Liturgical struggle

The struggle began in 1574, when the king introduced some new rules in the liturgy which were not by Lutheran doctrine and practice, followed by his publication of the Liturgia Svecanae Ecclesiae catholicae & orthodoxae conformia commonly called the "Red Book",[1] which re-introduced a number of Catholic customs.

John III had, through his theological studies during his incarceration at Gripsholm (1563–1567), become acquainted with the same line of thinking, and in his secretary Petrus Fecht he had a good assistant in the endeavor to restore "the apostolic and Catholic faith of the early church."

The theologians from Uppsala were given a special statement on this ordinance: they considered that it contained the Church's approved doctrine, "only the right was understood," and that the ceremonies prescribed therein could well be accepted, "unless it aroused opposition."

In 1576 the schism broke out completely, since the King had in the beginning of the same year, printed and distributed a new worship order, It was called the Liturgia Suecanæ Ecclesiæ catholicæ & orthodoxæ conformis.

Stockholm's vicar, Olaus Petri Medelpadius, the principal of the city's school, Abrahamus Andreae Angermannus, and two chaplains were required to observe the new order on September 7.

At Christmas 1576, the battle flared up in Uppsala, where Archbishop Laurentius banned the new preacher and professor Petrus Jonae (who was known for his fiery sermons) to practice the priesthood.

Since the last hope of an agreement with the pope was lost by 1580, King John became more violent in the attempt to enforce his will, while again Duke Karl began to openly defy it.

In the Riksdag in Stockholm in 1582, the priests pleased John III by upholding the new order of service and declared their voluntary consent to the liturgy's introduction into all the parishes of the kingdom.

In 1583, all the bishops of the kingdom, except the one in Strängnäs, gathered at Archbishop Andreas Laurentii Björnram's ordinance and then committed themselves to the complete implementation of the new order of service.

At the conciliation between the king and the Duke, as confirmed in Vadstena in 1587, the religious issue was referred to a prospective church meeting; But already in that year, Karl Strängnäs diocese's clergy declared the new liturgy both unnecessary and harmful.

But during the illness that preceded the king's death in 1592, his mind was alleviated, and when the clergy asked for liberty from following the new liturgy for the Duke's diocese, John III did not want to be dominate over them.

In 1593 the whole battle ended during the Uppsala Synod, where the Lutheran confession of faith was adopted and the red book was rejected with the confirmation of the Church Order of 1571.