Compositions

• Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans (1515-1516)
• To the Christian nobility of the German nation ()
• On the freedom of a Christian Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen , )
• Against the accursed bull of the Antichrist

Biography

Beginning of life

Martin Luther was born into the family of Hans Luther (1459-1530), a former peasant who moved to Eisleben (Saxony) in the hope of a better life. There, his father changed his profession and took up mining in copper mines. After the birth of Luther, the family moved to the mountain town of Maxfeld, where his father became a wealthy burgher. In 1497, 14-year-old Martin was taken by his parents to the Franciscan school in the city of Marburg. During these times, Luther and his friends earned their bread by singing songs under the windows of devout townsfolk. In 1501, by decision of his parents, Luther entered the University of Erfurt. The fact is that in those days all the burghers sought to give their sons a legal higher education. But he was preceded by the passage of the so-called "liberal arts" course. In 1505, Luther received a master's degree in liberal arts and began to study jurisprudence. Then, against the will of his father, he entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. There are several points of view explaining this unexpected decision. The first is an oppressed state due to the "consciousness of one's sinfulness." The second says that one day Luther got into a severe thunderstorm, and was so frightened that he took a vow of monasticism. The third speaks of the extreme severity of parental upbringing, which Luther could not survive. In fact, the reason must be sought in Luther's environment and in the wavering of minds that existed then among the burghers. The decision was also influenced by acquaintance with many members of the circle of humanists. Luther later responded by describing his monastic life as very difficult, but nevertheless he was an exemplary monk and carried out all his assignments with great care. Luther entered the Augustinian order in Erfurt. The year before, the position of vicar of the order was received by the vicar John Staupitz, who later became a friend of Martin. Luther took monastic vows in 1506, and in 1507 he was ordained a priest.

In Wittenberg

In 1508 Luther was sent to teach at the new university at Wittenberg. There he first became acquainted with the works of Blessed Augustine. Luther taught and studied at the same time to earn his doctorate in theology. In 1511 Luther was sent to Rome on business for the order. The trip made an indelible impression on the young theologian. It was there that he first encountered and saw firsthand the depravity of the Roman Catholic clergy. In 1512 he received a doctorate in theology. After that, Luther received the rank of professor of theology instead of Staupitz. Luther was greatly influenced by nominalism and scholasticism. Luther constantly felt himself in a state of suspension and incredible weakness in relation to God, and these experiences played a significant role in shaping his views. In 1509 Luther taught about Peter Lombard, in 1513-15. - about the psalms, 1515-16 - about the epistle to the Romans, in 1516-18. - about the epistles to the Galatians and the Jews. Luther was a painstaking student of the Bible, and in addition to his duties as a teacher, he was the caretaker of 11 monasteries and preached in the church.

Luther said that he was constantly in a state of feeling sin. After a severe crisis, Luther discovered for himself a different interpretation of the letters of St. Paul. “I understood,” he wrote, “that we receive divine justice as a consequence of faith in God itself and thanks to it, thus the merciful Lord justifies us by the consequence of faith itself.” At this thought, Luther, as he said, felt that he had been born again and through the open gates had entered Paradise. The notion that the believer is justified by his faith in the mercy of God was developed by Luther in 1515-19.

reform activity

On October 18, 1517, Pope Leo X issues a bull of absolution and the sale of indulgences in order to "Promote the construction of the church of St. Peter and save the souls of the Christian world." Luther bursts into criticism of the role of the church in salvation, which is expressed on October 31, 1517 in 95 theses. The theses were also sent to the Bishop of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Mainz. It is worth adding that there were protests against the papacy before. However, they were somewhat different. Led by the humanists, the anti-indulgences approached it from a human point of view. Luther criticized dogmas, that is, the Christian aspect of teaching. The rumor about the theses spreads with lightning speed and Luther is summoned to court in 1519 and, having softened, to a dispute in Leipzig, where he refuses to appear, mindful of the fate of Jan Hus. Then Pope Leo X anathematizes Luther in 1520 (currently the Catholic Church plans to "pardon" him). Luther publicly burns the papal bull excommunicating him from the church in the courtyard of the University of Wittenberg, and in his address “To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” declares that the fight against papal dominance is the business of the entire German nation.

The Pope is supported by the Emperor Charles and Luther seeks salvation from Frederick of Saxony in the Wartburg castle (-). There, the devil allegedly appears to him, but Luther proceeds to translate the Bible into German.

Luther did not participate in the work of the Augsburg Reichstag in 1530; the positions of the Protestants were represented by Melanchthon.

For the last 13 years of his life, Luther suffered from digestive ailments.

The Historical Significance of Luther's Activities

One of the central and sought-after provisions of Luther's philosophy is the concept of "vocation" (Ger. Berufung). In contrast to the Catholic doctrine of the opposition of the worldly and the spiritual, Luther believed that in the worldly life in the professional field the grace of God is realized. God predestinates a person to a certain kind of activity through an invested talent or ability and duty of a person to work diligently, fulfilling his calling. Moreover, in the eyes of God there is no noble or contemptible work.

