God's creations, man and nature, as well as God's salvation, are not for sale as they are a gift from God, Branko Beric, bishop of the Evangelical Church in Croatia, said at a ceremony held under the auspices of the president, the parliament speaker and the prime minister, whose envoys were in attendance.
Martin Luther and the Reformation brought one of the most dramatic changes the world has ever seen, giving strong impulses to a theological and spiritual renewal of the Church as well as influencing political, economic and other circumstances, said Beric.
The premier's envoy, Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic, highlighted the merits of Reformation communities for Croatia's development. He said Croatia had achieved a lot in religious freedoms and diversity and that his was evident also in the legal status of many churches and Christian communities.
Presidential envoy Renata Margetic Urlic highlighted Reformation's merits for the development of the cultural and historical identity, and recalled the big contribution those churches made during Croatia's Homeland War, when they brought humanitarian aid and took in refugees.
According to the 2011 census, Protestant churches and communities in Croatia had 14,653 believers, or 0.34% of the population, and there were also 12,961 other Christian believers, but sociologists and scientists say their contribution to Croatian culture, science and theology is immeasurable.
Proof of that is in the literary work of the first Reformers from the territory of present-day Croatia, specifically Istria, who were part of the Urach Circle in Urach near Tuebingen, Germany. In the early 1560s, building on the Croatian Glagolithic legacy, they published about 30 religious books in 25,000 copies, including the first printed edition of the New Testament as translated by Stipan Konzul and Antun Dalmatin. These works have recently been reprinted.