. The reactionary attempts of Philip II were rebuffed. In 1588, his “invincible armada” sent to conquer England crashed; in 1589, Henry IV ascended the throne in France, pacifying the country and at the same time (1598) giving freedom of religion to Protestants and making peace with Spain; finally, the Netherlands successfully fought Philip II and forced his successor to conclude a truce. These wars, which tore apart the extreme west of Europe, had barely ended when a new religious struggle began to prepare in another part of it. Henry IV, back in the eighties of the 16th century, who proposed to Elizabeth of England the establishment of a common Protestant union, dreamed of it at the end of his life, turning his gaze to Germany, where discord between Catholics and Protestants threatened civil strife, but his death at the hands of a Catholic fanatic (1610) put an end to his plans. At this time, by virtue of a truce concluded for twelve years (1609), the war between Catholic Spain and Protestant Holland had just ceased; In Germany, the Protestant Union (1608) and the Catholic League (1609) had already been concluded, which soon after had to enter into armed struggle among themselves. Then the war between Spain and Holland began again; in France, the Huguenots carried out a new uprising; in the northeast there was a struggle between Protestant Sweden and Catholic Poland, whose king, the Catholic Sigismund III (from the Swedish Vasa dynasty), having lost the Swedish crown, disputed the rights to it from his uncle Charles IX and his son Gustav Adolf, the future hero of the Thirty Years' War . Dreaming of a Catholic reaction in Sweden, Sigismund acted in concert with Austria. Thus, in international politics of the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th centuries. we see the division of European states into two religious camps. Of these, the Catholic camp, headed by the Habsburgs, first Spanish (during the time of Philip II), then Austrian (during the Thirty Years' War), was distinguished by greater cohesion and a more aggressive character. If Philip II had managed to break the resistance of the Netherlands, acquire France for his home, and turn England and Scotland into one Catholic Britain - and such were his plans - if, a little later, the aspirations of Emperors Ferdinand II and III had been realized, if, finally, Sigismund III dealt with Sweden and Moscow and used part of the Polish forces that operated in Russia during the troubled times to fight in the west of Europe in the interests of Catholicism - the victory of the reaction would be complete; but Protestantism had defenders in the person of such sovereigns and political figures as Elizabeth of England, William of Orange, Henry IV of France, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and in the person of entire nations whose national independence was threatened by the Catholic reaction. The struggle took on such a character that Scotland, during the reign of Mary Stuart, and England, under Elizabeth, and the Netherlands and Sweden, under Charles IX and Gustavus Adolphus, had to defend their independence along with their religion, since the desire for political hegemony over Europe. Catholicism sought, in international politics, to suppress national independence; Protestantism, on the contrary, linked its cause with the cause of national independence. Therefore, in general, the international struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism was a struggle between cultural reaction, absolutism and the enslavement of nationalities on the one hand, and cultural development, political freedom and national independence on the other.

Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation

Usually, R.'s influence on Catholicism is understood only in the sense of causing a reaction in it against the new religious movement. But with this counter-reformation (Gegenreformation) or Catholic reaction was connected the renewal of Catholicism itself, which makes it possible to talk about “Catholic R.”. When the reform movement of the 16th century began, disorganization and demoralization reigned in the Catholic Church. Many were pushed into Protestantism by the apparent reluctance of the spiritual authorities to make the most necessary changes. R. took the old church completely by surprise, as a result of which the organization of a Catholic reaction against R. could not arise immediately. In order to take advantage of the reactionary mood caused by the extremes of the movement, to strengthen this mood, to unite the social forces inclined towards it, and to direct them towards one goal, the Catholic Church itself had to undergo some reform, opposing “heresy” with legal corrections. All this little by little happened, starting in the forties of the 16th century, when, with the help of the reaction, a new order of Jesuits was founded (1540), a supreme inquisitorial court was established in Rome (1542), strict book censorship was organized and the Council of Triente was convened (1545). , which later produced the Catholic R. Its result was the Catholicism of modern times. Before the start of R., Catholicism was something numb in official formalism; now he has received life and movement. It was not the church of the 14th and 15th centuries, which could neither live nor die, but an active system, adapting to circumstances, currying favor with kings and peoples, luring everyone, some with despotism and tyranny, others with condescending tolerance and freedom; it was no longer a powerless institution that sought help from the outside, without revealing a sincere desire to correct itself and renew itself, but a harmonious organization that began to enjoy great authority in the society it had re-educated and, being able to fanatize the masses, led them in the fight against Protestantism. Pedagogy and diplomacy were the two great tools with which the reformed church acted: to train the individual and force him to serve other people's purposes without him noticing it - these were the two arts that especially distinguished the main representatives of the revived Catholicism. Catholic reaction has a long and complex history, the essence of which has always been the same everywhere. In cultural and social terms, it was a history of theological and clerical suppression of independent thought and public freedom - a suppression in which the representatives of the revived and militant Catholicism were sometimes competed, but not with such jealousy and not with such success, by representatives of Protestant intolerance and Protestant rigorism. The political history of Catholic reaction boils down to the subordination of domestic and foreign policy to a reactionary direction, to the formation of a large international union of Catholic states, to the arousal of hostility among its members against Protestant countries, even to interference in the internal affairs of these latter. Since the end of the 16th century, the main political forces of reaction, Spain and Austria, have been joined by Poland, which has become the operational basis of the Catholic Church and against Orthodoxy.

General historical significance of the reformation

The general historical significance of R. is enormous. The starting points of the new religious systems were in complete contrast to Catholicism. Church authority collided with individual freedom, formal piety with internal religiosity, traditional immobility with the progressive development of reality; however, R. was often only a change in form, and not in principle: for example, in many respects, Calvinism was only a change from Catholicism. Often the Reformation replaced one church authority in matters of faith with another of the same kind, or with the authority of secular power, determined obligatory external forms for everyone and, having established certain principles of church life, became a conservative force in relation to these principles, not allowing their further change. Thus, contrary to the basic principles of Protestantism, R. in fact often preserved old cultural and social traditions. Protestantism, taken from a principled perspective, was religious individualism and at the same time an attempt to liberate the state from church tutelage. The latter succeeded to a greater extent than the implementation of the individualistic principle: the state not only freed itself from church tutelage, but itself subjugated the church and even took the place of the church in relation to its subjects, directly contrary to the individualistic principle of R. With its individualism and the liberation of the state from theocratic tutelage Protestantism converges with the humanism of the Renaissance, in which individualistic and secularization aspirations were also strong. The common features of the Renaissance and R. are the desire of the individual to create his own view of the world and to be critical of traditional authorities, the liberation of life from ascetic demands, the rehabilitation of the instincts of human nature, expressed in the denial of monasticism and celibacy of the clergy, the emancipation of the state, and the secularization of church property. Indifferent or too rational about religion, humanism turned out to be unable to develop the individualistic principle of freedom of conscience, born, albeit with great pain, of the Reformation; R., in turn, turned out to be unable to understand the freedom of thought that arose in the culture of humanism; Only later was the synthesis of these legacies of Protestantism and humanism completed. In its political literature, humanism did not develop the idea of ​​political freedom, which, on the contrary, was defended in their writings by Protestants (in the 16th century, Calvinists, in the 17th century, Independents); Protestant political writers could not rid public life of religious overtones, as humanism did: and here, too, only later did the political views of the Reformation and Renaissance merge. The religious and political freedom of the new Europe owes its origin primarily to Protestantism; free thought and the secular nature of culture originate from humanism. In particular, the matter appears to be like this. 1) Protestantism gave rise to the principle of freedom of conscience, although R. did not implement it. The starting point of the Reformation was religious protest, which was based on moral conviction: everyone who became Protestants out of inner conviction often encountered resistance from the church and the state, but courageously and even enduring martyrdom defended the freedom of their conscience, elevating it to the principle of religious life . In most cases, however, this principle was distorted in practice. Very often the persecuted referred to it only in forms of self-defense, not having enough tolerance not to become persecutors of others when the opportunity presented itself, and thinking that, as owners of the truth, they could force others to recognize it. By placing R. under the protection of secular power, the reformers themselves transferred to her the rights of the old church over individual conscience. Defending their faith, Protestants referred not only to their individual right, as Luther did at the Diet of Worms, but, mainly, to the obligation to obey God more than people; This same obedience justified their intolerant attitude towards other faiths, which they equated with an insult to the Divine. The reformers recognized the state's right to punish heretics, in which the secular authorities fully agreed with them, seeing in deviation from the dominant religion disobedience to its dictates. 2) R. was hostile to freedom of thought, although she contributed to its development. In general, in R. theological authority was placed above the activity of human thought; the charge of rationalism was one of the most powerful in the eyes of the reformers. Faced with the fear of heresy, they not only forgot the rights of someone else's conscience, but also denied the rights of their own reason. Meanwhile, the very protest of the reformers against the demand of the Catholic Church to believe without reasoning contained the recognition of certain rights for individual understanding; It was highly illogical to recognize freedom of research and punish its results. The element of scientific research was introduced into theological studies by those humanists who, with an interest in classical authors, combined an interest in Holy Scripture and the Church Fathers and applied humanistic methods to theology. For Luther himself, studying the Bible using new techniques was a series of scientific discoveries. Therefore, despite the general principle of subordinating reason to the authority of Holy Scripture, the need to interpret the latter required the activity of reason, and rationalism, despite the hostility of theologians and mystics towards it, penetrated into the matter of church reform. The free-thinking of the Italian humanists was rarely directed towards religion, but in an effort to free the mind from theological tutelage, they invented a special trick, arguing that what is true in philosophy can be false in theology and vice versa. In the 16th century thought was directed mainly towards solving religious issues, and the mystical idea of ​​internal revelation was only a predecessor of the later teaching, in which reason itself was a revelation of the Divine and was seen as the source of religious truth. 3) The mutual relations of church and state in Catholicism were understood in the sense of the primacy of the former over the latter. Now the church is either subordinate to the state (Lutheranism and Anglicanism), or, as it were, merges with it (Calvinism), but in both cases the state has a confessional character, and the church is a state institution. By liberating the state from the church and imparting to it the nature of a national-political institution, the principles of Catholic theocratism and universalism were violated. Any connection between church and state was severed only in sectarianism. In general, we can say that R. gave the state predominance and even dominance over the church, making religion itself an instrument of state power. Whatever the relationship between the church and the state in the era of R., in any case, these relations were a combination of religion and politics. The whole difference lay in what was taken as the goal and what was taken as the means. If in the Middle Ages politics usually had to serve religion, then, on the contrary, in modern times religion was very often forced to serve politics. Already some humanists (for example, Machiavelli) saw in religion a kind of instrumentum imperii. Catholic writers, not without reason, point out that this was a return to the pagan state: in a Christian state, religion should not be a political means. The sectarians also took the same point of view. The very essence of sectarianism did not allow it to organize itself into any state church, as a result of which it had to lead to a gradual separation of religion and politics. This was best demonstrated in English independence in the 17th century, but the principle of separation of church and state was fully realized in England's North American colonies, from which the United States emerged. The separation of religion from politics led to the state's non-interference in the beliefs of its subjects. This was a logical conclusion from sectarianism, which saw religion primarily as a matter of personal conviction, and not as an instrument of state power. From this point of view, religious freedom was an inalienable right of the individual, and in this way it differs from religious tolerance arising from concessions of the state, which itself determines the boundaries of these concessions. 4) Finally, R. had a great influence on the formulation and resolution of social and political issues in the spirit of equality and freedom, although she also contributed to opposing social trends. Mystical Anabaptism in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands was a preaching of social equality; rationalistic anti-trinitarianism in Poland had an aristocratic character; many Polish sectarians of the gentry defended the right of true Christians to have “subjects” or slaves, citing the Old Testament. Everything, in this case, depended on the environment in which sectarianism developed. The same can be said about the political teachings of Protestants: Lutheranism and Anglicanism were distinguished by their monarchical character, Zwinglianism and Calvinism by their republican character. It is often said that Protestantism has always stood on the side of freedom, and Catholicism has always stood on the side of power. This is not true: the roles of Catholics and Protestants changed depending on the circumstances, and the same principles that Calvinists used to justify their rebellion against “wicked” kings were used by Catholics when they dealt with heretical sovereigns. This is observed in general in Jesuit political literature, but is especially pronounced in France during the religious wars. Of particular importance for understanding the further political development of Western Europe is the development of the idea of ​​democracy in Calvinism. The Calvinists were not the inventors of this idea and they were not the only ones who developed it in the 16th century; but never before had it received such theological justification and such practical influence at the same time (see Monarchomachs). Calvinists (and in the 17th century, Independents) believed in its truth, while the Jesuits, taking the same point of view, saw only its advantage under certain circumstances.