The work of monks and priests, no matter how hard and holy they may be, does not differ in the eyes of God from the work of a peasant in the field or a woman working on the house

The very concept of "calling" appears in Luther in the process of translating a fragment of the Bible into German (Sirach 11:20-21): "keep in your work (calling)"

The main idea of ​​the theses was to show that priests are not mediators between God and man, they only have to guide the flock and be an example of true Christians. "Man saves his soul not through the Church, but through faith," wrote Luther. He refuted the dogma of the divinity of the person of the pope, which was vividly demonstrated in Luther's discussion with the famous theologian Johann Eck in 1519. Refuting the divinity of the pope, Luther referred to the Greek, that is, the Orthodox Church, which is also considered Christian and dispenses with the pope and his unlimited powers. Luther affirmed the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, and questioned the authority of Holy Tradition and Councils.

Luther and antisemitism

Luther in art

Several films were made about Luther: the American-Canadian "Luther" (Luther,), two German films "Martin Luther" ( Martin Luther, both in ) and the German "Luther" ( Luther; in the Russian box office "Passion according to Luther", )

500 years ago, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 theses to the door of the temple in Wittenberg. What did the founder of the Reformation prove in them? Who was he? And what were the consequences of all this?

1. Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) - the founder of the Reformation, during which Protestantism arises as one of the three main directions of Christianity (along with Orthodoxy and Catholicism). The name "Protestantism" comes from the so-called Speyer Protestation. It was a protest filed in 1529 by six princes and fourteen free German cities at the Reichstag in Speyer against the persecution of Lutherans. According to the name of this document, the supporters of the Reformation subsequently received the name Protestants, and the totality of the non-Catholic denominations that emerged as a result of the Reformation was called Protestantism.

2. The beginning of the Reformation is considered to be October 31, 1517, when the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 theses to the doors of the temple in Wittenberg, where solemn university ceremonies were usually held. So far they have neither denied the supreme authority of the Roman pope, let alone declared him the Antichrist, nor generally denied church organization and church sacraments as necessary mediators between God and man. The theses challenged the practice of indulgences, which at that time was especially widespread in order to cover the costs of building St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.

95 theses of Martin Luther

3. Dominican monk Johann Tetzel, who was an agent for the sale of papal indulgences and who shamelessly sold them and thereby provoked Martin Luther by reading 95 theses, declared: "I will ensure that in three weeks this heretic ascends the fire and proceeds to heaven in an urn."

Tetzel argued that indulgences have b about greater power than Baptism itself. The following story is told about him: an aristocrat in Leipzig turned to Tetzel and asked him to forgive him a sin that he would commit in the future. He agreed on the condition that the indulgence be paid immediately. When Tetzel left the city, the aristocrat caught up with him and beat him, saying that this was the sin he meant.

4. Martin Luther was born into a family of a former peasant who became a prosperous mining foreman and wealthy burgher. His father took part in the profits from eight mines and three smelters ("fires"). In 1525, Hans Lüder bequeathed to his heirs 1250 guilders, which could be used to purchase an estate with arable land, meadows and forests. However, the family lived very moderately. Food was not too plentiful, they saved on clothes and fuel: for example, Luther's mother, along with other townspeople, gathered firewood in the forest in winter. Parents and children slept in the same alcove.

5. The real name of the founder of the Reformation is Luder (Luder or Luider). Already becoming a monk, he talked a lot and corresponded with humanists, among whom it was customary to take sonorous pseudonyms for themselves. So, for example, Gerard Gerards from Rotterdam became Erasmus of Rotterdam. Martin in 1517 seals his letters with the name Eleutherius (translated from ancient Greek - "Free"), Elutherius and, finally, not wanting to stray far from the name of his father and grandfather, Luther. The first followers of Luther did not yet call themselves Lutherans, but "Martinians".

6. The father dreamed of seeing his capable son as a successful lawyer and was able to provide his son with a good education. But unexpectedly, Martin decides to become a monk and, against the will of his father, having experienced a strong conflict with him, enters the Augustinian monastery. According to one explanation, he once got into a very strong thunderstorm when lightning struck very close to him. Martin felt, as he later said, "a monstrous fear of sudden death" and pleaded: "Help, Saint Anna, I want to become a monk."

7. The father, having learned about Luther's intention to take monastic vows, became furious and refused to bless him. Other relatives said they didn't want to know him anymore. Martin was at a loss, although he was not obliged to ask his father's permission. However, in the summer of 1505, a plague raged in Thuringia. Martin's two younger brothers fell ill and died. Luther's parents were then informed from Erfurt that Martin, too, had become a victim of the plague. When it turned out that, fortunately, this was not the case, friends and relatives began to convince Hans that he should allow his son to become a monk, and the father eventually agreed.

8. When the papal bull with the excommunication of Luther "Exsurge Domine" ("Arise, Lord ...") was prepared, it was delivered for signature to Pope Leo X, who hunted a wild boar on his estate. The hunt was unsuccessful: the boar left the vineyards. When the frustrated dad picked up the formidable document, he read its first words, which sounded like this: Arise, Lord, and Peter and Paul ... against the wild boar that devastates the vineyard of the Lord. The Pope nevertheless signed the bull.

9. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, where Luther's case was heard in the presence of the German emperor and he was required to renounce, he utters his famous phrase "I am standing here and cannot do otherwise." Here are his fuller words: If I am not persuaded by the evidence of Scripture and the clear arguments of reason - for I do not believe either the pope or the councils, since it is obvious that they often erred and contradicted themselves - then, speaking the words of Scripture, I am caught in my conscience and caught in the word God's... Therefore, I cannot and do not want to renounce anything, for it is unlawful and unrighteous to do anything against my conscience. On that I stand and I can not do otherwise. God help me!"

