Navegation
Primitive Christianity home pageBohemian Revival
IntroductionPart 1 Birth Pangs
Part 2 Birth
Part 3 Maturity
Part 4 Sick unto Death
Part 5 Burial
Part 6 The Hidden Seed
Part 7 Lessons from the Bohemians
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Gregory “The Patriarch”
But these listeners were not to be cowed. The more they studied Peter’s writings, the more they lost faith in Rokycana. As Rokycana refused to lead them, they left his church in a body, and found a braver leader among themselves: Gregory. He was already a middle-aged man. He was the son of a Bohemian knight, and although a nobleman, was so impoverished that he was forced to support himself as a journeyman tailor. And, he was nephew to Rokycana himself.
Litice Castle—now over 700 years old—still lifts its head above the Divoka Orlice river, which swirls around the castle knoll almost 360º, as seen in the GoogleEarth image below. Part of the castle has been repaired, but most of it lies disintegrating. It is now owned by the State. Some of the brothers suffered in the castle dungeons during times of persecution.
He had spent his youth in the Slaven cloister at Prague as a bare-footed monk, had found the cloister not so moral as he had expected, had left it in disgust, and was now well-known in Bohemia as a man of sterling character, pious and sensible, humble and strict, active and spirited, a good writer and a good speaker. He was a personal friend of Peter, had studied his works with care, and is said to have been particularly fond of a little essay entitled “The Image of the Beast,” which he had borrowed from a blacksmith in Wachovia. Like Peter, Gregory was gifted in writing. But unlike Peter,65 Gregory was also a gifted preacher.
As time went on Gregory lost patience with Rokycana, came into touch with the little congregations at Vilenov and Divisov,66 visited Peter on his farm, and gradually formed the plan of founding an independent society, and thus doing himself what Rokycana was afraid to do: put his preaching into practice.
Kunvald, Czech Republic, where the Unity of Brothers began its journey.
As soldiers desert a cowardly general and rally round the standard of a brave one, so these listeners in the old Teyn Church fell away from halting Rokycana, and rallied round Gregory “the Patriarch”.67 From all parts of Bohemia, from all ranks of society, from all whom Peter’s writings had touched, from all who were disgusted with the Church of Rome, and who wished to see the the church of the Apostles bloom in purity and beauty again, from all especially who desired the ministration of priests of moral character—from all these was his little band recruited. How it all happened we know not; but slowly the numbers swelled. At last the terrible question arose: How and where must they live?
In the year 1457, Vadislav Postumus, King of Bohemia, died, and George Podiebrad reigned in his stead; and about the same time it came to the ears of Gregory that in the barony of Senftenberg, on the north-east border of Bohemia, south of the road from Hradec Kralove to Breslau in Silesia, there lay a village that would serve as a home for him and his co-disciples. The village was called Kunvald, and the old castle just a couple miles down the valley was called Litice.
The village was almost deserted, and only a few simple folk—leftovers from the better sort of the Taborites—lived there now. What better base could be found? Gregory laid the scheme before his uncle Rokycana; Rokycana, who sympathized with their views and wished to help them—and was maybe glad to get them out his sight so they would not prod him to live what he preached—brought the matter before King George. The King, who owned the estate, gave his gracious permission. Gregory and his faithful friends soon wended their way to Kunvald, and there began to form the first settlement of the Brethren.
And now many others from far and wide came to make Kunvald their home. Some came from the Teyn Church in Prague, some across the Glatz Hills from Moravia, some from Vilenov, Divisov and Chelcice, and some from the Utraquist Church at Koniggratz. Certain delegates from the remnants of the Adamites presented themselves with proposals for a union with the Brotherhood. These proposals were rejected. The “freedom” of the Adamites was too off-balance; hence only a few members of that sect were admitted, after having abjured their errors. And some came in from little Waldensian groups that lay dotted here and there about the land. There were citizens from Prague and other cities. There were bachelors and masters from the great University. There were peasants and nobles, learned and simple, rich and poor, with their wives and children; and thus did many, who longed to be pure and follow the Master and Him alone, find a Bethany of Peace in the smiling little valley of Kunvald.
They found the peasant village almost deserted. The few who lived there received them kindly, and the young men and women set to work with a will. On steep fields above the Orlice, gurgling down the valley, they began to plant crops. They cared for cows and tended bees. From forests above them they brought wood to repair the houses and build more. Fruit trees in the village began to bear again, after careful pruning, and vegetables thrived in the fertile soil.
But the new settlers at Kunvald set their goal on far more than material prosperity. Slowly, peacefully, they returned to following Christ. One by one they dropped the superfluous ceremonies of the medieval church and worked out a brotherly agreement on how to worship. At first they called themselves Fratres Legis Christi (brothers in the law of Christ). However, the Bohemian name Jednota Bratrska68 eventually became more common.
The believers at Kunvald did not intend to begin a “new group.” They believed the Lord wanted them to let their light shine within Christianity at large. But following the pattern of the community at Chelcice, they agreed on a way of life that led to profound ethical separation.
In their “brotherly agreement” they decided not to testify in court, swear oaths, do civil service of any kind, manage inns, or get involved in buying or selling anything more than the bare necessities of life. They also decided that no one among them could hold worldly rank or privilege. No one should make dice, attend or work in a theater, paint pictures or play music for a living, go to fairs or celebrations of feast days, take interest on money, or be involved with astrology, witchcraft, or alchemy. A very modest type of gray and white dress was agreed on, and all were expected to take part in daily prayers and the care of the sick. Every member of the Brotherhood was, of course, most strictly forbidden to participate in the Government through the acceptance of any post, either in the general or communal departments, or in military service, as well as by any appeal or complaint to the Government.
Complete equality was to prevail in the community; there were to be no poor and no rich. Before being admitted to the community, every wealthy person or member of a privileged class had to relinquish his property and his privileges. No “Brother” was to engage in trading, lend money on interest, or keep an inn. On the other hand, the rules of the fraternity made it obligatory on each member to assist any Brother who might be in want. To live, work, and suffer in silence were the sole duties imposed upon the pious Christian.