In very recent times, attempts have begun in historical literature to determine the meaning of R. from an economic point of view: they are not only trying to reduce R. to economic causes, but also to derive economic consequences from it. These attempts make sense only to the extent that interaction is recognized between both phenomena, that is, the reform movement and the economic process. It is impossible to reduce the reform movement to economic causes alone or to attribute known economic phenomena exclusively to it; It is impossible, for example, to explain the economic development of Holland and England only by the transition to Protestantism or the triumph of Catholicism - the economic decline of Spain (as Macaulay did). There is no doubt, however, that there is a connection between the facts of both categories. Historians have long talked about the need to calculate how much religious fanaticism cost Europe, dividing different parts of the same people or entire nations into hostile camps. The question arises: where did those enormous material resources come from that allowed Western European sovereigns to assemble large armies and equip huge fleets? The course of Russian history in the West would undoubtedly have been different without the grandiose international clashes that took place in the 16th century. possible only as a result of important changes in the monetary economy. Further, of particular interest is the question of the connection between religious R. and economic history in relation to the class differences of Western European society in the 16th century. The reasons for dissatisfaction with the Catholic clergy and church orders, which very often had an economic nature (the impoverishment of the nobility, the burden of tithes, burdening the peasants with extortions), were far from the same in the individual estates and classes into which the then society was divided. If it was not class interests themselves that forced one or another part of the population to fall under the banner of one formula or another, as is often observed in the Reformation era, then in any case class differences had an influence, at least indirectly, on the formation of religious parties. So, for example, in the era of the French Wars of Religion, the Huguenot party had a predominantly noble character, and the Catholic League consisted mainly of the urban common people, while the “politicians” (q.v.) were mainly the wealthy bourgeoisie. In direct connection with religious religion was the secularization of church property. A huge number of populated estates, sometimes almost half of the entire territory, were concentrated in the hands of the clergy and monasteries. Where the secularization of church property took place, therefore, an entire agrarian revolution took place, which had important economic consequences. At the expense of the clergy and monasteries, it was mainly the nobility who enriched themselves, with whom the state power, which carried out secularization, mostly shared its spoils. The secularization of church property coincided with two important processes in the social history of Western Europe. Firstly, the impoverishment of the noble class took place everywhere, which, looking for ways to improve their affairs, on the one hand, leaned on the peasant masses, as we see, for example, in Germany, during the era of the great peasant war, and on the other, began to strenuously strive for taking possession of the land property of the clergy and monasteries. Secondly, at this time the transition began from the previous, medieval form of economy to a new one, designed for more extensive production. The old methods of extracting income from land could most easily be maintained where the property retained its former owners - and nowhere did economic conservatism dominate to such an extent as on church lands. The transfer of the latter to new owners inevitably had to contribute to changes of an economic nature. Church R. here helped the process rooted in the economic sphere.

Historical and philosophical views on the Reformation

The crudely confessional point of view of the first historians of R. has in our time given way to more objective criticism. The main merit of the historical clarification of the entire era belongs, however, to Protestant writers or sympathizers with Protestantism, as a well-known form of religious consciousness, and in general, writers of the Catholic camp try in vain to shake their idea of ​​R. In some cases, however, one must take into account the contributions and amendments on this side, especially since the judgment of Protestant historians was often influenced by preconceived views. The dispute between the two camps has now moved to a new ground: before, the dispute was about whose side the religious truth was on, while now some are trying to prove that R. contributed to general cultural and social progress, others - that it slowed it down. Thus, some non-confessional historical criterion is sought for resolving the question of the meaning of R. In a number of works of a historical and philosophical nature, attempts were made to clarify the historical meaning of R. without regard to the internal truth or falsity of Protestantism. And here, however, we encounter a one-sided attitude to the matter. Transferring to the past that view of the positive significance of knowledge, with which in positivism hopes for the future are connected, it was easy to declare “organic” only that historical movement that manifested itself in the development of science, which should provide solid foundations for all areas of thought and life. Next to him, as if clearing the way for him, another movement was placed - critical, destroying what could not be destroyed first due to its weakness, but was subject to destruction in order to create a new one. From these two movements - organic (positive, creative) and critical (negative, destructive) a third movement began to be distinguished - "reformation", as such, which only outwardly stands in a hostile relationship to the old order of things, but in reality seeks only to transform the old, maintaining the same content under new forms. From this point of view, the first movement is represented by the successes of positive science, at first in the field of natural science and only much later in the field of human (cultural and social) relations, the second by the development of skepticism aimed at issues of abstract thought and real life, the third by the emergence and spread of Protestantism, which inherited from Catholicism a hostile attitude towards free thought. Many are inclined, therefore, to see the reform movement as more reactionary than progressive. It is difficult to agree with this interpretation. Firstly, this refers to only one mental development; It is only in relation to it that it is recommended to evaluate religious R., which was indeed accompanied by the fall of secular science and the development of theological intolerance. At the same time, other spheres of life are forgotten - moral, social and political, and in them R. played a different role, depending on the circumstances of place and time. Secondly, outside the reform movement, in the era of its dominance, only the critical movement could have real strength, since the organic was barely emerging and, due to its weakness and limitations, could not play a social role. Meanwhile, the critical movement had only a negative and destructive meaning; It was very natural, therefore, that, feeling the need for positive views and striving to create new relationships, people of the 16th and 17th centuries should have marched under the banner of religious ideas, Protestant and sectarian. Religious R. XVI century. undoubtedly wiped out the secular cultural (and, by the way, scientific) movement of humanism, but humanistic morality, politics and science could not become the same force in wide circles of society and especially among the masses as the Protestant and sectarian movements were at that time - they could not to be such a force both due to its internal properties, due to the extreme lack of development of its own content, and due to external conditions, due to its inconsistency with the cultural state of society.

Literature

R.'s historiography is very extensive; It is not possible here to give the titles of all any important works, especially since her contemporaries began to write the history of R. Only the most important works are named below; for details, see Petrov’s “Lectures on World History” (vol. III), the works of Lavisse and Rambaud, and Kareev’s “History of Western Europe in Modern Times” (vol. I and especially II).