Luther in the family circle

10. The Reformation split the Western world into Catholics and Protestants and created an era of religious wars. both civil and international. They lasted over 100 years until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. These wars brought a lot of grief and misfortune, hundreds of thousands of people died in them.

11. During the German Peasants' War of 1524-1526, Luther sharply criticized the rebels, writing "Against the murderous and plundering hordes of peasants", where he called the massacre of the instigators of unrest a charitable deed. However, in many respects the uprisings were caused by the reformation ferment of minds generated by Luther. At the peak of the uprising in the spring and summer of 1525, up to 300,000 people participated in the events. Contemporary estimates place the death toll at around 100,000.

12. Luther strongly rejected the forced celibacy of the clergy, including by his own example. In 1525, he, a former monk, at the age of 42, marries a 26-year-old and also a former nun Katharina von Bora. They had six children in their marriage. Following Luther, another leader of the Reformation from Switzerland, W. Zwingli, also marries. Calvin did not approve of these actions, and Erasmus of Rotterdam said: "Lutheran tragedy turns into a comedy, and all sorts of troubles end in a wedding."

13. Luther in 1522 translates into German and publishes the New Testament, and in the next 12 years the Old Testament. The Germans still use this Lutheran Bible.

14. According to the great German sociologist Max Weber in his famous work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Luther not only laid the foundation for the Reformation, but also gave a decisive start to the birth of capitalism. According to Weber, Protestant ethics defined the spirit of modern times.

15. Unlike Orthodoxy, Lutheranism recognizes only two full-fledged sacraments - Baptism and Communion. Luther even rejected repentance as a sacrament, although his "95 Theses" began with the demand "that the whole life of believers be repentance." Also in Protestantism, almost from the very beginning, strong disputes began about the nature of the Eucharist and the way the Lord was present in it.

Luther was at odds with Zwingli and Calvin on this most important question. The latter understood the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ only as symbolic, “warming the faith” actions. Luther, having rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, could not, in a polemic with the Swiss Reformed, refuse the real, but invisible presence of Christ in bread and wine. Thus, Luther allowed the sacrament of communion, believing that Christ is present in it, but he considered it as some kind of specific or “sacramental unity” of material bread and wine, without specifying the nature of this sojourn. Later, in one of the doctrinal documents of Lutheranism, the “Formula of Concord” (1577), the following formula for the co-presence of the Body and Blood of Christ will be developed: “The Body of Christ is present and taught under bread, with bread, in bread (sub pane, cum pane, in pane) … by this way of expression we wish to teach the mysterious union of the unchanging substance of bread with the Body of Christ.”

The attitude towards the priesthood also varies greatly. Although Luther recognized the necessity of the priesthood, there is not a word in the Lutheran doctrinal books about the continuity of the pastoral ministry, nor about a special mission from above. The right of ordination is recognized for any member of the Church (message from below).

Lutherans also deny the invocation and help of saints, the veneration of icons and relics, the significance of prayers for the dead.

Five decades ago, the great American under whose symbolic canopy we are gathered today signed the Negro Emancipation Proclamation. This important decree has become a majestic beacon of hope for millions of black slaves, scorched by the flames of sizzling injustice. It became a joyful dawn that ended the long night of captivity.

But after a hundred years, we are forced to face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. A hundred years later, the life of the Negro, unfortunately, is still crippled by the shackles of segregation and the shackles of discrimination. A hundred years later, the Negro lives on a deserted island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. A hundred years later, the Negro still languishes in the margins of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we came here today to emphasize the drama of the deplorable situation.

In a sense, we arrived in the capital of our state to receive cash by check. When the architects of our republic wrote the beautiful words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they signed a promissory note that was to be inherited by every American. According to this bill, all people were guaranteed the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Today it has become evident that America has been unable to pay on this promissory note what is due to its colored citizens. Instead of repaying this sacred debt, America issued a bad check to the Negro people, which came back marked "lack of funds." But we refuse to believe that the equity bank has failed. We refuse to believe that our nation's vast storehouses of opportunity are short of funds. And we have come to receive this check - a check that will give us the treasures of freedom and guarantees of justice. We have come here to this sacred place also to remind America of today's imperative. Now is not the time to be satisfied with pacifying measures or to take the soothing medicine of gradual solutions. It is time to emerge from the dark valley of segregation and embark on the sun-drenched path of racial justice. It is time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. The time has come to lead our nation out of the quicksands of racial injustice and into the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be deadly for our state to ignore the special importance of this moment and underestimate the determination of the Negroes. The hot summer of legitimate Negro discontent will not end until the invigorating autumn of freedom and equality arrives. 1963 is not the end, but the beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to let off steam and that he will now calm down will have a severe awakening if our nation returns to its usual daily routine. Until the Negro is granted his civil rights, there will be no serenity or peace in America. Revolutionary storms will continue to shake the foundations of our state until the bright day of justice comes.
But there is something else that I must say to my people, who are standing on the fertile threshold at the entrance to the palace of justice. In the process of winning our rightful place, we should not give grounds for accusations of unseemly deeds. Let us not seek to quench our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must always conduct our struggle from the noble standpoint of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our constructive protest to degenerate into physical violence. We must strive to achieve majestic heights, responding to physical strength with the strength of the spirit. The wonderful militancy that has taken hold of Negro society should not lead us to distrust on the part of all white people, since many of our white brothers have realized, as evidenced by their presence here today, that their fate is closely connected with our fate and their freedom is inevitably connected with our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And having started the movement, we must swear that we will go forward.

