Causes of the Reformation in Europe. Cultural significance of the reformation The meaning of the reformation

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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-Thomist 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 because 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 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 Religious 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 from 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 papal interference 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 of 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 in France began to be called, 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 his 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 active, not 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 taking into account 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 amazing 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 continual torment of the wicked and ordained 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 Anglican Church, 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

from lat. reformatio - transformation, correction) - broad, complex in the social composition of the participants, socio-political. and ideological. movement that took the form of a struggle against Catholicism. church and was based on anti-feud. character; covered in the 16th century. most Western countries and Center. Europe. Originally the term "R." used as a synonym for any transformation or improvement. So, in the 14th-15th centuries. talked about R. monasteries, mountains. rights; with the beginning of the conciliar movement - about the need for R. Catholic. churches "in head and members" (reformatio in capite et membris); certain works that demanded the state. transformations were also called. R. (for example, "R. Frederick III", "Reformation of Emperor Sigismund"). In the 16th-17th centuries. R. called the church. transformations in both Catholic and Protestant spirit. Only from the end of the 17th-18th centuries. The term is assigned the meaning of religion. transformation in the Protestant spirit. L. Ranke (L. Ranke, Die deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation, Lpz., 1894) identified the “era of R.”, defining it 1517-55 and delimiting it from the subsequent “era of counter-reformation”. Chronological framework of the "era R." are defined differently (sometimes as 16th - mid-17th centuries). In the bourgeoisie Literature of the 50-60s. 20th century the concept of the “Second Reformation” appeared (in particular, for attempts from the 2nd half of the 16th century to spread Calvinism more widely in a number of principalities of Lutheran Germany). Understanding R. as a broad society. movement associated with deep processes occurring in the socio-economic. life Zap. Europe 16th century, comes from op. Marx and Engels and accepted in Marxist history. lit-re. The most general, deep-seated reasons that caused R. are associated with the disintegration of the feudal system. production method in Western Europe Europe, with the emergence in the depths of feudalism of new, capitalist. relations and new classes, with the aggravation in these conditions of social contradictions and anti-feud. the struggle of the region acquired a new character in these conditions. R. represented the first blow to feudalism. Due to religion. character of the Middle Ages. ideology, it turned out to be directed not yet directly against the feudal lords. state, political feudal superstructures about-va, but against his religions. superstructures - Catholic. church, which was an integral part of the feud. system and gave religion. sanction to the existing feud. I'm building. “In order to be able to attack existing social relations, it was necessary to tear off the halo of holiness from them” (F. Engels, The Peasant War in Germany, see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 7, p. 361). Already humanistic. the Renaissance movement with its rationalism. criticism of the Middle Ages. worldview and affirmation of the principles of the bourgeoisie. individualism dealt a significant blow to the Middle Ages. Catholic worldview and in many ways ideologically prepared the reformation. movement. Of great importance was the appeal of humanists to the sources of the original. Christianity, their application of the rules of history. criticism of the texts of St. scriptures, their direct and rational interpretation of these texts, etc. Some figures of the Renaissance (especially Erasmus of Rotterdam) had a humanistic. ideas were combined with internal ideas. church reforms and restoration of "evangelical purity" of the original. Christianity, the liberation of the church from the formalism of external ritualism. However, humanistic The movement, due to the utopianism, abstractness, compromise of its program, and isolation from the urgent demands of the masses, could not become the banner of the mass social movements of the era. The ideas of R. became such a banner. An equally important source of R.’s ideas were the Middle Ages. heretical teachings (see Heresies), already long before the 16th century. containing criticism of Catholic churches. In these teachings, especially in those that developed in the conditions of acute social clashes of the 14th-15th centuries, provisions were formulated that anticipated many others. ideas of R. 16th century The speeches of J. Wycliffe and the Lollards in England, Jan Hus, and then the Chashniki and Taborites in the Czech Republic (see Hussite revolutionary movement) are often called early reformations. movements. However, these movements as a whole did not go beyond the Middle Ages. heresies; they have not yet received the social common European nature inherent in R. values ​​(although they have crossed the boundaries of local limitation). In the 16th century, under new conditions, the movement against the Catholic. churches acquired pan-European. meaning and a new quality, turning out to be - in its radical manifestations - directed against the very foundations of the feud. building. R.'s ideologists clothed their demands in the form of new, but also religious. teachings (behind which, however, a very real, “earthly” content was hidden). R. ideologists came out with the statement that a person does not need the mediation of the church (in its Catholic understanding) to save his (sinful) soul - salvation is not achieved externally. manifestation of religiosity (not “good deeds”), but only internal. the faith of everyone (the principle of “justification by faith”, first clearly formulated by M. Luther). Recognition of this position was tantamount to denying the need for Catholicism. church with its complex church. hierarchy headed by the pope, a special layer of the clergy, a cut, according to Catholic teaching. church, one thing can convey to a person some kind of supernatural nature. power ("divine" grace"), allegedly necessary for his salvation; the entire teaching of Catholicism about the "treasury of good deeds", the indulgences associated with it (trade in which served as the impetus for the beginning of the reform movement in a number of countries), etc., were denied. The reformers proclaimed unity. the source of religious truth is “Holy Scripture,” denying as such “Sacred Tradition” (in the dogmatics of the radical trends of the people of R., the doctrine of “immediate divine revelation” acquired great and sometimes decisive importance). sources of doctrine, its organization) played an important role in the Reformation teachings (hence the definition of R. that is sometimes found in literature as a “religious Renaissance”). From the denial of the feudalized Catholic Church it followed: the denial of the church as a large feudal owner. everywhere was accompanied by the secularization of church property, especially the huge land property of the Catholic Church), monasteries and monasticism, and all other numerous churches. taxes levied by Catholics. church in favor of Rome. curia and clergy; denial of the magnificent Catholic. cult, etc. Reformation. the movement was very difficult. Various classes and social groups took part in it, investing in criticism of Catholicism. churches had different contents and pursued different goals. Burgher-burgh. the direction found its most clear expression in the teachings of M. Luther, W. Zwingli and especially J. Calvin. The demand for the abolition of the complex church. hierarchy, magnificent Catholic. cult, veneration of icons, saints, abolition of a large number of