_________________________________________________________________ Historical Introduction Third Chapter History of the Augsburg Confession From THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION, A Collection of Sources. J.M.Reu. Concordia Theological Seminary Press, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Pgs. 349-383. Part two of four ______________________________________________________________ b. In Austria It is well known that the Reformation found an early entrance into Austria and that soon after 1530 many pastors accepted the Augsburg Confession. In 1558-1560 Lutheranism dominated most of the courts of the nobility as well as their cities and towns. To prove this is not our present aim.46 We here are only interested in the question as to when religious freedom, based on the Augsburg Confession, was sanctioned Ä or at least tolerated Ä by the government.47 The History of the Confession 159 answer takes us back to the peace of Augsburg of 1555. Not that this diet brought religious freedom to the Evangelicals in Austria. Its provisions were meant only for the estates of the empire. On the contrary it placed Ferdinand I in a position, following the rule cuius regio, eius religio to demand of his lords and knights Ä not to mention the citizens and peasants Ä that they remain in the ancient religion. Those who refused were to be treated according to the terms of the beneficium emigrandi, i.e., the confessors of the Augsburg Confession were permitted "to emigrate, with wife and children to some other country and sell their property after making just payment for release from their vassalage and other taxes." But for political and economic reasons, and in view of the Turkish danger and lack of funds, Ferdinand could not risk forcing a large portion of his subjects to emigrate. Although the Austrian nobility urged him to grant them the same privileges which the religious peace granted others, Ferdinand, holding to the provisions of Augsburg, rejected their plea, but was forced by circumstances to tolerate the Evangelical and even permit them to conduct their Evangelical church services. With Maximilian II (1564-1573) the three estates, the lords, knights, and cities of Lower Austria again took up the matter. As early as July 10, 1564 the two upper estates presented a request to the Emperor in which, without referring to the religious peace of 1555, they asked "with humble and cordial supplication and pleas" to be permitted to remain peacefully and securely in the Christian religion, which they held according to the Augsburg Confession which had been delivered to the Emperor Charles V. and, in all points and articles, to live in all godliness and security according to this Confession and especially that they be permitted to enjoy the Evangelical preachers and servants of the church, who preach the Word of God purely and without 160 Historical Introduction corruption according to the Augsburg Confession and administer the sacred Sacraments in accordance with it." It is to be noted that they appealed, not to the Variata, but to the Invariata. The Emperor, by his religious concession of August 18, 1568, actually permitted the lords and knights private services according to the Augsburg Confession.48 In this connection it was expressly stated that this concession was made only to those who held to the Invariata. The Emperor reserved the right to regulate the ecclesiastical affairs in the cities and villages. The Christliche Kirchenagende of 1571, which was drawn up in accordance with these concessions, refers in the preface expressly to the Invnariata and names it, aside from the Word of God, as the basis of all preaching.49 Then, on February 4, 1572, the Lower Austrian Evangelical lords and knights pledged themselves "not to introduce nor tolerate any other doctrine, services nor ceremonies in their churches than those permitted in the before mentioned Augsburg Confession and Agenda (ritual)." The course of events in Upper Austria was the same. In his resolution of December 7, 1568 Maximilian II assured his subjects that "he expected to proceed in this land in the same way as he will arrange with the two estates in the Archduchy below the Enns." To this he added that it was his expectation: "That two faithful estates would be satisfied with this statement . . . and especially carefully avoid all sects contrary to the Augsburg Confession (1530)."50 So also the principal of the Latin school of Linz was requested to "set a good example, in the fear of the Lord and all other honorable and good arts, virtues and Christian discipline, according to the instructions of the Augsburg Confession (1530)." 