Unity of the Brethren

The Unity of the Brethren (Czech: Jednota bratrská, Latin: Unitas Fratrum) is a Christian denomination whose roots are in the pre-reformation work of Jan Hus, who was martyred in 1415.

Background

The reforms of Jan Hus, which included providing the Scriptures to the people in their own language, and that both elements of communion should be available to the people, were popular with the Czech people, but met extreme opposition from church authorities. Hus was martyred, but his teachings led to the formation of the Hussite movement. One of the later branches of the hussitism was also Unity of the Brethren. The roots of this radical and pacifistic stream within the early reformation movement go back to 1457 in a small village called Kunvald on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. Theologians and thinkers who provided inspiration for the future Unity of the Brethren were Hussite bishop Jan Rokycana and Petr Chel?ický. Some other influential theologians and thinkers of Unity of the Brethren were: Brother Rehor (Gregor) one of the founders, Luká? Pra?ský — an inspiring theologian, Brother Jan Augusta, and the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren — Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský). Theologians and linguists of the Unity of the Brethren translated during the second half of the 16th century the Bible from the original languages into Czech. This translation is known as Bible of Kralice (Bible kralická) — until recently the most widely used Czech biblical translation — an equivalent to English King James Version.

Related Topics:
Hussite movement - 1457 - Kunvald - Jan Rokycana - Petr Chel?ický - Comenius - 16th century - Czech - Bible of Kralice - King James Version

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After 1620, due to a counter-reformation by the Catholic Church, Protestants were forced to choose to either leave the country or practice their beliefs secretly. Members of the Unity of the Brethren who lived abroad (mostly in Poland) and those who left under persecution, regrouped in Germany under the influence of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf and formed the church which is now known as Moravian Church (in Canada and United States except Texas), Jednota Bratrská (in the Czech Republic) and Unity of Brethren (in local languages mostly everywhere else, including Texas). During the Thirty-Years War, the church was very much on the run as it was targeted by local counter-reformation nobles and persecuted especially severely in it's geographical homeland, and dispersed as a result to other slavic lands, various German states and as far as the Low Countries, where Comenius attempted to direct a resurgence, much as the secret Jews (The Moranos) were forced to operate in Hapsburg controled Spain and other Roman Catholic Lands. The Thirty Years War was a time of much religious bloodletting, witchburning and repression and by some estimates lead to millions of deaths and near depopulation of many areas in Germany and the eastern Holy Roman Empire as the wars ground on and on and forcible conversion and the inquisition were much practiced, even common. Most of the deaths were by-products of mercenary armies of occupation foraging for substanance among peoples hanging on the edge of subsistance themselves, not out and out executions, excepting save perhaps isolated (and accidental) attrocities like the sack of Magdeburg.

Related Topics:
1620 - Catholic Church - Protestant - Poland - Germany - Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf - Moravian Church - Canada - United States - Texas - Czech Republic - Thirty-Years War - Low Countries - Morano - Holy Roman Empire - Inquisition - Sack of Magdeburg

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Those who stayed practiced their beliefs in secret and privately passed their beliefs from one generation to the next. Even after Emperor Joseph II proclaimed toleration in 1781, only Lutherans and Calvinists were allowed to openly practice their faith. Many of the Brethren united with the Lutherans and most of them with Calvinists around that time. Later after the end of World War I and formation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Czech Lutherans and Calvinists formed a united church — The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.

Related Topics:
Joseph II - 1781 - Lutheran - Calvinist - World War I - Czechoslovakia - 1918

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From about the middle of the 19th century until the outbreak of the First World War, a number of Czech protestants immigrated to USA. In most of the US they formed Czech churches within the Presbyterian Church. Those who settled as farmers in the state of Texas in the United States decided to form their own denomination. Jindrich Juren (1850–1921) came to Texas in 1876, and from 1881 through 1888 was the only minister to these Brethren congregations. Representatives of these congregations met in 1903 and formed the Evangelical Unity of the Czech-Moravian Brethren in North America. The early churches reflected their origin and worshipped in the Czech language. By the 1940s, most of the churches reflected assimilation into the surrounding culture and worshipped in the English language. In 1959, the name Unity of the Brethren was adopted.

Related Topics:
19th century - Texas - United States - 1876 - 1881 - 1888 - 1903 - 1940s - English language - 1959

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