When John Knox was buried, someone said this about him: "He was so afraid of God that he was not afraid of any man."

KNOX, JOHN (Knox, John) (1505-1572), preacher and historian of the Scottish Reformation, was born into a peasant family in Haddington (Scotland). The date of birth is extremely unreliable, there are arguments in favor of three dates - 1505, 1513 and 1515.

Knox attended elementary school in Haddington and later at the University of Glasgow or St Andrews (or both). He was preparing to take the priesthood, but after the death of George Wishart, who was burned at the stake (1546), he went over to the side of the Protestants and led the anti-Catholic party in Scotland. In July 1547 he was taken prisoner by the French after the fall of the castle of St. Andrews and stayed at hard labor until February 1549. Without a doubt, Edward VI and the Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, contributed to his release and return to England after a short stay in Geneva. He was appointed royal chaplain (1551) and took part in the revision of the Book of Public Worship (1552). He refused to be ordained a bishop in 1552 and actively opposed the use of Catholic forms of worship.

During almost the entire period of the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-1558), Knox stayed in Switzerland, kept in touch with European reformers, served as a priest to the English Protestant communities of emigrants in Frankfurt am Main and Geneva, and served as an adviser to the Scottish "Lords of the Congregation" (a group of Protestant lords united in an anti-Catholic Congregation). In 1559 he returned to Scotland.
His strict Calvinism, zealous advocacy of Puritan worship and conduct, love for the Presbyterian form of church organization proved to be necessary components of the victory of the Protestants. In 1566, the foundations of Scottish Presbyterianism were laid: then Knox contributed to the invalidation of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, the approval of the Scottish Confession in the Scottish Parliament and the adoption of Knox's first Book of church organization and liturgy by Knox's first General Assembly of the newly emerged Presbyterian Church. Knox's writings include Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558), Treatise on Predestination (1560), History of the Reformation in Scotland (published 1664). ).
During the seven years of the reign of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Knox, with ardent devotion to the new church, entered into battle with the Catholic empress. This struggle ended in a reformer's triumph when Mary abdicated in 1567. Knox died on November 24, 1572 in Edinburgh.

G.), - the largest Scottish religious reformer of the 16th century, who laid the foundations of the Presbyterian Church.

Youth

John Knox was born into a family of poor gentry in the Haddington suburb of Lothian. Knox appears to have studied in his youth with the noted Scottish humanist John Major at the University of Glasgow. In the early 1540s. he was ordained a Catholic priest and began service in one of the parish churches of Lothian.

Probably under the influence of the sermons of George Wishart in the city, Knox converted to Protestantism. He became very close to Wishart and accompanied him on his tours of the country. However, at the end of Mr. Wishart was arrested by supporters of Cardinal Beaton and soon executed. In retaliation for Wishart's death, radical Protestants seized St. Andrews Castle and executed the cardinal. Knox arrived in St. Andrews and there began his career as a Protestant preacher.

At the end of the city, St. Andrews Castle was stormed by the French Expeditionary Force, the organizers of the assassination of the cardinal, and with him John Knox, were captured and sent to France to serve their sentence on the galleys. The one and a half year service in the galleys undermined the preacher's health, but did not change his views. It is said that when the French asked Knox to kiss the image of the Virgin Mary, seeking to force him to renounce Protestantism, he threw it into the sea with the words " let the Virgin Mary save herself, she is light enough and learn to swim».

John Knox in England, Switzerland and France

In the city of Knox, he received his freedom and went to England, where at that time the Protestant reforms of King Edward VI were actively implemented, which laid down the fundamental principles of the Anglican Church. Knox continued the work of the preacher, and independently of the official church organization. At this time, he was no longer satisfied with the episcopal system that was preserved in Anglicanism, Knox was increasingly inclined towards radical Calvinism, which denied the special priesthood of bishops.

