Martin Luther Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Wartburg Castle (1521)=== [[File:Wartburg Eisenach DSCN3512.jpg|thumb|[[Wartburg|Wartburg Castle]] in [[Eisenach]]]] [[File:WartburgLutherstube1900.jpg|thumb|The [[Wartburg]] room where Luther translated the [[New Testament]] into [[German (language)|German]]; an original first edition is kept in the case on the desk.]] Luther's disappearance during his return to Wittenberg was planned. {{nowrap|Frederick III}} had him intercepted on his way home in the forest near Wittenberg by masked horsemen impersonating highway robbers. They escorted Luther to the security of the [[Wartburg|Wartburg Castle]] at [[Eisenach]].<ref>''Reformation Europe: 1517β1559,'' London: Fontana, 1963, 53; [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]], ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided, 1490β1700,'' London: Allen Lane, 2003, 132.</ref> During his stay at Wartburg, which he referred to as "my [[John of Patmos|Patmos]]",<ref>Luther, Martin. "Letter 82," in ''Luther's Works''. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann (eds), Vol. 48: Letters I, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999, c1963, 48:246; Mullett, 133. [[John of Patmos|John]], author of [[Book of Revelation|Revelation]], had been exiled on the island of Patmos.</ref> Luther translated the [[New Testament]] from Greek into German and poured out doctrinal and polemical writings. These included a renewed attack on Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, whom he shamed into halting the sale of indulgences in his episcopates,<ref>Brecht, 2:12β14.</ref> and a ''Refutation of the Argument of Latomus'', in which he expounded the principle of justification to [[Jacobus Latomus]], an orthodox theologian from [[Leuven|Louvain]].<ref>Mullett, 132, 134; Wilson, 182.</ref> In this work, one of his most emphatic statements on faith, he argued that every good work designed to attract God's favor is a sin.<ref>Brecht, 2:7β9; Marius, 161β162; Marty, 77β79.</ref> All humans are sinners by nature, he explained, and [[Grace in Christianity#Luther and Lutheran theology|God's grace]] alone (which cannot be earned) can make them just. On 1 August 1521, Luther wrote to Melanchthon on the same theme: "Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides."<ref name="sinsbestrong">Martin Luther, [http://www.ProjectWittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt "Let Your Sins Be Strong," a Letter From Luther to Melanchthon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928040119/http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt |date=28 September 2007 }}, August 1521, Project Wittenberg, retrieved 1 October 2006.</ref> In the summer of 1521, Luther widened his target from individual pieties like indulgences and pilgrimages to doctrines at the heart of Church practice. In ''On the Abrogation of the Private Mass'', he condemned as idolatry the idea that the mass is a sacrifice, asserting instead that it is a gift, to be received with thanksgiving by the whole congregation.<ref>Brecht, 2:27β29; Mullett, 133.</ref> His essay ''On Confession, Whether the Pope has the Power to Require It'' rejected compulsory [[Confession (religion)|confession]] and encouraged private confession and [[Absolution#Lutheran Churches|absolution]], since "every Christian is a confessor."<ref>Brecht, 2:18β21.</ref> In November, Luther wrote ''The Judgement of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows''. He assured monks and nuns that they could break their vows without sin, because vows were an illegitimate and vain attempt to win salvation.<ref>Marius, 163β164.</ref> [[File:Lucas Cranach d.Γ. - Bildnis Luthers als Junker JΓΆrg (Leipzig).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Luther disguised as "[[Junker]] JΓΆrg" in 1521]] Luther made his pronouncements from Wartburg in the context of rapid developments at Wittenberg, of which he was kept fully informed. Andreas Karlstadt, supported by the ex-Augustinian [[Gabriel Zwilling]], embarked on a radical programme of reform there in June 1521, exceeding anything envisaged by Luther. The reforms provoked disturbances, including a revolt by the Augustinian friars against their prior, the smashing of statues and images in churches, and denunciations of the magistracy. After secretly visiting Wittenberg in early December 1521, Luther wrote ''A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion''.<ref>Mullett, 135β136.</ref> Wittenberg became even more volatile after Christmas when a band of visionary zealots, the so-called [[Zwickau prophets]], arrived, preaching revolutionary doctrines such as the equality of man,{{clarify|date=May 2018}} [[Believer's baptism|adult baptism]], and Christ's imminent return.<ref>Wilson, 192β202; Brecht, 2:34β38.</ref> When the town council asked Luther to return, he decided it was his duty to act.<ref>Bainton, Mentor edition, 164β165.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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