51 In the "New Instruction" of 1576 it is said that the rector in all ecclesiastical matters, is to be guided solely by the Augsburg Confession and is to avoid all sects. In the church discipline History of the Confession 161 of 1578 the preachers are admonished: "not to act contrary to the Augsburg Confession (1530), the Apology and the Smalkaldian Articles nor to introduce errors into the pulpits whereby the church as well as its members is troubled and confused." In Inner Austria the negotiations between the provinces and Archduke Charles II also turned on the recognition of the Augsburg Confession. The lords and knights, at various times, stated that they "freely and voluntarily confess the Christian Confession which had been presented to Charles V at Augsburg in 1530 with a conscience which, unmolested and untroubled, belongs to God and no other potentate. Also that the Christian preachers of the land, who hold to this Confession, may remain unmolested and unpersecuted and the churches and schools be unmolested and remain free."52 Charles then promised, on the 9th of February in Bruck, "he would honestly live according to this "Pacification" with all who hold to the Augsburg Confession."53 In the church order, which came into being on February 21, 1578, the Evangelicals of Inner Austria pledged themselves, without reservation, to the Augsburg Confession "a symbol and confession against which not even the gates of hell could prevail and the like of which has not been since the time of the Apostles." This statement was then also strengthened by naming and refuting "errors which the devil has raised against the pure Augsburg Confession."54 While the editions of the Confession, printed in Germany, were in use in Lower and Upper Austria and in those sections of Inner Austria which used the German language, we also find the Confession circulated in Inner Austria in the native tongues of Carniola and Croatia. And this a decade before the Augsburg Confession had been officially recognized by the "Pacification" of Bruck! The Carniola reformer, 162 Historical Introduction Primus Truber, had written a confession in the language of Carniola (also known as the Wendic), which contained the Augsburg Confession with extensions from the Confessio Wuerttembergica and the Confessio Saxonica (see p. 000). This confession was then translated by Antonius of Dalmatia and Stephanus of Istria into the Croatian language and was published in two editions. One was printed with Cyrillic, the other with Glagolian type. Two years later (1564) even the Apology was published in the Croatian language. And then to bring the Gospel to the Italian speaking people of Dalmatia, Istria and that section of Carniola which borders on Venice, both documents were translated into Italian.55 How the Counter Reformation, which in Austria became a battle for the legality of the Augsburg Confession, finally routed the Confession, as well as the Gospel, cannot be related here.56 New Evangelical life could only flourish again after Joseph the Second's charter of tolerance of October 13, 1781. It opened with the words: "Being convinced, on the one hand, of the danger of all constraint of conscience, and, on the other hand, of the great benefit to religion and the state made possible by a truly Christian tolerance, we have felt ourselves impelled to allow everywhere to those who follow the Augsburg and Swiss Confessions as well as to the united Greeks and right to observe privately their religious exercises."57 Today there are 248,000 souls united in the Ev. Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria. No valuable literature, aside from the article by Voelker has been published in this year of jubilee in Austria. The literature of Germany satisfies its needs, yet this people is probably more familiar with the Confession than the homeland of the Reformation. Its whole history was a struggle for the Confession. History of the Confession 163 c. In Czecho-Slovakia In Bohemia and Moravia the development was parallel with that of the Archduchy Austria.58 Here also at first only individuals held to the Augsburg Confession. Those who labored among the Germans nearly all confessed the Augsburg Confession. Among them were Mathesius, from 1532 Rector of the grammar school and then from 1542 pastor of Joachimsthal; Thilesius and Hegius in Eger (since 1564); Joh. Habermann in Falkenau (since 1564), Gryphius at castle Skal near Turnau (1583) etc.; Tribauer and Heidenreich (1575-1586) in Iglau; Hauser in Nusla, etc. Then individual congregations pledged themselves, in their constitutions, to this Confession. So it was said in the order for Joachimsthal of 1551: Preaching and teaching shall be in accord with what "has been formulated in the Augsburg Confession;"59 in the order for Iglau of 1569: "We are satisfied with the Augsburg Confession which Imperial Majesty . . . grants us ;"60 in Sternberg: "According to the sole norm and guide of the holy