We cannot turn back. There are those who ask those committed to the cause of civil rights, "When will you calm down?" We will never rest until our bodies, heavy with the weariness of long journeys, are able to get lodging in roadside motels and city inns. We will not rest as long as the main type of movement of the Negro remains moving from a small ghetto to a large one. We won't rest until a Negro in Mississippi can vote and a Negro in
New York believes it has nothing to vote for. No, we have no reason to rest, and we will never rest until justice begins to flow like waters, and righteousness becomes like a mighty stream.

I do not forget that many of you have come here after going through great trials and suffering. Some of you have come here straight from cramped prison cells. Some of you come from areas where storms of persecution and storms of police brutality have descended upon you for your desire for freedom. You have become veterans of creative suffering. Keep working, believing that undeserved suffering is redeemed.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will change. Let's not suffer in the valley of despair.

I tell you today, my friends, that in spite of difficulties and disappointments, I have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream.

I have a dream that the day will come when our nation will rise and live up to the true meaning of its motto: "We hold it self-evident that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that the day will come in the red hills of Georgia when the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners can sit together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that the day will come when even the state of Mississippi, a desert state languishing under the heat of injustice and oppression, will be turned into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that one day my four children will live in a country where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by what they are.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that the day will come when in the state of Alabama, whose governor is now claiming to interfere in the internal affairs of the state and not recognize the effect of laws passed by Congress, a situation will be created in which little black boys and girls can join hands with little white boys and girls and walk together like brothers and sisters.

I have a dream today.
I have a dream that a day will come when all lowlands will rise, all hills and mountains will fall, uneven terrain will be turned into plains, crooked places will become straight, the majesty of the Lord will appear before us and all mortals will be convinced of this together.

That is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South.

With this faith, we can cut the stone of hope from the mountain of despair. With this faith, we will be able to turn the discordant voices of our people into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we can work together, pray together, fight together, go to prison together, defend freedom together, knowing that one day we will be free.

This will be the day when all God's children will be able to sing, putting a new meaning into these words: “My country, it is I you, the sweet land of freedom, it is I who sing of you. The land where my fathers died, the land of pilgrims' pride, let freedom ring from all the mountainsides.

And if America is to be a great nation, it must be.
Let freedom ring from the tops of the amazing hills of New Hampshire!
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York!
Let freedom ring from the high Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowy Colorado Rockies!
Let freedom ring from the crooked mountain peaks of California!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and hillock of the Mississippi!
From every mountain slope, let freedom ring!

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we can hasten the day when all of God's children, black and white, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, can join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual hymn: “Free at last! Free at last! Thanks to the Almighty God, we are free at last!”

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny . And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest - quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day do wn in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" — one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day - this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

ThanksGodAlmighty, we are free at last!