religions. holidays were understood as a requirement for the creation of a “cheap” bourgeoisie. church, more in line with the interests of the bourgeoisie. frugality. The burgher-bourgeois itself. the direction was not uniform. It had a moderate-burgher wing, which compromised with feudalism and remained mainly on the basis of theology, a wing (Luther) and a radical-bourgeois wing. direction. The most consistent expression of the latter was Calvinism, which gave the bourgeoisie an ideological. weapons and org. forms (republicanism) in revolution. the fight against feudalism, gave religion. justification for bourgeois norms. morality (the doctrine of predestination and the “worldly calling” and “secular asceticism”). Nar. the direction of R. expressed the interests of the peasantry and mountains. plebeianism. For people the masses began the struggle against the Catholics. church served as a signal to fight against the very foundations of feudal rule. building. The most radical of the people's ideologists. R., turning to the Gospel and demanding the restoration of the early Christ. equality of members of religions. communities, denying the need for the church. hierarchy and demanding the liquidation of the church. land ownership, drew conclusions about the need to abolish all spiritual and secular authorities, establish social equality and community of property - transform the land (in the first place) into the property of the working people. R. was understood by them in the spirit of the future social and political. a revolution in the interests of the working people, the establishment by the rebel people of the “kingdom of God on earth” as a system of social justice. People's ideas R. played a large role in the anti-feud that unfolded everywhere during this period. people's struggle masses, giving it ideological. justification and creating certain prerequisites for its centralization. The self-sufficiency was especially great. meaning adv. R. where she became ch. expression antifeud. struggle (for example, in Germany - due to the immaturity of the bourgeois elements there). To the currents of the people. R. belonged to Anabaptism (see Anabaptists), which was losing in the conditions of the rise of mass people. movements have their closed sectarian character, the left wing of the Socinians (Arians, Anti-Trinitarians), etc.; the largest ideologist and activist of the people. R. was T. Münzer. In a number of countries reformation. the movement has lost its original. antifeud. character, having been used by the fief. class in its own interests (the so-called royal-prince R., or R. "top") - to strengthen the economic. and political influence of queens. authorities (scand. countries, England) or department. princes (Germany). The implementation of reform “from above” was accompanied by the secularization of the church. lands in favor of secular power; The newly created churches here that broke away from Catholicism were completely subordinated to it. Finally, in some countries (for example, in France) R. was used by part of the feud. nobles in order to fight the queens. absolutism. All this testifies to the extremely complex nature of the reformation. movement and explains the intense struggle that unfolded not only between R.’s supporters and its opponents, but also within the reformation. camps. During R., which covered in the 16th century. Germany, Switzerland, Scand. countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, England, France, there were significant differences. The center and starting point of the reformation. movement came from Germany, a region due to the peculiarities of its socio-economic. and political development began in the 1st quarter. 16th century arena of the first act of the bourgeoisie. revolutions in Europe (see article Germany). Here one of the chapters. antifeud tasks. revolution was the abolition of feudal rule. fragmentation, the establishment of national unity, and in these conditions, opposition to the Catholic. churches, which freely exploited a fragmented country in favor of the papacy and became an object of universal hatred, acquired special significance. Performance 31 Oct. 1517 Luther in the Saxon city of Wittenberg with 95 theses against the trade in papal indulgences served as a signal for the beginning of a wide society. movements. Initially, it united various layers of the opposition: the burghers, the peasant-plebeian masses, the knighthood; Some of the princes also joined R. However, already from 1520-21, a demarcation began. classes and groups that joined R. Nar. R. (its outstanding representatives - T. Münzer, M. Geismair) resulted in a powerful anti-feud. people's speech masses - the Peasant War of 1524-25, which was the culmination of the entire reformation. movements in Germany. Under these conditions, moderate conservative circles are silent. The burghers, whose ideologist was Luther, compromised with the feudal princes. camp; Luther openly opposed the revolutionaries. actions of people wt. This compromise also affected the evolution of religions. Luther's teachings (see Lutheranism). The radical-burgher direction of R. (Karlstadt, Buzer) was unable to occupy a leading place in Germany. Nar. the movement (the war of the Cross, then the Münster Commune of 1534-35, led by the revolutionary Anabaptists) was suppressed. This allowed the Germans. princes to use R. for their own purposes. The princes of Saxony, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Brandenburg, Hesse, Palatinate, Brunswick, etc., having carried out the Revolution in their lands, appropriated all the churches. wealth. Between the emperor and the princes who remained Catholic, on the one hand, and the princes who joined R., on the other, a long, ruinous struggle for the country began, which strengthened the decentralization of Germany, a struggle that led to the conclusion of the Religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555, and later to the Thirty Years' War 1618-48. Introduction of the queens. R. in Sweden, freed from dates under Gustav I Vasa. domination was a means of strengthening independence. queens power and independence. Vasa dynasty in the country (the largest figures of the Swedish Republic are the brothers O. and L. Petri, its legal registration and legislative consolidation - at the Westerosi Riksdags of 1527 and 1544, at the general Swedish church council of 1529 in Örebro, final approval - in the late 16th - early 17th centuries, after the liquidation of attempts to restore Catholicism under King Sigismund III Vasa). R. was also introduced in Finland, which was subordinate to Sweden (the largest figure in Finnish R. was M. Agricola). In Denmark the beginning of the spread of reformation. ideas dates back to the reigns of Christian II (1513-23) and Frederick I (1523-33). Major figures of the dates. R.- H. Tausen, K. Pedersen. In the 30s under the banner of R. the people unfolded. a movement that was intertwined with the struggle within the dominations and class (“Count’s Feud” 1534-36). Christian III, having suppressed the movement, saw off the queens. Lutheran R., using it in his political. purposes (1536 - church diet in Copenhagen, 1537 - publication of the so-called church ordination, which introduced a new church system). Violent the holding of Lutheran R. in Norway (1536) and Iceland (from 1540), subject to Denmark, was used to strengthen the dates there. domination. R. in Switzerland, which developed in close connection with R. and Cross. the war in Germany was an expression of acute class. struggle in Switzerland itself. Economically developed cantons and cities (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Geneva), in which feudal fiefdoms, became the centers of republics here. and communal land. relations and guild craft were disintegrating under the influence of developing capitalist systems. relationships. The backward forest cantons (Schwyz, Uri, Zug, etc.) and the nobility remained in the feudal-Catholic camp. reactions. They resisted the spread of R. and the aspiration of the mountains. cantons to state centralization. R. in Zurich (in which Zwingli's activities took place), Bern, Basel and other cities was carried out in the 20s. 16th century and initially took the form of Zwinglianism. At the same time, the cross-plebeian movement, led by the Anabaptists, also developed. However, the burghers did not support this movement, which was suppressed shortly after the defeat of the Cross. wars in Germany. After the defeat of the troops of the cantons - supporters of R. in the Kappel Wars by the forest cantons and the death of Zwingli (1531), in the situation that began in the middle. 