Bohemian Reformation

8/9/2019 Bohemian Reformation

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The Bohemian Reformation

Reforms along the rivers

sources: I checked the details of this essay at theLinen Hall Library Belfast, which has an sectiondevoted to religions, plus talked to representativesof the Moravian church, other details were checkedout at the 'Institut fr die Wissenschaft von

Menschen'. www.iwm.at in the Winter of 2001.Gebrauchsanweisung fr Tschechien by Jiri Gruzaalso proved useful (ed) Some developments inAustria made it necessary to put this story in ourlibrary now. Some edits added in Belfast, in August2010

The spring pour forth in the shade of the Bohemianforest one warm and vivacious, the other cool andpeaceful. Their waves joins, and the forest brook,bubbling on, becomes the Vlatva (Moldau). It flowsthrough dense woods then come the sounds of thechase the hunters horn. It flows through pastures,and lowl ands where a wedding is celebrated with

song and dance. At night, wood and water nymphsrevel in their sparkling waves and castles witnessto a bygone chivalry are reflected in its shimmeringsurface. At the rapids it races ahead windingthrough the rocky chasm into the broad river bed,

finally flowing in majestic calm towards Prague.Bedrich Smetana describing Vlatva, one of the six

symphonic poems form part of his cycle called Ma
http://www.iwm.at/http://www.iwm.at/


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Vlast (my homeland).

introduction

In August 2002, torrential rains for days made thewaters rise and the rivers flooded many towns inCentral Europe. It started at Passau then Salzburgfrom there into Lower Austria to Vienna, fromVienna along the Danube to Budapest and theBlack Sea, from Lower Austria to South Bohemia Budejowice (Budweis), Krumlov (Krumau) then

Prague, then along the Elbe towards the Saxonytowns Wittenberg, and Dresden. The damages wereconsiderable and much sorrow was caused as manypeople lost their homes. Whilst Dresden,Wittemberg, Budejovice stood under water,Salzburg and Vienna themselves were spared by afew inches. This prompted some fundamentalism tomake a dissertation whether this should be a sign

of God. Myself, I was in Vienna and witnessed thebreakdown of communication to Lower Austria, as Ihad some acquaintances living there, and got somenews from Prague and Bohemia. In Vienna itself the'Cemetary of the nameless' was flooded as was theformer concentration camp of 'Theresienstadt'.Suddenly, it became clear how vulnerable our

historical archive has become. It has become clearto think about religious and political tolerance.

One year on, this is the story of reforms along therivers. Our story starts in Hungary.

General outline


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From Hungary, in the early middle ages, a devotedman called Martin took to Tours in France andopened a monastery to praise God. The monastic

movement accused the official Church of Rome ofvenality and corruption, and wanted, following theexample of the Syrian Anachorets to bring piety inreligion. The official Church and clergy tolerated themonastic movement but then conflicts arose andmany monastic movements were suspected ofheresy. The notion of heresy appeared in the 6th

century, when an Irish scholar called Pelagiuscontradicted the mainstream creed by saying thatMan can defeat evil through willpower the Churchreplied to Pelagius quoting St Augustine that noman can defeat evil through willpower because theflesh is weak. As we can see the Augustinian creedfollows the teachings of St Paul very closely. Afterthis the Church of Rome would become very strict

on Christian heresies. Other heresies included theCathars, the Templars and the Waldenses. Thecondemnation of the Hussites and WittembergHeresies marked therefore a continuation in thatpattern . Crusades were undertaken to convertPagans or bring heretics back to faith.

All this could not prevent the first major split in the

Christian church: the Orthodox schism in 1054.Rome lost control of Byzantium, now the Balkansand in the centuries to come there would be arivalry between the Church of Rome and theOrthodox Church which spread from Byzantium toRomania and Russia. When the Balkans and theMiddle East were taken over by the Ottoman

Empire which had adopted the Muslim faith, there


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would be further Crusades and new religiousorders established: The Templars and theHospitallers. The Templars would later perish after

been declared heretics.

In the middle ages, the Irish clergyman Fergal(Vergilius) was appointed first bishop of Salzburg,which is situated near the Celtic site of Hallstatt inthe Austrian alps. It has now been researched byhistorians that the missionary movement of the

Irish Christian church spread to sites formerlyknown as Celtic. It is important to mentionSalzburg because this is the high seat of theAustrian Catholic Church, and most decisionsregarding the future Hapsburg Empire were madethere, the capital of faith being of course Rome.