Reformation in general and individual aspects of the issue. Fisher, "The Reformation" (important for its bibliography of sources and aids, but outdated); Merle d'Aubigné, "Hist. de la Réformation au XVI siècl e" and "H. d. l. R. au temps de Calvin"; Geyser (H ä usser), "History of R."; Laurent, "La Ré forme" (Vol. VIII of his "Etudes sur l"histoire de l"humanité"); Baird ( Beard), "P. XVI century in its relation to new thinking and knowledge"; M. Carriere, "Die philosophische Weltanschauung der Reformationszeit". See also works on church history - Gieseler, Baur, Henke, Hagenbach ("Reformationsgeschichte") and Herzog, "Realencyclop ädie für protestantische Theologie". Works on individual forms of Protestantism are indicated under the corresponding words. On the religious movements that preceded R., see Hefele, "Conciliengeschichte"; Zimmermann, "Die kirchlichen Verfassungsk ämpfe des XV Jahrh."; Hü bler, "Die Constanzer Reformation und die Concordate von 1418"; V. Mikhailovsky, "The main harbingers and predecessors of R." (in the appendix to the Russian translation of Geyser's work); Ullmann, "Reformatoren vor der Reformation"; Keller, "Die Reformation und die älteren Reformparteien" ; Döllinger, "Beiträge zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters"; Erbkam, "Ge sch. der protest. Sekten im Zeitalter der Reformation." There are several works specifically devoted to defining the mutual relations of humanism and R.: Nisard, "Renaissance et Réforme"; Szujski, "Odrodzenie i reformacya w Polsce"; Cornelius, "Die münsterischen Humanisten und ihr Verhä ltniss zur Reformation" and others. The same issue is considered in some general works (for Germany, Hagen's opus; see below) or in biographies of humanists and reformers. Attempts to connect the history of Russia with economic development have not yet produced a single major work. Wed . Kautsky, "Thomas More", with an extensive introduction (translated in the "Northern Herald" for 1891); R. Wipper (author of a work on Calvin), "Society, state, culture in the West in the 16th century" ("World God", 1897); Rogers, "T h e economic interpretation of history" (chapter "The social effects of religions movements"). On this issue, most can be expected from the history of secularization (see), which has barely become independent develop. On the contrary, a lot has been written about the influence of R. on the history of philosophy, ethical and political teachings, literature, etc., both in general and special works. Germany and German Switzerland: Ranke, "Deutsche Gesch. im Zeitalter der Reformation"; Hagen, "Deutschlands liter. und religion. Verhältnis se im Zeitalter der Reformation"; Janssen, "Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgange des Mittelalters"; Egelhaaf, "Deutsche Gesch. im XVI Jahrh. bis zum Augsburger Relionsfrieden"; Bezold, "Gesch. der deutschen Reformation" (in the Oncken collection). Scandinavian states: An outline of the history of Russia - in Forsten's work, "The Struggle for Dominion in the Baltic Sea"; Munter, "Kirchengesch. von D änemark"; Knös, "Darstellung der schwedischen Kirchenverfassung"; Weidling, "Schwed. Gesch. im Zeitalter der Reformation". England and Scotland: V. Sokolov, "Reformation in England"; Weber, "Gesch. der Reformation von Grossbritannien"; Maurenbrecher, "England im Reformationszeitalter"; Hunt, "Hist. of the religion. thought in England from the Reformation"; Dorean, "Origines du schisme d"Angleterre"; Rudloff, "Gesch. der Reformation in Schottland". See also works on the history of Puritanism in general and in particular independence in England. Netherlands (except works on the Dutch revolution): Hoop Scheffer, "Gesch. der niederl. Ref ormation"; Brandt, "Hist. abrégée de la réformation des Pays-Bas". France: De-Felice, "Hist. des protestants en France"; Anquez, "Hist. des assemblées politiques des prot. en France"; Puaux, "Hist. de la réforme française"; Soldan, "Gesch. des Protestantismus in Frankreich"; Von Pollenz, "Gesch. des francö s. Calvinismus"; Luchitsky, "Feudal aristocracy and Calvinists in France"; his, “The Catholic League and the Calvinists in France.” See also Haag Encyclopedia, "La France protestante". Poland and Lithuania: H. Lubowicz, "History of the Reformation in Poland"; his, “The Beginning of the Catholic Reaction and the Decline of the Reformation in Poland”; N. Kareev, “Essay on the history of the reformation movement and Catholic reaction in Poland”; Zhukovich, "Cardinal Gozius and the Polish Church of his time"; Sz ujski, "Odrodzenie i reformacya w Polsce"; Zakrzewski, "Powstanie i wzrost reformacyi w Polsce". Czech Republic and Hungary (except for works about the Hussites and the Thirty Years' War): Gindely, "Gesch. der b öhmischen Brüder"; Czerwenka, "Gesch. der evangel. Kirche in Böhmen"; Denis, "Fin de l"indépendance Bohê me"; Lichtenberger, "Gesch. des Evangeliums in Ungarn"; Balogh, "Gesch. der ungar.-protestant. Kirche"; Palauzov, "Reform and Catholic reaction in Hungary." Southern Romance countries: M"Crie, "Hist. of the progress and oppr ession of the reformation in Italy"; his, “History of R. in Spain”; Comba, "Storia della riforma in Italy"; Wilkens, "Gesch. des spanischen Protestantismus im XVI Jahrh. "; Erdmann, "Die Reformation und ihre Märtyrer in Italien"; Cantu, "Gli heretici d"Italia". Counter-Reformation and religious wars: Maurenbrecher, "Gesch. der Katholischen Reformation"; Philippson, "Les origines du catholicisme moderne: la contre-révolution ré ligieuse"; Ranke, "The Popes, Their Church and State in the 16th and 17th Centuries." See also works on the history of the Inquisition, censorship, the Jesuits, the Council of Trent and the Thirty Years' War; Fischer, "Geschichte der ausw ä rtigen Politik und Diplomatie im Reformations-Zeitalter"; Laurent, "Les guerres de religion" (IX volumes of his "Etudes sur l"histoire de l"humanité").

Used materials

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron.

The Reformation is a church-social movement of the 16th century in Europe against the Catholic Church, in which the struggle for religious ideals was intertwined with the class struggle of the peasantry and the emerging bourgeoisie with the feudal lords. Became a catalyst for the collapse of feudal society and the emergence of rudimentary forms of capitalism

Causes of the Reformation

Catholicism was a whole system that imposed a framework on the entire culture and social organization of European peoples:

— Catholic universalism denied nationality
— The theocratic idea crushed the state
— The clergy had a privileged position in society, subordinating the secular classes to church tutelage
— Dogmatism provided thought with too narrow a sphere
— The Catholic Church has degenerated from a comforter and promoter of ideas of social justice into a cruel feudal landowner and oppressor
— The discrepancy between the lifestyle of church ministers and what they preached
— Incapacity, licentiousness and corruption of the church bureaucracy
— The growing material demands of the Roman church: all believers paid tithes - a tax of 1/10 of all income. There was open trade in church positions
— The existence of a huge number of monasteries, which had extensive land holdings and other wealth, with a large idle population
— The sale of indulgences, begun to finance the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, too clearly and cynically demonstrated not the Church's concern for the souls of the flock, but the desire for enrichment and earthly goods
— The invention of printing
— Discovery of America
— Renewed interest in ancient culture, accompanied by the flourishing of art, which for many centuries served exclusively the interests of the Church

All secular institutions of European society united in the struggle against the Catholic Church: state power, the emerging bourgeoisie, the oppressed peasantry, intellectuals, and representatives of the liberal professions. They fought not in the name of the purity of Christian doctrine, not in the name of restoring the Bible as the main authority in matters of religion, not in the name of the demands of conscience and religious thought, but because Catholicism interfered with the free development of social relations in all spheres of life

Reformation in Europe

The formal beginning of the Reformation is considered to be October 31, 1517, when the vicar of the deanery of the Augustinian Order, Martin Luther, published his 95 theses against the trade in papal indulgences*

• 1520s - Germany
• 1525 - Prussia, Livonia
• 1530s - England
• 1536 - Denmark
• 1536 - Norway
• 1540 - Iceland
• 1527-1544 - Sweden
• 1518-1520s - Switzerland: Zurich, Bern, Basel, Geneva
• 1520-1530s - France: Lutheranism and Anabaptism
• 1550s - France: Calvinism
• 1540-1560s - Netherlands

Figures of the Reformation

• Martin Luther (1483–1546) - Germany
• Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) - Germany
• Hans Tausen (1494–1561) - Denmark
• Olaus Petri (1493–1552) – Sweden
• Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) – Switzerland
• John Calvin (1509–1564) – France, Switzerland
• Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) - England
• John Knox (1514?–1572) - Scotland
• J. Lefebvre (1450-1536) - France
• G. Brisonnet (1470-1534) - France
• M. Agricola (1510-1557) - Finland
• T. Munzer (1490-1525) - Germany

As a result of the Reformation, some believers adopted the ideas of its main figures Luther and Calvin, turning from Catholics to Lutherans and Calvinists