Portrait of Martin Luther. Artist Luke Cranach the Elder, 1525

Ninety-five theses immediately made Luther's name extraordinarily popular in Germany. Until 1517, he was known only in the closer circle of his Wittenberg admirers, to whom the elector himself, his sovereign, belonged, and this fame was based solely on his successful work as a preacher. Luther possessed the happy gift of persuasion, and the sincerity of his appeals to his listeners, the fervor with which he expounded to them the religious doctrine, the persuasiveness of his arguments, always attracted a large crowd to his sermons, crowding around his pulpit and listening to him with intense attention. The ninety-five theses appeared just at the time when the public excitement produced by the humanistic struggle with the Cologne theologians and their adherents had not yet subsided, when society was still under the fresh impression of the "Letters of Obscure People". In educated circles, the controversy between Luther and his opponents began to follow with great interest. Luther also had supporters who took it upon themselves to defend him. Such was, for example, the Wittenberg professor, a man of scholastic education, Karlstadt, who had a dispute with Eck in Leipzig; such was the humanist Philip Melanchthon (actually Schwarzerd), a relative and student of Reuchlin, later an assistant to Luther. The Leipzig Disputation immediately elevated Luther to a great height in public opinion, and the papal bull of 1520 and Luther's own impassioned proclamations, issued in the same year, made him the living embodiment of the national and religious opposition to Rome. These years are also remarkable for the fact that at that time there was a rapprochement between the future reformer, on the one hand, and humanists and politicians, on the other, a temporary rapprochement, which did not have a solid foundation, but was very characteristic of the mood experienced by Germany before the very beginning of the revolutionary movement of 1522– 1525. In this regard, the behavior of Ulrich von Hutten is especially curious, who at first saw monastic squabbles in the Wittenberg disputes and placed the hope that the monks would destroy each other in mutual enmity. The boldness with which Luther opposed the papacy attracted Ulrich von Hutten to his side. We have already mentioned his pamphlets of 1520-1521, his "Complaint and exhortation against the exorbitant and unchristian power of the pope." “Before,” he says in this pamphlet, “I wrote in Latin, which is not familiar to everyone; now I call on the fatherland, on the German nation in its language, to avenge these deeds” (zu bringen diesen Dingen Rach). , he says, many knights will do it, many counts and nobles, and many citizens, who are also too burdened by these affairs in their cities, for my call to go unanswered. Come on, God is with us! Who wants to be left behind in a case like this? I dared - that is my slogan! In another pamphlet (“Justification”), he wrote that he always turned to the emperor and sovereigns with an admonition to intervene, to carry out a reform, the need for which is obvious, because, he argues, one should be afraid that if the authorities do not intercede, and the excesses of the courtesans and soulless ecclesiastics will go to the extreme, then the rude crowd and senseless mob (gemeiner Hauf und das unsinnige Volk) will rise up and crush everything senselessly. Subsequently, Hutten himself invited this crowd and this people to action, but so far he took the same point of view as Luther. He also said in a letter to the German nobility that when secular sovereigns demand reforms, the church answers that secular authorities should not interfere in church affairs, and expressed the desire that Charles V take up reform. Only the unsuccessful outcome of the Diet of Worms forced Hutten to abandon the hope of reform from above. In the same winter of 1520-1521, Hutten wrote the Latin dialogue "Bulla and the Bull Killer", in which he dramatically depicts the struggle of the bull with freedom, putting into the mouth of the latter such words: "Help, fellow citizens! Protect oppressed freedom! Will no one dare to stand up for me? Is there really no one here truly free, no one striving for good, no one who loves law and justice, who hates deceit and crime? And Gutten adds that “whatever this cry is, he must intercede, since he hears the call. I'll see, he continues, what's going on there. I see it's about freedom. Gotta run. What is this? Who is calling? Freedom! Freedom is oppressed, Hutten! It's me, I'm calling!" In two other dialogues ("Warners") Hutten brings out - in one - Luther, in the other - his friend Sickingen, talking with people who, although they condemn the abuse of the Roman church, but even more condemn the rebellion against it. The interlocutor points out to Sikkingen that all those who rose up against the church ended badly. “And the Czech Zizka? asks the knight. He left behind the glory that he liberated his fatherland from the yoke, expelled unworthy creatures, lazy priests and useless monks from all of Bohemia, returned their property partly to the heirs of the donors, partly used it for public benefit, etc. At the panegyric of Zizka, the interlocutor notices that Sikkingen, apparently, is not averse to imitating Zizka himself, and receives in response that, “of course, he is not averse if good cannot be dealt with.” This pamphlet was written when the course of affairs at the Diet of Worms did not inspire much confidence in the impatient Hutten. During this Diet, which opened on January 28, 1521, Hutten was especially excited, issuing, for example, two more invectives against the papal legates who were at the Diet. Luther began to be embarrassed by the behavior of his advocate, and he wrote to his friend Spalatin, confessor and senior secretary of Frederick the Wise (who was one of the historians of the Reformation): “You see what Hutten is striving for, but I do not want the gospel to be defended by violence and murder; in this sense I wrote to him. With a word the world was conquered, with a word the church was preserved, with a word it will be restored.” Luther was also very displeased when, towards the end of the Diet at Worms, there was an appeal from four hundred knights united for Luther. He said that the cunning of his enemies, who wanted to destroy him, was at work here, attributing rebellious connections to him.

Less than two months had passed since the burning of the bull, when the Diet met in Worms, at which the new emperor was present for the first time. Leo X was, as it was then revealed, against the election of Charles V, and back in the spring of 1520, the emperor's attorney Manuel wrote to him: “Your Majesty should go to Germany and there show some favor to a certain Martin Luther, who is at the Saxon court and the subject of his sermon inspires fear in the Roman Curia. But later, as already mentioned, a deal was made between Charles V and the pope: Leo X was to help the emperor against France, while Charles was obliged to contribute to the destruction of heresy in Germany. Meanwhile, Luther's struggle with the pope continued, and Leo X confirmed the curse of the bold monk with a new bull, which the latter published with his comments, which can serve as an example of his polemic. “A lion, a bishop, said the bull (a bishop, like a wolf, is a shepherd, for a bishop must teach according to the law of salvation, and not spew curses), a servant of the servants of God (in the evening, when we are drunk, and in the morning we are called “master of all masters”) . The bishops of Rome, our predecessors, had a custom on this holiday (Maundy Thursday) to use the weapon of justice (which, in your opinion, is excommunication and anathema, but according to the Apostle Paul, patience, meekness and mercy). According to the right and duties of the apostles and to maintain the purity of the Christian faith (i.e., the secular possessions of the pope) and its unity, which consists in the unity of the members with the head Christ and his vicar (one Christ is not enough - another is still needed), in order to preserve the holy communion of the faithful, we follow the ancient custom and we excommunicate and curse in the name of the Almighty God the Father (about whom it is said: God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world) and the Son and the Holy Spirit and according to the authority of the apostles Peter and Paul and our own (and I here too, says the devouring wolf, as if the power of God without him is too weak). We curse all heretics (for they wanted to have Holy Scripture and demanded that the pope be temperate and preach the word of God) ... and Martin Luther, who was recently condemned by us for such a heresy, and all his adherents and everyone who they were (I thank you, dear high priest, for condemning me with all these Christians; it is an honor for me that my name was proclaimed in Rome on a holiday so solemnly and now goes around the whole world with the name of all these humble confessors of Christ).

Emperor Charles V in his youth. Artist Bernart van Orley, 1519-1520

When Luther was called by the young emperor and the ranks of the empire to the Diet of Worms, many supporters of the future reformer advised him to confine himself to opposition to the secular power of the pope, not touching religion, and thought that Luther would recant his opinions. But Luther responded as follows to Spalatinus, who negotiated with him on behalf of Charles and Frederick the Wise to renounce his “Babylonian Captivity of the Church”: “Expect everything from me, but not escape and not renunciation. I will not run away and will not renounce my writing and my teaching, which I will recognize until the last day, although I am sure that the dogs will not rest until they finish me. When Luther left for Worms, solemn meetings were arranged for him on the road: the people gathered, and Luther preached. Friends, fearing that some misfortune would happen to him in Worms, advised him not to go there, but he answered: “if there were bonfires on the road to Worms, and their fire reached the sky, and if in Worms there were as many devils as there are tiles on the roofs of houses, then I would have gone.” Charles, indeed, was offered not to fulfill the promise given to Luther by his safe-conduct letter not to harm him, but Charles did not agree to this.