The German nations inherited the mantle of theHoly Roman Empire, and for a long time it was acomplicated feudal system dominated by the kingsof Franconia (capital Nuremberg) , Bavaria andBohemia in the 8th century the legendary CarolusMagnus (Charlemagne) united the kingdoms ofFrance and the Holy Roman Empire of German

Nations and founded the capital city of Aix LaChapelle (Aachen). After Charlemagne, the Empirefell in three pieces, one became France, the secondBurgundy and the rest the German Empire. For a while, the capital of the German empire wasPrague. Praha Caput Regni as the Przemysldynasty of Bohemia became head of the empire.

The Empire extended from Trieste to Gdansk. In


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1566, Rudolf II Habsburg defeated Otakar Prezmysland that started the long reign of the Hapsburgdynasty over Central Europe until 1918.

We are following the floods and find ourselves atthe Lazebnicky Bridge in Krumlov watching thewaters rise in the land of Jan Hus.

The Hussites

Jan Hus from Bohemia advocates that the seat ofauthenticity in religion is in the conscience, souland mind of man in communion with God, and thatGod and Man are glorified by this discovery. TheCatholic Church in the 15th century wasauthoritarian and detected libertarian tendencies inJan Hus who was subsequently tried, accused ofheresy and burnt at a stake in Constance. His

followers were called Hussites divided themselvesinto two groups: the 'Utraquists' and the 'Taborites',with the latter being more radical than the former.By emphasising that the single human mind cangrasp what was supposed to stay in the domain ofscholars and clergy, Jan Hus opened newperspectives and inspired the 'Bohemian Brethens'.

During the 14th and 15th century in German-speaking land, and the Netherlands, there were anincreasing number of lay preachers outside theofficial Church. One of them, Richard de Groote,advocated to develop the inner life of the soul andto imitate life of Jesus Christ. The movementbecame popular but when the official Church

ordered them to stop preaching, they retired in


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communes called 'Brethens of the Common Life'.This was not a religious order such as the monasticlife, but they took informal vows, they were

economically self-supporting, pooled their resourcesin common, and redistributed them according toneeds. One can see the germs of practicalcommunism in that life style, or better said thecommunitarian life-style.

The Bohemian Brethens

The 'Bohemian Brethens' or 'Unitas Fratum' differfrom the 'Brethens of Common Life' by the fact thatthey took on sacraments, confession and thecelibacy of priests. However, their rejection ofmilitary service and certain aspects of secular lifemake them the forerunners of pacifism. They also

had a form of clergy: a synod comprised all leadersof the communities. The 'Unitas Fratum' lay greatimportance in education. One of their mostsignificant leaders was Bishop Lukas (1496-1528)

The Bohemian nobility assumed the patronage ofthe 'Unitas Fratum', however with the kingdom

under Habsburg rule, King Ferdinand saw thepatronage as an act to undermine his authority andattacked Bohemia in 1547. The seat of the 'UnitasFratum' was then transferred to Moravia and thenthey fled into exile following the stream of theVlatva/Moldau and Elbe to Saxony and some ofthem also went to Poland. Only in 1609, theymanaged to get home where they struggled to find

recognition and found allies with the 'Utraquists'


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who had adopted Martin Luthers ideas. The newsof 99 proposals for the reform of the Church atWittemberg had marked the official beginning of

Reformation for the History Books.

As with the Utraquists, now called 'BohemianLutherans' kept to the Martin Luthers AugsburgConfession (AC) , the 'Unitas Fratum' retained theirorganisation and their own creed. Thisdemonstrates a ecumenical approach between two

different Christian organisations.

One of the best well-known Bohemian Brethen is Jan Amos Komensky, who under the name ofComenius has written and done most of his worksabroad. He is a forerunner of universal educationfor both genders because he defined it as beingnecessary to this life and life beyond. He advocated

scientific study of nature and emphasised ondeductive reasoning. His ideas are known as'Pansophic'. Many of his works had been lost forcenturies, but were finally found in 1935, wherethey made a great impact on Prague-born painterOskar Kokoschka. In 1966, all seven volumes of hispansophical work were published by the CSSR

academy. Comenius echoes Jan Hus ideas that allhumans have been provided with knowledge anddescribes three aspects, which he calls: nature,reason, revelation. Revelation being in that case thescriptures. He believes that all humans are capableof being educated (perfectibility) and explains thateducation should be a life-long enterprise thuspaving the way for the idea of continuouseducation.