and divine Scriptures . . . and the unaltered Augsburg Confession."61 The Bohemian Protestants {Utraquists) had also gone over into the camp of the Lutherans and pledged themselves to the Augsburg Confession. We still have a Bohemian translation of the Confession, published in 1576, (Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, sign. 78 M 131).62 They constituted the majority in Bohemia; only one-sixth of the population remaining Catholic. In 1571 they demanded of Maximilian II that the Augsburg Confession be officially given free to them. This was refused. Then they asked, during the diet of 1574, for permission to establish religious regulations for themselves. In the negotiations regarding this matter which took place with the sanction of Maximilian II Hassenstein von Lobkowitz proposed that all the Bohemian Protestants accept 164 Historical Introduction the Augsburg Confession. This, however, was not accepted; they preferred to formulate their own confession. They held that the Bohemians ought to be able to give an independent testimony of their faith and hoped in this way to persuade the equally strong, faction of "the Brethren" (Unitas Fratrum) to join them in a common confession.62a These had long before made their own confessions 63 and although they had often maintained the harmony of their confession with the one of Augsburg, they nevertheless were reluctant to surrender them. Finally the "Brethren" were won over to co-operate in formulating a confession which, in many places, shows that the Augsburg Confession was the basis.64 They named the new confession (Part II, 56), "Bohemian Confession, or the confession of the holy Christian faith of all three estates of the Kingdom of Bohemia who in true faith receive the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under both forms." Even if the title would lead to the supposition that this is only the confession of the Utraquists who had become Lutheran-the two main authors in fact were the Utraquistian theologians Dr. Paul Pressius and Magister Krispinus-yet the preface states that the Brethren were also in agreement with all its chief parts. In fact they did identify themselves with this confession at the diets of 1603 and 1608 and again in the preface of the Bohemian edition of the same year. So the Augsburg Confession gained recognition among the Unitas Fratrum by way of the "Bohemian Confession." The "Bohemian Confession" was presented, in a Bohemian copy, to Maximilian II, on May 18, 1575. On August 25 he gave a verbal assurance that both the Utraquists and the Brethren would be permitted to live unmolested and teach in accordance with it.65 But since this was only an oral assurance, which Maximilian, as soon as he History of the Confession 165 had left Bohemia, interpreted in his own way, it secured no legal basis. This they only gained when Rudolf II, in his charter of July 9, 1609, gave the Utraquists and Brethren the legal assurance that they would be permitted to teach and live in accordance with this confession This was then also recorded in the official records, where the Bohemian Confession is also called the "Augsburg Confession." When a decade later the Counter-Reformation began in this land its people were only one-tenth Catholic. In Silesia, which in the 16th century was under Bohemian jurisdiction, the Augsburg Confession was introduced in many localities very early. Breslau, where the Reformation was established as early as 1523, adhered to the Augsburg Confession although no special enactment to this effect can be shown.66 In Brieg, where as early as 1523 the Duke decided for the Gospel, it is expressly named in the regulations of 1542 as the basis of all their ecclesiastical affairs.67 In Jaegerndorf and Leobschuetz, which belonged to Brandenburg Ansbach, Margrave George, who at Augsburg had taken such a decided stand for the Confession, saw to it that only such preachers were permitted to officiate who were true to the Confession. He also introduced the Nuernberg church order there in 1533. In the principality of Troppau the two estates in 1584 enacted a church order which stated that all teaching and preaching of the Word of God was to be in accordance with the Augsburg Confession.68 In the principality of Teschen, to which until 1563, Bielitz, Freistadt and Freideck belonged also, the Reformation had been established in 1545 and their church order of 1584 69 admonishes teachers, and other school officials, to adhere to the Augsburg Confession. Bielitz especially became a refuge for the Lutheranism of the country not only for the German but also for the Czecho-Slovakian. Did not George Tranovsky, the 166 Historical Introduction Czecho-Slovakian Luther, labor there as he formerly did in Teschen! In 1609 all of these Silesian domains obtained official recognition