Just a Lightning Storm?On July 2nd, 1505 Martin Luther was returning to law school in Erfurt after visiting his parents in Mansfeld (85 km or 51 miles). Speculation for his visit right in the middle of the semester, range from Martin being unsure that he wanted to continue law school, to his father Hans calling him home to announce they had arranged a bride for him. Whatever the reason for the visit, on the return outside of Stottenheim a few miles from Erfurt, lightning almost struck Martin. This was the second time he almost died on this same journey. A few years earlier he severed an artery in his leg and almost bled to death. Luther fearing his impeding death cries out to St. Anne and vows…“Help me St. Anne, I will become a Monk”Other factors contributing to Luther’s vow and his decision include:

1. Continued battle with Luther’s “Anfechtungen” (see below)2. The recent deaths of 2 professors and 2 classmates from Plague. 3. Luther’s affection and respect of his 2 favorite professors both Augustinians Jodokus Trutfetter and Bartholomäus Arnoldi von Usigen.His friends broken hearted, try to convince Martin not to go into the Monastery. 2 weeks after the storm on July 16th Luther meets with friends for a farewell meal together. The next day they walk with him to the gate, he hugs his friends who were in tears and says, ”Today you see me, but never again”. Martin walks through the gate. He has just “put an end to his worldly past”. 2

The Observant Augustinian Hermits of Erfurt

Why did Luther choose the Augustinians? The Erfurt “Observant” (strict & conservative) and “Mendicant” (committed to a “Begging”, social compact with the city) cloister had a very scholarly, theological, and educational reputation. The process Luther went through to join was like this:

1. Candidate goes into the Monastery for an evaluation period of a few months in which he learns about the history of the Augustinians, participates in the life of the Monastery, and is examined by the Prior.2. If he still wants to go forward, he takes the Novitiate vows and becomes a monk. The Novice (Probation) period lasts 1 year and 1 day. Think Fräulein Maria in the Sound of Music…

MARTIN LUTHER PAGE 13

WEEK 3 - Luther The MonkThe Neurotic That Changed The World

“I had been called by heavenly terrors, for not freely or desirously did I become a monk, much less to gratify my belly, but walled around with the terror and agony of sudden death I vowed a constrained and necessary vow.” 3

Martin Luther

Erfurt Augustinian Monastery, 1505

“Isaiah Mighty Seer in Days of Old””

Isaiah, mighty seer, in days of old

The Lord of all in Spirit did behold High on a lofty throne, in splendor bright,

With flowing train that filled the Temple quite.

Above the throne were stately seraphim, Six wings had they, these messengers of

Him. With twain they veiled their faces,

as was meet, With twain in reverent awe

they hid their feet, And with the other twain aloft they

soared, One to the other called and praised the

Lord: "Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth! Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth! Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth!

Behold, His glory filleth all the earth!" The beams and lintels trembled at the cry,

And clouds of smoke enwrapped the throne on high.

Words & Music by

Words & Music byMartin Luther 1

3. After the novice year pursuits are established for education / study / vocation and optional ordination to Priesthood and/or advanced degrees. The monks were sworn to total obedience - The Prior and/or Vicar General assigned positions, roles, and there would be no questioning your lot. Life in The Monastery

Life in the Augustinian Monastery was strict. Luther as a Novice could not walk or have a posture with his head up. Eyes to the ground unless addressed. He could not speak about his former life or family, could not speak critical of or praise a fellow monk. The days revolved around the daily “Praying of the Hours” - In Erfurt they systematically went through all 150 Psalms every week. Within 2 years Luther (and for the rest of his life) had the entire Psalter memorized. Each day began at 3 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m. The “hours” were a part of Luther’s life as late as 1520 even after being released from his vows by Staupitz in 1518.

Lauds or Dawn Prayer (3 a.m.) Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour - 6 a.m.) Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour - 9 a.m.) Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour - Noon) None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour - 3 p.m.) Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", 6 p.m.) Compline or Night Prayer (before bed, 9 p.m.)Matins (Optional, at midnight for some) Besides the “Hours”, each Monk must take turns “begging”, ministering to townspeople, and either studying full time to advanced degrees (while also sharing duties at the brewery, farms, livestock, tending the grounds) or other jobs. Luther gets 2 additional degrees while a Monk in Erfurt, a BA in Biblical Studies and a BA in The Sentences (Lombards Sentences)Luther’s Heart & Troubled Soul “Anfechtungen”

Because every aspect of Luther’s life was observed and supervised according to Luther “outward” sin was almost impossible to commit. Yet Luther’s heart, that had yet to experience grace, burned within his chest. As he recalls, his “secret sins” nearly drove him to total despair. The cycle of confession and penance led Luther to continual bouts of extreme fasting to the very brink of consciousness “3 days without food or water”, “self-flagellation” and ‘self loathing.’ According to Luther without Staupitz his father in the faith and father confessor he never would have survived. .