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The Thirty Years war of religion 1618-1648

The 'Council of Trent' gave credentials to the

Habsburg imperial authority when it stated that allsubjects must adopt the same religion as theirlords. This was the starting point of the CounterReformation in Bohemia and the wider Thirty YearsWar of religion (1618-1648). The 'Battle of the WhiteMountain' in 1620 marked the defeat of reformationin Bohemia: Many protestants as well as allmembers of reformed churches and organisations

were killed or had to flee abroad. Once again the'Unitas Fratum' followed the stream upwards andfound refuge in the Kingdom of Saxony, as the lordsof that country had adopted the Lutheran creed. InBohemia, Catholic Bohemians identified withJohannes Nepomuk, a martyr killed during the 30years war baroque monuments were erected all over

the place and the Jesuits from Spain (a countryalso ruled by the Habsburg family) opened schools.

The Thirty Years War of religion in Europe endedwith a status quo: political borders were confirmedor set, the reformed movement recognised as such. The Habsburg Empire remained Catholic, andsidelined other creeds. It prided itself that not only

had it saved Europe from Turkish Muslim attacksat the 'Battle of Kahlenberg', but now it hassuccessfully stood up against the Protestantalliance, mostly the Saxons with the Scandinavians.At that stage it was not possible to get an officialpost without being a Catholic and speakingGerman. Austrian German is different to the

language spoken in Saxony and so the


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Austrian/German rivalry stems from that period.Austrians still regard their Protestant citizens asGermans. But for now the Treaty of Westphalia of

1648 marked the end of religious wars in Europe.

Pious revival

Protestantism was able to flourish in some German-speaking provinces but became very much ascholastic affair and soon it seemed to certain

Protestants that religion has become nothing morethan an intellectual exercise in style and would runthe danger of becoming elitist. Philip Jakob Spener(1635-1705) started the devotional revival withinthe reformed movement. His book 'PiaDesideria'(1674) condemned the sins and errors ofthe times and listed six requirements for a goodfaith: A better knowledge of the Bible from

everyone, the restoration of mutual Christianconcern, emphasis on good works, avoidance ofcontroversy, better spiritual training for ministers,more fervent preaching. His teachings foundresonance in Dresden and Leipzig where he taughtat university. A.H. Francke and his group took theteaching further: in his book, 'Pieta Hallensis',

Francke emphasises the humanitarian aspect offaith. He would therefore be an advocator of socialreforms in order to soothe conditions of the poor,and then bringing faith to the poor and destitute.His reforms which took place in the town of Halle-on the bank of the river Moldau - included: aschool for the poor, an orphanage, a hospital, awidows home, a teachers training institute, a bible

school, a book depot, a Bible house. He also


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emphasised the necessity of missions abroad.

The 'Pietist' movement echoes many similar reforms

made in the Catholic Church where the Jesuits alsoemphasised on education, St Vincent de Pauldevoted his life to social reforms and created manyinstitutions such as hospitals for the poors andhomes for orphans and St Francis de Sales whorelated piety to real-life situations outside themonasteries. It has been said that Pietism is a mererevival of medieval monastic and mystical piety but

it can also be said, especially, that FranckesPietism shows that Faith can only progress if itrevives the positive aspects of the past, andcombines them with modern thoughts.

Nicholaus Ludwig Count von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), a nobleman living in Dresden of Austrianorigins had been influenced by the Pietists as his

grandmother has been a close friend to Spener andFrancke. In 1722, he met with some members ofthe 'Unitas Fratum' led by David Christian (1691-1791) who was living in exile. Zinzendorf purchasedan estate at Berthelhof, where they founded acommunity called 'Herrnhut'. Zinzendorf thoughtthat the Pietist movement, after promising start was

becoming too much set in its own ways andencouraged a return to basics: a mystical-experimental faith, world-wide evangelism andecumenic friendships.

Earlier, we saw that the roots of ecumenism can betraced as far as the Bohemian Lutherans in the16th century. Now, at the eve of the nineteenth

century, the conventional 'Pietists' had long moved


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towards a more Lutheran shore, whilst Zinzendorffavoured rapprochement to the Roman Catholic andOrthodox Churches. In the end, he and his

followers had to adopt a different name: theybecame the 'Moravians'. Soon however, they wouldhave to emigrate and in the 19th century we findthe Moravians in British exile where they closeranks with other Lutheran or reformed Churches.Many moved to America where they formedcommunities.

radical cohabitation

In the nineteenth century faith seemed to get aback seat as nationalism, philosophy and politicsbecame more important. The atheist Frenchrevolution and the Napoleonic wars shook Europe.In addition, as different cultures in the worldstarted to meet, both Germany and Austria became

involved in the middle-east. In those daysclassicism and romantic, mysticism and atheism,occult and Pietism, nationalism and melting-pot allcohabited next to each other. In Vienna, theCatholic Josef-Mathias Hauer preached a return tovirtue and simplicity and a ministry of the poor andis known as the priest of the romantic and

associated with writers like Hebbel.