The Diet of Worms was the most brilliant moment in Luther's life. He was not yet the founder of a new church, but simply defended the right of the human person, the freedom of conscience, and his true greatness at this Sejm consisted in the fact that he solemnly, in the face of the whole world, declared that there is a side in a person’s life that is not no earthly power can encroach. A lot of people came to Worms for the Diet. There was almost no passage through the streets. Luther went to the town hall, where meetings were taking place, and the soldiers had to forcefully push the crowding people away. At first (April 17) Luther was embarrassed before the brilliant assembly and spoke hesitantly. He was presented with his writings, asking if he recognized them as his own. Having recovered from his embarrassment, he answered that he could not refuse his dogmatic writings, since he did not find anything bad in them, and the very bull of the pope found much good in them; that to renounce the writings in which he rebelled against the abuses of the clergy would mean on his part to betray Germany to robbery, and that, finally, he cannot also renounce his polemical writings, for this would mean giving triumph to his enemies. Then Luther began to speak against the infallibility of the pope and councils, but he was interrupted by these words: “You did not answer the question put to you. You are not here to question what the councils have decided. They demand a direct and clear answer from you, do you want to refuse or not? And to this Luther said: “Since your Most Serene Majesty and your high authorities demand from me a simple, precise and clear answer, I will give it to you without a hitch (dabo illud neque dentatum, neque cornutum). Here it is: I cannot subordinate my faith to either the pope or the councils, for it is clear as day that they often fell into error and even contradicted themselves. This means that if I am not convinced by evidence from Scripture or by obvious arguments of reason, if I am not convinced by the very passages that I have quoted, and if my conscience is not thus bound by the Word of God, I cannot and do not want to renounce anything, for It is fitting for a Christian to speak against his conscience." And then, addressing the assembly, he said: “Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen. This firm answer made an impression on the assembly, but not on the cold Charles V, who said that "this monk would not have carried him into heresy." Loud acclaims were heard during Luther's speech. Landgrave Philip of Hesse later came to his apartment and said: "If you think that your work is God's, stand firm on your own." Imperial officials and public opinion were on the side of Luther, and in view of this, Charles had to let him go, giving him the order to go home. On the way back, Luther received numerous ovations, and he himself wrote a note to his friend, the famous painter Luke Cranach, in which he expressed his view of what happened at the Diet of Worms: “Your servant, dear godfather, Luke! I thought that his majesty would gather about fifty doctors of theology in Worms in order to convince the monk properly. Not at all. Are these your books? - Yes. Are you giving up on them? - Not. - So get out. That's the whole story." Around the same time, he wrote a letter to Charles V, in which he drew a line between obedience to God and obedience to the sovereign. Little by little, the princes, who were especially disposed towards Luther, also left Worms, and no one expected any new decisions on his case, when suddenly the emperor proposed to the remaining princes an edict written by the papal nuncio Aleander, marked backdating, giving Luther a twenty-day period for renunciation, and in case of his refusal, he imposed disgrace on him along with his followers, friends and patrons, while his writings were doomed to be burned. On May 26, this edict was signed by Charles. Even earlier, Luther's patron Frederick the Wise, realizing that the life of the reformer was in danger, decided to hide him for a while. As Luther was returning home, the elector's men seized him and took him to the Wartburg. A rumor spread that Luther had been kidnapped by his enemies, while he meanwhile lived in the Wartburg castle under the name of the knight George. Here he began his translation of the Bible into German. This case was not completely new in Germany, since translations of the Bible, although inferior to Luther's in their merits, had already existed before and were very common among the people. Luther's enterprise, completed only twelve years later, was nevertheless of great importance for the development of the German "literary language, not to mention its significance for the religious reformation, since the Bible was now available to everyone in a beautiful translation. Here he also began to translate Jewish psalms into German, which greatly advanced the development of liturgical lyrics. Meanwhile, the religious movement, aroused by the preaching and writings of Luther, not only did not subside, but even began to take on ever wider dimensions. Luther's supporters published polemical writings against his enemies; knights gathered to defend the cause of opposition to Rome; there were demonstrations in honor of Luther in the cities; the princes themselves were already beginning to understand what benefits they could derive from the struggle against the curia to strengthen their power; even some clerics read Luther's writings "ohne Verdruss", as the Bishop of Basel put it about himself, and another even said: "we are all Lutherans", thus indicating the similarity of their own views with the teachings of Luther. But actually for the majority of Germans the whole question was to determine the relationship of the nation to Rome, for Luther - in the dogmas of faith, due to which Luther and many of his adherents understood the reformation differently. Luther's main character trait was a kind of conservatism: he separated from the church slowly and gradually: his adherents were more resolute, and they immediately broke with the Catholic Church. Luther stayed in the Wartburg until the spring of 1522, and in his absence, the violent overthrow of Catholicism began in Wittenberg and other places, forcing him to act as a moderator of the reformation that had already begun without him.