Brief biography of Martin Luther

• 1483 (1484?), November 10 - born in Eisleben (Saxony)
• 1497-1498 - study at the Lollard school in Magdeburg
• 1501 - 1505 - studies at the University of Erfurt
• 1505 - 1506 - novice in the Augustinian monastery (Erfurt)
• 1506 - took monastic vows
• 1507 - ordained to the priesthood
• 1508 - moves to the Wiggenberg monastery and enters the theological faculty of the University of Wiggenberg
• 1512, October 19 - Martin Luther receives his Doctor of Divinity degree
• 1515 - elected vicar of the deanery (11 monasteries) of the Augustinian Order.
• 1617, October 31 - Father Martin Luther posted 95 theses on indulgences on the door of the Wittenberg parish church.
• 1517-1520 - numerous theological articles criticizing the existing order in the church
• 1520, June 15 - bull of Pope Leo X, which invites Luther to renounce his heretical ideas within 60 days
• 1520, December 10 - in the town square of Wiggenberg, a crowd of students and monks under the leadership of Luther burned the papal bull and the writings of Luther's opponents.
• 1521, January 3 - Leo X's bull excommunicating Martin Luther from the Church.
• 1521, May - 1522, March - Martin Luther, under the name of Jurgen Jorg, hides in the Wartburg Fortress, continuing his journalistic activities
• 1522, March 6 - return to Wittenberg
• 1525, June 13 - marriage to Katharina von Bora
  1525, December 29 - the first service according to the new rite, performed by Luther.
• 1526, June 7 - Luther's son Hans was born
• 1527, December 10 - Luther's daughter Elizabeth was born, died April 3, 1528.
• 1522-1534 - journalistic activity, translation into German of the books of the prophets and the Bible
• 1536, May 21-28 - a meeting of the largest theologians of the new faith took place in Wittenberg under the chairmanship of Luther
• 1537, February 9 - Protestant congress in Schmalkalden, for which Luther wrote the Creed.
• 1537-1546 - journalism, traveling around Germany
• 1546, February 18 - Martin Luther died of heart disease

The main idea of ​​Lutheranism is salvation by personal faith, which is given by God, without the help of the church. The connection between God and man is personal; the church is not a mediator between God and man. All believers are recognized as equal before Christ, priests lose their position as a special class. Religious communities themselves invite pastors and elect governing bodies. The source of doctrine is the Bible, which the believer has the right to independently explain. Instead of Latin, services are conducted in the native language of the believer

Brief biography of John Calvin

• 1509, July 10 - born in the French city of Noyon
• 1513-1531 in Paris, Orleans, Bourget studied the humanities, law, theology, received a licentiate degree
• 1532, spring - published his first scientific work at his own expense - comments on Seneca’s treatise “On Meekness”
• 1532 - received his doctorate in Orleans
• 1532, second half - became a Protestant
• 1533, October - wrote a speech “On Christian Philosophy” for the rector of the university Nicolas Copa, for which he was persecuted
• 1533-1535 - how the author of a seditious speech hid in the south of France
• 1535, winter - fearing for his life, fled to Switzerland
• 1536, first half - lived in Basel and the Italian town of Ferrara at the court of the Duchess of Ferrara Rene, daughter of King Louis XII, published his main work “Establishments of the Christian Faith”
• 1536, July-1538, spring - lived in Geneva until he was expelled
• 1538-1540 - Bern, Zurich, Strasbourg
• 1540, September - marriage to the widow Idelette Shtorder
• 1541, September 13 - return to Geneva by decision of the City Council
• 1541, November 20 - presented a draft charter of the church, which was approved by the General Assembly of Citizens

The charter provided for the election of 12 elders. Judicial and supervisory power was concentrated in the hands of the elders. The entire government structure of Geneva acquired a strict religious character. Gradually, all city power was concentrated in a small council, over which Calvin had unlimited influence.
The laws adopted at the insistence of Calvin were intended to make Geneva a prototype of the “city of God.” Geneva was to become Protestant Rome. Calvin called for strict monitoring of cleanliness and order in Geneva - it was to become a model for other cities in everything.
Calvin considered the task of the church to be the religious education of all citizens. To achieve this, Calvin carried out a series of reforms aimed at establishing “worldly asceticism.” The pompous Catholic cult was abolished, and strict administrative measures were taken aimed at strengthening morality. Petty and captious supervision was established over all citizens. Attendance at church services became mandatory; entertainment, dancing, bright clothes, and loud laughter were prohibited. Gradually, not a single theater remained in Geneva, mirrors were broken as unnecessary, elegant hairstyles were obstructed. Calvin had a heavy, domineering character. He was intolerant of both Catholics and representatives of other reform movements. At his insistence, opponents of his teaching were subjected to expulsion and even death penalty. In 1546 alone, 58 death sentences and 76 decrees of expulsion from the city were passed in Geneva.

• 1553 - by verdict of the Geneva consistory, M. Servet was executed for heretical views. First time sentenced to death for dissent
• 1559 - Founding of the Geneva Academy - a higher theological institution for the training of preachers
• 1564, May 27 - Calvin died. He was buried without ceremony, without a gravestone. Soon his burial place was lost

The main idea of ​​Calvinism is the doctrine of “absolute predestination,” according to which God, even before the “creation of the world,” predestined some people to “salvation” and others to “destruction,” and this sentence of God is absolutely unchangeable. However, the doctrine of “absolute predestination” was not fatalistic in nature. According to Calvinism, life is given to a person in order to reveal the abilities inherent in him by God, and success in earthly affairs represents a sign of salvation. Calvinism proclaimed new moral values ​​- frugality and prudence combined with tireless work, moderation in everyday life, and the spirit of entrepreneurship

Counter-Reformation

Every action implies a reaction. Catholic Europe responded to the Reformation movement with the Counter-Reformation (1543 - 1648). The Catholic Church refused to provide indulgences, new monastic orders and theological seminaries were founded, a uniform liturgy (the most important Christian service), the Gregorian calendar were introduced, the Reformation was suppressed in Poland, the lands of the Habsburgs, and France. The Counter-Reformation formalized the final break between Catholicism and Protestantism

Results of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation

— The believers of Europe were divided into Catholics and Protestants
— Europe plunged into a series of religious wars (,)
— Countries in which Protestantism won began to “build capitalism” more actively

*Indulgence - remission of sins for money

The content of the article

REFORMATION, a powerful religious movement aimed at reforming the doctrine and organization of the Christian church, which arose in Germany in the early 16th century, quickly spread throughout much of Europe and led to separation from Rome and the formation of a new form of Christianity. After a large group of German sovereigns and representatives of the free cities who joined the Reformation protested against the decision of the Imperial Reichstag in Speyer (1529), which prohibited the further spread of reforms, their followers began to be called Protestants, and the new form of Christianity - Protestantism.

From a Catholic point of view, Protestantism was a heresy, an unauthorized departure from the revealed teachings and institutions of the church, leading to apostasy from the true faith and violation of the moral standards of Christian life. He brought into the world a new seed of corruption and other evil. The traditional Catholic view of the Reformation is outlined by Pope Pius X in an encyclical Editae saepe(1910). The founders of the Reformation were “... men possessed by the spirit of pride and rebellion: enemies of the Cross of Christ, seeking earthly things... whose god is their womb. They did not plan to correct morals, but to deny the fundamental tenets of faith, which gave rise to great unrest and opened the way for them and others to a dissolute life. Rejecting the authority and leadership of the church and putting on the yoke of the arbitrariness of the most corrupt princes and people, they are trying to destroy the teaching, structure and order of the church. And after this... they dare to call their rebellion and their destruction of faith and morals “restoration” and call themselves “restorers” of the ancient order. In reality they are its destroyers, and by weakening the strength of Europe by conflicts and wars, they have fostered the apostasy of the modern age.”

From the Protestant point of view, on the contrary, it was the Roman Catholic Church that deviated from the revealed teachings and order of primitive Christianity and thereby separated itself from the living mystical body of Christ. The hypertrophied growth of the organizational machine of the medieval church paralyzed the life of the spirit. Salvation has degenerated into a kind of mass production with pompous church rituals and a pseudo-ascetic lifestyle. Moreover, she usurped the gifts of the Holy Spirit in favor of the clergy caste and thus opened the door to all sorts of abuses and exploitation of Christians by a corrupt clerical bureaucracy centered in papal Rome, whose corruption became the talk of all Christianity. The Protestant Reformation, far from heretical, served the complete restoration of the doctrinal and moral ideals of true Christianity.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

Germany.

On October 31, 1517, the young Augustinian monk Martin Luther (1483–1546), professor of theology at the newly founded University of Wittenberg, posted on the door of the palace church 95 theses, which he intended to defend in a public debate. The reason for this challenge was the practice of distributing indulgences issued by the pope to all those who made a monetary contribution to the papal treasury for the reconstruction of the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. Dominican friars traveled throughout Germany offering complete absolution and release from torment in purgatory to those who, after repenting and confessing their sins, paid a fee according to their income. It was also possible to purchase a special indulgence for souls in purgatory. Luther's theses not only condemned the abuses attributed to the sellers of indulgences, but also generally denied the very principles according to which these indulgences were issued. He believed that the pope had no power to forgive sins (except for punishments imposed by himself) and disputed the doctrine of the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints, which the pope resorts to for the forgiveness of sins. In addition, Luther deplored the fact that the practice of selling indulgences gave people what he believed was a false assurance of salvation.

All attempts to force him to renounce his views on papal power and authority failed, and in the end Pope Leo X condemned Luther on 41 points (bul Exsurge Domine, June 15, 1520), and in January 1521 excommunicated him. Meanwhile, the reformer published three pamphlets one after another, in which he boldly set out a program for reforming the church - its teachings and organization. In the first of them, To the Christian nobility of the German nation on the correction of Christianity, he called on the German princes and sovereigns to reform the German church, giving it a national character and transforming it into a church free from the domination of the church hierarchy, from superstitious external rituals and from laws allowing monastic life, celibacy of priests and other customs in which he saw perversion truly Christian tradition. In the treatise About the Babylonian Captivity of the Church Luther attacked the entire system of church sacraments, in which the church was seen as the official and only mediator between God and the human soul. In the third pamphlet - About the freedom of a Christian– he expounded his fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone, which became the cornerstone of the theological system of Protestantism.