After the death of Edward VI in the city, the Catholic Mary I Tudor entered the English throne. This prompted the emigration of English Protestants to the Continent. Knox left for Switzerland, where he settled in Geneva, the European center of Calvinism. He also periodically visited Scotland. During these trips, he succeeded in converting a large number of Scottish burgesses and nobles to Protestantism, as well as such influential aristocrats as the Earl of Argyll, Lord Lorne and Lord James Stewart. Moving further and further away from moderate Anglicanism, Knox, while living in Geneva, actively worked on the problem of predestination and published the pamphlet " Trumpets against the monstrous rule of women" (eng. The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women ), in which he came up with the idea of ​​the harmfulness of female rulers of states (addressed primarily to contemporary queens of England and Scotland).

In Knox he moved to Dieppe, France, where he received news of the death of Mary Tudor and the accession of Elizabeth I. In England, favorable opportunities for the development of Protestantism again developed, but Queen Elizabeth I did not want to allow the author of Trumpet Tone into her possessions. Upon learning of the Queen's refusal to grant him permission to return to England, Knox stated that " England, refusing me, refusing a friend”, and arrived in Scotland on May 2.

Protestant revolution

May 11, 1559 John Knox preaching at St. John in Perth against Catholic idolatry and the illegitimacy of the reign of the regent of Scotland, Mary de Guise, caused an uprising of the townspeople, which quickly spread to other areas of Scotland and soon developed into Protestant revolution. Large Scottish barons (Argyll, Lord James Stewart, later Chatelero and Huntley) joined the rebels, an army was formed that captured Edinburgh. On the initiative of Knox, the rebels turned to England for help, and English troops were brought into the country. The war between the English and French armies in Scotland ended on July 6 with the Peace of Edinburgh and the evacuation of foreign troops from the country. The death on June 11, 1560 of Mary of Guise meant the victory of the revolution.

The Scottish Parliament, under the influence of John Knox, proclaimed at the end of 1560 a ban on Catholic doctrine and rites, adopted the Protestant creed, and approved the "Book of Discipline" on the order of Protestant worship. Thus Protestantism was established as the state religion of Scotland. The formation of a new church organization began, based on parish churches and a system of "supreintendants", designed to replace the episcopal structure (not fully implemented). It was during this period that Knox began work on his fundamental work " History of the Reformation”, which, thanks to the reforming passion invested in it, remained for several centuries one of the most influential works on Protestantism.

John Knox and Mary Stuart

The return of Queen Mary Stuart to Scotland was met with hostility by John Knox. The radical Protestants grouping around him demanded the Queen's marriage to one of their leaders, James Hamilton. Mary's refusal provoked an uprising of radical Protestants, which, however, was quickly suppressed by the government. Knox repeatedly met with the queen, but never found a common language with her. Knox's radicalism alienated some of his former supporters from him, who were not ready to recognize the doctrine of the right of the nation to overthrow the legitimate monarch proclaimed by the reformer.

Youth [ | ]

John Knox was born into a family of poor gentry in the Haddington suburb of Lothian. He also received his primary school education there. In 1522 he entered the University of Glasgow, and in 1531 - at the University of St. Andrews, where he studied with the famous theologian John Major. In addition to basic teaching, Knox became interested in researching the history of Scripture. He knew Greek and Hebrew, which helped him in the study of religious texts, and also studied the works of the first Christian philosophers: Augustine and Jerome. In the early 1540s. he was ordained a Catholic priest and began service in one of the parish churches of Lothian.

Last period of life[ | ]

Statue of Knox in Glasgow

John Knox returned to Scotland shortly before the overthrow of Mary Stuart in 1567. It was he who was entrusted with the organization of worship during the coronation of the queen's son, one-year-old James VI. The new government of the regent Moray, although it proclaimed a course for the implementation of Protestant reforms, however, did not need Knox's radicalism. Therefore, the most influential Scottish reformer did not take his rightful place in the new system of government, remaining the parish priest of the church of St. Giles. In 1570, when supporters of the deposed Mary Stuart captured Edinburgh, John Knox was forced to move to St. Andrews. He returned to the capital only in 1572, on the eve of his death. Cemetery

Knox, John (c. 1513-72), Scot. protest, reformer, founder of scotl. Presbyterian Church. By 1546 he was under the influence of the protest preacher Wishart. Participated in a conspiracy to assassinate Archbishop Biton, for which he was arrested by the French and spent 19 months. at hard labor. In 1551 he became a chaplain to the English, King Edward VI, but with the accession to the throne of Mary I Tudor (1553) he fled to Frankfurt, then to Geneva, where he helped emigrants from England and became close to John Calvin.