Although private proprietorship and the separate family were not prohibited, celibacy was regarded as a better state than that of marriage. The unmarried members lived in brother-houses and sister-houses, where they worked and shared their lives.
Soon after their arrival in Kunvald, the community chose twenty-eight men69 for its leaders. “At that time,” a member wrote, “friend longed for friend and brother for brother, so that more persons continually joined the group and their numbers increased.” In 1459, a group led by an ex-Taborite priest, Stephan, joined at Klatov in Moravia.
Gregory traveled continually, visiting interested seekers. Then the descendants of Waldensian families in southern Bohemia and Moravia’s mountain regions began to find their way into the new movement, so that by 1461 it included several thousand members.
Little by little, as their walk with Christ matured, their hopes of functioning as a spiritual “church within the church” faded. They saw less of a future all the time for the Hussite movement, and began to think seriously of doing things another way.70 They wrote to Rokycana:
“As we knew not where to turn, we turned in prayer to God Himself, and besought Him to reveal to us His gracious will in all things. We wanted to walk in His ways; we wanted instruction in His wisdom; and in His mercy, He answered our prayers.”
They divided themselves into three classes, the Beginners, the Learners and the Perfect; and the Perfect gave up their private property for the good of the common cause. They had overseers to care for the poor. They had priests to administer communion. They had godly laymen to teach the Scriptures. They had visitors to see to the purity of family life. They were shut off from the madding crowd by a narrow gorge, with the Eagle Mountains towering on the one side and the hoary old castle of Litice, a few miles off, on the other; and there in that fruitful valley, where orchards smiled and gardens bloomed, and neat little cottages peeped out from the woodland, they plied their trades and read their Bibles, and kept themselves pure and unspotted from the world under the eye of God Almighty.
Eating the Rack for Breakfast
However, it was not long before these Brethren had to show of what metal they were made. With each other they were at peace, but in Bohemia the sea still rolled from the storm.
It is curious how people reasoned in those days. As the Brethren used bread instead of wafer at the Holy Communion, a rumor reached the ears of the King that they were dangerous conspirators, and held secret meetings of a mysterious and unholy nature. Ol’ King George held himself an orthodox King, and had sworn to allow no heretics in his kingdom since the support of the Pope was needed to realize his ambition to the crown of The Holy Roman Empire. As soon, therefore, as he heard that Gregory had come on a visit to Prague, and was actually holding a meeting of University students in the New Town, he came down upon them like a wolf on the fold, and gave orders to arrest them on the spot—he was sure they were hatching a villainous plot of some kind!
In vain a friendly magistrate sent warning to the students. Two of them resolved, despite Gregory’s advice, to await their fate and ‘stand to their guns’. “Come what may,” said they, in their fiery zeal, “let the rack be our breakfast and the stake our dinner!” With this, Gregory and a few others felt obliged to stick with them.
The door of the room flew open. The magistrate and his bailiffs appeared.
“All,” said the magistrate, as he stood at the threshold, “who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. Follow me to prison.”
They followed him, and were at once stretched upon the rack. As soon as the students felt the pain of torture their courage melted like April snow. After they had tasted “the breakfast”, they had no appetite for “the dinner”…
They went in a body—except Gregory—to the Teyn Church, mounted the pulpit one by one, pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them, and confessed, before an admiring crowd, their full belief in all the dogmas of the Holy Church of Rome.71
But for Gregory, who was now growing old, the pain was too severe. His wrists cracked; he fainted, and was thought to be dead, and in his swoon he dreamed a dream which seemed to him like the dreams of the prophets of old. He saw, in a lovely meadow, a tree laden with fruit; the fruit was being plucked by birds; the flights of the birds were guided by a youth of heavenly beauty, and the tree was guarded by three men whose faces he seemed to know. What meant that dream to Gregory and his Brethren? It was a vision of the good time coming. The tree was the church of the Brethren. The fruit was her Bible teaching. The birds were her ministers and helpers. The youth of radiant beauty was the Divine Master Himself. And the three men who stood on guard were…who???
While Gregory lay in his swoon, his old teacher, his uncle, and his sometime friend, John Rokycana, hearing that he was dying, came to see him. His conscience was stricken, his heart bled, and, wringing his hands in agony, he moaned: “Oh, my Gregory, my Gregory, I wish I could be where you are.”
The brethren back at Litice wrote to Rokycana:
Have we deserved the persecutions you have brought upon us? Have we not been your disciples? Have we not followed your own words in refusing to remain in connection with the corrupt church? Is it right to invoke the civil power against us? Civil power is intended for the punishment of those who have broken the laws of society and must be coerced within proper bounds. But it belongs to the heathen world. It is absolutely wrong to use it in matters of faith... Are you not of the world and bound to perish with the world?
When Gregory recovered, Rokycana pleaded for him, and the King eventually allowed him freedom and he returned to a village a few miles distant from Kunvald.
Pitmen
Meanwhile, the first persecution of the Brethren had begun in deadly earnest. King George Podiebrad issued an order that all his subjects were to join either the Utraquist or the Roman Catholic Church. He issued another order that all priests who conducted the Communion in the blasphemous manner of the Brethren should forthwith be put to death. The Kunvald priest, old Michael, was cast into a dungeon; four leading Brethren were burned alive; the peaceful home in Kunvald was broken; and the Brethren fled to the woods and mountains.
For two full years they lived the life of hunted deer in the forest. As they dared not light a fire by day, they cooked their meals by night; and then, while the enemy dreamed and slept, they read their Bibles by the watch-fires’ glare, and prayed till the blood was dripping from their knees. If provisions ran short, they formed a procession, and marched in single file to the nearest village; and when the snow lay on the ground they trailed behind them a pine-tree branch, so that folk would think a wild beast had been prowling around. We can see them gathering in those Bohemian glades. As the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky, and the night wind kissed the pine trees, they read to each other the golden promise that where two or three were gathered together in His name, He would be in the midst of them; and rejoiced that they, the chosen of God, had been called to suffer for the truth.
In vain they appealed to Rokycana; he had done with them for ever. “You are of the world,” they wrote to him in return, “and will perish with the world.”