16th century political decline activity, Zwinglian R. lost its original. fighting spirit. In Geneva, after progressive burgher elements (primarily from among the “new citizens” - immigrants from France and other countries) came to power in the city in the 40s. 16th century A new movement of R. - Calvinism - took shape. Soon he went all over Europe. arena, giving the nascent bourgeoisie an ideology that substantiated its claims to politics. domination. Strengthening absolutism, disintegration of feudalism. relations and the emergence of capitalism. way of life led to an exacerbation of social contradictions and created favorable soil for R. in France. Its first preachers were J. Lefebvre d'Etaples and G. Brisonnet (bishop of Mo). In the 20-30s. 16th century Lutheranism and Anabaptism spread among wealthy townspeople and the plebeian masses. Late 30s marked by massive repressions against “heretics”. New rise of reformation. movement, but in the form of Calvinism, dates back to the 40-50s. The originality of the French R. was that Calvinism was ideological here. banner as a social protest of the plebeians and the emerging bourgeoisie against the feudal lords. exploitation and opposition to the reactionary-separatist feud. aristocracy against the growing queens. absolutism; the latter, to strengthen his power in France, used not R., but Catholicism, while asserting at the same time the independence of the French. Catholic churches from the papal throne (royal Gallicanism). The opposition of various layers to absolutism resulted in the so-called. religious wars that ended in the victory of the queens. absolutism. Catholicism remained the official religion in France. In the Habsburg lands (in Austria, the Czech Republic, part of Hungary), where the reformation. The movement in various forms also spread widely (especially since the 60s); it became a banner not only of anti-feudalism. struggle of the masses, but also liberate. struggle against national oppression, and also (for part of the nobility) a form of expression of opposition to the centralizing aspirations of the Habsburgs. In Poland, R. was used preem. feudal lords (both magnates and gentry), who seized the church as a result of it. land. Militant Catholicism was, however, the ideology most suited to the class. interests of Poland feudal lords, especially in their struggle for the conquest of the Ukrainian. and Belarusian. peoples Therefore, already in the 60-70s. 16th century Polish The feudal lords began to move away from Poland. Under Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632), Catholicism completely triumphed in Poland. reaction. R. - in its radical forms - posed a serious threat to the feud. I'm building. Unfolded from the middle 16th century reaction movement against R., to strengthen the position of Catholics. churches and fiefs building as a whole, led by the papacy - the counter-reformation - led to the suppression of the reformation. movements in the Habsburg lands, parts of Germany, Poland; Weak attempts at reform were also suppressed. movements in Italy and Spain. The fate of R. was different in the Netherlands and England, the economically advanced countries of Europe in the 16th century. In the Netherlands, where there was antagonism between developing capitalism and obsolete feudalism, the embodiment of which was here in the Spanish. absolutism and Catholicism. church, became irreconcilable, in the middle. 16th century revolution was brewing. situation. Under these conditions, Lutheranism and Anabaptism, which spread in the 20-30s. 16th century, mid. 16th century gave way to the leading place first to Baptistism, and from the late 50s. Calvinism, which has become ideological. the banner of the impending Dutch bourgeois revolution of the 16th century. The iconoclastic uprising of 1566 marked the beginning of the revolution. Calvinism became widespread not only among the bourgeoisie (and part of the anti-Spanish-minded nobility), but also, along with Baptism, among the Christian-plebeian masses, especially in the trade. -industrial provinces of the center and north of the country. Calvinist consistories became centers that combined the preaching of the Reformation. ideas with organizational and political leadership of the masses who rose up to fight against feudalism, the Inquisition and foreign rule. At this time, in the Netherlands (in their northern provinces, where the revolution was victorious and the bourgeois Republic of the United Provinces was formed) R., Catholic property, was carried out. churches were confiscated, and the Catholic. religion was replaced by Calvinism, which became the official religion here (1573-74). R. in England had its own distinctive features. traits. In the 16th century England was a country of growing absolutism, which came into sharp conflict with the papacy. The result of this conflict was the act of 1534 on supremacy (supremacy), by virtue of which the king became the head of England. churches. This was followed by a number of other events, thanks to the Crimea queens. R. in England received the most defined. form. The Anglican Church became the state. church, and the Anglican religion is forced. But R. in England, carried out “from above,” turned out to be half-hearted, incomplete (preservation of the episcopate and significant part of church land ownership in the form of episcopal lands, preservation of numerous elements of Catholicism in the cult and doctrine, in particular, magnificent rituals, etc.) , the Anglican Church became the support of absolutism. Therefore, the aggravation of the social struggle caused by the changes taking place in the country’s economy and the growing opposition to absolutism were accompanied by a demand to deepen R., to bring it to the end. From the 2nd half. 16th century In England, Calvinism is becoming increasingly widespread, the followers of which were called Puritans here. During the English bourgeois revolution of the 17th century, which, like the Dutch one, was carried out under the banner of Calvinism, the Puritan opposition broke up into a number of independent groups. parties that covered up their demands with religions. shell (see Presbyterians, Independents, Levellers). From the end of the 17th century. Calvinism in England ceased to be political. current and its role is limited to religious and ideological. sphere; state The Church remained Anglican. Reformed the movement as a whole was important. stage in the fight against feudalism. In a number of countries, R. became the form in which the early bourgeoisie was clothed. revolution. As a result, R. Catholic. the church lost its monopoly position in the West. Europe - in the countries of the victorious (religiously) R. - on part of the territory. Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia. countries, England and Scotland, the Netherlands, parts of Hungary - new - Protestant - churches arose (see Protestantism). Secularization of the Church. The economics of the land have been undermined here. Catholic power churches. In these countries, R. made the church cheaper and simpler, and she also added deities. sanction to bourgeois norms. morality. In countries where R. won, the church found itself more dependent on the national. state, enjoyed less power than in countries dominated by Catholicism, which facilitated the development of science and secular culture. The spiritual dictatorship of the church was broken. R. turned out to be the last major anti-feud. movement that took place under the religion. shell. The new stage of the fight against feudalism took place under a new ideological ideology. banner - the banner of the Enlightenment, which ideologically prepared Vel. French revolution of the late 18th century. Burzh. historiography has dedicated a huge literature to R. (see Bibliographie de la r?forme. 