CRYPTO-CALVINISTS (PHILIPPISTS). — These are the followers of PHILIPP MELANCHTHON (1497–1560). Although closely united with LUTHER, Melanchthon did not agree with him on all points of doctrine, and after the master’s death, desirous of reconciling Lutherans and Calvinists, he showed himself favourable to certain Calvinist tenets. Against him and his adherents, called crypto-Calvinists or Philippists, the strict or pure Lutherans rose in protest, led by MATTHIAS FLACIUS ILLYRICUS, NICOLAUS AMSDORF, and others, who made their stronghold at the University of Jena; the crypto-Calvinists, besides Melanchthon, were guided by GEORG MAJOR, JOHN MINIUS, and others, with their centre at the University of Wittenberg.
The controversy was especially bitter on the part of the strict Lutherans, who defended Luther’s most daring doctrines, such as the ubiquity of Christ’s body and consubstantiation. The Formula of Concord (v. CONFESSIONS OF FAITH) of 1576 brought a kind of truce, but peace was again disturbed in Saxony during the reign of Elector CHRISTIAN I (1586–91) and his chancellor NICOLAUS KRELL (1550?–1601), who once more established crypto-Calvinism there. However, the tutor of the young Elector CHRISTIAN II (1591–1611) took care to uproot even its last traces and to re-establish extreme Lutheranism.