On October 31, 2017, we celebrate 500 years since Martin Luther published his 95 theses at the door of the church in Wittenberg. The anniversary of the anniversary celebration, the Lutheran Decade was officially inaugurated in 2008. The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and state institutions participate in the planning and organization of the decade.
Reformation is an event of immense importance for world history whose influence has spread to all continents. The great reformers – Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Calvin and others – belong to great thinkers of religious history and the history of ideas that had an impact on politics as well.
Luther’s decade deals with a wide range of topics related to reformation in the so- Thematic years that are partially related to the historic anniversaries. Thus in 2010, under the motto “Reformation and Education”, marked the 450th anniversary of the death of Melanchthon, “the teacher of Germany” (“the prespector of Germaniae”). But decade also deals with the reformation impulses that come to our times.
The jubilee year 2017 began in Berlin with the worship and ceremony on October 31, 2016. During 2017, the Evangelical Church in Germany plans a large number of events, including:
– a special national exhibition “The Effects of Luther: 500 Years of Protestantism” in the Martin-Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin from 12 April to 5 November 2017.
– a special national exhibition “Luther and the Germans” at the Wartburg castle near Eisenach from 4 to 5 November 2017.
– a special national exhibition “Luther! 95 mild – 95 people “at Augusteum in Wittenberg from May 13 to November 5, 2017.
– World Exposition on the Reformation of the “Doors of Freedom” in Wittenberg from May 20 to October 10, 2017.
– 36th German Evangelical Meeting (“Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchentag”) in Berlin and Wittenberg with more than one hundred thousand participants from 24 to 28 May 2017.
– 500th Anniversary of Reformation Beginning October 31, 2017: That day of the year will be a great holiday all over Germany.
Source: German Embassy in Zagreb