1450 -1648. Ouvrages parus de 1940 and 1955,. fasc. 1-5, Leiden, 1958-65; a detailed bibliography is also given in the book: Le XVI si?cle, par H. S?e, A. Rebillon et E. Pr?clin, P., 1950; review of modern foreign literature: "RH", 1960, t. , edition according to German. - K. Sehottenloher, Bibliographie zur deutschen Geschichte im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung. 1517-1585, Bd 1-7, Lpz., 1933-64). Many people study the history of R. about the history of religion and the church, as well as special. Society on the History of the Reformation (in Germany, in the USA), publishes a special edition. magazine "Archiv f?r Reformationsgeschichte" (in several languages, from 1938 - under the direction of G. Ritter). The greatest attention is paid to the bourgeoisie. researchers are attracted by R. in Germany (more precisely, the study of the theology of M. Luther), Calvinism, the so-called. “Christian humanism” (especially Erasmus of Rotterdam, who is considered as the main exponent of this trend), the mutual influence of various directions of R. Until recently, people. R.'s currents turned out to be completely overshadowed by the figures of the “great reformers.” These trends often seemed to be carried beyond the boundaries of the “actual” reformation. movements were often seen as a force hostile to him and societies. progress. Nowadays there is greater interest in people. movements of R., in particular to Anabaptism; Works also appeared that considered Münzer as the pinnacle of revolution (for example, E. Bloch, Thomas Münzer als Theologe der Revolution, Münch., 1921). But characteristic of the bourgeoisie. the historiography of R. is that the study of R. is considered an integral part of the history of theology, and not of civil history. history, and the leading place in it belongs to theologians. Accordingly, in R. main. attention is drawn to the study of theology. problems, R. is considered as purely (or primarily) religious. movement, reasons R. - as caused by the internal development of religion and church. The work of the Frenchman is characteristic in this regard. Protestant historian E. Leonard (E. G. Leonard, Histoire g?n?rale du protestantisme, t. 1 - La Reformation, P., 1961), where the reasons for R. are explained by the desire of believers to save their souls in addition to and outside of Catholicism. churches of the region by the end of the 15th century. as a result of schism and the conciliar movement, it lost the ability to serve as an intermediary in the transfer of “divine grace” from God to “sinful humanity.” In literature of this kind, there is a clearly noticeable tendency towards softening and reconciliation of Protestant and Catholic groups that were previously sharply hostile to each other. points of view on R. Another direction (especially characteristic of German Protestant historiography and going back to L. Ranke), maintaining, as a rule, the assessment of R. as a religious. movement, connects R. with politics. history, primarily with the history of the state (for example, G. von Belov, Die Ursachen der Reformation, M?nch. - V., 1917), in modern Western German historiography the largest representative - G. Ritter (G. Ritter, Die Weltwirkung der Reformation, 2 Aufl., M?nch., 1959)). Mn. Representatives of this trend proclaim precisely R. (in its Lutheran-German form) the beginning of the era of new history, often contrasting the “era of R.” “the era of rationalism and Enlightenment,” and this opposition is chauvinistic. and the hostile French. Revolution - and social revolution in general - is a shade. The emergence of a “state of new times,” a new stage in the history of international affairs, is associated with R.’s ideas. relationships, etc. Finally, at the beginning. 20th century in bourgeois Science has arose (not without the influence of Marxism) a direction that, to one degree or another, establishes a connection between R. and the social changes of the era, the genesis of capitalism, giving, however, a one-sided interpretation of this connection. Religious-sociological theory of M. Weber (M. Weber, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus, T?bingen, 1934, and other works) about the role of Protestant (primarily Calvinist) ethics in the formation of the “spirit of capitalism,” considered as a prerequisite for capitalism. development, called to the bourgeoisie. science, an intense debate that continues to this day. Connection of R. with the general socio-economic. The development of the era is emphasized in the works of such essentially profoundly different researchers as German. theologian E. Troeltsch (E. Troeltsch, Die Bedeutung des Protestantismus f?r die Entstehung der modernen Welt, M?nch., 1906), French. historian A. Oze (N. Hauser, La naissance du protestantisme, P., 1940, and other his works), English. small-town historian R. Tawney (R. Tawney, Religion and the rise of capitalism, N.Y., (1926)). However, this trend is under increasing attack from the “right” as being too “materialistic”, “contrary to the facts”, etc.; Attempts are being made to separate R. from the early bourgeoisie. revolutions (in this regard, the work of the Dutch Protestant historian A. A. van Schelven, Uit den strijd der geesten, Amst., 1944, is indicative). Marxist historiography in general assessments of R., its causes and history. role is based on the characteristics of R. given in the works of the founders of Marxism, who revealed the connection between reforms. movement and definition stage of history development of Western countries Europe, connection of religions. demands of R. with the interests of the emerging new classes and who saw in the entirety of the social movements of the era of R. the first act of Europe. bourgeois revolution. Basic Marxist historiography focuses its attention on the study of the least developed and at the same time the most falsified bourgeoisie. historiography of people. directions of R., on R. as a manifestation of a broad socio-political. movements. At the same time, people are studied most intensively. R. in Germany, and also partly in the Netherlands, in Poland (works of Soviet historians M. M. Smirin, who developed the very concept of “people’s R.”, A. N. Chistozvonov, historians of the GDR M. Steinmetz, R. Müller-Streisand and others, Czech historian J. Macek, studies of Polish historians on Arianism, etc.). The 450th anniversary of R. in Germany was celebrated in October. 1967 in the GDR as a national holiday. For the anniversary, a collection of articles was published: “450 Jahre Reformation” (hrsg. von L. Stern und M. Steinmetz. V., 1967), as well as the 1st part of the biography of Luther (S. Zsch?bitz, Martin L?ther. Gro?e und Grenze. T. 1, 1483-1526, V., 1967). Lit. (except for the reference in the article): Marx K., Towards a critique of Hegel’s philosophy of law. (Introduction), K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 1; Engels F., Peasant War in Germany, ibid., vol. 7; his, Dialectics of Nature, ibid., vol. 20; his, Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy, ibid., vol. 21; his, Development of Socialism from Utopia to Science, ibid., vol. 19; his, To the "Peasant War", ibid., vol. 21; by him, Notes on Germany in the book: Archive of Marx and Engels, vol. 10, M., 1948, p. 343 - 46; Smirin M. M., The People's Reformation of Thomas Muntzer and the Great Peasant War, 2nd ed., M., 1955; Chistozvonov A. N., Reformation movement and class. wrestling in the Netherlands in the first half. XVI century, M.. 1964; Gausrat A. , Medieval Reformers, trans. from German, vol. 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1900; Betzold F., History of the Reformation in Germany, (translated from German), vol. 1-2, St. Petersburg, 1900; Dementyev G., Introduction of the Reformation in Sweden, St. Petersburg, 1892; Vipper R. Yu., Church and state in Geneva of the 16th century in the era of Calvinism, M., 1894; Weingarten G., Nar. Reformation in England in the 17th century, (translated from German), M., 1901; Potekhin A., Essays on the history of the struggle between Anglicanism and Puritanism under the Tudors (1550-1603), Kaz., 1894; Lubowicz N., History of the Reformation in Poland. Calvinists and Antitrinitarians (according to unpublished sources), Warsaw, 1883; Kareev N., Essay on the history of the reformation. movements and Catholic reactions in Poland, M., 1886; M?ller-Streisand R., Luthers Weg von der Reformation zur Restauration, Halle, 1964; Steinmetz M., Deutschland von 1476 bis 1648. (Von der fr?hb?rgerlichen Revolution bis zum Westf?lischen Frieden), V., 1965; his, Die Entstehung der marxistischen. Auffassung von Reformation und Bauernkrieg als tr?hb?rgerlicbe Revolution, ZG, 1967, No. 7; Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce, t. 1, Warsz., 1956; Imbart de la Tour P., Les origines de la Réforme, v. 1 - 4, P., 1905-35; Woelderink J. G., Was de Reformatie een vergissing? De Doopersche geeststrooming in den Reformatie tijd, ´s-Gr., 1948; Grimm H. J., The Reformation era. 1500-1650, N.Y., 1956; Williams G. H., The Radical Reformation, Phil., 1962; Delumeau J., Naissance et affirmation de la Réforme, P., 1965. See also lit. with articles about individual figures and individual trends R. N. N. Samokhina, A. N. Chistozvonov. Moscow.