He responded to the papal bull of condemnation by condemning the papacy (pamphlet Against the damned bull of the Antichrist), and the bull itself, Code of Canon Law and publicly burned several pamphlets of his opponents. Luther was an outstanding polemicist; sarcasm and abuse were his favorite techniques. But his opponents were not distinguished by delicacy. All polemical literature of that time, both Catholic and Protestant, was full of personal insults and was characterized by rude, even obscene language.

Luther's courage and open rebellion can be explained (at least in part) by the fact that his sermons, lectures and pamphlets won him the support of a large part of the clergy and a growing number of laity, both from the highest and lowest levels of German society. His colleagues at the University of Wittenberg, professors from other universities, some fellow Augustinians and many people devoted to humanistic culture took his side. Moreover, Frederick III the Wise, Elector of Saxony, Luther's sovereign, and some other German princes sympathetic to his views, took him under their protection. In their eyes, as in the eyes of ordinary people, Luther appeared as a champion of a holy cause, a reformer of the church and an exponent of the strengthening national consciousness of Germany.

Historians have pointed to various factors that help explain Luther's astonishingly rapid success in creating a wide and influential following. Most countries have long complained about the economic exploitation of the people by the Roman Curia, but the accusations did not bring any results. The demand for reform of the church in capite et in membris (in relation to the head and members) was heard more and more loudly from the time of the Avignon captivity of the popes (14th century) and then during the great Western schism (15th century). Reforms were promised at the Council of Constance, but they shelved as soon as Rome consolidated its power. The reputation of the church fell even lower in the 15th century, when popes and prelates were in power, caring too much about earthly things, and priests were not always distinguished by high morality. The educated classes, meanwhile, were greatly influenced by the pagan humanistic mentality, and Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy was supplanted by a new wave of Platonism. Medieval theology lost its authority, and the new secular critical attitude towards religion led to the collapse of the entire medieval world of ideas and beliefs. Finally, an important role was played by the fact that the Reformation, with the Church willingly accepting complete control over itself by the secular authorities, won the support of sovereigns and governments ready to turn religious problems into political and national ones and consolidate victory by force of arms or legislative coercion. In such a situation, a rebellion against the doctrinal and organizational dominance of papal Rome had a great chance of success.

Condemned and excommunicated by the pope for his heretical views, Luther should, in the normal course of events, have been arrested by secular authorities; however, the Elector of Saxony protected the reformer and ensured his safety. The new Emperor Charles V, King of Spain and monarch of the Habsburg hereditary dominions, at this moment sought to secure the united support of the German princes in anticipation of the inevitable war with Francis I, his rival in the struggle for hegemony in Europe. At the request of the Elector of Saxony, Luther was allowed to attend and speak in his defense at the Reichstag in Worms (April 1521). He was found guilty, and since he refused to renounce his views, imperial disgrace was imposed on him and his followers by imperial edict. However, by order of the Elector, Luther was intercepted on the road by knights and placed for his safety in a remote castle in the Wartburg. During the war against Francis I, with whom the pope entered into an alliance that caused the famous sack of Rome (1527), the emperor was unable or unwilling to complete Luther's work for almost 10 years. During this period, the changes advocated by Luther came into practice not only in the Saxon Electorate, but also in many states of Central and North-Eastern Germany.

While Luther remained in his enforced seclusion, the cause of the Reformation was threatened by serious unrest and destructive raids on churches and monasteries, carried out at the instigation of the "prophets of Zwickau." These religious fanatics claimed to be inspired by the Bible (they were joined by Luther's friend Karlstadt, one of the first to convert to the Protestant faith). Returning to Wittenberg, Luther crushed the fanatics with the power of eloquence and his authority, and the Elector of Saxony expelled them from the borders of his state. The "Prophets" were the forerunners of the Anabaptists, an anarchist movement within the Reformation. The most fanatical of them, in their program for establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, called for the abolition of class privileges and the socialization of property.

Thomas Münzer, leader of the Zwickau Prophets, also participated in the Peasants' War, a major uprising that swept through southwestern Germany like wildfire in 1524–1525. The cause of the uprising was centuries of unbearable oppression and exploitation of the peasants, which caused bloody uprisings from time to time. Ten months after the start of the uprising, a manifesto was published ( Twelve articles) of Swabian peasants, compiled by several clerics who sought to attract the attention of the reform party to the cause of the peasants. To this end, the manifesto, in addition to a summary of peasant demands, included new points advocated by the reformers (for example, the election of a pastor by the community and the use of tithes for the maintenance of the pastor and the needs of the community). All other demands, which were economic and social in nature, were supported by quotations from the Bible as the highest and final authority. Luther addressed both nobles and peasants with an exhortation, reproaching the former for oppressing the poor and calling on the latter to follow the instructions of the Apostle Paul: “Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities.” He further called on both sides to make mutual concessions and restore peace. But the uprising continued, and Luther was converted again Against gangs of peasants sowing murder and robbery called on the nobles to crush the uprising: “Anyone who can should beat, strangle, stab them.”

Responsibility for the riots caused by the "prophets", Anabaptists and peasants was placed on Luther. Undoubtedly, his preaching of evangelical freedom against human tyranny inspired the "Zwickau prophets" and was used by the leaders of the Peasants' War. This experience undermined Luther's naive expectation that his message of freedom from slavery to the Law would force people to act out of a sense of duty to society. He abandoned the original idea of ​​​​creating a Christian church independent of secular power, and was now inclined to the idea of ​​placing the church under the direct control of the state, which had the power and authority to curb movements and sects that deviate from the truth, i.e. from his own interpretation of the gospel of freedom.

The freedom of action granted to the reform party by the political situation made it possible not only to spread the movement to other German states and free cities, but also to develop a clear structure of government and forms of worship for the reformed church. Monasteries - male and female - were abolished, and monks and nuns were freed from all ascetic vows. Church properties were confiscated and used for other purposes. At the Reichstag in Speyer (1526) the Protestant group was already so large that the assembly, instead of demanding the implementation of the Edict of Worms, decided to maintain the status quo and give the princes freedom to choose their religion until an ecumenical council was convened.

The emperor himself harbored the hope that an ecumenical council, held in Germany and aimed at implementing urgent reforms, would be able to restore religious peace and unity in the empire. But Rome feared that a council held in Germany, under existing circumstances, might get out of control, as happened with the Council of Basel (1433). After defeating the French king and his allies, during the lull before the conflict resumed, Charles finally decided to address the issue of religious peace in Germany. In an effort to reach a compromise, the Imperial Diet, convened in Augsburg in June 1530, required Luther and his followers to submit for public consideration a statement of their faith and the reforms they insisted on. This document, edited by Melanchthon and called Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana), was clearly conciliatory in tone. He denied any intention of the reformers to separate from the Roman Catholic Church or to change any essential point of the Catholic faith. The reformers insisted only on stopping abuses and abolishing what they considered erroneous interpretations of the teachings and canons of the church. They attributed the communion of the laity under only one type (blessed bread) to abuses and errors; attributing to the mass a sacrificial character; mandatory celibacy (celibacy) for priests; the mandatory nature of confession and the current practice of conducting it; rules regarding fasting and food restrictions; principles and practice of monastic and ascetic life; and, finally, the divine authority attributed to Church Tradition.

The sharp rejection of these demands by Catholics and the bitter, inconsistent polemics between theologians of both parties made it clear that the gulf between their positions could no longer be bridged. To restore unity, the only way remained was a return to the use of force. The Emperor and the majority of the Reichstag, with the approval of the Catholic Church, provided the Protestants with the opportunity to return to the fold of the Church until April 1531. To prepare for the struggle, the Protestant princes and cities formed the League of Schmalkalden and began negotiations for assistance with England, where Henry VIII had rebelled against the papacy, with Denmark, which accepted Luther's Reformation, and with the French king, whose political antagonism with Charles V prevailed over all religious considerations.

In 1532, the emperor agreed to a truce for 6 months, as he found himself embroiled in the fight against Turkish expansion in the east and in the Mediterranean, but soon the re-emerging war with France and the uprising in the Netherlands absorbed all his attention, and only in 1546 was he able to return to the Germans. affairs. Meanwhile, Pope Paul III (1534–1549) yielded to pressure from the emperor and convened a council at Triente (1545). The invitation to Protestants was rejected with contempt by Luther and other leaders of the Reformation, who could only expect sweeping condemnation from the council.

Determined to crush all opponents, the emperor outlawed the leading Protestant princes and began military action. Having won a decisive victory at Mühlberg (April 1547), he forced them to surrender. But the task of restoring Catholic faith and discipline in Protestant Germany proved practically impossible. The compromise on issues of faith and church organization, called the Augsburg Interim (May 1548), turned out to be unacceptable neither to the pope nor to the Protestants. Yielding to pressure, the latter agreed to send their representatives to the council, which, after a break, resumed work in Triente in 1551, but the situation changed overnight when Moritz, Duke of Saxony, went over to the side of the Protestants and moved his army to the Tyrol, where Charles V was located. The emperor was forced to sign the peace treaty of Passau (1552) and stop the fight. In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg was concluded, according to which the Protestant churches that accepted Augsburg Confession, received legal recognition on the same basis as the Roman Catholic Church. This recognition did not extend to other Protestant sects. The principle of “cuius regio, eius religio” (“whose power, his faith”) was the basis of the new order: in each German state, the religion of the sovereign became the religion of the people. Catholics in Protestant states and Protestants in Catholic states were given the right to choose: either join the local religion or move with their property to the territory of their religion. The right of choice and the obligation for citizens of cities to profess the religion of the city extended to free cities. The religious peace of Augsburg was a heavy blow to Rome. The Reformation took hold, and the hope of restoring Catholicism in Protestant Germany faded.

Switzerland.