They were said to have made a covenant with the devil, and were commonly dubbed “Pitmen”72 because they lived in pits and caves. Yet not for a moment did they lose hope. At the very time when the king in his folly thought they were crushed beneath his foot, they were in reality steadily increasing in numbers. As their watch-fires shone in the darkness of the forests, so their pure lives shone among a darkened people. No weapon did they own except the pen. They never retaliated, never rebelled, never took up arms in their own defense, never even appealed to the arm of justice.
When smitten on one cheek, they turned the other; and from ill-report they went to good report, till the King for very shame had to let them be, well aware was he that brutal force could never stamp out spiritual life. “I advise you,” said a certain Bishop, “to shed no more blood. Martyrdom is somewhat like a half-roasted joint of meat, apt to breed maggots.”
Unity and Division, almost...
Within a few short years of officially breaking from the “established” churches of Bohemia, questions of unity and division rocked the fledgling movement. First was a question of unity. Should they unite with the Waldensians?
Meetings with some Waldensian ministers were called and details discussed. From the Brothers' point of view, the Waldensians had a clear enough doctrine, except...many of the Waldensians did not practice what they were supposed to be practicing. In particular was the accumulation of wealth by some, and the not-so-honest acceptance of certain Catholic and Ultraquist practices. Officially, the Waldensians did not agree with some practices, but they seemed to have developed the “knack” of keeping quiet and going along with things to avoid persecution.
The Waldensian elders were humble and honest. It was true, they admitted. They would try to correct those things.
But when they consulted with their Ultraquist friends, the Waldensians were discouraged from such a venture as being a bit “radical”. So the union between them never became official.
Then came the division, almost. The issue was how to view communion. Did the bread and wine turn into the literal body and blood of Jesus at the blessing of the priest/minister?
This was one of the big questions of the day. Among the brothers were various understandings, as they had come from various backgrounds. It threatened to rupture the unity, as such question often times do.
Peter Chelcicky was probably the “hero” of the day. The healing balm was a statement that appears to have originated from him:
All who receive the sacrament in truth, through faith, believe and confess that it is the true body and blood of Christ, according to His word and mind, without adding anything, or taking anything away, and rejecting all human explanations.
Did that mean transubstantiation, consubstantiation, remanance, real presence, relational presence, or memorialism?73
Well, the statement meant that those who partook of the communion bread and wine were eating the body and blood of Jesus. End of controversy.
In a letter to Rokycana in 1468, the brothers wrote:
For more than eight years we have set aside all [theological] writings and tracts, and avoid them, especially those of Martinek and Biskupec.
Instead of long-winded theological treatises, the brothers united around obeying Jesus. In simple words, their view of Christianity focused upon living right, not believing right. This will be demonstrated in how they went about...
Applying the Word to Everyday Life
Loving Christ and committed to following him together, believers from Kunvald, from Southern Bohemia, and from towns and villages throughout other Czech regions, gathered in a great meeting near Rychnov in 1464. Forced to secrecy, they gathered in the mountains under the open sky. But the document they prepared did not remain a secret, in spite of the fact that they never intended it to become public.
Among other things, the Brethren agreed in the meeting near Rychnov:
…to maintain the bond of love among ourselves, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to set our hope in God. This we will demonstrate in what we say and how we help one another, in the spirit of love, to live honestly, humbly, quietly, meekly, soberly, and patiently. And through this—through our true love one for another—we will show to others what we believe and in whom we place our hope.
We agree to obey everything the Lord asks of us in Scripture. Along with this we agree to accept graciously the instructions, warnings, and reproof of our brothers and sisters. Doing this, we will keep the covenant we have made with God and his Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We will confess our faults and shortcomings. We will humble ourselves and be subject one to another. We will keep the fear of God before our eyes when others reprove us, seeking to change our ways for the better and to confess our sins before God and man. If any one of us does not keep the rules we have made, and proves unfaithful to our covenant with God and our Christian fellowship, we must declare—even though with deep regret—that we cannot assure him of salvation. It may even become necessary for us to exclude him from our church fellowship. And if anyone is excluded from our communion on account of some grievous transgression or glaring mistake in doctrine we cannot re-admit him until he has entirely cleared himself and amply proven that he has changed his ways.
We agree that all of us should faithfully keep the apostles’ instructions in all things. Our priests and teachers, in particular, should set a good example to others. They should walk humbly in word and deed, so that others may have no reason to accuse them. Those who give up personal estates for the church should keep to their decision and not reclaim estates, money, or property. Rather, they should follow the example of the first Christians, submitting with glad hearts to holding all things in common as it is written, “They had all things in common and distributed to everyone as needed.”74 This is a praiseworthy and reasonable example for us, especially for those who become messengers of the churches, so that they may learn to be content with simple food and clothing, leaving the rest to the Lord who cares for them. They ought to abstain from extravagance and content themselves with the support the stewards of the common fund are able to give them.
Along with this, our priests and teachers should be freed from all care regarding their earthly needs, so they may devote themselves to spiritual duties. They must bear patiently what God allows to come upon them: distress, hunger, cold, persecution, imprisonment, and death itself—after the example of the first Christians who consecrated themselves to God. They must surrender themselves to Christ’s rule, following him patiently, and forsaking the world.
Those of us who have of this world’s things should remember the poor and give freely to them, according to the word of God. At the same time we should work with our own hands what is good. Our trading should be only in heavenly goods and treasures, supplying our neighbors with the Word of God, teaching them, and praying that the Lord would give them grace.
Our priests and teachers may, however, work around home if they have nothing else to do. Whatever they can spare, they should also share with the poor, but if they suffer need they should be supported, with the consent of all, from our general fund.
The same rule applies to brothers and sisters working in trades or hiring themselves out to earn a decent living. Whoever goes on errands or is employed to do a certain work, shall be paid fairly for his labor, unless he can and will do it for nothing to help the congregation.
Toward strangers and travelers we will show kind hospitality, in particular if they have left home to spread the Gospel. When we see any of our brothers or sisters in need, we will follow the example of the apostles and those who have gone before us in the faith, sharing with them what the Lord in his mercy has given us.