a widespread anti-feudal and anti-Catholic movement in Europe in the first half of the 16th century, which laid the foundation for Protestantism, which placed internal personal faith above external manifestations of religiosity with the goal of subordinating the church to the power of the state.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

REFORMATION

from lat. reformatio - transformation, correction) is a broad and diverse social movement in most European countries of the 16th and 17th centuries, which had direct influence. the goal was the reform of Catholicism and was generally anti-feudal. character. R. led to the formation of a new variety of Christianity - Protestantism. The causes of R. are associated with the development of the bourgeoisie. relations and aggravation of class antifeud. the struggle of the bourgeoisie and peasantry, directed primarily against the Catholics. church - “... the most general synthesis and the most general sanction of the existing feudal system” (F. Engels, see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 7, p. 361). In ideological Humanism with its rationalism played an important role in R.'s preparation. criticism of the Middle Ages. worldview and affirmation of the principles of the bourgeoisie. individualism, middle-century. heresies, Hussism, in Germany - German. 14th century mysticism Defending the idea of ​​direct communication between man and God, R. proclaimed internal. personal faith of unity. through “salvation” (the principle of “justification by faith alone” put forward by Luther, as opposed to the Catholic dogma of salvation through “good works”), which led to the denial of Catholic claims. church for mediation between man and God, rejected the authority of the so-called. sacred tradition - papal decretals, church decrees. cathedrals, etc. and recognized the Holy Scripture of unities. source of revelation. Socially, these ideas of burgher R. were associated with the demands for the elimination of monasticism and the church. land ownership, simplification of worship (Russia retained only two of the church sacraments - baptism and communion) and democratization of worship, which Roma gave national. character (many reformers translated the Bible into national languages). In the movement of R. there are two main ones. currents - burgher-evangelical. R. and folk R. Burger R. was extremely heterogeneous in its social aspirations, which was reflected in the specific. features of the religious teachings of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and other reformers. Lutheranism is characterized by the affirmation of internal religious human freedom and at the same time the sanctification of his real lack of freedom in worldly life. Much more radical were Zwinglianism, the teachings of Karlstadt, and especially Calvinism, which became the ideology of the first bourgeois. revolutions - in the Netherlands in the 16th century. and England 17th century. Calvinism gave religion. justification for bourgeois norms. morality in the theory of predestination and the doctrine of “secular calling” and “secular asceticism” developed by him, simplified and cheapened the cult as much as possible, abolishing all elements of magic and fetishism, and reorganized the church according to the republic. sample. Narodnaya R. expressed the interests of the Christian-plebeian masses. Based on the teachings of early Christianity, she demanded equality in societies. relations, abolition of serfdom and class privileges. Having reached the highest development in the teachings of Münzer with his pantheistic. identification of “God” and “world”, preaching the active establishment of the “kingdom of God on earth”, the idea of ​​people. R. later became widespread in the Anabaptist movement, among the English. diggers and others. People's movement. R. was persecuted as a Catholic. church, and burgher R. Lit.: Engels F., Cross. war in Germany, Marks K. and Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 7; Herzen A.I., Letters on the study of nature, M., 1946, p. 33–36, 194–227; Bezold F., History of R. in Germany, vol. 1–2, St. Petersburg, 1900; Savin A.N., Relig. history of Europe during the R. era, M., 1914; Smirin M. M., Nar. R. Thomas Münzer and the Great Cross. war, 2nd ed., M., 1955; Porshnev B.F., Calvin and Calvinism, “Questions in the history of religion and atheism,” 1958, [vol.] 6; Chistozvonov A. N., Reformats. movement and class struggle in the Netherlands in the first half. XVI century, M., 1964; Grimm H. J., The reformation era. 1500–1650, N.Y., 1954; Schmidt A. M., J. Calvin et la tradition calvinienne, P., 1957. See also lit. at Art. Calvin, Luther, Munzer. M. Gluzberg, L. Zatulovskaya. Moscow.

The need for broad church reform was discussed long before Rome. The deification of the pope, indulgences, abuses of the clergy, excessive development of ritual to the detriment of internal content, “pious deceptions” revealed the spiritual collapse of Rome in the eyes of contemporaries. Catholic churches. Ecumenical councils of the 14th-15th centuries. (especially those of Constance and Basel) sought to correct the church “in its head and members,” but its internal attempts. reforms failed. Started in the 16th century. Protestant R. came up with the slogan not of correcting Catholicism, but of fighting it.

R. was prepared by the speeches of J. Wycliffe and J. Hus. It received ideological form in the teachings of M. Luther, W. Zwingli, and J. Calvin, who represented the burghers. the direction of R., and T. Müntzer, the leader of the people's R. Declaring the cause of R. "corruption of the church", the ideologists of R. saw it in the distortion of the teachings of Christ and considered the goal of R. to be a return to the "true" Christianity of the apostolic times. To cleanse faith from history. layers, they called for checking the sacred tradition with the Holy Scriptures, contrasting the authority of the Bible with the authority of the church and preserving only those sacraments, dogmas and rituals that are based on the Bible. Having completed this check, R. recognized two of the seven sacraments, abolished the worship of saints, obligated. fasts and most church holidays.

The most important idea of ​​R. is the need for a person’s personal responsibility before God without the mediation of the church hierarchy. In society consciousness of the 16th-17th centuries. Catholic the church acted as a violent force. authorities trying to organize the RSL. human life according to the formal legal model. relationships and promising salvation by “good works,” that is, by following a prescribed way of behavior. According to R. ideologists, salvation is achieved not by “good deeds,” but by sincere repentance and faith. By the power of the deities. predestination of the will there is a direct, personal relationship of each person to God, personal guilt and personal responsibility. The Church is not capable of bringing a person closer to God and should not strive to mediate and level their relationship.

