THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE CZECH LANDS
Pravoslavná církev v českých zemích

Introduction

The name orthodox comprises the originality of the unbroken unity and apostolic succession from the times of Christ up to the ecumenical councils, and the unsplit Christianity of the first millenium. Of course it includes also the confession that the only head of the Church is Jesus Christ.

History

The earliest history of the Orthodox Church on the territory of the Czech Republic is connected with the mission of St. Cyril and Methodius, who came to this region from Constantinopole to introduce the liturgical and canonical order of Eastern Orthodox Church. After the death of Methodius in 885 this order was interdicted by Pope Stephen V and the disciples of these Slavonic apostles were forced to leave the country in which they had come to establish the Eastern canonical order. Our Orthodox Church follows the work of Cyril and Methodius and considers itself their heir.

In the eastern part of the present Slovak Republic the Orthodox Church lasted due to the influence of the Kiev Russia until the 17th century, when the Union with Rome was instituted by the Viennese Court, Jesuits and noblemen in 1649.

After St. Cyril and Methodius, the first Bishop and their successor more than a thousand years later was the Czech and Moravian-Silesian Bishop Gorazd (Matěj Pavlík), who bore a symbolic name of one of their disciples. He was ordained in Belgrade (Serbia) on 25th September 1921. Under difficult circumstances in the period between the two wars, he succeeded in laying the foundations of the Orthodox Church in Bohemia, Moravia and also partly in Slovakia. At that time new churches were constructed for the money collected by believers. He followed the connection with sisterly eastern churches and ecumenical contacts with Protestant churches, particularly with the Episcopal Church in the U. S. A. and with the Anglican Church. Bishop Gorazd considered the Orthodoxy a productive form of Christianity and was persuaded of its significant mission in the ecumenical movement.

During the occupation and the World War II this small church showed how firmly it is connected with the Czech nation. The church proved its qualities like fighting spirit, bravery and devotion to matters of justice. By providing a shelter to Reichsprotector Heydrich´s assassins, which were later disclosed by Nazis, the church was struck a hard blow. On 4th September 1942 Bishop Gorazd, Vaclav Čikl, the senior of the cathedral church, Dr Vladimír Petřek, the priest, and Jan Sonnevend, the chair of the board of elders, were shot dead. Their families and many other people died in a fascist concentration camp, the Orthodox priests were sent to forced labour, the church was interdicted and its property confiscated.

The present Orthodox Church, which was restored after the World War II, is independent. The first among its bishops is the Archbishop of Preague and the Metropolitan of the Czech lands and of Slovakia. The episcopates are also in Olomouc, Prešov and Michalovce. After the creation of the independent Czech and Slovak Republics in 1993, the church, being regularly registered, continues its activity in both countries. The legal entity in the Czech Republic is the Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and the legal entity in the Slovak Republic is the Orthodox Church in Slovakia.

Organisation

The Orthodox Church has four eparchies (Prague, Olomouc-Brno, Prešov and Michalovce). Head of each eparchy is a bishop. In addition to these four bishops the church has one more bishop – the Vicar of Prague eparchy, who has the title of the Bishop of Mariánské Lázně. The highest representative of the church is the Archbishop of Prague.

Future Orthodox priests study in Prešov at the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Prešov, at its extension in Olomouc and abroad.

The Orthodox Church issues a monthly “Hlas pravoslaví“ (The Voice of Orthodoxy) in Czech, “Odkaz sv. Cyrila a Metoda“(The Legacy of St Cyril and Methodius) in Slovak and Ukrainian.

The church is a member of the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches and the international organisation of the Orthodox youth “Syndesmos“.

Statistics

The Orthodox Church has 82 parishes in the Czech Republic (51 in Bohemia and 31 in Moravia and Silesia), about 20 thousand believers and about 199 thousand believers from abroad, who stay in the Czech Republic. The Prague eparchy has 49 clerics, the Olomouc-Brno eparchy 27 clerics.

Addresses:

The Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands

The Metropolitan Council:
Pravoslavná církev v českých zemích
Metropolitní rada
P. O. Box 655
111 21 Praha 1

phone: 02/24 31 50 15
fax: 02/24 31 31 37

christofor.cz@worldonline.cz

http://www.pravoslavnacirkev.cz