Op. H. “First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women”, 1558) displeased the English, Queen Elizabeth I, but she allowed him to return to Scotland (1559) provided that he will lead the protest, anti-French. faction. As pastor of St. Gilbert in Edinburgh, actively participated in the compilation of the "Confessions of the Scots" ("Scots Confession", 1560) and the "First Book of Penance" ("First Book of Discipline", 1560). He was an implacable opponent of Mary, Queen of Scots.

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John Knox

John Knox - the founder of the Scottish Presbyterian Church and "the uncrowned head of the Scottish Protestants" - was born around 1505 into a poor family in the village of Gifford, near Gaddington. He was educated at the Scottish Universities of Glasgow and St. Andrews, after which he taught philosophy at St. Andrews. Even before his canonical age, Knox was ordained a priest, but his career in this capacity did not last long. At that time, the church represented a significant political and economic force in Scotland. It is believed that up to half of all Scottish lands were in the hands of clerics. The prelates had a majority in parliament and occupied the most important government positions. However, the advantages of the exclusive position were very badly used by them. The Scottish clergy were distinguished by the depravity of morals and even licentiousness. Many prelates lived away from their dioceses and abbeys, indulged in feasting, hunting, and without any shame endowed their illegitimate children with rich income items. Both the lay and monastic clergy were in barbaric ignorance. As a result, the authority of the church fell extremely low, and when the ideas of the Reformation began to penetrate into Scotland, they found fertile ground here. Signs of a future upheaval appeared around 1525. Then Parliament, under the threat of severe punishment, banned the import of Lutheran books into the country. But this measure turned out to be ineffective - they had to resort to more abrupt ones: arrests and executions. The first Scottish martyr for the Reformation was Patrick Hamilton, who was burned in St. Andrew in 1528. However, his courageous death only strengthened the spirit of his followers - ten years later, most of the nobles and townspeople began to lean towards the Reformation. The conversion of John Knox took place at the same time, in the 1530s. Convinced of the correctness of the Protestant doctrine, he left his teaching career in St. Andrews and took refuge in the south of Scotland as a home teacher in the Douglas family. The next ten years of his life were spent in complete obscurity. If he then spoke with sermons, then only before small groups of fellow believers. He did not consider himself capable of more and did not impose his views on anyone. It took a strong external influence to turn an unknown teacher into a people's tribune. In 1542, the Scottish king James V died, approving the idea of ​​reforming the church. After him, the only heir remained - the young Mary Stuart. She spent her childhood and youth in France - in the homeland of her mother, nee Duchess de Guise. In her absence, the Earl of Arran became regent. At first, he favored the Reformation and even allowed the free sale of the Bible in Scotch translation. But this era of religious liberalism did not last long. At the head of the Scottish church then stood the intelligent and energetic Cardinal James Beaton, a man with an outstanding statesmanship, but too zealous and cruel Catholic. Soon he managed to completely seize the confidence of the regent and turn him away from the Protestant doctrine. The persecution of the reformers resumed. The prominent Protestant preacher at that time was George Wizart, who turned many Scots away from Catholicism. Beaton succeeded in obtaining his conviction, and in 1546 the unfortunate man was burned at the stake under the walls of the cardinal's castle of St. Andrews. This cruel massacre prompted the Protestants to retaliate. The following year, 16 nobles, led by Norman Leslie, made their way into the castle, stabbed the cardinal with daggers, and hung his corpse on the wall. Now the neighboring nobles joined the daredevils, so that the murder of Beaton served as a signal for a real uprising. The Regent, with French auxiliaries, began the siege. Among those then established at St. Andrews was Knox's householder. Thus, he also ended up in this castle. This is where his gift as a preacher manifested itself. Once the besieged gathered for a common prayer. After her, the preacher told those present that among them, too, there were likely to be people capable of preaching. In this terrible time of persecution, he continued, every person with the heart and talent of a priest should preach. “Does one of us, namely John Knox, not have such a talent and such a heart? - asked the preacher, addressing everyone. “What, then, is his duty?” Those present answered in the affirmative: John Knox is a real preacher, if he continues to remain silent, then he should be treated like a coward who left his post in the hour of trial. This harsh sentence shocked Knox. He got up from his seat and tried to justify himself, but could not utter a word - tears gushed from him in a stream, and he rushed out of their chapels. For several days after this, Knox experienced an extremely difficult state; he felt how insignificant his abilities were compared to the greatness of the new duty. But gradually he mastered his weakness and became a true spiritual father for the castle garrison. In the end, constrained by superior enemy forces, the defenders of St. Andrews had to capitulate. Together with other prisoners, Knox was sent to the French galleys carrying goods along the Loire River. Once, some officer or priest placed an image of the Mother of God in front of the galleys and demanded that they bow to him. Many obediently complied with this demand, but when the turn came to Knox, he exclaimed: “Mother of God, you say? No, not the Mother of God at all; it is a piece of painted wood, adapted for swimming rather than for worship!” And he threw the icon into the river. In 1548, at the request of the English king Edward VI, Knox was released from captivity and spent two years as a preacher in Berwick, where he was appointed by the English government. He could well achieve a high position in the Anglican Church, but he rejected all lucrative offers. The English Reformation seemed to him wholly insufficient. Knox resented the innumerable vestiges of Catholicism both in worship and in the very structure of the Anglican