of the Augsburg Confession by the Charter of Rudolf II of August 20: "We permit that the princes and estates and each and every inhabitant of the whole land of Silesia . . . which hold to the Augsburg Confession and confess the same practice and live their religion according to the before mentioned Confession, free and unmolested in all places."70 It was also easier to save Lutheranism from the Counter-Reformation in Upper and Lower Silesia. While the Treaty of Westphalia, due to the one-sided interpretation of Ferdinand III, led to the destruction of the Lutheran Church in Austria, it especially considered the adherents of the Augsburg Confession in Silesia and did not forbid them the free practice of their religion.71 But new life did not return until the Swedish King, Charles XII, in the convention of Alt-Ranstadt of August 11, 1707, compelled the enforcement of the provisions made for Silesia in the Treaty of Westphalia.72 In Bohemia and Moravia the Edict of Tolerance of 1781 first brought a permanent change. Within the present Czecho-Slovakia, which extends far into former Hungary, there are three church bodies which stand on the basis of the Augsburg Confession: 1. The German Ev. Luth. Church in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia ( 123,104 members); 2. The Seniorat of the Evangelical Congregation of the A. C. in East Silesia (48,000 souls, the principal language used is Polish): 3. The Evang. Church of the A. C. in Slovakia (400,000 souls). A quite extensive literature on the Augsburg Confession is available in the Czecho-Slovakian language. The oldest translation is of the year 1576. It bore the title: "Konfessi augspurska, nakladem urozene pani Aleny Berkove Mezericske z Lomnice, v Holomouci 1576."73 The translation History of the Confession 167 arranged by the notable poet Juraj Tranovsky in 1620 was of lasting influence: "Konfessi Augspurska, z pravych originalnich exemplarv do reci ceske verne a uprimne prelozena. Vytistena v Holomouci u Kristofa Kutce. Leta 1620."74 It went through 21 editions. The editions of Bedrich Baltik (Budapest 1879, 1893, 1910) and of Jan Leska (1898) are the ones mostly used today. The Jubilee gave us a new explanation of the articles, with a historical introduction, by Jan Drobny and a book of more historical character, by Jan Durovic (1530-1930 Die erneuerte Kirche). Both are before the author at the present writing. d. In Hungary, Jugoslavia and Trannsylvania 75 When the Lutheran princes and cities presented their Confession in 1530 at Augsburg, Hungary already had its Evangelical martyrs. During the years following, Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1526-1564) and Zapolya of Transylvania (1526-1540) were, for political reasons obliged to tolerate Lutheranism, and the Turks were not concerned about the religious persuasions of their subjects. The nobility favored the Reformation.76 This is also true of the cities and towns of the Zips region and Upper Hungary. Here it was especially the Latin school, which Leonhard Stoeckel had reorganized at Bartfeld in 1539, that became the center of Evangelical life.77 While Dewai, after his return from Switzerland, turned to Calvinism and established it in Miskolc and especially in Debreczin, Zips and the hilltowns held to the Augsburg Confession. So the representatives of the Upper Hungarian five free cities, Eperies, Bartfeld, Klein-Zeben, Kaschau and Leutschau, voted at a meeting at Eperies in 1546 that the instruction in churches and schools was to be in harmony with the Augsburg Confession. The year before 29 pastors at Erdoed had pledged themselves to this Confession.78 The Hungarian diet of 1548 adopted a stringent law 168 Historical Introduction against the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians.79 The King furthermore ordered a royal commission to tour the country and enforce this decree. So the five cities named above, fearing that the commission would confuse them with the Sacramentarians, asked Leonhard Stoeckel to prepare a confession of their faith which became known to history as the Confessio Pentapolitana (Part II, 57). It is a free, at times shortened, at times extended reproduction of the first part of the Augsburg Confession. Of the second part only the principle thoughts of the articles on the marriage of priests and of monastic vows have been utilized in the short article De Matrimonio. Also a few thoughts of the article on the mass have been used in the article De Coena Domini. The using of only the first part of the Augsburg Confession as well as the detailed articles on Baptism and the Lord's Supper must be viewed in the light of the times. They did not wish to antagonize Rome but only to separate themselves from the Sacramentarians. The absence of all anti-theses is striking but is explained