If all Christians faithfully stood together in love, if everyone eagerly carried the other’s burden, all of Christ’s commandments would be fulfilled. Sympathizing love is the perfection of Christian faith. It is what builds and keeps spirituality alive. It is the firmest and most enduring bond of human happiness. The one who does not love has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.
With brotherly kindness we will receive penitent souls, gladly helping those who turn from the world to God to know the truth. No matter who comes to us, he shall find among us a joyful reception. We will speak with him in good faith, give him the advice, the instructions, and whatever warnings he needs, so that he may walk right and grow spiritually.
We will not change our place of residence unless it becomes clear that we would be of greater usefulness to the church of God in another place.
We will take special care of the orphans, the widows, and the poor, receiving them in the name of Christ. What we give them will be done in the spirit of love.
We consider it our duty to care for those who are persecuted or driven into exile for what they believe. We will ask about them and help as much as we can.
Whenever money is paid out of the congregation’s general fund to help the poor, the treasurer is to keep a faithful and correct account of it. He shall ask whoever gets the money for a receipt. This is to prevent any suspicion and false report, and to preserve harmony in the congregation.
We will seek our rest in the Lord and guard against the dazzling seductions of the world. The tempting exterior of worldly-mindedness, the subtlety and secret malice of its wicked spirit continually try to overcome Christian simplicity of heart. The world’s flattering delusions are dangerous rocks for the faithful. The world’s spirit is one of selfishness, the pursuit of temporary pleasures that are often unattainable anyway, and it does nothing more than deceive. From such a spirit, may the Lord in his mercy save us!
We consider it our responsibility to obey our earthly rulers in all humility, to show them loyalty in all things, and to pray to God for them.
We will seek peace in our congregations, and do all we can for common harmony and well-being. In this way, our conscience will be at rest in God, and the grace of God will be with us at all times.75
The whole “agreement” contains not one “theological statement” such as might be found in modern “confessions of faith”. The second paragraph of the document is typical of the remaining. It starts out saying: “We are moreover agreed, all and each to show willing obedience in all things, as the inspired Scriptures of out Lord exhort us to do...”
From other documents of those early days, we find that all work was sacred. If a man was not able to show that his trade was according to the law of Christ and of direct service to His holy cause, he was not allowed to carry it on at all. He must either change his calling or leave the church. In the Brethren’s church there were no dice makers, no actors, no painters, no professional musicians, no wizards or seers, no alchemists, no astrologers, no courtesans or panderers.
For art, for music, for letters and for pleasure the Brethren had no respect, and the fathers were warned against staying out at night and frequenting the card-room and the liquor-saloon. And yet, these ‘stern’ Brethren were kind and tender-hearted. If the accounts handed down are to be believed, the villages where the Brethren settled were the homes of happiness and peace.
For the poorest of all, those in actual need, they had special collections several times a year. This fund was called the Korbona, and was managed by three officials. The first kept the box, the second the key, the third the accounts.
There were three degrees of church discipline. For the first offense the sinner was privately admonished. For the second he was rebuked before the Elders, and excluded from the Holy Communion until he repented. For the third he was denounced in the Church before the whole congregation, and the loud “Amen” of the assembled members proclaimed his banishment from the church.
Ordinations
And now the time drew near for Gregory’s dream to come true. When the Brethren settled in the valley of Kunvald, they had only done half their work. They had quit the “benighted” Church of Rome. They had settled on a Utraquist estate; they were under the protection of a Utraquist King; they attended services conducted by Utraquist priests. However, this mix of light and darkness could not last for ever. If they wished to be godly men themselves, they must have godly men in the pulpits. What reason had they, the chosen of God, to listen to sermons from men in league with the State? What reason had they to take the bread and wine from the tainted hands of Utraquist priests? What reason had they to confess their sins to men with the brand of Rome upon their foreheads?
If they were to have any priests at all, those priests, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion. They must be pastors after God’s own heart, who should feed the people with knowledge and understanding. They must be clear of any connection with the State. They must be innocent of the crime of simony. They must work with their hands for their living, and be willing to spend their money on the poor.
But where could such clean vessels of the Lord be found? For a while the Brethren were almost in despair; for a while they were even half inclined to do without priests at all.76 In vain they searched the country round; in vain they inquired about priests in foreign lands. When they asked about the pure Nestorian Church that supposedly existed in India, they received the answer that that Church was now as corrupt as the Romish. When they asked about the Greek Church in Russia, they received the answer that the Russian Bishops were willing to consecrate any man, good or bad, so long as he paid the fees.
The question was pressing. If they did without good priests much longer, they would lose their reason for being a separate brotherhood. “You must,” said Martin Lupac, a sympathizing Utraquist priest and Rokycana’s assistant, “establish a proper order of priests from among yourselves. If you do not, the whole cause will be ruined. To do without priests77 is no sin against God; but it is a sin against your fellow-men.” For his advice to the brethren, Martin lost his job with Rokycana and suffered a prison sentence.
The present owner of this property at Kunvald asserts that this is the home place of Matthias, first bishop of the Unity of Brothers.
They pondered on the fateful question for three years. They had now become a powerful body; they were founding settlements all over the land; they stood, they said, for the truth as it was in Jesus; they had all one faith, one hope, one aim, one sense of the Spirit leading them onward; and they perceived that if they were to weather the gale in those stormy times, they must cut the chains that bound them to Rome, and fly their own colors in the breeze.
And so, in 1467, about ten years after the foundation of Kunvald, there met at Lhota a gathering of the Brethren to settle the momentous question, “Is it God’s will that we separate entirely from the power of the Papacy, and hence from its priesthood? Is it God’s will that we institute, according to the model of the primitive church, a ministerial order of our own?” Laying these questions to the lot, both had come back in the affirmative.78
For weeks they had prayed and fasted day and night. About sixty brethren arrived for the meeting. The meeting was held in a tanner’s cottage, under a cedar tree. Their unofficial leader was Gregory.