Church. After the throne passed to Edward's sister, Mary I, a fierce Catholic, Knox went to Geneva in 1554. Here he entered into close relations with Calvin and for the first time engaged in a systematic study of theology. However, even Calvinism seemed to Knox to be an insufficiently pure evangelical religion. Meanwhile, in Scotland, power passed to the Queen Mother Mary of Guise. Trying to achieve good relations with the Protestants, she allowed them to return from exile. In 1555 Knox returned to his fatherland and began to preach Calvinism. The fearlessness with which he denounced the Catholic clergy and the mighty of the world seemed amazing. In this respect, he resembled the Old Testament prophets. He was also distinguished by intolerance and a severe adherence to the truth of the Lord. On all those who did not recognize this truth, he, like a prophet, brought down merciless anger. The introduction of the Reformation Knox began with the organization of local communities - the congregation, where worship was held according to the Calvinist rite. Everyone who entered the community vowed not to have anything to do with Roman idolatry and strictly observe the Word of God, even if it cost him his life. Watching the activities of Knox, which threatened her with a complete loss of power, Mary of Guise was soon to abandon her indulgence. The persecution of Protestants resumed. Knox, convicted as a heretic, was forced to leave Scotland for the second time. He returned back only in 1559, when relations between Catholics and Protestants escalated to the limit. The country was on the brink of civil war. To start it, the Protestants lacked only a leader. With the return of Knox, he appeared to them. This man was as if created in order to preach the Reformation. He possessed an iron will, a strong character, and for all this he was completely insensitive to everything that was outside his goals and aspirations. Distinguished by a dry and straightforward mind, alien to all mystical aspirations, domineering and intolerant, he always strove for only one thing - the unconditional fulfillment of the Word of God in the sense in which he understood it. No sooner had he set foot on the soil of Scotland than Knox delivered an impassioned sermon in Perth on the sin of idolatry. Immediately after this speech, local residents rushed to smash the statues and architectural decorations in their cathedral. Their example was followed by the Scots in neighboring towns. The reform movement took on the character of a popular revolution. Monasteries and abbeys were destroyed everywhere. A few days later, the rebellion spread to most of the state. Many churches were devastated, about 200 monasteries were destroyed, the Catholic mass was canceled everywhere and the liturgy of Edward VI was introduced. Then the war began with the regent and the Catholic party. The Protestants won one victory after another and finally forced the supporters of the queen, besieged in Leyte, to capitulate. In June 1560, Mary of Guise died. The Scottish Parliament that convened after that, to which real political power passed, announced the abolition of the supremacy of the Pope over the Scottish Church, banned the celebration of the Catholic Mass and adopted the Protestant Confession. In the same year, a convention of the Scottish clergy was held. He accepted into the business of church government the "Disciplinary Book" edited by Knox. Church reform in Scotland followed the Calvinist pattern. The hierarchy has been cancelled. All pastors were considered equal. Management in each community passed to an elected presbytery (church assembly), consisting of pastors and lay elders. The supreme authority in the church was to be represented by the General Assembly, formed on the same principles. The organ, altars, crucifix, icons, candles, rosaries and other symbols of Catholic worship were definitely cancelled. The new church was named Presbyterian. She took a dominant position in the southern and central counties of Scotland. In the north of the country, where the Reformation was accomplished by the hands of the lords rather than the people, the changes were not so radical - bishops remained here, who later submitted to royal authority. After the overthrow of Catholicism, Knox was given the first preaching place in the new church - in Edinburgh. Like Calvin in Geneva, he waged a stubborn war against the ease of morals in the capital and all kinds of amusements. His success in this direction turned out to be more modest than that of his Geneva counterpart, but there were reasons for this. In 1561, Queen Mary Stuart returned to Scotland after a long absence. It was hard to imagine a worse neighborhood for Knox. Maria was a beautiful and intelligent woman, but petty, sensual and vain. She adored secular pleasures and did not hide her Catholic sympathies. Naturally, Knox immediately stood in opposition to the young queen. Instead of a welcoming speech, he greeted Mary with the pamphlet "The First Trumpet Against the Monstrous Rule of the Kingdom of Women", in which he called the Scottish Queen "the new Jezebel." Trying to soften this irreconcilable old man, Mary invited him to the palace to the dinner table. However, Knox refused. “You'd better come to church to listen to my sermons, if you want to turn to the true path,” he answered. From now on, Knox ended all his sermons with the same phrase addressed to the people: “God! Deliver us from tyranny and the harlot!" When meeting with the queen, Knox usually treated her cynically and rudely, read instructions to her eyes and often brought her to painful fits. He was a constant reproach to the cheerful and far from impeccable (even in terms of Catholic morality) royal court. They write that, returning one day from the queen’s office, Knox met a lot of luxuriously dressed court ladies and said to them: “How beautiful you are now, but there will be a time when your bodies will become mud, and tender souls will be in the claws of devils!” This and similar antics of a stern Calvinist had to be resignedly endured by the courtiers. In 1567, after the deposition of Mary Stuart and her flight to England, power in Scotland passed to her young son James VI. Knox's relations with the court party did not improve after this. In the end, the enemies succeeded in removing him from Edinburgh. He returned to his post only in 1572, shortly before his death. They say that in the last minute of his life, when he could no longer speak, he was asked. "Are you hopeful?" (It was understood: for one's chosenness and salvation). In response, Knox raised his finger, pointed them up, and so died.