Ä aside from Stoeckel's Melanchthonian tendencies Ä by the fact that their confession was not to be used against Rome and then they also dropped those against the Anabaptists and Sacramentarians. Otherwise it can be said that the Confessio Pentapolitana in no material sense differs from the Augsburg Confession. That absolution is called a sacrament hardly goes beyond the Augsburg Confession, which of course without saying it, by placing the thirteenth article not after the tenth but after the twelfth, betrays that this thought is not foreign to it. A digression is more probable in the article De Fide, for the sentence, that the Holy Spirit is active in auditoribus non repugnantibus, sed obtemperantibus ministerio, must very likely be attributed to a Melanchthonian synergism. At any rate it must not be forgotten that the Confessio Pentapolitana, which later on was History of the Confession 169 adopted by other cities, as Kesmark, in no wise wished to replace the Augsburg Confession. The Augsburg Confession was to be the basis of all work within the churches while the Confessio Pentapolitana was to express, to the outside, the confessional basis of the Evangelical congregations. This goal was reached, for the confession was favorably received by the royal commission to whom it was presented by Pastor Michael Radaschin of Bartfeld in 1549. In 1558 King Ferdinand declared his satisfaction with it; in 1560 the Archbishop of Erlau, Anton Verancsics, and the Primate of Gran, Nikolaus Olah, took cognizance of it and in 1573 the former, who in the meantime had become a primate, acknowledged it again. Then in 1613 it was published by Johann Fischer of Kaschau in Latin, German and Hungarian, and again in 1634 (D. Schultz, Kaschau). In 1930 Dr. V. Bruckner published it in Latin and German in his Gedenkbuch which, due to his kindness, is now before me. Later on the Confessio Pentapolitana became the basis of the Confessio Heptapolitana and also the Confessio Scepusiana. The gospel had found a solid footing in the seven Lower Hungarian hill towns, Kremnitz, Schemnitz, Neusohl. Libethen, Pukkanz, Diln and Koenigsberg, where schools and churches had been established without Ferdinand being able to prevent it. But the Hungarian Primate Nikolaus Olah, this stubborn enemy of all Evangelicals, undertook, after August 1557 to suppress their congregations in these cities. He asked the pastors to sign a very Catholic confession of faith. They refused and declared that although they intended to remain in the Augsburg Confession it did not mean that they were less loyal to the Emperor than before. One of them, the brave and able Pastor Ulrich Cubicularius of Schemnitz, even wrote a detailed defense of their confessional principle. This resulted in numerous summons but 170 Historical Introduction neither the representatives of the cities nor their ministers obeyed them. An appeal to Ferdinand proved useless. He declared that the Augsburg Confession had been released only for Germany and not for Hungary and of the Evangelical pastors of the seven cities he declared that "they were no more priests than his dog and were less able to administer the Sacrament than it." The Primate threatened them with the law of 1548 (mentioned above) and to ban them from the land in 20 days as Anabaptists and Sacramentarians. King Ferdinand supported this with a decree which actually ordered their expulsion. The hill people wished to show that they were not heretics but followers of the true Roman Church whose doctrine they accepted in a purified form in the Augsburg Confession. So the pastors, at a meeting in Schemnitz on December 6, 1559, formulated a confession which they based on the Confessio Pentapolitana. It is known to history as the Confessio Heptapolitana. It also has 20 articles, is richer in Scripture proof and goes farther to meet Rome without, however, sacrificing any important Evangelical doctrine. It served its purpose, for later on (1569, 1577, 1580) it was approved by the King, and the Primate and was accepted by the nobility and the clergy of Lipto county. In 1578 it was published at Neusohl in I. Burius' collection, Micae historiae evangelicorum in Hungaria. Dr. V. Bruckner in 1930 published the Latin text in his Gedenkbuch. We print several passages of it in Part II, 57 to enable the reader to make a comparison with the Confessio Pentapolitana. The 24 cities in the Zips also embraced the Gospel and ordered their church affairs according to Evangelical principles and in harmony with the Augsburg Confession although many differences were to be found in local matters. The new Prior of Zips, Gregor Bornemisza, Bishop of Grosswardein, sought to unify the church affairs of Zips. So the History of the Confession 171 Senior of the clergy, Lorenz Serpilius, called a meeting of all