After prayer and earnest exhortation, they chose nine candidates. Then they put twelve slips of paper into a clay pot. Nine of the slips were blank.79 Three said ‘jest’ (it is). A little boy named Procop pulled them out and gave them to the brothers.
Brandys nad Orlice in the forground center, where Gregory ended his earthly journey. About 7 miles distant (white dot in upper middle) is Litice Castle. Another 7 miles further, near the upper edge, is Kunvald. Most likely forest would have covered much more of the land in those days.
Matthias, a twenty-five-year-old farmer of Kunvald, Thomas of Prelouic, and Elias of Chrenouic, a miller, drew the ‘jest’ slips. Then, Gregory stepped forward, and announced with trembling voice that these three men were the very three that he had seen in his trance in the torture-chamber at Prague. Together the members of the meeting arose and greeted the chosen three.
Then all the men in the meeting were rebaptized by the newly-chosen ministers.80
Together, the next day, they sang a hymn written for the occasion, :
We needed faithful men, and He
Granted us such. Most earnestly,
We Pray, Lord, let Thy gifts descend,
That blessing may Thy work attend.
But a “problem” remained: if these three men, now chosen by Christ, were to be acknowledged as ministers in Bohemia by the general populace, they must be ordained in the “orthodox” way, by a bishop of pure descent from the Apostles.81 For this purpose they applied to Stephen, a Bishop82 of the Waldensians. He was just the man they needed. He was a man of noble character. He was a man whose word could be trusted. He had often given them information about the Waldensian line of bishops. He had told them how that line ran back to the days of the early Church.83 He had told them how the Waldensian bishops had kept the ancient faith unsullied, and had never broken the law of Christ by uniting with the wicked State. To that line of bishops he himself belonged.
What purer orders could they desire? They believed his statements; they trusted his honor; they admired his personal character; and now they sent old Michael Bradacius to see him in South Moravia and to lay their case before him. The old Bishop shed tears of joy. “He laid his hand on my head,” reported Michael, “and consecrated me a bishop.” Forthwith the newly-ordained Michael returned to Lhota, re-ordained the chosen three as ministers, and consecrated Matthias of Kunvald a Bishop.84 Michael then laid down his own bishopric, and let the three chosen men be leaders of the Unity.
A goal was reached; the church was ‘officially’ founded; the work of Gregory was closing down. For twenty years he had taught his Brethren to study the mind of Christ in the Scriptures and to seek the guidance of God in united prayer, and now he saw them joined as one to face the rising storm.
“From now on,” he wrote gladly to King George Podiebrad, “we are done with the Church of Rome.” As he saw the evening of life draw near, he urged his Brethren more and more to hold fast the teaching that Peter of Chelcice had shared with them, and to regulate their daily conduct by the law of Christ; and by that law of Christ he probably meant the “Six Commandments” of the Sermon on the Mount.
He took these Commandments literally, and enforced them with a ‘rod of iron’. No brother could be a judge or magistrate or councilor. No Brother could take an oath or keep an inn, or trade beyond the simple needs of life. No noble, unless he laid down his rank, could become a brother at all. No peasant could render military service or act as a bailiff on a farm. No brother could ever divorce his wife or take an action at law.
As long as Gregory remained in their midst, the brethren held true to him as their leader. He had not, says the Bohemian historian Anton Gindely, a single trace of personal ambition in his nature; and, though he might have become a bishop, he remained a layman to the end. Full of years, he died on Sept.13th, 1473, and his bones were laid in a cleft where tufts of forget-me-not grow, at Brandys nad Orlice.
From his extant writings, we learn a little of how Gregory viewed and lived the Christian life:85
God gave the kings of the earth a sword, but only to preserve order in the world according to his will, and to control those who would disturb the common good... When, through the treachery of the priests, the rulers’ sword is turned against people on account of their faith, they no longer use it for God. No earthly ruler can put faith into people’s hearts without their assent, or bring them to faith by force.
Christ sent his messengers into the world to preach the good news without the help of civil powers, magistrates, hangmen, and soldiers... But Christians, like sheep among wolves, suffer unto death before calling pagan authorities to their defense.
The Life of a Unitas Fratrum Minister
No portion of the Unitas Fratrum86 was more carefully watched than the ministers. As the chief object which the Brethren set before them was obedience to the Law of Christ, it followed, as the night the day, that the chief quality required in a minister was not theological learning, but personal character. When a man came forward as a candidate for the ministry he knew that he would have to stand a most searching examination. His character and conduct were thoroughly sifted. He must have a working knowledge of the Bible, a blameless record, and a living faith in God. For classical learning the Brethren had an honest contempt. It smacked too much of Rome and monkery. As long as the candidate was a holy man, and could teach the people the plain truths of the Christian faith, they felt that nothing more was required, and did not expect him to know Greek and Hebrew.
In vain Luther, in a friendly letter, urged them to cultivate more knowledge. “We have no need,” they replied, “of teachers who understand other tongues, such as Greek and Hebrew. It is not our custom to appoint ministers who have been trained at advanced schools in languages and fine arts. We prefer Bohemians and Germans who have come to a knowledge of the truth through personal experience and practical service, and who are therefore qualified to impart to others the piety they have first acquired themselves. And here we are true to the law of God and the practice of the early Church.” Instead of regarding learning as an aid to faith, they regarded it as an hindrance and a snare. It led, they declared, to wordy battles, to quarrels, to splits, to uncertainties, to doubts, to corruptions. As long, they said, as the ministers of the church of Christ were simple and unlettered men, so long was the church a united body of believers; but as soon as the parsons began to be scholars, all sorts of evils arose. What good, they argued, had learning done in the past? It had kept the Bible in Latin, and had thus hidden its truths from the common people. “And therefore,” they insisted, “we despise the learning of tongues.”
For this “narrow” attitude they had also another reason. In order to be true to the practice of the early church, they laid down the strict rule that all ministers should earn their living by manual labor; and the result was that even if a minister wished to study, he could not find time to do so. For his work as a minister he never received a penny of salary. If a man among the Brethren entered the ministry, he did so for the pure love of the work. He had no chance of becoming rich. He was not allowed to engage in a business that brought in large profits. If he earned any more in the sweat of his brow than he needed to make ends meet, he handed the surplus over to the general funds of the Church; and if someone kindly left him some money, that money was treated in the same way.