In 1848, a wave of revolutions against autocraticregimes spread across Europe. The motto in Viennawas 'the Freedom that I mean' generated by thestudent movement. After 1848 the studentlibertarian movement split into radical subgroups.

Some were German republicans who wanted to see


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the end of Habsburg rule, then various nationalliberation movements, also occult movement andinternational organisations such as Marxism and

anarchism. The 'Communist Manifesto' by KarlMarx from Saxony was published in 1848, so was'The future of Bohemia' by Franz Palacky, wherethe author advocates humanism. In fact, to manyphilosophers humanism, the belief in humanperfectibility was compatible with atheism. LudwigFeuerbach in Germany was one of the most famous

voices of German-speaking atheism.

Rudolf Steiner from Austria (1861-1925) hadstudied sciences and worked until 1897 on the'Weimer' Edition of Goethes work. At the sametime, he had been interested in the 'Theosophist'movement that had been flourishing during the

19th century, a reaction to the Anglo-Frenchphilosophy of rule and reason and also a reaction tothe ideas of 'evolution of the species' by CharlesDarwins and communism by Karl Marx. A withGoethe, Steiner had an interest in Chinesephilosophy and tried to incorporate it in hisAnthroposophy together with Indian and Persian,Russian Orthodox elements yet it essentially is

Christian. In 1913, he established his institute atDornach in Switzerland to pursue his researches.He believed in the principle of raising the facultiesof the soul to develop organs or spiritual insight. Heargued that humans were made in gods image butdistorted as the soul got a human body: hence Godin the form of Christ intervened to keep man away

from earthly entanglement. One also sees the


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influence of Buddhism in Steiners thoughts. Wecan see in Steiner one of the forerunner for the'New Age Universalist' movement which is an

amalgam of various religious motives.

UniversalistsThe 'spiritual universalist' movement had originallysprung from the United States in 1779 and startedas an amalgam between 'Mysticism', 'Anabaptist'(baptism in an adult age as preached by the French

'Mennonites' who had to flee the Alsace) and'Gnosticism' (search of God in philosophy). The'spiritual Universalists' decided to publish a creed which is similar to 'Unitarianism' but at the'Winchester Platform of 1813' decided on'creedlessness' and came with following principles:perfectibility of men, ultimate salvation by God, the

humanity of Christ (Christ was sent by God but isnot the Son of God). By the end of the century theyhad dropped the idea of salvation and divinerevelation and replaced it with the term humanism.

That lead in 1942 to the Ecumenist Movement asthey welcomed all types of humanisms, Christian ornot. The 'World Council of Churches' where Church

Leaders of all kind would meet was created also atthe same time. For the first time, platforms wereestablished for all various religions and ideas tomeet and find a dialogue. We can compare theseplatforms to a similar venture in politics when theUnited Nations were created to create a dialoguebetween the various nation states. It is remarkablethat both movements were created at the time, as

the World was immersed in a deep war.


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Indeed the Second World War marked thebeginning of a new era. Mankind became aware

that it has the capacity to destruct the world andthat peace should no longer become an intervalbetween two wars or a status quo but a desirablestate of affairs. Indeed between the years 1945 and1947, there was much idealism as to re-organisethe world. The Universal Declaration of Human wasa political and social document with a universal

message: those rights were signed by most statesand freedom of religion officially instated as a right.

The Cold War

The Cold War a period of political tensionsbetween the allies of the USA and the allies of theSoviet Union marked a halt between 1947 and1962. Bohemia had become the independentCzechoslovak republic in 1918 and now in thesixties, it was the Socialist Peoples Republic ofCzechoslovakia. The spirit of the first republic hadbeen inspired by Franz Palacky and Tomas Mazaryk who had sought an independent, multicultural

federal, republic based on humanitarian values andneutrality. Historical events eradicatedCzecholovakia between 1938 and 1945, and from1948 it had become a satellite country of theMarxist Soviet Union.The Czech republic became aPeople Democracy and the ruling Marxist regimeinsisted on its Atheism as a condition for good

citizenship.


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During this time, we notice that all sides got more

radical. Marxism insisted on its atheism, manychurches of all kind insisted on their ideas ofsalvation and predestination. When Jewishphilosopher George Steiner speaks of the 'ChosenPeople', he speaks with the same voice asevangelical Jean Calvin who advocated'Predestination', or some radical movements withinIslam, Hindu, Catholic churches. The 1950s saw all

reforms freeze.

