Utraquists, Lutherans, and the Bohemian Confession of 1575

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to address the controversial issue of the status of the Utraquist Church in the Kingdom of Bohemia in consequence of the drafting of the Bohemian Confession in 1575. The chronological scope is limited to the period up to 1609, when the issuance of the Letter of Majesty in 1609 formalized the gentlemen's agreement of 1575 and altered the ecclesiastical structure accordingly. According to Czech historiography, the parliamentary action of 1575– which granted toleration, albeit tacit and conditional, to the Lutherans and the Bohemian Brethren—represented a moment of truth for traditional Utraquism, which dated to the original Bohemian Reformation. On the one hand, the Utraquists' choice was to reaffirm its late medieval reformist tradition that preserved the traditional liturgy (including the seven sacraments), a belief in the sacramental episcopate and priesthood in a historic apostolic succession, and the belief in the efficaciousness of good works in the drama of salvation. On the other hand, their choice was to embrace the Lutheran Reformation, which rejected all the doctrines just enumerated.