For a history of public excitement in Germany around 1521 cm. August Baur. Deutschland in den Jahren 1517–1525 betrachtet im Lichte gleichzeitiger anonymer und pseudonymer deutscher Volks- und Flugschriften. - Jord. Deutschland in der Revolutionsperiode (1521–26). Luther supporters: Jager. Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt Schmidt. Melanchlon's Leben . — Hartfelder. Philipp Melanchton, als Praeceptor Germaniae. In 1897 r. On the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of Melanchthon, Op. about him Wilson "a,Dean(both English). Kauffmann"a,Haupt "a,Sell ​​"a and others. A newer work (1902) about Melanchthon is written Ellinherfswb. cp. Kawerau. Die Versuche Melanchthon's zur katholischen Kirche zuruckzufuhren.

Hausrath. Aleander und Luther auf dem Reichstage zu Worms. - Pasquier. L "humanisme et la reforme: Jerome Aleandre.

This year marks 500 years since the German theologian Martin Luther presented his 95 theses on October 31, 1517, which paved the way for the Reformation and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which settled in many countries of northern Europe.

In the days of jubilee, Martin Luther is remembered as a courageous theologian who, at the risk of his own life, rebelled against the abuse of power by the Pope and defended the right of the common man to be saved and to read the Bible in his own language.

With the dark sides of Martin Luther, the church today is reluctant to deal. Not only Jews Luther considered the dregs of society. Peasants who rebelled also disgusted Luther. After all, although Luther defended the little man, he preached respect and humility before authority.

Those peasants who, partly inspired by Martin Luther, rose in revolt and demanded a fairer division of land and property, could not expect any understanding from the leader of the Reformation. On the contrary, Luther believed that the rioters deserved to be killed:

“Let all who can cut, kill and slaughter them, openly or secretly, for no one can be more disgusting, corrupting or more diabolical than one who raises uprisings. This is similar to how it is necessary to kill an enraged dog: if you do not kill it, you will be killed yourself, and the whole country along with you. I do not think that now at least one devil is left in the underworld, they all moved into the peasants. Their madness goes beyond all bounds."

So in 1525, Luther, in a seven-page letter, disowned the peasants demanding justice. Then the peasant uprising turned into a real raid. Fortresses, castles and monasteries were plundered and burned, nobles and landowners were killed. It is estimated that up to 100,000 peasants were killed before order was restored in the kingdom of Germany.

Chose a monastery

Before Martin Luther took up arms against peasants and Jews, he sat for countless hours meditating on his faith and the role of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther did not agree with what the Pope said in Rome and what he himself read in the Bible.

If everything had been the way his father Hans Luther wanted, little Martin would never have thought so much about eternal questions, but would have become, according to the will of his parent, a lawyer. Martin Luther was born in 1483 and sent to school in Eisenach and Magdeburg. Luther later compared the school period with hell and purgatory.

At the age of seventeen, Luther began to study at the University of Erfurt, which he called a pub and brothel. Four years later, he passed his master's exam and was supposed to continue studying law, but he quickly got tired of it. Martin Luther's passion was theology and philosophy. After his trip home, on July 2, 1505, he was riding back to Erfurt when a thunderstorm suddenly overtook him in the middle of the forest. Lightning struck next to his horse, and the mortally frightened Luther shouted: “Saint Anna, help me, I will become a monk!”

It was an oath that he did not consider it possible to break. Despite the furious protests of his father, Martin Luther sold all his textbooks as unnecessary, said goodbye to his relatives, and on July 7, 1505, enrolled in the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt.

Now events were developing rapidly. Two years later, Martin Luther was ordained, a few years later he visited the Pope and became a doctor of theology at the University of Wittenberg.

Salvation for sale

Martin Luther's protests began with the decision of Pope Leo X to finance the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome through the sale of indulgences. Those who bought these papal letters were guaranteed the forgiveness of sins and salvation.

The Dominican monk Johann Tetzel successfully sold indulgences throughout Germany. His argument during the sale sounded, for example, like this: "As soon as the money is in the chest, the soul immediately jumps out of purgatory." German banking firms were engaged in sales, half of the proceeds went to Rome, while the other half was divided among themselves by German bankers and Archbishop Albrecht of Brandenburg.

Martin Luther could not accept the idea that money could buy salvation. He wrote a letter to the archbishop with 95 theses and protested against indulgences. Perhaps Luther also nailed his theses to the church door in Wittenberg, as one story goes, but experts doubt this.

Thanks to Gutenberg's art of typography, the theses quickly spread. Within two weeks they could be read throughout Germany, and two months later they were distributed throughout the rest of Europe. Although Luther was initially reluctant to sever relations with the Pope, thesis number 86 can be seen as an open declaration of war: "Why did the Pope, who is richer than Croesus, order the construction of St. Peter's Basilica with the money of poor believers, and not with his own?"

Context

Martin Luther was an anti-Semite

Yle 22.04.2017

Without religion, we would be bad

Die Welt 06.05.2017

Norway will be secular - the Lutheran Church loses the status of state religion

National Post 06/05/2012 Martin Luther became the hero of all who doubted the Pope. Theologians gathered in Wittenberg to develop the protest further. The Reformation got a very powerful start.

The pope was accustomed to criticism from reformers and to the fact that there are countless theologians of all stripes who contradict him, and usually did not pay attention to them. Moderate intimidation, as a rule, was enough to call the most stubborn priest to order. But Luther was a different breed. On the contrary, he only sharpened his criticism and argued that the Pope does not have the exclusive right to interpret the Bible, and that neither the Pope nor the Catholic Church is infallible at all.