Soon after Luther's rebellion against indulgences, Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), priest of the cathedral in Zurich, began to criticize indulgences and “Roman superstitions” in his sermons. The Swiss cantons, although nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, were in reality independent states united in a union for the common defense, and governed by a council elected by the people. Having achieved the support of the city authorities of Zurich, Zwingli could easily introduce a reformed system of church organization and worship there.

After Zurich, the Reformation began in Basel, and then in Bern, St. Gallen, Grisons, Wallis and other cantons. The Catholic cantons, led by Lucerne, made every effort to prevent the further spread of the movement, as a result of which a religious war broke out, ending in the so-called. The first Peace Treaty of Kappel (1529), which guaranteed freedom of religion to each canton. However, in the Second Kappel War, the Protestant army was defeated at the Battle of Kappel (1531), in which Zwingli himself fell. The Second Peace of Kappel, concluded after this, restored Catholicism in cantons with a mixed population.

Zwingli's theology, although he shared Luther's fundamental principle of justification by faith alone, differed in many points from Luther's, and the two reformers were never able to agree. For this reason, and also due to the dissimilarity of political situations, the Reformation in Switzerland and Germany took different paths.

The Reformation was first introduced in Geneva in 1534 by the French refugee Guillaume Farel (1489–1565). Another Frenchman, John Calvin (1509–1564) from the Picardy city of Noyon, became interested in the ideas of the Reformation while studying theology in Paris. In 1535 he visited Strasbourg, then Basel, and finally spent several months in Italy at the court of Duchess Renata of Ferrara, who sympathized with the Reformation. On his way back from Italy in 1536, he made a stop in Geneva, where he settled at the insistence of Farel. However, after two years he was expelled from the city and returned to Strasbourg, where he taught and preached. During this period, he established close relationships with some of the leaders of the Reformation, and above all with Melanchthon. In 1541, at the invitation of the magistrate, he returned to Geneva, where he gradually concentrated all power in the city in his hands and, through a consistory, managed spiritual and secular affairs until the end of his life in 1564.

Although Calvin started from the principle of justification by faith alone, his theology developed in a different direction than Luther's. His concept of the church also did not coincide with the ideas of the German reformer. In Germany, the formation of a new church organization proceeded in random, unplanned ways under the influence of the “Zwickau prophets”; at that time Luther was in Wartburg Castle. Upon his return, Luther expelled the “prophets”, but considered it wise to sanction some of the changes already made, although some of them seemed too radical to him at the time. Calvin, on the contrary, planned the organization of his church based on the Bible and intended to reproduce the structure of the primitive church as it could be imagined on the basis of the New Testament. He extracted from the Bible the principles and norms of secular government and introduced them in Geneva. Fanatically intolerant of other people's opinions, Calvin expelled all dissenters from Geneva and sentenced Michel Servetus to be burned at the stake for his anti-Trinitarian ideas.

England.

In England, the activities of the Roman Catholic Church have long caused strong discontent among all classes of society, which was manifested in repeated attempts to stop these abuses. Wycliffe's revolutionary ideas concerning the church and papacy attracted many supporters, and although the Lollard movement, inspired by his teachings, was severely suppressed, it did not completely disappear.

However, the British revolt against Rome was not the work of reformers and was not caused by theological considerations at all. Henry VIII, a zealous Catholic, took severe measures against the penetration of Protestantism into England, he even wrote a treatise on the sacraments (1521), in which he refuted the teachings of Luther. Fearing powerful Spain, Henry wanted to enter into an alliance with France, but encountered an obstacle in the person of his Spanish wife, Catherine of Aragon; among other things, she never gave birth to an heir to the throne, and the legality of this marriage was in doubt. This is why the King asked the Pope to annul the marriage so that he could marry Anne Boleyn, but the Pope refused to grant permission for the divorce, and this convinced the King that in order to strengthen his power, he needed to get rid of interference from the Pope in his affairs . He responded to the Vatican's threat to excommunicate Henry VIII with the Act of Supremacy (1534), which recognized the monarch as the supreme head of the Church of England, subordinate to neither the pope nor other church authorities. Refusal of the king's "oath of supremacy" was punishable by death, and those executed included the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, and the former chancellor, Sir Thomas More. Apart from the abolition of papal supremacy over the church, the liquidation of monasteries and the confiscation of their possessions and property, Henry VIII did not make any changes to church teachings and institutions. IN Six articles(1539) the doctrine of transubstantiation was confirmed and communion under two types was rejected. Likewise, no concessions were made regarding the celibacy of priests, the celebration of private Masses, and the practice of confession. Strict measures were taken against those who professed the Lutheran faith, many were executed, others fled to Protestant Germany and Switzerland. However, during the regency of the Duke of Somerset under the minor Edward VI Articles Henry VIII were repealed, and the Reformation began in England: it was adopted (1549) and formulated 42 articles of faith(1552). Queen Mary's reign (1553–1558) saw the restoration of Catholicism under the control of the papal legate, Cardinal Pole, but, contrary to his advice, the restoration was accompanied by severe persecution of Protestants and one of the first victims was Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. The accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne (1558) again changed the situation in favor of the Reformation. The "oath of supremacy" was restored; Articles Edward VI, after revision in 1563 called 39 articles, And Book of Public Worship became the normative doctrinal and liturgical documents of the Episcopal Church of England; and Catholics were now subjected to severe persecution.

Other European countries.

The Lutheran Reformation was introduced in the Scandinavian countries by the will of their monarchs. By royal decrees, Sweden (1527) and Norway (1537) became Protestant powers. But in many other European countries where the rulers remained faithful to the Roman Catholic Church (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Scotland, the Netherlands, France), the Reformation spread widely among all classes of the population thanks to the activities of missionaries and despite the repressive measures of the government.

Among the founders of new Protestant churches in Catholic countries, emigrants from countries where freedom of conscience was denied played an important role. They managed to assert the right to freely practice their religion, despite the opposition of religious and political authorities. In Poland, the treaty Pax dissidentium (Peace for those of different faiths, 1573) extended this freedom even to the anti-Trinitarians, Socinians, or, as they came to be called, Unitarians, who successfully began to create their own communities and schools. In Bohemia and Moravia, where the descendants of the Hussites, the Moravian Brothers, adopted the Lutheran faith and where Calvinist propaganda had great success, Emperor Rudolf II A message of peace(1609) granted all Protestants freedom of religion and control of the University of Prague. The same emperor recognized the freedom of Hungarian Protestants (Lutherans and Calvinists) with the Peace of Vienna (1606). In the Netherlands, under Spanish rule, people soon began to appear who converted to Lutheranism, but Calvinist propaganda soon gained the upper hand among wealthy burghers and merchants in cities where there was a long tradition of autonomous government. Under the brutal rule of Philip II and the Duke of Alba, the authorities' attempt to destroy the Protestant movement by force and arbitrariness provoked a major national uprising against Spanish rule. The uprising led to the proclamation of the independence of the strictly Calvinist Republic of the Netherlands in 1609, leaving only Belgium and part of Flanders under Spanish rule.

The longest and most dramatic struggle for the freedom of Protestant churches took place in France. In 1559, Calvinist communities scattered throughout the French provinces formed a federation and held a synod in Paris, where they formed Gallican Confession, symbol of their faith. By 1561, the Huguenots, as Protestants came to be called in France, had more than 2,000 communities, uniting more than 400,000 believers. All attempts to limit their growth have failed. The conflict soon became political and led to internal religious wars. According to the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1570), the Huguenots were granted freedom to practice their religion, civil rights and four mighty fortresses for defense. But in 1572, after the events of St. Bartholomew's Night (August 24 - October 3), when, according to some estimates, 50,000 Huguenots died, the war broke out again and continued until 1598, when, according to the Edict of Nantes, French Protestants were granted freedom to practice their religion and citizenship rights . The Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, after which thousands of Huguenots emigrated to other countries.

Under the harsh rule of King Philip II and his Inquisition, Spain remained closed to Protestant propaganda. In Italy, some centers of Protestant ideas and propaganda formed quite early in cities in the north of the country, and later in Naples. But not a single Italian prince supported the cause of the Reformation, and the Roman Inquisition was always on the alert. Hundreds of Italian convertites, belonging almost exclusively to the educated classes, found refuge in Switzerland, Germany, England and other countries, many of them becoming prominent figures in the Protestant churches of these states. These included members of the clergy, such as Bishop Vergherio, the former papal legate in Germany, and Occhino, the Capuchin general. At the end of the 16th century. the entire north of Europe became Protestant, and large Protestant communities flourished in all Catholic states with the exception of Spain and Italy. HUGENOTS.

THEOLOGY OF THE REFORMATION

The theological structure of Protestantism, created by the Reformers, is based on three fundamental principles that unite them despite the different interpretations of these principles. These are: 1) the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide), regardless of the performance of good deeds and any external sacred rites; 2) the principle of sola scriptura: Scripture contains the Word of God, which addresses directly the soul and conscience of a Christian and is the highest authority in matters of faith and church worship, regardless of church Tradition and any church hierarchy; 3) the doctrine that the church, which forms the mystical body of Christ, is an invisible community of elect Christians predestined to salvation. The Reformers argued that these teachings were contained in Scripture and that they represented true divine revelation, distorted and forgotten in the process of dogmatic and institutional degeneration that led to the Roman Catholic system.