PAGE 14 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL

“At the time of the infusion of the soul into the body of Mary most holy, the Almighty desired that her mother, the holy Anne, should feel and recognize the presence of the Divinity in a most exalted manner. She was filled with the Holy Ghost and was moved interiorly with a joy and devotion altogether above the ordinary. She was wrapped in exalted ecstasy, in which she was enlightened with deep intelligences of the most hidden mysteries and praised the Lord with new canticles of joy. These effects lasted during all the rest of her life; but they were greater during the nine months in which she bore in her womb the Treasure of heaven.” 4

St. Anne while pregnant with the Virgin Mary

St. Anne & Mary cir. 1500

Luther’s “Anfechtungen” Attacks Luther defined these attacks of anxiety, depression, despair, and satanic oppression as “Anfechtengen”. There is no English equivalent. They would continue off and on his entire life. Historian David Steinmetz describes the terror which Luther experienced at these times as a fear that “God had turned his back on him once and for all,” abandoning him “to suffer the pains of hell.” Feeling “alone in the universe,” Luther “doubted his own faith, his own mission, and the goodness of God—doubts which, because they verged on blasphemy, drove him deeper and deeper” into despair. His prayers met a “wall of indifferent silence.” He experienced heart palpitations, crying spells and profuse sweating. He was convinced that he would die soon and go straight to hell. “For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell. I trembled in all my members. Christ was wholly lost. I was shaken by desperation and blasphemy of God.” 5 His faith was as if it had never been. He “despised himself and murmured against God.” Indeed, even after the start of the Reformation his friend Philip Melanchthon said that the terrors afflicting Luther became so severe that he almost died. The term “spiritual warfare” seems more than apt.

These times of “Anfechtungen” would drive Luther back to Scripture and to the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Another valuable medicine in the struggle for Luther was “the fellowship of the church:.“ “No one should be alone when he opposes Satan. The church and the ministry of the Word were instituted for this purpose, that hands may be joined together and one may help another. If the prayer of one doesn’t help, the prayer of another will.” 6An example of Luther’s dependence on his friends is this letter to Melancthon from the Wartburg castle on July 13, 1521, while he was in the middle of a 10 moth seclusion working feverishly on the translation of the New Testament into German:

“I sit here at ease, hardened and unfeeling—alas! praying little, grieving little for the Church of God, burning rather in the fierce fires of my untamed flesh. It comes to this: I should be afire in the spirit; in reality I am afire in the flesh, with lust, laziness, idleness, sleepiness. It is perhaps because you have all ceased praying for me that God has turned away from me ... For the last eight days I have written nothing, nor prayed nor studied, partly from self-indulgence, partly from another vexatious handicap [constipation and piles] ... I really cannot stand it any longer ... Pray for me, I beg you, for in my seclusion here I am submerged in sins “ 7[ Do we not all as believers from time to time experience this? How do we see it, experience it, see God’s hand in it? I am personally convinced that trials like this are God’s direct work to finally drive his elect home to his blossom and the lost away for ever]

MARTIN LUTHER PAGE 15

“Therefore, we should willingly endure the hand of God in this and in all suffering. Do not be worried; indeed such a trial is the very best sign of God’s grace and love for man.” 11

“It is not as reason and Satan argue: See there God flings you into prison, endangers your life. Surely he hates you. He is angry with you; for if He did not hate you, He would not allow this thing to happen. In this way Satan turns the rod of a Father into the rope of a hangman and the most salutary remedy into the deadliest poison” 8

“If I live longer I would like to write a book about Anfechtungen [dark nights], for without them no person is able to know Holy Scripture, nor faith, the fear and love of God; indeed he is not able to know what the Spirit is, having never been in temptations.” 10

“Anfechtung is the touchstone which teaches you not only to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting the Word of God is, wisdom beyond all wisdom” 9

Luther on“Anfechtungen”

Bibliography & Notes1. Luther, Martin. The Hymns of Martin Luther.: Concordia Pub House, 2016. 22. Print.

2. Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther His Road To Reformation 1483-1521, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1985, pp. 49–50.

3. Martin Luther Facts.” Martin Luther Facts, biography.yourdictionary.com/martin-luther.

4. “Saint Anne.” Roman Catholic Saints, www.roman-catholic-saints.com/saint-anne.html.

5. David C. Steinmetz, Luther in Context, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995), 1, describes the content of Luther’s terror as “an unnerving and enervating fear that God had turned his back on him once and for all, had repudiated his repentance and prayers, and had abandoned him to suffer the pains of hell. Luther felt alone in the universe. . . . He doubted his own faith, his own mission, and the goodness of God. . . . No prayer he uttered could penetrate the wall of indifferent silence with which God had surrounded himself. Condemned by his own conscience,Luther despised himself and murmured against God.”