The pope responded with an anathema in 1521. Luther was outlawed, his books and pamphlets were blacklisted, and he was also ordered to be arrested. Giving Luther food or shelter also became a crime.

Here Prince Frederick III of Hesse came to the rescue. The Wartburg castle in Eisenach was Luther's refuge for a whole year.

The nun became fru luther

Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German and further deepened his criticism of the church, for example by reassuring monks and nuns that they did not commit a sin if they broke chastity and other vows.

At the same time, some of the supporters of the Reformation became radicalized, it was no longer enough for them that they were declared equal before God, now they demanded equality in life on earth. Martin Luther returned to Wittenberg, where, on Easter 1522, he abruptly denied the possibility of using violence to effect change. He emphasized that the Christian message was about love, patience, charity, and freedom. A better world was to be achieved by relying on the word of God and worldly authorities, and not by opposing them.

At the age of 42, Luther married Katharina von Bora. She was a nun whom he helped to escape from the convent. Protestant priests had married before, but with Luther's marriage, the Catholic demand for celibacy was finally destroyed in this part of the world.

The Luthers had six children, of whom four survived to adulthood. The family lived unpretentiously, since the head of the house never received any royalties for all those countless books that he wrote and which were distributed all over the world. Instead, it was the publishers who made the fortune.

In Saxony, Luther formed a new church with new services. For example, the psalms had to be sung in German. Luther wrote the Large Catechism, which became a guide for priests, and the Small Catechism, in which he explained the basics of the Christian faith to the common people in understandable language.

No Mediation

Only eight years after the anathema of Martin Luther, the Reformation had reclaimed territory in so many German and Swiss kingdoms that leading Protestant theologians met at Marburg in Hesse to agree on common rules for the new church.

We had to agree on fifteen theses. Fourteen of them caused no problems, but the question of the Lord's Supper caused fierce debate. Whether Jesus was really present in his own flesh and blood, or whether it has only a symbolic meaning, theologians could argue about this for months. How could Jesus be in so many places at once, one of the camps asked, to which Luther replied that Jesus was everywhere.

Harmony was never achieved, however, the majority signed an agreement that united the Protestant countries in 1530. The Swiss refrained from signing, and the view of the Lord's Supper is still a cause of controversy among various Protestant churches.

At the same time that the reformers were discussing the Lord's Supper in Marburg, the Catholic world was threatened by the Turks, who had advanced north and were already near Vienna. The Holy Roman Emperor wanted to quickly put an end to religious strife in order to go against the Turks as a united front. Therefore, the leaders of the Reformation were called to Augsburg for negotiations.

Martin Luther could not participate in them; the death sentence was still in effect against him. But his closest associates went to Augsburg and read out the agreement concluded in Marburg, which in connection with this later became known as the "Augsburg recognition."

The Catholic Church was not ready to make concessions, but only gave the Protestants a few months of respite so that they would leave their heresy and submit to the Pope. Otherwise, she threatened war.

This was the last attempt to unite the church. Martin Luther stated that further negotiations are pointless. The Protestant princes formed their own military alliance to defend themselves against possible Catholic aggression.

Pogroms

Therefore, calls to expel and kill Jews began to be carried out, which led to pogroms in many German cities, they took place throughout the second half of the 16th century and later. But the young Martin Luther was not initially hostile to the Jews, on the contrary.

Luther knew that the Jews, of course, denied Jesus and crucified him, but at first he thought that their actions could be explained by the fact that they were not given the true faith. When the breakthrough of the Reformation happened, then the Jews, finally, had to hear the truth about Jesus Christ, realize that he was the Savior and deeply repent of how they met the son of God fifteen hundred years ago, Luther believed.

He was wrong. No matter how Luther and other leading priests preached the Christian message to the Jews, they continued to adhere to the beliefs of their ancestors that Jesus was not a deity at all, but an ordinary troublemaker who got what he deserved.

That the Jews unknowingly denied Jesus, Martin Luther could understand. But the fact that they continued to deny the Savior even after they got acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, when they were offered the whole of Evangelical Christianity on a silver platter, was already too much.

Martin Luther could not forgive such ingratitude, and therefore in 1543 he wrote a pamphlet "On the Jews and their lies." The book was destined to be reprinted many times, especially in the 1930s.

It should be remembered that the persecution of the Jews continued throughout Europe for many hundreds of years. That is, Martin Luther is not at all original in this matter.

Martin Luther is unique because he managed to rebel against the Pope and create a whole new evangelical church, which turned into the folk church of Northern Europe.

Facts

Martin Luther

1483 - born in Eisleben.

1505 - stops the study of jurisprudence and goes to the monastery.

1512 - becomes doctor of theology and professor at the University of Wittenberg.

1517 - Attacks the Pope and the Catholic Church in his 95 Theses, which he presents at Wittenberg.

1521 - outlawed by the Pope, flees to the Wartburg castle, where he translates the New Testament into German and writes postilla, which becomes the basis of evangelical sermons.

1525 - Marries former nun Katharina von Bora.

1529 - Luther issues a Large Catechism for priests and a Small Catechism for the common people.

1530 - In the Augsburg Confession, the Protestant kingdoms agree on a new ecclesiastical order.

1546 - Luther dies in Eisleben at the age of 62. Buried in Wittenberg.

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