s a presence for the faithful alone. There are two criteria for this: if it is only for the faithful, then it is only an action. Then if you enter a church and the sacrament is spread, you do not need to do anything, because it is pure bread. If becomes more than this only in action, that is when it is given to those who have faith. For the theory of transubstantiation, it is there all the time. When you enter an empty Roman church, you must bow down before the shrine because God himself is present there, even though no one else is present besides you and this sacrament. Luther abolished this concept of presence. He denounced the character indelebilis as a human fiction" (Tillich 236-237). For Luther to take this position required considerable courage on his part due to the fact he was facing an ecclesiastical force of great strength and authority. Luther did what most kings would fear to do. Thus his reservation over transubstantiation was monumental, besides being a highly York-8 important concern, to say the least. After all, as a Augustinian Monk, who was he to fight the doctrines of the pope or even attempt any reforms? However, this is the task which Luther undertook against all odds. Luther's courage and boldness can be seen in his "Open Letter to Pope Leo X" dated: Wittenberg, September 6, 1520: "I have, to be sure, sharply attacked ungodly doctrines in general, and I have snapped at my opponents, not because of their bad morals, but because of their ungodliness. Rather than repent this in the least, I have determined to persist in that fervent zeal and to despise the judgment of men, following the example of Christ who in his zeal called his opponents 'a blood of vipers,' 'blind fools,' 'hypocrites'. . . I have truly despised your see, the Roman Curia, which, however, neither you nor anyone else can deny is more corrupt than any Babylon or Sodom ever was, and which, as far as I can see, is characterized by a completely depraved...
