Martin Luther

Other traditions
MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY
PROF. M. M. NINAN
An eighteenth-century certificate granted by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and reportedly sold by
Greek monks in Wallachia.
Orthodox Church
Because the underlying doctrine of salvation differs from the Catholic model, indulgences do not
generally exist in Eastern Orthodoxy. However, some Eastern churches did have a similar practice
in the form of absolution certificates that were occasionally issued to individuals. At the beginning of
the eighteenth century, for example, Dositheos Notaras (1641-1707), Patriarch of Jerusalem,
stated that, "This practice was confirmed by ancient Tradition that was known to all, that the Most
Holy Patriarchs would grant certificates for the remission of sins to the faithful people." Never as
widespread a tradition as in the Catholic Church, absolution certificates ceased entirely in the
eastern churches by the beginning of the twentieth century.
Protestantism
Protestant denominations today frequently cite indulgences as a prime Roman Catholic error.
Generally, Protestants reject the distinction between temporal and eternal debt for sins and argue
that Christ paid all debts in full by his sacrifice. To receive God's grace for the remission of sins is
strictly a matter of faith in Jesus as the resurrected Lord and has nothing to do with indulgences.
Any need of the sinner to merit remission of divinely imposed penalties, argued Luther, obscured
the glory and merit of Christ and overthrew the Gospel of unmerited salvation for Christ's sake.
Luther in particular criticized the Catholic understanding of the "Office of the Keys," which the
Roman Church believes were given by Christ to Saint Peter as the first pope. In this view the Office
of the Keys is a legislative power given to the pope authorizing him to create conditions and means
for salvation. Luther's understanding was that the Keys were bestowed on the whole Church,
administered publicly by all the clergy equally, and consisted of the command of Christ to forgive
the sins of the penitent and retain the sins of the impenitent. Under the right use of the Keys as
commanded by God, no bishop or pope could possibly have the authority to set up additional
means of obtaining forgiveness, whether canonical satisfactions or indulgences. While Protestants
continue to express a sense of a completed atonement similar to Luther's, the Protestant doctrine
of the Keys is found almost exclusively among Lutherans today.
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