In 1962, the world became aware once again that itcould destroy itself. The now legendary Cuba crisisraised fears that a new world war would start andthe danger was alerted when the leaders of the twoblocks got together at the United Nations

headquarters to discuss a status-quo of tolerance,maybe rapprochement. Since the Cuba crisis,idealism for peace has given way to how to preventa major disaster.

New co-operations

At the beginning of the 1960ies, the necessity ofpolitical and religious rapprochement was startingto show. The Catholic church undertook reforms atthe Vatican II Council led by Pope Paul VI: nowmass and bible were in the local languages andsome rapprochements between the Catholic leadersand Protestant, Jewish, Socialists were possible

and a few humanitarian projects were started as


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the extreme poverty of the decolonised third worldneeded relief. The United Nations recognised the so-called 'NGOs' (= non governmental organisations) as

legal actors and now many of them have becomeresearchers and advisers in politics, social reformsand economics. 'Caritas', 'Christian Aid' and manycharities have been operating since these times.

At the same time Josef Luki Hromacka, co-founderof the World Council of Churches who had studied

at the Jan Hus Theological Faculty of Praguebecame a pastor of the 'Czech Brethens' and served within the 'World Council of Churches'. In acountry that had become firmly anchored andindoctrinated within a de-facto empire, the'Christian Peace Conference' led by Hromacka wasone of the last podiums of discussion.

The Conference was a vehicle of dialogue betweenChristians from Eastern and Western Europe.Hromacka also urged reconciliation between theChristians and the Marxists. In 1966, linked or notlinked to Hromacka, the 'Pansophical Works' ofComenius were published by the CSSR academyand it is undeniable that these ideas had much

influence on philosopher Jan Patoka who is seenas one of the most important philosophical figuresof the Prague Spring of 1968. The reform movementwithin the Communist Party (KPCs) and the ideasof first secretary Alexander Dubcek about a'Socialism with a Human Face' show that reformwas possible. The Prague spring owed much of itsideologies from Mazaryks 'humanism'. Hromakavividly condemned the 'Warsaw Pact' invasion of


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Czechoslovakia in August 1968, and wassubsequently made to resign from his post at the'Christian Peace Conference' and died six weeks

later.

Throughout the spiritual and the humanistmovements continued to exist and it struggles hardagainst the process of Marxist normalisation thatthe CSSR government started in 1969. Manyreformists like Pavel Kohout or writers like Milan

Kundera had to emigrated or some like VaclavHavel or Jan Pantocka were forced to internal exileor prison, or faced censorship. This is why Jan Husis still seen as symbolic figure of resistance.

The reform movement in Czech Republic since1966A brief summary

The reform movement in the Czech Republic hadstarted in 1966, with liberal trend within the ranksof the Communist Party. Critical voices from theuniversity and intellectuals were calling reforms. Sothe new party secretary, Alexander Dubcek initiated'The Prague Spring', called after the 'Prague SpringMusic Festival' - the period of liberalisation. The

totalitarian imperialistic regime from Moscow didnot tolerate this and invaded the country (for itsown good). The consequent normalisation lead toarrests and exiles, and censorship.

In 1977, a group of intellectuals led by Vaclav Haveland Jan Patoka, set up the 'Charta 77' which wasasking for more human rights and reforms. Much

sympathy came from abroad, mostly from


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intellectuals, trade unions and ordinary people.

Within a decade, the new Soviet head of state,

Michael Gorbatchev initiated policies of reformationand ended the cold war ('Glasnost' and'Perestroika'), the totalitarian system fell apart, andin the CSSR, as well as other countries, the era ofnormalisation was ended in 1989 with the VelvetRevolution, which saw the comeback of AlexanderDubek and Vaclav Havel, who created the 'CivicForum'. The CSSR became the 'CSFR', 'Czecho-

Slovak Federal Republic'. Then the two regionsseparated amicably in 1990, and we have now theCzech Republic and Slovakia, who subsequentlyjoined the European Union.

Conclusions

When asked to look back on his own involvement inrecent History, Vaclav Havel said in 2009: I made alot of mistakes. I believed my experts on economicreforms even if I didn't agree much. More accent (=emphasis) on moral should have been put. If thereis no moral in society it can't work. People write

that I am a moralist, but I feel that I wasn't enoughof a moralist

It is important that each of us we make our ethicalchoices, without this aspect, a dimension of ourhuman identity will be lost.


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As we see, conflicts due to belief are not the linkedof given locations. The future if we want peace isnon-sectarian and respects all people whatever

their creed, sex, inclination or race - as long as theyare not using any form of gratuitous violence. Andthis is democracy.

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Bohemian Reformation