Luther came to the doctrine of justification by faith alone based on his own spiritual experience. Having become a monk in early youth, he zealously observed all the ascetic requirements of the monastic rule, but over time he discovered that despite his desire and sincere constant efforts, he was still far from perfect, so that he even doubted the possibility of his salvation. The Epistle to the Romans of the Apostle Paul helped him get out of the crisis: he found in it a statement that he developed in his teaching about justification and salvation by faith without the help of good works. Luther's experience was nothing new in the history of Christian spiritual life. Paul himself constantly experienced an internal struggle between the ideal of a perfect life and the stubborn resistance of the flesh; he also found refuge in faith in the divine grace given to people by the redemptive feat of Christ. Christian mystics of all times, discouraged by the weakness of the flesh and pangs of conscience by their sinfulness, have found peace and tranquility in the act of absolute trust in the efficacy of Christ's merits and divine mercy.

Luther was familiar with the writings of Jean Gerson and the German mystics. Their influence on the early version of his doctrine is second only to that of Paul. There is no doubt that the principle of justification by faith and not by the works of the Law is the true teaching of Paul. But it is also clear that Luther puts into the words of the Apostle Paul something more than is actually contained in them. According to the understanding of Paul's teaching, inherent in the Latin patristic tradition since at least Augustine, a person who, as a result of the Fall of Adam, has lost the opportunity to do good and even desire it, cannot independently achieve salvation. Man's salvation is entirely the action of God. Faith is the first step in this process, and this very faith in the redemptive work of Christ is a gift from God. Faith in Christ does not mean simply trust in Christ, but trust accompanied by trust in Christ and love for him, or, in other words, it is an active, not a passive faith. Faith by which a person is justified, i.e. by which a person's sins are forgiven and he is made justified in the eyes of God, is active faith. Justification by faith in Christ means that a change has taken place in the human soul; the human will, with the help of divine grace, has acquired the ability to want and do good, and therefore to advance along the path of righteousness with the help of good works.

Starting with Paul's distinction between the spiritual, or internal man (homo interior) and the material, external man (homo exterior), Luther came to the conclusion that the spiritual, internal man is reborn in faith and, being united to Christ, is freed from all slavery and earthly things. chains. Faith in Christ gives him freedom. To gain righteousness, he needs only one thing: the holy word of God, the Gospel (good news) of Christ. To describe this unity of the inner man with Christ, Luther uses two comparisons: spiritual marriage and a red-hot iron with fire inside. In spiritual marriage, the soul and Christ exchange their property. The soul brings its sins, Christ brings its infinite merits, which the soul now partially owns; sins are thus destroyed. The inner man, thanks to the imputation of the merits of Christ to the soul, is confirmed in his righteousness in the eyes of God. It then becomes evident that the works which affect and relate to the outer man have nothing to do with salvation. Not by works, but by faith we glorify and confess the true God. Logically, the following seems to follow from this teaching: if for salvation there is no need for good deeds and sins, together with the punishment for them, are destroyed by the act of faith in Christ, then there is no longer any need for respect for the entire moral order of Christian society, for the very existence of morality. Luther's distinction between the inner and outer man helps to avoid such a conclusion. The outer man, living in the material world and belonging to the human community, is under strict obligation to do good works, not because he can derive from them any merit that can be imputed to the inner man, but because he must promote the growth and improving community life in the new Christian kingdom of divine grace. One must devote oneself to the good of the community so that saving faith may spread. Christ frees us not from the obligation to do good deeds, but only from the vain and empty confidence in their usefulness for salvation.

Luther's theory that sin is not imputed to the sinner who believes in Christ and that he is justified by the imputation of the merits of Christ despite his own sins is based on the premises of the medieval theological system of Duns Scotus, which underwent further development in the teachings of Ockham and the entire nominalist school, within which Luther's views were formed. In the theology of Thomas Aquinas and his school, God was understood as the Supreme Mind, and the total existence and life process in the Universe was thought of as a rational chain of cause and effect, the first link of which is God. The theological school of nominalism, on the contrary, saw in God the Supreme Will, not bound by any logical necessity. This implied the arbitrariness of the divine will, in which things and actions are good or bad not because there is an internal reason why they should be good or bad, but only because God wills them to be good or bad. To say that something done by divine command is unjust implies the imposition of limitations on God by human categories of just and unjust.

From the point of view of nominalism, Luther's theory of justification does not seem irrational, as it appears from the point of view of intellectualism. The exclusively passive role assigned to man in the process of salvation led Luther to a more rigid understanding of predestination. His view of salvation is more strictly deterministic than Augustine's. The cause of everything is the supreme and absolute will of God, and to this we cannot apply the moral or logical criteria of the limited reason and experience of man.

But how can Luther prove that the process of justification by faith alone is sanctioned by God? Of course, the guarantee is given by the Word of God, which is contained in Scripture. But according to the interpretation of these biblical texts given by the fathers and teachers of the church (i.e. according to Tradition) and the official magisterium of the church, only active faith, manifested in good works, justifies and saves a person. Luther maintained that the only interpreter of Scripture is the Spirit; in other words, the individual judgment of every Christian believer is free due to his union with Christ through faith.

Luther did not consider the words of Scripture to be inerrant and recognized that the Bible contained misrepresentations, contradictions, and exaggerations. About the third chapter of the Book of Genesis (which talks about the fall of Adam) he said that it contains “the most improbable tale.” In fact, Luther made a distinction between Scripture and the Word of God that is contained in Scripture. Scripture is only the outward and fallible form of the infallible Word of God.

Luther accepted the canon of the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament and, following the example of Jerome, classified the books added to the Christian Old Testament as apocrypha. But the reformer went further than Jerome and removed these books from the Protestant Bible altogether. During his forced stay in the Wartburg, he worked on a translation of the New Testament into German (published in 1522). He then began translating the Old Testament and in 1534 published the complete text of the Bible in German. From a literary point of view, this monumental work marks a turning point in the history of German literature. It cannot be said that this was the work of Luther alone, because he worked in close collaboration with his friends and, above all, with Melanchthon; nevertheless, it was Luther who brought his exceptional sense of words to the translation.

Luther's principle of justification by faith alone, which reduced the mystery of salvation to the spiritual experience of the inner man and abolished the need for good works, had far-reaching consequences regarding the nature and structure of the church. First of all, he annulled the spiritual content and meaning of the entire system of sacraments. Further, with the same blow, Luther deprived the priesthood of its main function - the administration of the sacraments. Another function of the priesthood (sacerdotium, literally, priesthood) was the function of teaching, and this was also abolished because the reformer denied the authority of Church Tradition and the teaching of the church. As a result, nothing any longer justified the existence of the institution of priesthood.

In Catholicism, the priest, through his spiritual authority acquired during ordination (ordination), has a monopoly on certain sacraments, which are channels of divine grace and as such are necessary for salvation. This sacramental power elevates the priest above the laity and makes him a sacred person, a mediator between God and man. In Luther's system such sacramental authority does not exist. In the mystery of justification and salvation, every Christian directly deals with God and achieves mystical union with Christ thanks to his faith. Every Christian is made a priest through his faith. Deprived of sacramental powers - its magisterium and its priesthood, the entire institutional structure of the church crumbles. Paul taught salvation through faith, but at the same time through membership in the charismatic community, the church (ecclesia), the Body of Christ. Where is this ecclesia, Luther asked, this Body of Christ? This, he argued, is an invisible society of chosen believers, predestined to salvation. As for the visible assembly of believers, it is simply a human organization, which at different times takes different forms. The ministry of a priest is not some kind of rank that gives him special powers or marks him with an indelible spiritual seal, but simply a certain function, which consists primarily in preaching the Word of God.

More difficult for Luther was to achieve a satisfactory solution to the problem of the sacraments. Three of them (baptism, eucharist and repentance) could not be discarded, since they are spoken of in Scripture. Luther wavered and constantly changed his mind, both regarding their meaning and their place in the theological system. In the case of repentance, Luther does not mean the confession of sins to the priest and the absolution of these sins, which he rejected completely, but the outward sign of forgiveness already received through faith and through the imputation of the merits of Christ. Later, however, not finding a satisfactory meaning for the existence of this sign, he completely abandoned repentance, leaving only baptism and the Eucharist. At first he recognized that baptism is a kind of channel of grace through which the faith of the recipient of grace is assured of the forgiveness of sins promised by the Christian gospel. However, infant baptism does not fit into this concept of sacrament. Moreover, since both original sin and committed sins are destroyed only as a result of the direct imputation of the merits of Christ to the soul, baptism in the Lutheran system lost the vital function attributed to it in the theology of Augustine and in Catholic theology. Luther eventually abandoned his earlier position and began to argue that baptism was necessary only because it was commanded by Christ.

Regarding the Eucharist, Luther did not hesitate to reject the sacrificial nature of the Mass and the dogma of transubstantiation, but, literally interpreting the words of the institution of the Eucharist (“This is My Body,” “This is My Blood”), he firmly believed in the real, physical presence of the body of Christ and his blood in the substances of the Eucharist (in bread and wine). The substance of bread and wine does not disappear, it is replaced by the Body and Blood of Christ, as Catholic doctrine teaches, but the Body and Blood of Christ permeate the substance of bread and wine or are superimposed on it. This Lutheran teaching was not supported by other reformers who, more consistently considering the premises of their theological systems, interpreted the words of the institution of the Eucharist in a symbolic sense and considered the Eucharist as a remembrance of Christ, having only a symbolic meaning.

Luther's theological system is expounded in many of his polemical writings. Its main provisions were clearly outlined already in the treatise About the freedom of a Christian (De Libertate Christiana, 1520) and subsequently developed in detail in many theological works, written mainly under the fire of criticism of his opponents and in the heat of controversy. A systematic exposition of Luther's early theology is contained in the work of his close friend and adviser Philip Melanchthon - Fundamental Truths of Theology (Loci communes rerum theologicarum, 1521). In later editions of this book, Melanchthon moved away from Luther's views. He believed that the human will cannot be considered entirely passive in the process of justification and that the indispensable factor is its consent to the word of God. He also rejected Luther’s teaching on the Eucharist, preferring its symbolic interpretation.