congregations for December 14, 1568. The assembly instructed the assistant to the Senior, Wallentin Megander of Neudorf, and Pastor Cyriak Obsopaeus of Kirchdrauf to formulate a confession of faith. They went back to the Pentapolitana and Heptapolitana and in close harmony with them wrote a confession for the 24 Zips cities which has been named Confessio Scepusiana by its latest editor, Dr. J. Bruckner. In 1573 it was approved by the Primate J. Verancsics. We also include several articles of this confession in Part II, 57 for comparison. The peculiarities of these three Hungarian variants of the Augsburg Confession is found in the fact that all three go farther in meeting the Roman Church than the Augsburg Confession itself. Thereby the Evangelical congregations of Hungary obtained religious freedom without actually separating from the Roman Catholic Church. But the followers of the Augsburg Confession in Hungary were not confined to the territories mentioned above. The entire north and northwest of Hungary became Lutheran and in Sopron (= Oedenburg) the church of the Augsburg Confession had won a strong center south of the Danube. At the close of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century the Lutheran churches in the district of Presshurg numbered 68, in Neutra 75, in Trentschin 58, Arwa 15, Thurots 19, in Barsch 42, Lipto 24, Honter 52, Neograd 48, Zips 85.79 That they were sincere in their devotion to the Augsburg Confession may be seen from the fact that when the upper Trentschin district regulated its church affairs February 12, 1600, they provided that all pastors were to commit the Confession to memory.80 The 17th century brought a decided reaction It is true, peace had been established, by hard and bloody battles, 172 Historical Introduction in the Vienna Peace of 1606, the first law under King Matthias 1608, in the Peace of Nicolsburg of 1621, the Vienna Peace of 1623 and finally the Peace of Linz of 1645 But only on paper! In reality they were being worn down until the Counter-Reformation under Leopold I (1655-1705) reached its climax and ended in the banishment of the Lutheran pastors to the galleys and the bloody actions of Caraffa in Eperjes.81 The 20 articles of 1848 first took the ruling character from the Roman Catholic Church and gave equality to all the recognized churches of Hungary. Through the world war a greater part of the Lutheran Church went to Czecho-Slovakia; still the part remaining in Hungary numbers 293 pastors and 492,000 souls. Its pastors today are still pledged to the Augsburg Confession, and even to the whole book of Concord. It is doubtful whether the Augsburg Confession was translated into Hungarian in the 16th century. Since all of the pastors mastered the Latin as well as the German language they probably thought it unnecessary. Then at the beginning of the 17th century Bishop Nikolaus Goencz de Palhaza made a translation Ä the manuscript of which is still in the archives of the Sopron church. It was to be published in 1615 but for unknown reasons this was not done. The first printed translation was made by a Reformed pastor, Johannes Samarjai, Superintendent of Samarja, in 1628 published at Papa his Magyar Harmonia in which he placed the Augsburg Confession side by side with the Helvetian Confession (recognized in the Reformed church of Hungary) to show their relationship. This translation agrees neither with the Invariata nor with the Variata. The Invariata was published in 1633 translated Ä from a Leipzig edition of 1606-by Stefan Letenyei, Senior of Csepreg. He also omitted the second half as the above mentioned separate confessions all practically History of the Confession 173 ignored this part of the Augsburg Confession. The first complete translation appeared in 1692: Confessio Augustana Ungarisch. The press and translator are unknown; although it is claimed that the translation was made by Blasius Loevei, Pastor of Nagygyoer. It is a faithful reproduction of the original. George B r ny de Szenicze issued it in a revised edition in 1740 (in Sopron?). The translation of Samuel Agon s, Pastor at Rozsn¢b nya, published 1838 in Kassa, is more clumsy in style but has notes and a historical introduction. The translations mostly used at present are those of Johann Paulik (1896, 1900, 1930) which has an extensive introduction, and the one by Alexander Bereczki (1902, 1915) which is included in the Christliche Religions- und Sittenlehre for the use of school children. This Jubilee year has brought forth the monumental Gedenkbuch anlaesslich der 400-jaehrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana, issued by the faculty of the Evang. University in Miskolc in Hungarian and German, and of which the Hungarian church may well be proud. Then the Luther Society has published the third edition of Paulik's