Rethinking the role of the church in human affairs. salvation is associated with changes in the understanding of the relationship between nature and spirit. Catholic Dogmatics is based on the recognition that there are deities in certain natural things. the spirit is embodied to a greater extent than in others (holy gifts, relics, miraculous icons, etc.). Reformed consciousness abolishes this division of things into sacred and unsacred; the sacred is not a thing that can be given, sold (indulgences), taken away, conquered (crusades). This view was clearly manifested in the discussion about the sacrament of the Eucharist (communion). According to the teachings of the Roman Catholic. church, Christ is substantially present in the holy gifts. According to Luther, the presence of Christ is perceived only by faith in him, and the absence of faith robs the holy gifts of their gracious power.

Rejecting ordination as a sacrament of transferring special (apostolic) grace to clergy, R. theorists develop the doctrine of a universal priesthood. They claim to be deities. grace is given equally to everyone in the sacrament of baptism. There is no fundamental difference between the laity and the clergy. The Church is a community of believers, a union of brothers in Christ, and not universal, almost cosmic. hierarchy mystically connecting heaven and earth. Therefore, the church organization should be built on the principles of community self-government, and not hierarchical. submission.

R. led to religion. wars for freedom of conscience, which resulted in a number of European countries. states established themselves bourgeois. religious and political freedom. But the era of R. understood freedom of conscience primarily as freedom from the authority of the church, and its immediate result was the replacement of the authority of the church with the authority of the state. R. rejected the principles of Catholicism. theocratism and centralism, states were freed from church tutelage, and religion itself became an instrument of the state. authorities.

German revolution found its continuation in the Dutch (16th century) and English (17th century) revolutions, during which the ideas of tolerance, separation of church and state, and the secular vocation of the Christian were developed. R. had a serious influence on the development of social criticism. thinking, philosophy theories of self-awareness, early-Burg. the ideal of the “rule of law” and new, entrepreneurial orientations in households. practice,

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

In modern historical science, the term “Reformation”, which is translated from Latin as “transformation” or “correction”, is usually understood as a socio-political movement that swept the countries of Central and Western Europe in the period of the 16th-17th centuries. His goal was to transform Catholicism, mired in mercantile interests, and bring it into conformity with biblical teaching.

The brake on social development in Europe

According to researchers, the history of the beginning of the Reformation (renewal of Christianity) in Europe is inextricably linked with the emergence of a new and rapidly developing bourgeois class. If during the Middle Ages the Catholic Church, being a vigilant guardian of feudal foundations, fully met the interests of the ruling classes, then under the conditions of new historical realities it became a brake on social development.

Suffice it to say that in a number of European states up to 30% of the land cultivated by serfs was church property. Various production workshops were created at the monasteries, the products of which were not taxed, which led to the ruin of secular artisans, who were everywhere inferior to them in the competition.

The same applies to the sphere of trade, where the church had various benefits, while the laity who tried to engage in this type of activity were subject to exorbitant duties. On top of everything else, the clerics themselves were inexhaustible in all sorts of extortions and extortion, finding justification for them in the Christian teaching that they deliberately distorted.

The bourgeoisie as the driving force of reforms

In the current situation, it was the bourgeoisie, which appeared back in the 15th century and gained strength by the beginning of the next century, that contributed to the beginning of the reformation - the renewal of Christianity - in Europe. Representatives of this class not only managed to occupy leading positions in the country's economy, but also began to lay claim to political hegemony. Not wanting to abandon Christianity, the bourgeoisie, nevertheless, rebelled against the existing form of Catholicism, demanding its simplification and reduction in cost.

Business people, who grew in number every year, did not want to spend money on building grandiose churches and organizing magnificent prayer services. They preferred to invest it in production, creating more and more new enterprises. The general hatred was also reinforced by the frankly obscene behavior of the priests themselves, who shamelessly trampled on the moral principles commanded by Christ.

In addition, one of the reasons for the beginning of the Reformation in Europe was the change in its intellectual environment and the establishment of the principles of humanism, which were a characteristic feature of the Renaissance. The spirit of free criticism established over the years gave the opportunity not only to the progressive people of that time, but also to the broad masses to take a fresh look at the phenomena of culture and religion. However, in each European country this process had its own characteristic differences. In particular, it is noted that where the arbitrariness of the clergy was limited by legislative measures, the church managed to maintain its position longer.

Freethinker from the shores of Britain

The beginning of the Reformation in England was laid by Oxford University professor John Wycliffe. In 1379, he issued an appeal directed against the basic dogma of the Roman Church on papal infallibility. In addition, the venerable scientist and teacher advocated for the secularization (confiscation in favor of the state) of church lands and the abolition of most institutions of Catholicism. He openly declared that the head of the church is Jesus Christ, and not the Roman Pontiff, who arbitrarily arrogated this honor to himself.

To give his statements more credibility, Wycliffe translated the Bible into English for the first time, making its reading accessible to the broad masses of the country's secular population. A little later, the full text of the Old Testament became available to his compatriots. Thus, the people were able to comprehend Christian teaching in its true form, and not in the edition that the Catholic clergy offered them. This also largely served as a stimulus and marked the beginning of the Reformation in England.

Czech follower of John Wycliffe

When talking about who started the Reformation in the Czech Republic, they usually mention the name of its national hero Jan Hus, who opposed the dominance in his country of the clergy sent from the Holy Roman Empire. The formation of his worldview was largely influenced by Czech students who returned to their homeland after studying in England and came under the influence of the ideas of John Wycliffe.

Having become the rector of the University of Prague in 1409, Jan Hus widely propagated the views of the English reformer and, on their basis, called for radical changes in the Czech church. His speeches resonated with the broad masses, and in order to stop the growing unrest, Pope Martin IV, with the support of Emperor Sigismund I, initiated a trial in which the Czech reformer and his closest associate Jerome of Prague were sentenced to be burned at the stake.

The Birth of Lutheranism

However, despite the significance of the activities of John Wycliffe and Huss, the beginning of the Reformation in Europe (renewal of Christianity) is usually associated with the name of the prominent German theologian Martin Luther. It was his name that named one of the religious movements that emerged at the beginning of the 16th century - Lutheranism. Let us dwell briefly on the event that is generally considered to be the beginning of the Reformation in Germany.

Fertile ground for the implementation of religious reforms was created by the dissatisfaction with the church that gripped all segments of the population. The peasants could no longer tolerate the tithe tax, which was destructive for them, and the artisans went bankrupt, unable to withstand competition with the monastic workshops exempt from taxes, as mentioned above. Receiving huge profits, the clergy annually sent a large part of the income to the Vatican, indulging the insatiable appetites of the popes. In addition, in the cities, the land holdings of the church expanded every year, which threatened to plunge their inhabitants into bondage.

