The third major type of Christianity is Protestantism. Protestantism arose as a result of

the second largest schism in Christianity. In this case, the split occurred in the Roman Catholic Church. The emergence of Protestantism is associated with the development of a broad religious, socio-cultural and socio-political movement of the XVI – XVII centuries., which was called the reformation (from lat. reformatio-transformation, correction). The reformation took place under the slogans of correcting the Catholic creed, cult, and organization in the spirit of the original Evangelical ideals, eliminating in them all that in medieval Catholicism seemed to the reformers a departure from these ideals. The reformation had deep historical roots. The immoral behavior and flagrant abuses of the Catholic clergy, ecclesiastical formalism and hypocrisy were denounced long before the reformation by pious believers, mystically minded theologians and public figures. The forerunners of the reformation are Professor John Wickliffe of Oxford University (1320-1384) and Professor Jan HUS of Prague University (1369-1415).

John Wycliffe opposed the extortion of the popes from England, doubted the right of the Church leadership to absolve sins and issue indulgences, insisted that the Holy Scripture (ie, the Bible) has an undoubted priority over the Holy Tradition, rejected the idea that in the process of the sacrament of the sacrament really, that is, materially, there is a transformation of bread into the body of the Lord, and wine – in his blood. With similar ideas

Jan HUS also spoke, demanding the rejection of the Church’s wealth, the purchase and sale of Church offices, the ban on the sale of indulgences, the transformation of the Church’s activities in the image of early Christian communities, the deprivation of all privileges of the clergy, including the main ceremonial privilege – communion with wine. The fact is that in the Catholic Church until the decision of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in the rite at-

there was a serious difference between laymen and priests. The laity had the right to receive communion only with bread, and the priests with bread and wine. Jan HUS was condemned by the ecclesiastical court for his heretical ideas and burned at the stake in 1415.

But his followers (Hussites) as a result of a long struggle in 1462 received the right of communion with wine.

Directly the reformation took place in Germany and Switzerland. Its initiators and leaders were Martin

Luther (1483-1546), Thomas munzer (1430-1525), J. Calvin (1509-1564), and W. Zwingli (1484-1531).

As can be seen from the above, pious, focused on the deep inner connection of man with God, Catholic believers, it was painful to observe the luxury and debauchery, which indulged high-ranking clergy.

Preoccupied with the problem of saving their souls, they could not accept the idea that the cause of their salvation was in the hands of such people. It was not only luxury and immoral behavior that provoked protest, but also the extreme formalism of religious life. According to researchers of this period, in medieval Catholicism, all religious life is closed in the framework of Church institutions. All forms of communication between believers and God are unified and codified, and the theological justification for this practice was the creation of the doctrine ex opero operate

(action by action). According to this doctrine, ceremonial liturgical actions have power in themselves, they spread divine grace regardless of the moral qualities of those who are the object of the sacrament, and the priests who perform them, as if they act automatically. The decisive condition for the effectiveness of the sacraments is the compliance of their procedure with the approved canonical norms. The authority of priests, their rights and opportunities, and their place in the Church hierarchy are also determined by non-moral factors.-

honours, and Canon law, legal norms.

The most vivid and concentrated expression of the formalization of religious life and the orientation of the Church on

enrichment, from the point of view of pious believers, was the trade in indulgences. M. Luther’s speech against the theory and practice of trading in indulgences was the starting point from which the reformation begins. On October 31, 1517, Luther published in Wittenberg (posted on the door of the Church) 95 theses on the remission of sins, in which he denounced the mercenary trade in “heavenly treasures” as a violation of the gospel covenants. Accused by the leadership of the Catholic Church of heresy, Luther refused