translation; also a new translation with introduction and appreciation by Dr. K. Proehle, University professor in Sopron. The church historian, Alex. Payr of Sopron, published: Das Augsburger Glaubensbekenntnis in der ung. ev. Kirche (Oesveny; in Der Pfad); Eugen Kiss Die Augsburger Konfession und das neue Testament (Oesveny 1930); Eugen Solyom, Die ungarischen Ubersetzungen d. A. K.; Dr. Bela Kapi, Die Bedeutung der Augusburger Konfession (Protestans Szemle, 1930). The College of Bishops and the pastors society issued circular letters to stimulate a fruitful celebration of the Jubilee. Baron Dr. Albert Radvanszky, Inspector General of the Hungarian Church of the Augsburg Confession Ä to whose kindness I owe the above list of Hungarian editions of the Confession Ä informs me 174 Historical Introduction that an illustrated popular book on the story of the Diet at Augsburg and the Augsburg Confession has been planned for this year. It undoubtedly was published for, as hard as the lot of the Hungarian Lutheran Church has become since the world war, they have not lost their courage. In Jugoslavia the two Lutheran groups, with a combined membership of 175,000 souls, adhere to the Augsburg Confession. Both groups, the one made up of German Wends and Hungarians, and the other, to which the Slovaks belong, obligate their pastors to subscribe the Augsburg Confession. They use the editions of their respective mother-country. The Episcopal office of Zagreb (Agram) informed me that nothing of import regarding the Augsburg Confession has been published there this year. There were three distinct groups in Transylvania at the time of the Reformation: 1. The Hungarian nobility; 2. The Seklers in the east who were of Magyarian descent; 3. The German Saxons. Among the latter the Reformation first took root. Their principal cities were Kronstadt, Hermannstadt, Mediasch and Bistritz. The reformer at Kronstadt was Johannes Honter. In 1542 he wrote and printed on his own press his exellent Formula reformationis Coronensis ac Barcensis totius provinciae, which was based on the Saxon Church Order of 1539 and those of Wittenberg and Nuernberg. The other cities followed Kronstadt's example and after Honter had revised his Formula it was published in 1547 as Reformatio ecclesiarum Saxonicarum in Transilvania, or the church regulations of all Germans in Transylvania. That marked the Transylvanian reformation as being in conformity with Luther. The Hungarians in Transylvania accepted the Gospel and at first were Lutheran but after 1557 Calvinism and Unitarianism began to exert a powerful influence upon Lower History of the Confession 175 Hungary and Transylvania. In 1564 the Reformed Church received equal rights and privileges with the Lutherans, and in 1571 the same concession was made to the Unitarians. The only result was that those who wished to remain Lutheran Ä most of them were Saxons Ä bound themselves closer together and fearlessly pledged themselves to the Augsburg Confession. As early as 1554 the Chapter of Bistritz had, in opposition to the Catholic bishop, whose aim it was to lead all congregations back to the Roman Church, appealed to the Augsburg Confession as the basis of their church affairs.83 Then, when Calvinism and Unitarianism threatened to flood the whole country, even the Catholic Prince Stefan Bathory urged the Saxons to officially pledge themselves to the Augsburg Confession. They were to serve as a bulwark against worse things. So the Confession was read, discussed and the first half approved in 1571 at the Synod of Mediasch. In May 1572 they pledged themselves to it by oath.84 On the 22nd of June the newly elected Evangelical bishop, M. Lukas Ungleich, presented the previously planned compilation of the Augsburg Confession, the Formula pii consensus inter pastores ecclesiarum Saxonicarum, which was adopted by the synod. We print it in Part II, 58, following Teutsch's Urkundenbuch, but omit the lengthy preface and a number of the more practical articles. This was not intended to abolish or replace the Augsburg Confession. The Evangelical Church of Transylvania, even today, although under Roumanian government, still holds to the Augsburg Confession. Nothing of importance has been published there in this year of Jubilee. _________________________________________________________________ This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg by Karen Janssen and is in the public domain. You may freely distribute, copy or print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: Rev. Robert E. Smith of the Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary. E-mail: CFWLibrary@CRF.CUIS.EDU Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA Phone: (219) 481-2123 Fax:(219) 481-2126 ________________________________________________________________