Challenge to Sacred Tradition
All through the hundreds of years of development, the Roman Catholic Church held to the belief that apostolic succession empowered the Church leaders to interpret and teach the Scriptures, especially as applied to changing secular circumstances. This power of Scriptural interpretation by its leaders is a characteristic feature of the Sacred Tradition found in the Catholic Church today. Part of the Sacred Tradition are seven Sacraments, administered only by the clergy, which are required for someone's eternal salvation. These Sacraments are not specifically defined as prerequisites to the soul's salvation in the Bible. While the Roman Catholic Church believes Sacred Tradition grows and expands over time, the Eastern Orthodox Church holds to a Holy Tradition that passes from one generation to the next but only to the extent it conforms to the original practices and interpretations in the Scriptures.
Sacred Tradition in the Roman Catholic Church was challenged in the early 1500s. Martin Luther was a German parish priest who believed that salvation comes by Christian faith alone and that the Bible is the only authority for Christians. He felt that any Catholic practices that were not specifically supported in the Bible should be eliminated from Church services. Luther opposed much of the Sacred Tradition as human invention. With the political and social abuses of the Popes and the Church evident at that time, Luther's views became popular locally. Before long, the Roman Catholic Church demanded that Luther retract his heretical statements, but he refused and was then excommunicated from the Church. Luther started the Protestant Reformation with Lutheran Churches established in this German region. Conflicts between the Catholic and Lutheran Churches initially escalated into armed violence during this period. But by 1555 the Lutheran Church was legalized in the Holy Roman Empire and it enjoyed growth throughout Europe. Despite the theological differences with the Catholics, Lutheran Churches still followed most of the worship liturgy and recognized the Catholic sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Communion.