Zwingli also disagreed with Luther on these and other aspects of his theology. He took a more decisive position than Luther in affirming Scripture as the only authority and in recognizing as binding only what is written in the Bible. His ideas regarding the structure of the church and the form of worship were also more radical.

The most significant work created during the Reformation was (Institutio religionis christianae) Calvin. The first edition of this book contained a detailed presentation of the new doctrine of salvation. This was basically Luther's teaching with minor modifications. In subsequent editions (the last one was published in 1559), the volume of the book increased, and the result was a compendium containing a complete and systematic presentation of the theology of Protestantism. Departing from Luther's system in many key points, Calvin's system, characterized by logical consistency and astonishing ingenuity in the interpretation of Scripture, led to the creation of a new independent Reformed Church, different in its doctrines and organization from the Lutheran Church.

Calvin preserved Luther's fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone, but if Luther subordinated all other theological conclusions to this doctrine at the cost of inconsistencies and compromises, then Calvin, on the contrary, subordinated his soteriological doctrine (the doctrine of salvation) to a higher unifying principle and inscribed it in the logical structure of the doctrine and religious practice. In his exposition, Calvin begins with the problem of authority, which Luther "confused" with his distinction between the word of God and Scripture and the arbitrary application of this distinction. According to Calvin, man has an innate "sense of divinity" (sensus divinitatis), but the knowledge of God and his will is revealed entirely in Scripture, which is therefore from beginning to end the infallible "norm of eternal truth" and the source of faith.

Together with Luther, Calvin believed that by doing good deeds a person does not acquire merit, the reward for which is salvation. Justification is “the acceptance whereby God, who has received us into grace, regards us as justified,” and it entails the forgiveness of sins by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. But, like Paul, he believed that the faith that justifies is made effective through love. This means that justification is inseparable from sanctification, and that Christ justifies no one whom he has not sanctified. Thus, justification involves two stages: first, the act in which God accepts the believer as justified, and second, the process in which, through the work of the Spirit of God in him, a person is sanctified. In other words, good works do not contribute anything to the justification that saves, but they necessarily follow from justification. To protect the moral system from corruption as a result of removing good works from the mystery of salvation, Luther appeals to the obligations associated with life in the community, to the purely human motive of convenience. Calvin sees in good works a necessary consequence of justification and an unmistakable sign that it has been achieved.

This doctrine, and the related doctrine of predestination, must be seen in the context of Calvin's concept of God's universal plan for the universe. The highest attribute of God is his omnipotence. All created things have only one reason for existence - God, and only one function - to increase his glory. All events are predetermined by him and his glory; the creation of the world, the fall of Adam, redemption by Christ, salvation and eternal destruction are all parts of his divine plan. Augustine, and with him the entire Catholic tradition, recognize predestination to salvation, but reject its opposite - predestination to eternal destruction. Accepting it is tantamount to saying that God is the cause of evil. According to Catholic teaching, God unerringly foresees and immutably predetermines all future events, but man is free to accept grace and choose good, or to reject grace and create evil. God wants everyone, without exception, to be worthy of eternal bliss; no one is ultimately predestined either to destruction or to sin. From eternity, God foresaw the unceasing torment of the wicked and predetermined the punishment of hell for their sins, but at the same time he tirelessly offers sinners the gracious mercy of conversion and does not bypass those who are not predestined for salvation.

Calvin, however, was not troubled by the theological determinism that was implied in his concept of the absolute omnipotence of God. Predestination is “the eternal decrees of God by which he decides for himself what is to become of every individual.” Salvation and destruction are two integral parts of the divine plan, to which human concepts of good and evil are not applicable. For some, eternal life in heaven is predetermined, so that they become witnesses of divine mercy; for others it is eternal destruction in hell, so that they become witnesses to the incomprehensible justice of God. Both heaven and hell display and promote the glory of God.

In Calvin's system there are two sacraments - baptism and the Eucharist. The meaning of baptism is that children are accepted into a covenant union with God, although they will understand the meaning of this only in later life. Baptism corresponds to circumcision in the Old Testament covenant. In the Eucharist, Calvin rejects not only the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but also Luther's doctrine of the real, physical presence, as well as Zwingli's simple symbolic interpretation. For him, the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is understood only in a spiritual sense; it is not mediated physically or materially by the Spirit of God in the spirit of people.

The theologians of the Reformation did not question all the dogmas of the first five ecumenical councils regarding Trinitarian and Christological teachings. The innovations they introduced concern primarily the areas of soteriology and ecclesiology (the study of the church). The exception was the radicals of the left wing of the reform movement - the anti-trinitarians (Servetus and the Socinians).

The various churches that arose as a result of disagreements within the main branches of the Reformation still remained true, at least in essential things, to three theological doctrines. These branches from Lutheranism, and to a greater extent from Calvinism, differ from each other mainly in matters of institutional rather than religious. The Church of England, the most conservative of them, retained the episcopal hierarchy and rite of ordination, and with them traces of the charismatic understanding of the priesthood. Scandinavian Lutheran churches are also built on the Episcopalian principle. Presbyterian Church (M., 1992
Luther M. The Time of Silence Has Gone: Selected Works 1520–1526. Kharkov, 1992
History of Europe from ancient times to the present day, vol. 1 – 8. T. 3: (end of the fifteenth – first half of the seventeenth century.). M., 1993
Christianity. encyclopedic Dictionary, vol. 1–3. M., 1993–1995
Medieval Europe through the eyes of contemporaries and historians: A book to read, hh. 1 – 5. Part 4: From the Middle Ages to the New Age. M., 1994
Luther M. Selected works. St. Petersburg, 1997
Porozovskaya B.D. Martin Luther: His life and reform work. St. Petersburg, 1997
Calvin J. Instruction in the Christian Faith, vol. I–II. M., 1997–1998



To the question What religious doctrines of the Reformation era do you know? What did they have in common, what was special? Why do the secular authorities of many countries follow the author’s Survey the best answer is Beginning of the Reformation. The first religious wars in Europe. .
New realities and the formation of a humanistic view of the world affected the religious foundations of the medieval worldview.
The “Avignon captivity” of the popes, who were forced to move their residence to France, which lasted 70 years, significantly weakened the influence of the Roman Catholic Church on secular sovereigns. Only in 1377. Thanks to the failures of France in the Hundred Years' War, Pope Gregory XI managed to return the residence of the head of the church to Rome. However, after his death in 1377. The French bishops chose their pope, and the Italian bishops chose theirs. Church council convened in 1409. deposed both popes and elected his own candidate. The false popes did not recognize the decisions of the council. So the Roman Catholic Church had three chapters at the same time, Schism, that is, a split in the church that lasted until 1417 significantly weakened its influence in the largest countries of Europe - England, France and Spain.
In the Czech Republic, which was part of the Roman Empire, a movement arose for the creation of a national church with a more democratic order of services, conducted in the Czech language. The founder of this movement, professor at the University of Prague Jan Tus (1371-1415), was accused of heresy at a church council in Constance and burned at the stake. However, his followers in the Czech Republic, led by the knight Jan Zizka (1З60-14ЗО), rose up in armed struggle. The Hussites demanded that the clergy observe ascetic standards of life and denounced Roman Catholic clergy for committing mortal sins. Their demands were widely supported by the peasantry and townspeople. The Hussites captured almost the entire territory of the Czech Republic and carried out secularization (confiscation) of church lands, which mostly passed into the hands of secular feudal lords.
In 1420-1431 Rome and the empire undertook five crusades against the Hussites, whom they declared heretics. However, the crusaders failed to achieve a military victory. Hussite detachments launched counterattacks on the territory of Hungary, Bavaria, and Brandenburg. At the Council of Basel in 1433, the Roman Catholic Church made concessions, recognizing the right to exist in the Czech Republic of a church with a special order of service.
The massacre of J. Hus did not stop the spread of skepticism towards the Roman Catholic Church. The most serious challenge to her was the teaching of the monk of the Augustinian order, professor at the university in Wittenbach (Germany) M. Luther (1483-1546). He opposed the sale of indulgences, that is, the release of sins for money, which was an important source of income for the church. Luther argued: this makes repentance meaningless, which should contribute to the spiritual cleansing of a person.
The Word of God, Luther believed, is set out in the Bible, and only the Holy Scriptures, which are accessible to every person, open the way to revelation and the salvation of the soul. The decrees of councils, statements of the church fathers, rituals, prayers, veneration of icons and holy relics, according to Luther, have nothing to do with the true faith.
In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther from the church. Imperial Reichstag. in 1521, having examined Luther's views, he condemned him. However, the number of supporters of Lutheranism increased. In 1522-1523. In Germany, an uprising of knights broke out, demanding reform of the church and the secularization of its land holdings.
In 1524-1525. The German lands were engulfed in the Peasants' War, which began under religious slogans. Among the rebels, the ideas of the Anabaptists were especially popular. They denied not only the official Catholic Church, but also the Holy Scriptures, believing that every believer can receive the revelation of the Lord by turning to him with soul and heart.
The main idea of ​​the uprising, which swept Swabia, Württemberg, Franconia, Thuringia, Alsace and the Alpine lands of Austria, was the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. As one of its spiritual leaders, T. Münzer (1490-1525), believed, the path to this kingdom lies through the overthrow of monarchs, the destruction of monasteries and castles, and the triumph of complete equality.