The largest Scottish religious reformer of the 16th century, who laid the foundations of the Presbyterian Church.
John Knox was born into a family of poor nobles in the suburbs of the Scottish city of Haddington (County Lothian). It is likely that in his youth Knox studied with the famous Scottish humanist John Major at the University of Glasgow. In the early 1540s, he was ordained a Catholic priest and began serving in one of the parish churches of Lothian. Influenced by the sermons of George Wishart, Knox converted to Protestantism in 1545. At the end of 1545, Wishart was arrested by supporters of Cardinal Beaton and soon executed. In retaliation for Wishart's death, radical Protestants seized St. Andrews Castle and executed the cardinal. Knox arrived in St. Andrews and there began his career as a Protestant preacher.

At the end of 1547, St. Andrews Castle was stormed by the French expeditionary force, the organizers of the assassination of the cardinal, and with him John Knox, were captured and sent to France to serve their sentence on the galleys. The one and a half year service in the galleys undermined the preacher's health, but did not change his views.

In 1549, Knox received his freedom and went to England, where at that time the Protestant reforms of King Edward VI were actively carried out, laying the fundamental principles of the Anglican Church. Knox continued the preaching work. At this time, he was no longer satisfied with the episcopal system that was preserved in Anglicanism, Knox was increasingly inclined towards radical Calvinism, which denied the special priesthood of bishops.