He was to be as moderate as possible in eating and drinking; he was to avoid all gaudy show in dress and house; he was not to go to fairs and banquets; as well, he was not to marry except with the consent and approval of the elders.
And yet, for all his humble style, the minister was held in honor. As the solemn time of ordination drew near there were consultations of ministers, and days set apart for fasting and prayer throughout the whole church. The duties were many and various. He was commonly spoken of, not as a priest, but as the “servant” of the Church. He was not a priest in the Romish sense of the word. He had no distinctive sacerdotal powers. He had no more power to consecrate communion than any godly layman. Of priests as a separate class, they knew nothing. All true believers in Christ, said one of their regulations, were priests.
As the times were stormy, and persecution might break out at any moment, the brethren—at a meeting in 1504—laid down the rule that when their meetings at a chapel were forbidden, they should be held in private houses, and then, if a minister was not available, any godly layman was authorized to conduct the holy communion.
And so the minister was simply a useful “servant.” He gave instruction in Christian doctrine. He heard confessions. He expelled sinners. He welcomed penitents. He administered communion. He trained the younger brothers. If he had the needful gift, he preached; if not, he read printed sermons. He was not a ruler lording it over the flock; he was rather a “servant”.
He was bound, for a fairly obvious reason, to take a companion with him when he called at the house of the sick. He was not allowed to visit single women or widows. If he did, there might be scandals about him, as there were about the Catholic priests. For the spiritual needs of all unmarried women, the Brethren made special provision. They were visited by a special “Committee of Women,” and the minister was not allowed to interfere.
The good man did not even possess a home of his own. Instead of living in a private house, he occupied a set of rooms in a large building known as the Brothers' House; and the minister, as the name implies, was not the only Brother in it. “As Eli had trained Samuel, as Elijah had trained Elisha, as Christ had trained His disciples, as Paul trained Timothy and Titus,” so a minister of the Brethren had young men under his charge. There, under the minister’s eye, the candidates for service in the Church were trained. Neither now nor at any period of their history had the Bohemian Brethren any theological colleges. If a boy desired to become a minister, he entered the Brethren’s House at an early age, and was there taught a useful trade.
Lashback—2nd persecution
When Rokycana, the Hussite archbishop, and King George Prodebrady, the landlord of Litice and Kunvald, heard of the ordinations at Nova Bystrice, they were furious—both with the Waldensians and the Unity of Brothers.
Mlada Boleslav became a center for the Unity's printing operations. I do not know if the big building in the picture is the monastery that they were allowed to use, but this building may well have been present in that day. Today, Mlada Boleslav is the richest town in the Czech Republic, due to the Skoda automobile factory locted there.
In his earlier years, Rokycana had spoken in favor of New Testament methods. He had shared many of Gregory’s concerns about the Hussites. But now that a vigorous new movement, in every way more Christ-like than his own, sprang up around him, he hated it. Preaching against the “new heretics”, he stirred up the rulers of Bohemia and Moravia against them.
Old Stephan, the Waldensian bishop from whom they had received the official “lineage”, fell into the hands of Roman Catholic authorities, who burned him alive in Vienna, in 1467. In Bohemia, the Hussites tortured Jacob Hulava in front of his family and burned him, along with four peasants on the estate of the Baron Zdenek Kostka at Predhradi u Skutce. Throughout other Bohemian regions they seized the brothers’ possessions and drove them, with their families, from their homes. But none suffered more than the community at Kunvald itself.
Beginning with the arrest of some of its leaders, left to suffer in the Litice castle dungeons, the settlement built up with so much joy disintegrated in untold grief. Driven from their homes in the middle of winter, many perished in the fields from hunger and cold. Some whom the authorities captured had their hands cut off. Others they dragged along behind horses until they died, or burned at the stake. Hunted like deer, the brothers again hid in mountain forests, daring to make fires only at night. Whenever possible they returned good for evil, and when invited, they even dared make trips to visit seekers in Bohemian towns.
In 1471, within a short time of one another, Rokycana and King George Prodebady died, and persecution let off. Then, cautiously reappearing out of the woods, the believers who had survived returned to Kunvald.
More Brothers and Sisters
Not only did the survivors return, others joined. Nine years after Rokycana’s death and the end of persecution under the Hussites, the Bohemian Brothers received a most significant group of new members. Arriving penniless—hungry children with big eyes, widows in rags, old men pulling carts or pushing wheel-barrows—they were German Waldensians from Konigsberg (Chojna) and Angermunde in the province of Brandenburg. In Bohemian lands they settled in and around Lanskroun east of Litomysl and around Fulnek on the lands of John of Zerotin, between Olomouc and Moravska Ostrava.87
Celebrating the Lord’s supper in simple services throughout war-torn Bohemia and Moravia, the Unity of Brothers became a quiet but powerful movement. After the ordination of its leaders by Stephan, the Waldensian bishop, and the adoption of its own rules (like at the meeting near Rychnov), it chose its own way. But those who belonged to the Unity never thought of themselves as the church of Christ in its entirety. In another general meeting, in 1486, the brothers concluded:
No one church, however numerous, constitutes the universal church embracing all believers. But wherever there is true faith, as described in the Scriptures, there is a part of the holy catholic church. ... We should thank God for all who serve him, but no one should lightly leave his own communion and commitment to join another.
One of the last things Brother Gregory told the believers gathered around his bed—Brother Matthias the bishop among them—was, “Beware of educated and learned persons who may come after me to corrupt the faith.”
His warning was prophetic. But for the time being, the Unity of Brothers could not comprehend it.
After they buried Gregory in secret, in a wooded ravine on the Klopot mountain, a strange peace came to believers in Czech lands. The Hussite government, occupied in strife with Hungary, ignored them. A friendly baron, John Tovacovsky of Mlada Boleslav gave them an abandoned monastery in which to live, and in its seclusion the Unity of Brothers thrived.
