Lesson 5
The origins and history of Reformed churches in Europe
   (Print) (Debate platform)

1. Switzerland
2. The Development of the Reformed Church in France after 1598
3. The Netherlands
4. Scotland
5. Italy (Waldenses)
6. The Protestant Church of the Bohemian Brothers
7. Hungary
8. Romania (Transylvania)

6. The Protestant Church of the Bohemian Brothers

In Bohemia and Moravia there existed at the time of the Reformation the “Bohemian-Moravian Unity of the Brethren” of above all Hussitic origin, which had also integrated Waldensian and other traditions. There were contacts between Brother Luke, who had influenced the Unity of the Brethren at the beginning of the 16th Century, and Martin Luther. However, in the context of the confessional conflicts the Unity of the Brethren developed more in the direction of the Reformed Church. From 1618 on Bohemia and Moravia were forcibly re-Catholicised, after the imperial Habsburg troops had beaten the Bohemian army. 27 spiritual leaders were executed and mutilated. Over 1200 pastors had to leave the country. More than 360000 families left with them and the population was reduced to a third. The hitherto heyday and the affluence of the country were thus brought to an end. Besides Saxony, Silesia and Poland were also destinations of emigration. Another proportion went into the underground. In Poland Jan Amos comenius was the most important theologian and senior in the 17th Century. The “Patent of Toleration” of 1781 of the Habsburg emperor Joseph II once again permitted the Protestant Confession. And subsequently roughly 66000 Czechs joined the Reformed Church. By 1789 73 parishes had been founded.

Jan Amos Comenius
(1592-1670)

However, the confessions never gained equal status. The Protestants, for example, also had to pay the Roman-Catholic priests. Protestants were allowed to exist but were not liked by the state. Up to 1861 the Reformed Church grew more slowly than the population – only five parishes were added. In this year the emperor Franz Joseph I passed the so-called “Protestant Patent.” The Protestants now obtained equal rights and the Lutheran as well as the Reformed Church grew extensively. In the year 1919 the Reformed and Lutheran churches united to form the “Protestant Church of the Bohemian Brothers” – the name expressing a continuity of the Bohemian history. In the following years many former Catholics joined this Church. After 1945, however, the Church became considerably smaller. 13000 members among 264 parishes belong to the “Church of the Bohemian Brothers” today. Important for the Church is the Comenius Faculty in Prague.