After the death of Edward VI in 1553, the Catholic Mary I Tudor came to the English throne. This prompted the emigration of English Protestants to the Continent. Knox went to Switzerland, where he settled in Geneva, the European center of Calvinism. He also periodically visited Scotland. During these trips, he managed to convert a large number of Scottish burgesses and nobles to Protestantism, as well as such influential aristocrats as the Earl of Argyll, Lord Lorne and Lord James Stewart (the future Earl of Murray). While living in Geneva, Knox published the pamphlet "The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women", in which he condemned feminism/matriarchy and came up with the idea of ​​the harmfulness of female rulers of states .

In 1557, Knox moved to France, where he received the news of the death of Mary Tudor and the accession of Elizabeth I to the throne. In England, favorable opportunities for the development of Protestantism again developed, but Queen Elizabeth I did not want to allow the author of Trumpet Tone into her possessions. Upon learning of the queen's refusal to grant him permission to return to England, Knox declared that "England, refusing me, renounces a friend," and arrived in Scotland on May 2, 1559.

On May 11, 1559, John Knox gave a sermon at St. John in the Scottish city of Perth. He spoke out against Catholic idolatry and the illegitimacy of the rule of the regent of Scotland - Mary of Guise. This sermon caused an uprising of the townspeople, which quickly spread to other areas of Scotland and became the beginning of the Protestant revolution. The big nobility joined the rebels (the Earl of Argyll, Lord James Stewart (Earl of Murray), the Duke of Chatelero and the Earl of Huntly), an army was formed that captured Edinburgh. On the initiative of Knox, the rebels turned to England for help, and English troops were brought into the country. The war between the English and French armies in Scotland ended on July 6, 1560 with the Peace of Edinburgh and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. On June 11, 1560, Mary of Guise died, which meant the victory of the revolution.

At the end of 1560, the Scottish Parliament, under the influence of John Knox, proclaimed a ban on Catholic doctrine and rites, adopted the Protestant creed, and approved the "Book of Discipline" on the order of Protestant worship. Thus Protestantism was established as the state religion of Scotland. The formation of a new church organization began, based on parish churches and a system of "supreintendants" designed to replace the episcopal structure. It was during this period that Knox began work on his fundamental work, The History of the Reformation, which, thanks to the reformist passion invested in it, remained for several centuries one of the most influential works on Protestantism.

In 1561, Queen Mary Stuart arrived in Scotland from France. Her return to her homeland was met with hostility by John Knox. The radical Protestants grouping around him demanded the Queen's marriage to one of their leaders, James Hamilton. Mary's refusal provoked an uprising of radical Protestants, which, however, was quickly suppressed by the government. Knox repeatedly met with the queen, but never found a common language with her. Knox's radicalism alienated some of his former supporters from him, who were not ready to recognize the doctrine of the right of the nation to overthrow the legitimate monarch proclaimed by the reformer.

Nevertheless, throughout the reign of Mary Stuart (1561-1567), John Knox remained the most implacable opponent of the Queen. He constantly aroused parishioners against Catholic worship at court, considering Mary an agent of the papal power and an idolater. The relationship between Knox and the queen is well illustrated by the fact that the reformer enthusiastically accepted the news of the conspiracy against Mary Stuart and the murder of Riccio, for which he was forced to leave Edinburgh, where he had been the priest of St. Giles since the revolution, and take refuge in England.
It has been popular among Scottish Presbyterians to compare the relationship between John Knox and Queen Mary to that of the biblical prophet Elijah against Queen Jezebel.

John Knox returned to Scotland shortly before the deposition of Mary Stuart in 1567. It was he who was entrusted with the organization of worship during the coronation of the queen's son, one-year-old James VI. The new government of Regent Murray, although proclaiming a course for the implementation of Protestant reforms, did not need Knox's radicalism. Therefore, the most influential Scottish reformer did not take his rightful place in the new system of government, remaining the parish priest of the church of St. Giles. In 1570, when supporters of the deposed Mary Stuart captured Edinburgh, John Knox was forced to move to St. Andrews. He returned to the capital only in 1572, on the eve of his death.

John Knox, who amazed his contemporaries with his devout religious feeling and inability to compromise with conscience, became almost a prophet for the Scots. The Presbyterian Church finally took shape after the death of Knox, at the end of the 16th century, but it was he who became its founding father.

Knox's descendant was US President James Knox Polk.