What event marked the beginning of the reformation in Germany

However, the main events were destined to take place not on the islands of Britain, and not in the Czech Republic, but in Germany. Against the background of general discontent, on October 31, 1517 (this date is usually considered the beginning of the Reformation), a copy of a letter sent by Doctor of Theology Martin Luther to the Archbishop of Mainz appeared on the doors of the cathedral in the city of Wittenberg. In this document, which consisted of 95 points, he harshly criticized many of the foundations of contemporary Catholicism.

In particular, he opposed the sale of indulgences ─ letters of remission of sins, issued to everyone for a certain fee. This type of business brought enormous profits to the churchmen, although it was contrary to Christian teaching. As you know, Christ called faith given to a person from above, and not church rituals, as the only path to the salvation of the soul.

Even at the very beginning of the Reformation in Germany, Luther taught that neither the pope nor the clergy are mediators between people and God, and their claims to the right of remission of sins through the holy sacraments are false. In addition, the German freethinker questioned the legitimacy of all papal decrees and decrees of the church, pointing out that the only authority in spiritual life could be the Holy Scriptures.

Celibacy, a vow of celibacy and eternal chastity taken by all Catholic clergy, also came under his criticism. Luther pointed out that this opposition to human nature actually results in a fall into the gravest sins. The document that appeared on the doors of the cathedral contained other, no less harsh reproaches against the church. Since printing was already established in Germany at that time, Martin Luther’s appeal, replicated in local printing houses, became the property of all residents of the country.

Break with the official church

Having received news of what had happened, the Vatican did not attach serious importance to it, since cases of isolated riots among the clergy had occurred before. That is why the beginning of the Reformation in Germany passed without any dramatic events. However, the situation changed radically after Luther openly supported the previously convicted Jan Hus and expressed no confidence in the church tribunal that passed the verdict. This was already considered as a violation of the authority of not only the church hierarchs, but also the pope himself.

Not stopping there, in December 1520, Luther publicly burned a papal bull ─ a message that condemned his views. This was an act unprecedented in its courage, which meant a complete break with the church. Secular authorities tried to somehow hush up the scandal, and the newly elected head of the Holy Roman Empire, which, in addition to Germany, then included Italy, the Czech Republic and partly France, summoned the freethinker and tried to convince him of the need to renounce heretical views.

Beyond secular laws

By refusing and remaining adamant in his convictions, the daring theologian placed himself outside the law throughout the territory controlled by the emperor. However, nothing could stop the advancing wave of religious reformation in Europe. Thanks to his speech, Martin Luther became widely known not only in Germany, but also abroad, and gained many supporters.

Streak of persecution and persecution

If the beginning of the Reformation (renewal of Christianity) in Europe was limited to relatively little bloodshed, then after Luther’s open break not only with the church, but also with the secular authorities, repressions followed. The first to die at the stake of the Inquisition were two monks who dared to conduct anti-papal propaganda in the Netherlands.

Following them, dozens of other freethinkers laid down their lives on the altar of the Reformation. Luther himself was saved from certain death only thanks to the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise, who almost by force hid the one who laid the foundation for the Reformation in one of his castles. Fleeing from persecution, Luther did not waste his time: having translated the text of the Bible into German, he made it accessible to all his compatriots.

The beginning of mass protests

But the fire of religious rebellion flared up with uncontrollable force, finally resulting in serious social upheaval. Despite the fact that representatives of each segment of the population interpreted Luther's teachings in their own way, all of Germany was soon engulfed in popular unrest. A particularly significant contribution to the reformation was made by the burgher movement, whose participants were city residents led by Gabriel Zwilling and Andreas Karlstadt.

Demanding that the authorities carry out immediate and radical reforms, they showed exceptional unity and organization. Soon they were joined by the broad masses of rural residents, who were also vitally interested in changing the existing order. It should be noted that both of them did not speak out against Christianity, but only condemned the greed and selfishness of those who arrogated to themselves the right to be expressors of God's will and derive considerable income from this.

Rebellion that escalated into the Peasants' War

As has often happened in history, fair demands very quickly grew into a “senseless and merciless” rebellion. Crowds of people began to destroy churches and monasteries. Many architectural monuments of the Middle Ages and entire libraries of unique manuscripts were destroyed in the fires.

Following the mob, the knighthood joined the ranks of the reformers, whose representatives also had good reason to hate the Roman clergy. The apogee of everything was the Peasant War led by Thomas Münzer, which engulfed Germany in 1524 and soon spread to the whole of Central Europe.

Who are Protestants?

To conclude the story about what events served as the beginning of the Reformation in Germany, it is necessary to explain the origin of the term “Protestantism,” which later came to be called the direction of Christianity founded by Martin Luther in the first half of the 16th century. The fact is that after the end of the Peasant War in 1526, the so-called Edict of Wormos, by which the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V declared Luther a criminal and a heretic, was canceled.

However, just three years later, at a meeting of the Reichstag - the highest legislative and advisory body of the empire - this document was again given legal force, which caused a protest from representatives of 14 cities, where the ideas of the rebellious theologian found universal recognition. It was thanks to these protesters that all supporters of the Reformation subsequently began to be called Protestants, and the direction of religion itself became Protestantism.

Conclusion

The beginning of the Reformation (renewal of Christianity) in Europe, briefly described in this article, resulted in a long process, as a result of which, along with Catholicism and Orthodoxy, another direction of followers of the teachings given by Jesus Christ appeared - Protestantism. Subsequently, it was divided into several reformation churches, the most numerous of which today are Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican.

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Reformation is a popular movement of the 16th century directed against the Catholic Church and led to the emergence of Protestantism. The leaders of this movement were Luther in Germany and Calvin in Switzerland. This movement had a much stronger influence on European society than the Renaissance. The humanism of the previous era played a dual role in the emergence of Protestantism: on the one hand, it undermined the prestige of the church and cleared the way for the Reformation, exalting secular learning and art. On the other hand, the Reformation was a revolt not only against the Catholic Church, but also against humanism, because Its leaders were distinguished by fanatical religiosity in the struggle for the concept of a “new church.”

The Reformation was caused by the collapse of the feudal mode of production and the emergence of new capitalist relations. The fact is that the movement for the transformation of the Catholic Church was supported by burghers, small traders, artisans, and peasants, who were characterized by religious fanaticism and alien to the spirit of moral freedom of the Renaissance figures. In fact, the Reformation demanded a transformation of the Catholic Church that would meet the interests not of the feudal authorities, but of the bourgeoisie.

The impetus for the mass movement for the Reformation was the act of the German monk Martin Luther, who nailed the famous 95 theses , who condemned the sale of indulgences, which had become common in the Catholic Church. It was possible to “atone” for the most terrible crime by purchasing absolution for money - a piece of paper - a letter, which was sold by papal envoys in public places.

