The
Zwickau Prophets were early sixteenth century
AnabaptistsAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
in
ZwickauZwickau/Saxony in Germany, former seat of the government from south-western region at Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region of Chemnitz-Zwickau. Nowadays it is the capital city of country district Zwickau...
in
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
. They were led by
Nicholas StorchNicholas Storch was a radical reformation preacher and a weaver by trade. With Thomas Dreschel and Mark Thomas Stübner, he was one of the Zwickau prophets....
and attempted to achieve temporal rule by the spiritually elect (in a
theocracyTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
). They claimed to be directly commanded by the
Holy SpiritIn Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. In mainstream Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son....
and believed that they were acting in anticipation of the
end timesThe End Time, End Times, or End of Days are the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
, and they held anti-Catholic doctrines, such as rejection of infant
baptismIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
and doctrine by appeal to tradition and authority.
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The
Zwickau Prophets were early sixteenth century
AnabaptistsAnabaptists are Christians of the Radical Reformation. This article describes the Anabaptists of 16th-century Europe and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites.Anabaptists rejected conventional Christian practices such as wearing wedding rings, taking oaths, and...
in
ZwickauZwickau/Saxony in Germany, former seat of the government from south-western region at Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region of Chemnitz-Zwickau. Nowadays it is the capital city of country district Zwickau...
in
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
. They were led by
Nicholas StorchNicholas Storch was a radical reformation preacher and a weaver by trade. With Thomas Dreschel and Mark Thomas Stübner, he was one of the Zwickau prophets....
and attempted to achieve temporal rule by the spiritually elect (in a
theocracyTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
). They claimed to be directly commanded by the
Holy SpiritIn Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. In mainstream Christian beliefs he is the third person of the Trinity. As part of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and with God the Son....
and believed that they were acting in anticipation of the
end timesThe End Time, End Times, or End of Days are the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
, and they held anti-Catholic doctrines, such as rejection of infant
baptismIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
and doctrine by appeal to tradition and authority. In 1521, they moved to
WittenbergWittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
and grew in power and influence. However, they were opposed by
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
and were removed from power by him in 1522.
While Luther was at Wartburg, Nicholas Storch and Markus Stubner, who were known as the Zwickau prophets, appeared at Wittenberg and began preaching ideas similar to some of the Anabaptists' ideas. They taught that the kingdom of God would soon appear on earth and that their followers would have special revelations. In 1522, after eight fiery sermons, in which he stressed the authority of the Bible and the need for gradual change in the church, Martin Luther defeated the Zwickau prophets.