They called the old monastery “Mount Carmel.” In its chapel they met for simple meetings. In its scriptorium they set to copying and binding evangelical books.88 They used one of its halls for a school, and many families moved into its cloistered wings, the surrounding outbuildings, and villages nearby. It did not take long for their witness to result in more congregations taking shape in the nearby town of Vinarice, in Lenesice near Louny, in Brandys nad Labem, Rychnov, Benatky, and Nemecky Brod.
Tried by Fire
In 1487, a new law in Bohemia made it impossible for workers on feudal estates to move freely from place to place. This same law gave their masters the right to buy or sell their labor (as serfs) and to exercise complete authority, including capital punishment, over them. To make matters worse, Moravia fell under the power of Roman Catholic Hungary.
For some years there dwelt in the town of Mlada Boleslav a smart young man named John Lezek. He began life as a brewer's apprentice; he then entered the service of a Brother, and learned a good deal of the Brethren’s manners and customs; and now he saw the chance of turning his knowledge to good account. If only he told a good tale against the Brethren, he would be sure to be a popular hero. For this purpose he visited the parish priest, and confessed to a number of abominations committed by him while among the wicked Brethren.
The parish priest was delighted; the penitent was taken to the Church; and there he told the assembled crowd the story of his guilty past. Of all the bad men in the country, he said, these Brethren were the worst. He had even robbed his own father with their consent and approval. They blasphemed. They took the Communion bread to their house, and there hacked it in pieces. They were thieves, and he himself had committed many a burglary for them. They murdered men and kidnapped their wives. They had tried to blow up Rokycana in the Teyn Church with gunpowder. They swarmed naked up pillars like Adam and Eve, and handed each other apples. They prepared poisonous drinks, and put poisonous smelling powders in their letters. They were skilled in witchcraft, worshiped Beelzebub, and were wont irreverently to say that the way to Hell was paved with the bald heads of priests.
As this story was both alarming and lively, the parish priest had it taken down, sealed and signed by witnesses, copied out, and scattered broadcast through the land. In vain John Lezek confessed soon after, when brought by the Brethren before a Magistrate, that his whole story was a vile invention. If a man tells a falsehood and then denies it, he does not thereby prevent the falsehood from spreading.
For now a more powerful foe than Lezek made himself felt in the land. Of all the Popes that ever donned the tiara, Alexander VI is said to have presented the most successful image of the devil. He was the father of the prince of poisoners, Caesar Borgia; he was greedy, immoral, fond of ease and pleasure. For all that, he was pious enough in a way of his own; and now, in his zeal for the Catholic cause, he took stern measures against the church of the Brethren.
He had heard some terrible tales about them. He heard that Peter’s pamphlet, “The Antichrist,” was read all over the country. He heard that the number of the Brethren now was over 100,000.89 He resolved to crush them to powder.90 He sent an agent, the Dominican, Dr. Henry Institoris, as censor of the press. As soon as Institoris arrived on the scene, he heard, to his horror, that most of the Brethren could read; and thereupon he informed the Pope that they had learned this art from the devil. He revived the stories of Lezek, the popular feeling was fanned to fury, and wire-pullers worked on the tender heart of the King.
“Hunt out and destroy these shameless vagabonds,” wrote Dr. Augustin Kasebrot to King Vladislav, “they are not even good enough to be burnt at the stake. They ought to have their bodies torn by wild beasts and their blood licked up by dogs.”
Someone sent word to the King to say that the Brethren were planning to defend their cause with the sword. “What!” said the King, “do they mean to play Zizka? Well, well! We know how to stop that!” They were worse than Huss, he declared; they believed neither in God nor in the Communion; they were a set of lazy vagabonds. He would soon pay them out for their devilish craft, and sweep them off the face of the earth. And to this end he summoned the Diet, and, by the consent of all three Estates, issued the famous Edict of St. James.91
The edict was sweeping and thorough. The meetings of the Brethren, public and private, were forbidden. The books and writings of the Brethren must be burnt. All in Bohemia who refused to join the Utraquist or Roman Catholic Church were to be expelled from the country; all nobles harboring Brethren were to be fined, and all their priests and teachers were to be imprisoned.
The persecution began. In the village of Kutna Hora lived a brother, by name Andrew Poliwka. As Kutna Hora was a Romanist village, and seeking escape from constant harassment, Andrew found refuge at the “Mount of Olives” in Litomysl. But his wife, a loyal Hussite, would not go with him. He returned to the village, and, desiring to please her, attended the parish Church.
Andrew had consented, but not under the conditions imposed.
The occasion was an installation service. As the sermon ended and the communion host was raised, he could hold his tongue no longer. “Silence, Parson Jacob,” he cried to the priest, “You have babbled enough! Mine hour is come; I will speak. Dear friends,” he continued, turning to the people, “what are you doing? What are you adoring? An idol made of bread! Oh! Adore the living God in heaven! He is blessed for evermore!” The priest ordered him to hold his peace. He only cried out the louder. He was seized, his head was dashed against the pillar, and he was dragged bleeding to prison. Next day he was tried, and asked to explain why he had interrupted the service.
“Who caused Abram,” he answered, “to forsake his idolatry and adore the living God? Who induced Daniel to flee from idols?” In vain was he stretched upon the rack. No further answer would he give. He was burnt to death at the stake. As the flames began to lick his face, he prayed aloud: “Jesus, thou Son of the living God, have mercy upon me, miserable sinner.”
“Now he calls on Jesus whose sacraments he despised!” his persecutors jeered. But those who knew Andrew, John and Michael Nadrzibka, John Herbek, Mathias Prokop, and others burned with them for what they believed, did not make fun. The witness of the Brothers struck them to the heart and many kept joining the movement—in spite of persecution.
At Strakonic dwelt the brother George Wolinsky, a dependent of Baron John of Rosenberg. The Baron was a mighty man. He was Grand Prior of the Knights of Malta; he was an orthodox subject of the King, and he determined that on his estate no villainous Picards92 should live. “See,” he said one day to George, “I have made you a servant in the Church. You must go to Church. You are a Picard, and I have received instructions from Prague that all men on my estate must be either Utraquists or Catholics.”