The sale of indulgences became such an important source of income for the Catholic Church that it forced people to buy these papers for sins not yet committed. This vicious practice caused indignation among believers - the greed of the clergy became too obvious.

It is interesting that the parishioners did not condemn the church’s right to condemn and pardon sinners, but rather the dirty monetary and commercial form of absolution. M. Luther went further than this quite obvious and understandable moral crime: he believed that through this kind of commercial practice a person is freed from the need for internal repentance. And this violated the well-known evangelical call: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” It turned out that the Catholic Church actually rejected the main requirement of Christianity and the condition of human salvation - a person's inner repentance.

The salvation of a person, according to M. Luther, is in a person’s personal faith. Man is so sinful, he claims, that no amount of religious merit can bring him closer to salvation. You can only be saved by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “You cannot order faith to be combined with good deeds, for true faith cannot, in its essence, not end up in a righteous life” - he repeated this thesis more than once. At the same time, faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ is not a person’s personal merit, but acts as a manifestation of divine mercy - chosenness, i.e. Only those whom he has chosen for salvation truly believe, asserted M. Luther.

In connection with this understanding of faith and salvation, M. Luther believed that it was necessary to eliminate monasticism, abolish fasts, turn monasteries into schools, abolish the practice of pilgrimage to holy places, etc. There is no difference between priests and laity. Everyone has the right to communicate with God, and not just the clergy, as it was interpreted in the dogmatics of Catholicism. Luther goes further and rejects the entire church hierarchy headed by the “demonic prince” - the pope. He calls the papacy an “anti-Christ institution” leading to temptation and sin. The papacy stole God from man and engaged in the speculative sale of his grace. In essence, Luther demanded a return to the moral principles of early Christianity and advocated pure and sincere faith in God.

The ideological source of the Reformation was Bible . Jacques Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther - the main champions of the Reformation of the Catholic Church argued that the source of truth in religion is not the sacred oral tradition, but the Holy Scripture, primarily the Gospel. They insisted on the indisputable authority of Scripture, on the right of every believer to have their own understanding of its content. The fact is that before the Reformation, the Bible was published only in Latin, which was a “dead” language and was inaccessible to understanding by the broad masses of believers. Latin was studied and known only by clergy. They, and in their person the entire church, acted as a mediator between the Revelation of God, set out in the Bible, and people. And the church interpreted the Bible according to sacred tradition. As a result of this state of affairs, the pope's decision in matters of faith became the final authority. M. Luther and his supporters, rejecting sacred tradition (as opposed to Orthodoxy and Catholicism), proclaimed the Bible as the only source of doctrine. Not papal orders and decrees, not oral tradition, but only the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments ( Holy letter ) can be a source of truth. Luther was the first to translate the Bible into German and proclaimed the right of every believer to study and interpret it. Thus, he deprived the Catholic Church of the right to create in the name of Holy Scripture (after all, all people are equally affected by original sin). On such foundations a new direction of Christianity emerged - Protestantism.

Ethics of Protestantism was distinguished by simplicity in relations between people, by preaching the limitation of one's own needs, by a negative attitude towards luxury, wastefulness, and idleness. This met the interests of the petty bourgeoisie, the entrepreneurial spirit inherent in capitalism, and the formation of high self-esteem based on the fact that they are the bearers of the divine historical mission. The education and promotion of such moral qualities played a certain role in the fact that it was the Puritans, forced as a result of religious and political persecution to migrate from Europe to North America at the beginning of the 17th century, who became the leaders of Western civilization.

By abandoning the Catholic-type church organization, Protestants opened the way to bourgeois-democratic freedoms, development bourgeois individualism. The exuberant Catholic religious cult was simplified and lavish. M. Luther abolished monasticism, he himself cast off his monastic rank and married a nun, which was a violation of the monastic vow of celibacy ( celibacy). The liturgy, which was usually conducted in Latin, was reduced to a sermon. The veneration of icons and relics was also abolished; of the seven religious sacraments, Protestants began to observe only baptism and communion. Protestants do not recognize saints, angels, do not honor the cult of the Mother of God, and deny the idea of ​​purgatory. Religious worship became simpler and cheaper. Protestant clergy are elected by the laity. It was all close primarynew Christianity.

The concept of a “new church” emerged, and Catholicism was reformed. The core of the Protestant worldview was the position: “Everything is from God.” This saved a person from useless worries about the progress of worldly affairs. Man can only hope in God and believe in his salvation.

As emphasized, the connection between the Reformation and the Renaissance is undeniable, but it is ambiguous. Their union was temporary. The alliance with young humanists was caused by the need for the latter, for the purposes of national interests, to stand under religious banners. Already in 1521, an ideological gap occurred between them. Luther's teachings in the “universal holy order of believers” had a dangerous effect on the minds - after all, it allowed the clergy into the world of people as teachers and preachers of the Gospel, and created guarantees for the preservation of existing orders.

The bourgeois character of Protestantism was more clearly manifested in the teaching J. Calvin - ideologist of the Reformation in Switzerland. He proclaimed the main values self-restraint, enrichment, asceticism, put forward two ideas: about divine non-interference in the laws of the world (alienation of God from the world) and that people are supposedly predestined even before birth - some to salvation and bliss, others to death and eternal torment. But this divine predestination is hidden from people, so every believer must behave as if he were predestined for salvation. No one knows, Calvin teaches, what awaits him, but every person should think that he is God’s chosen one. And, straining all his strength, prove with his life that he is worthy of salvation.

In everyday life, in practical life, this asceticism acquired the character of bourgeois frugality and led to a reduction in religious holidays and an increase in working days. Conscientious work and obedience, according to Calvinists, are a duty of man, ordained by God. This attitude of radical Protestantism contributed to its break with Renaissance humanism.

It is interesting that J. Calvin himself, preaching modesty, diligence, constant hard work and condemning idle pastime, soon acquired such influence in Geneva that the noisy, cheerful life of this prosperous city became quiet, replaced by seriousness and strict religiosity. Calvin developed a system of coercion and punishment to force the citizens of the city to pray and work. He imposed bans on various amusements and entertainment, and free time. It even went so far as to ban artistic creativity, the practice of literature and art, and in small matters to the regulation of hairstyles, clothing, foods, etc. According to the definition of the famous culturologist Max Weber (1864-1920), honest hard work in Protestantism is relegated to the rank of a religious feat and becomes a kind of "worldly asceticism".

The teachings of M. Luther and J. Calvin contributed to the emergence of a new morality, which was called Puritan by the name of one of the Protestant sects. This name has become common to all movements and sects - Baptists, Presbyterians, Calvinists, etc. Ethics of Puritanism stemmed from a religious worldview and lifestyle that recommended ascetic strictness of morals, hard work, a high sense of duty, frugality, and petty piety. The will of God was considered the source of moral principles and norms.