The Altered Augsburg Confession (Lat. ''Confessio Augustana Variata'') is a later version of the Lutheran

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of th ...

that includes notable differences with regard to

holy communion The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an ordinance in others. Christians believe that the rite was instituted by J ...

and the presence of Christ in bread and wine. It is distinguished from the unaltered or ''Editio princeps'' (original edition).

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the ...

made several changes to the original edition of the

in the years following its 1530 publication. Most of the changes were about the language of the confession. In 1540 and 1542, he rewrote some parts of the confession in order to reconcile it with the views of Calvinists.

Alterations

Articles 2, 4, 5, 20 and 21 of Part 1 are enlarged in the ''Variata''. Various other sentences are altered, and the order of the articles in part 2 are rearranged. The most discussed difference between the ''Variata'' and the ''Editio princeps'' is in the theology of

Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. Th ...

, article 10.

Reception

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

did not object to the ''variata,'' nor did other Lutherans at the time of its printing. Objection first came from opposing

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

at the Colloquy of Worms. Melancthon testified that there were no changes of "matter, substance and meaning." Reformed theologians also signed the Augsburg Confession, presumably the ''Variata''.

John Calvin John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French Christian theology, theologian, pastor and Protestant Reformers, reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of C ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and again at the 1541 Conference of Ratisbon, William Farel and Theodore Beza at the 1557 Colloquy of Worms, and Frederick III at the 1561 convent of Princes in Naumburg, among others. The ''Variata'' enabled Calvinist domains security in the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. United churches in the 19th and 20th centuries preferred the ''Variata.''Hauschild, W.-D. (2007). The importance of the Augsburg Confession in German Protestantism between 1530 and 1980 (from the Lutheran point of view). 104. 172-206.

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

churches often specify that they agree to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as opposed to the altered version.

References

External links

* Latin *
Full 1540 Text
(''Variata''), Corpus Reformatorum Vol 26 p. 351. * English ** Selected Articles of the ''Variata'' (1540) in English found in ''The Augsburg confession; a collection of sources with an historical introduction'' (1930) *
Full 1530 Text
(''Princeps),'' with a parallel English translation and with notes on the differences in the 1540 edition; from ''Creeds of Christendom'' Vol 3

Philip Schaff Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Life and career Schaff was ...

. Hosted by the

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. ** Full 1540 Text (''Variata)'' in ''Harmony of the Protestant Confessions''. Note that the articles are organized according to topic, not in their original order. {{Authority control Christian statements of faith