The Brother refused; the Baron insisted; and the Prior of Strakonic was brought to convert the heretic. “No one,” said the Prior, “should ever be tortured into faith. The right method is reasonable instruction, and innocent blood always cries to Heaven, ‘Lord, Lord, when wilt Thou avenge me.’”
But this common sense was lost on the furious Baron. As Brother George refused to yield, the Baron cast him into the deepest dungeon of his castle. The bread and meat he had secreted in his pockets were removed. The door of the dungeon was barred, and all that was left for the comfort of his soul was a heap of straw whereon to die and a comb to do his hair. For five days he lay in the dark, and then the Baron came to see him. The prisoner was almost dead. His teeth were closed; his mouth was rigid; the last spark of life was feebly glimmering. The Baron was aghast. George's mouth was forced open, hot soup was poured in, the prisoner revived, and the Baron burst into tears.
“Ah,” he exclaimed, “I am glad he is living”; and allowed George to return to his Brethren.
Go to Part 4 Sick unto Death65In no writings have I found any reference to Peter Chelcicky's preaching abilities. I assume therefore, that he was no gifted orator.
66Sister congregations to Peter's home congregation.
67Many historians use the title “the Patriarch” when writing of Gregory. In respect to Gregory, whose character is clear enough to know that he would prefer not to be known as the “Patriarch” of the Unitas Fratrum, I do not generally call him that in this story.
68The exact meaning of this name is contested. Most translate it “Unity of Brothers”. However, “jednota” was also used among them to refer to other church groups, as “jednota Lutheran”. Thus, they may have simply been calling themselves, Church of the Brothers. Or, Community of the Brothers. Jednota can be translated to English in any of the following terms: association, oneness, unison, union, accord, community or unity.
69 Of these 28, three were former priests and nine had graduated from the University. The decision to join the Brethren was not a wild venture of ‘uneducated’ people recklessly seeking an adventure.
70 Up to this point, a Hussite priest had served them communion.
71 They later repented of this recantation.
72From this living in caves they were called by their enemies jamnici, or cave-dwellers. It is possible that the appellation of jamnici may have originated previous to this persecution. As early as the fourteenth century the Beghards of Western Germany bore the nickname of “Nookers” (Winkler), on account of the secrecy of their meetings; while in East Germany they were called “Hole-dwellers” (Grubenheimer). The word jamnici (from the Bohemian jama, a hole or cave) is a translation of the German Grubenheimer, and perhaps indicates that the Beghard tradition was active among the Bohemian Brethren.
73All of these are big, “educated” terms for what happens when one partakes of the Lord's supper. Look them up if you care to find which one fits you best.
74 Those who lived with no personal possessions were encouraged by the Unity of Brothers to put no pressure on the rest. Neither did the believers force new converts to give up possessions against their will: “If anyone wishes to keep something for a good reason, to give it into safe-keeping, or to bequeath it to someone after death, it may be done,” states an old community statute.
75 From the Confession of the Brothers of Christ’s Gospel, 1464.
76It is to be remembered that they were finding their way out of Romanism. Naturally, they carried some ideas, unintentionally like we so often do, with them. See also the following footnote.
77 He probably used the term priest more in the sense of a minister than what we often think of as “priest”.
78The use of the lot for such questions I personally hold in disesteem. None-the-less, it is a historical fact. Perhaps this is the origin of the later Moravian Brethren's liberal use of the same.
79 This left the possibility that none of the nine would be chosen.
80It is to be noted that this was not so much a renunciation of the practice of infant baptism as it was a renunciation of baptism by unworthy ministers (priests). An early Confession of Faith declared that all converts from Catholicism must be rebaptized.
81It is not clear how strong they held to this idea in later days. But remember, we are in 15th-century Bohemia, finding our way out of Catholicism with very few other contemporary or historical examples of how to do it.
82The ordination that had taken place at the meeting was performed by “elders”, not a “bishop”. Even though there were converted priests or ministers from Waldensian, Catholic, and Ultraquist background at the meeting when the three men were chosen and ordained, none of these ministers had been ordained as a “bishop”. Some histories say that although a minister from all three backgrounds—Catholic, Waldensian, and Ultraquist—had helped in the ordination just to be sure they caught all three lineages, some of the brothers' consciences were not at rest, since none of them were “bishops”. In their minds, only a bishop could ordain a minister.
83It appears that many Waldensians of the period believed this, although modern “hard” proof is simply lacking. It is very probable that some sort of non-Catholic line of churches has existed from the apostles. There is, simply said, no certain proof of “apostolic lineage” though.
84 The accounts of these ordinations by Stephan vary. This is a version of the more traditionally accepted view. The obscurity is understandable; over 500 years have passed now. Only one thing seems to be for sure; the Brothers did seek out a “pure” priesthood to legitimize the new ministry. And they did want a “bishop” to ordain the three, not a “priest/minister”.
85Very little, unfortunately, of Gregory's writings are in English.
86Unitas Fratrum is Latin for “United Brethren”. The Unity of Brothers is known by this name in some parts of the world.
87 Since 1458 the Waldensians of Brandenburg had suffered heavy persecution. In 1479 they sent their leader, a brother named Peter, to establish contact with believers in Bohemia. The following year, four brothers of the Unitas Fratrum set out to visit them, in return. At Kladsko in Bohemia, the officials detained them, but one, a German citizen named Thomas from the district of Lanskroun, was allowed to continue on his way. Through this contact the Waldensians of the Brandenburg lowlands decided to move to Czech lands.
88 Along with works of an instructive nature (the writings of Peter Chelcicky and Gregory) the brothers produced the first non-Catholic hymnal in Europe.
89 Several indications are that this was the case.
90 Papal Bull, Feb. 4th, 1500
91 July 25th, 1508
92 A common derogatory appellation that the Brethren received. The name derived probably from some “heretics” that originated in Picardy, France. Their main “offense” was to say that the communion bread was symbolic, and not the physical, literal body of Christ. The Unitas Fratrum did not fully hold to this view, but all “heretics” were soon lumped under that name.