The millenium of St.Vojtech was commemorated in a rather monumental way and I'm sure it was to the delight of all the Catholics. But - at the same time - we forgot that there is another religious anniversary at hand. One that has nothing to do with Catholicism. Exactly 440 years ago, the year 1457 marked the birth of JEDNOTA BRATRSKA - The Union of Brethern, also known as UNITAS FRATRUM.

For the next 160 years, this was to be the Czech kingdom's major church. But back in the mid-15 century, this was yet to come. The majority of our nation was still following the Hussite chalice and the Utraquist or Calixtine church did well in defending its positions in the Czech lands. Nevertheless, it was many years since the Hussite chalice ruled the kingdom and the people were in need of a new religious phenomenon. Some of them began to follow the philosophy of Petr Chelcicky. This Chelcicky called for the return to the roots of the Christian faith. Inspired by the life and deeds of Jesus Christ, Chelcicky wrote: Love God more than anything else and love thy neighbour as much as you love yourself. Inspired by these words, certain people met and founded a new church. They called themselves brothers and formed a union - hence the name of the new church - The Union of Brethern.

At first the Union had the support of official places. Help even came from the Utraquist archbishop, Jan Rokycana, who arranged for the Union to get a farm and some land in the town of Kunvald. With this financial backing, brother Gregory, who headed the Union, was able to take his followers to the new promised land. Sadly for the newborn Protestants, they were not able to sing "Glory To You" for very long. The ruling king was maybe an Utraquist himself, but he was also afraid that the Pope in Rome might launch another crusade against the heretic Czechs. And he might have even considered canceling some of the old privileges as well as the recognition of the Utraquist church. That's why the king had all the brothers arrested - just to be on the safe side. Well it didn't work, as the Pope spoke up against the Utraquists anyway, and - shortly after - brother Gregory walked out of prison. The brothers were allowed to go on with their religious mission and they founded some 50 communities across the nation in the first ten years of the Union's existence. As the old Utraquist church began to lose its influence, many have turned to the Union for a new religious haven. The Catholics were still strongly in the majority.

Then in the early 16 century came a fresh Protestant wind from the West - the Lutherans were coming to town and they were followed by many Czechs. Two kings of the Polish Yagello dynasty ruled the kingdom in the years 1471 to 1526. Both were sincere Catholics, but they didn't give the Protestants much trouble. Then in 1526, King Louis drowned in the swamps near Mohacs in Hungary while escaping from a lost battle with the Ottoman armies. According to an old agreement, the next king was to be his brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Habsburg. The man who was even more Catholic than the Yagello rulers was elected king and he promised to defend the ancient rights of his new motherland. Ferdinand even recognized the rights of the Utraquist church, but he refused to offer any favours to the Lutherans. In 1547, the Czech nobility made a feeble attempt to rid the country of the Habsburg. The Czechs were defeated and suffered devastating concequensces. The political and economic might of the cities was broken.

The Union of Brethern was expelled from Bohemia and the brothers were fortunate to find asylum in Moravia. You see, Moravia refused to join the rebelion and it was therefore allowed to maintain all of its previous rights and privileges. In the meantime, Ferdinand summoned to Prague the dreaded Jesuit Order - to defend and spread the Catholic faith. Shaken in their confidence the Czechs were at least able to unite all Protestant forces in the so-called Czech Confession. This happened in 1575 and it was done with the silent approval of Maximilian, the second Habsburg king. Following that rule, the times of Rudolph II marked the last great peak of Czech Protestant faith. The famous Bible of Kralice was finished in 1593 and it became the jewel in the crown of Protestant literature. And what's more, the Czechs made good use of the rulers weak position and they forced him to grant the kingdom complete religious freedom in 1609. Cities and towns were allowed to build churches regardless of religious orientation. This paragraph became the source of a new war in 1618. When the Catholics closed a newly-built Protestant church in the town of Broumov, the Czechs at once met in Prague and demanded their right to open new churches to be safeguarded. But the king knew better and his answer was no.

In reaction to this outrage, Czech nobles carried out the SECOND PRAGUE DEFENESTRATION. Back in 1419, the first defenestration caused the death of many city council members and launched the Hussite revolution. In 1618, there were only three royal clerks thrown out of the windows of Prague Castle and they made a safe landing in the manure that filled the bottom of the Stag Moat. So, no one got hurt, at least not yet. But this meant war and after two years of cautious manouvers, the Protestants were heavily defeated in the notorious Battle of White Mountain. 27 leaders of the uprising were executed in 1621 and all non-Catholic clergymen were expelled from the country. Some 40,000 families left their homes and the Union of Brethern was no more. For the next fifty years, Bishop Jan Amos Komensky fought for the Czech Protestant cause abroad, where he also worked as a teacher. The war that started in Prague lasted for 30 years and it reduced the population from 2.5 million to mere 800,000 and started over a century of forced Catholicization.

But that would be a story for another complete edition of FROM THE ARCHIVES - the feature you can listen to again in a week's time.

by Peter Casper

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