6. Armstrong, Chris R. “A History of Darkness.” Leadership Journal, Fall 2011.

7. E. G. Rupp and Benjamin Drewery, editors, Martin Luther: Documents of Modern History, (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1970), pp. 72-73.

8. Works of Martin Luther, Weimar Edition, Vol. 16, p. 214

9. Martin Luther as quoted in, Luther. and. Monastic. Theology. Notes on Anfechtung and compunctio By Gerard Vallée, p. 294

10. Ibid, p. 294

11. Works of Martin Luther, Weimar Edition, Vol. 42, p. 184

12. T. M. Lindsay, Luther and the German Reformation (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1900), p. 44.

13. Works of Martin Luther, Weimar Edition, Vol. 16, p. 214

PAGE 16 ADULT SUNDAY SCHOOL

Q&A ...My Take a Ways...

Have you ever felt that you should “do something” drastic like Luther did by entering the Monastery to be able to go to heaven?

Can you at all relate to Luther’s “Anfechtungen”??

“It is not as reason and Satan argue: See there God flings you into prison, endangers your life. Surely he hates you. He is angry with you; for if He did not hate you, He would not allow this thing to happen. In this way Satan turns the rod of a Father into the rope of a hangman and the most salutary remedy into the deadliest poison” 13

“Hail Holy Rome”

In 1511 despite the protests of the other monks Luther was sent to Rome by Staupitz on Augustinian legal business. His experiences there were significant in “The city, which he had greeted as holy, was a sink of iniquity; its very priests were openly infidel, and scoffed at the services they performed; the papal courtiers were men of the most shameless lives; he was accustomed to repeat the Italian proverb, “If there is a hell, Rome is built over it.” 12Shortly after returning from Rome Luther was informed by Staupitz he was to head to the newly formed Wittenberg University to teach Philosophy and study for a Doctorate in Theology…And the changing of the world

NEXT WEEK (Sunday January 15th)Wittenberg, SaxonyWe’ll walk the streets, and experience the city of Wittenberg, home of the Reformation

Now called Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Martin Luther moved to Wittenberg in permanently in 1511. He was 28 years old. He moved into the new Black Cloister Monastery and lived there until his death in 1546.

The “Vision” of Frederick The WiseIn 1502 Frederick The Wise, Elector of Saxony, was granted a charter for a new University from (HRE) Emperor Maximillian. It was Fredericks vision to have a University on par with the great centers of learning in Leipzig, and Erfurt in Germany and Paris and London. He wanted to recruit the best faculty and build it around a new Augustinian Cloister under the direction of Dr. Johannes von Staupitz its first Professor of Theology and Vicar General of the Augustinians.

The New Professor Arrives in WittenbergIn late Summer 1511 after his return from Rome, Martin Luther arrives in Wittenberg to lecture in Philosophy and study for his Doctorate in Theology. The first time in Wittenberg Luther commented, “We are sitting here in drudgery… at the edge of civilization…in the midst of barbarism” Luther gets even crasser; he complains: “Here in Wittenberg there’s no more than a miserable corpse; we sit here in Wittenberg as if it were a miserable place.” Luther’s Catholic nemesis Johann Cochlaeus (1479-1552). says, among other things about Wittenberg: “A miserable, filthy little town of Wittenberg, compared to Prague not even worth three pennies, isn’t even worthy to be called a town in Germany; it was unknown to the learned and the commoners 20 years ago; an unhealthy, unpleasant piece of land; without vineyards; without parks; without orchards; a peasants’ chamber; rough; half-frozen; joyless; filled with muck. What’s left in Wittenberg, if the castle, monastery, and school were gone? Without a doubt, you’d only see Lutheran, that is, filthy, houses; untidy alleys; all paths, ways, and streets full of mire; a barbarian people which doesn’t do anything but farming and small trade. Their market is without people; their town is without burghers; its inhabitants wear simple garb; there’s great need and poverty of all inhabitants.” 2

MARTIN LUTHER PAGE 17

WEEK 4 - Wittenberg SaxonyThe City That Changed The World

Frederick The Wise1502 University Charter

“Isaiah Mighty Seer in Days of Old”

Isaiah, mighty seer, in days of old

The Lord of all in Spirit did behold High on a lofty throne, in splendor

bright, With flowing train that filled the Temple quite.

Above the throne were stately seraphim,

Six wings had they, these messengers of Him.

With twain they veiled their faces, as was meet,

With twain in reverent awe they hid their feet,

And with the other twain aloft they soared,

One to the other called and praised the Lord:

"Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth! Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth! Holy is God, the Lord of Sabaoth!

Behold, His glory filleth all the earth!" The beams and lintels trembled at

the cry, And clouds of smoke

enwrapped the throne on high.

Words & Music byMartin Luther 1

(1526)