St. Augustine's Monastery

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Hi, I’m Pastor Lutzer, and we are in the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt, Germany.

This is where Martin Luther performed his vows to become a monk. Here’s where he lived for a number of years. This is where he sought salvation, and we are actually at the place where he would have taken his vows to be a monk. When he stepped up at the altar here, he would have been asked, “What seekest thou?” He would have said, “God’s grace and mercy.” Then the rigors of monastic life would have been explained to him, e.g. such things as having to beg, sleeping without clothes, and of course, prayer several times a day.

All that he began to do in order to seek God, but no matter how much he did, he knew it was never enough. In order to enact his inauguration into the realm of being a monk, I’m going to prostrate myself on the grave of Johannes Zacharias, who played a role in the death of John Hus. You might remember that Hus was in Constance, Germany. He was tried for heresy and was burned at the stake a hundred years before Luther. Isn’t it interesting, even though we may dispute exactly what role Johannes Zacharias had, the fact is that there was a man who took monastic vows on the grave of Johannes Zacharias, a man who would become another John Hus and change the world.

*** DEMONSTRATION ***

After this, there would have been a special prayer that would have been prayed on Luther’s behalf. It was a prayer that he might be faithful to his vows: celibacy, poverty, and obedience. Luther gladly did that if it could bring peace to his soul … but it didn’t.

So the lesson to be learned is this, no matter how many sacraments we have, no matter how many times we go to Mass or do good deeds, we cannot be saved by human righteousness. Only the righteousness of Christ can save us. Martin Luther, in all his blindness when he was here, discovered that truth. We’re deeply grateful for his influence on church history.

Thanks so much for joining us. God bless you.