HistoryAccording to the tradition, the founder of Judaism is Abraham and his ancestors Isaac and Jacob (beginning of the 2nd millenium B. C. E.). The beginnings of the Jewish religion, however, date back to the time of the departure of Jews from the Egyptian bondage, i. e. approximately to the 13th century B. C. E., when according to the Bible Moses obtained Ten Commandments at the Sinai. The principal landmarks in the Jewish history was the establishment of David´s kingdom (around 1000 B. C. E.) and the building of the Jerusalem Temple by Solomon (in 960 B. C. E.). The double destruction of the Temple – the first by the troops of the Babylon king Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B. C. E., and the other by Romans in 70 C. E. resulted in the occurrence of an extensive Jewish diaspore all over the world. Since the 1st century synagogues, instead of the Temple, have become centres of spiritual life.
Jews began to settle on the territory of the present Bohemia and Moravia approximately in the 8th century. The first written records come from the 10th century.
Mission
The basis of Jewish faith is the Torah – the five books of Moses. Liturgic texts: all books of the Old Testament and Talmud, the collection of traditional directives for the religious life and the interpretation of texts.
The worship takes place tree times a day: in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. The day of rest is Sabbath. It starts on Friday night before the first three stars appear in the sky and finishes at the same time on Saturday night.
According to the Rabbinical collection of laws (Halakah) only those who have a Jewish mother, and proselytes (converts to the Jewish faith) may become members of Jewish communities. According to the present statutes of the Federation of the Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, those who have at least one Jewish grandparent may become members of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic (the Israel Act of Return).
Organisation
The Federation of Jewish Communities (FJC) is an umbrella organisation, which at present associate ten Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia. The collective members of the FJC are also other Jewish organisations and societies, such as the Terezin Initiative - the association of former prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, The Union of Jewish Youth, the sports club Makkabi etc. Jewish communities are represented in the supreme body of the Federation, the Council, which is elected by representatives, whose number refers to the number of the members of the community; the collective members are represented by heads of individual societies. The Council of the Federation elects from its midst the chairman and vice-chairmen, who together with the Secretary and the country´s Chief Rabbi, whose appointment must be approved by the Council, form the Presidium. The FJC is represented in public by the chairman and the secretary. Individual Jewish communities are separate legal entities and their statutory representatives? are elected chairmen. At present, Jewish communities are in Brno, Děčín, Karlovy Vary, Liberec, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pilsen, Prague, Teplice and Ústí nad Labem. The prerequisite to the establishment and activity of a Jewish community is the regular conducting of a divine service. The FJC is a collective member of the World Jewish Congress and the European Council of Jewish Communities.
Activity
The FJC represents Jews in the relationship towards domestic bodies and institutions, including the state, and to foreign countries. The activity of individual Jewish communities can be divided into:
- religious activity, which is concentrated on leading the Sabbath divine service and all other Jewish feasts, the most important of them being Rosh Hashanah – a New Year, Yom Kippur - The Day of reconciliation, Hanukkah, Purim and Pesah
- educational activity, which is focused not only on young generation, but also on the education of adults – not only their own members, but wide public. The Jewish community in Prague operates a nursery school, a school (since 1997), it is an organiser of different courses, and in co-operation with the Charles University it takes part in the courses of Judaism at the Philosophical Faculty and particularly at the Hussite Theological Faculty
- social activity, which includes health care, the assistance to seniors, including delivery of meals and cleaning, up to the financial benefits for socially weak persons. The Jewish community in Prague has an old people´s home and is extending its capacity with the aim of establishing a hospice for long-term patients
- construction activity, which is focused on the reconstruction of important Jewish structures, synagogues and cemeteries in particular, on the territory of the whole Czech Republic. For the ensuring of this uneasy task a foundation Dědictví (Heritage) was created by the FJC.
The FJC is also a founder of the publishing house Sefer, which concentrates on the issuing of the titles from the area of religious literature, the literature of facts (particularly the period of Holocaust), and also the works of outstanding Czech and world Jewish authors. The Gazette of Jewish Communities in Bohemia and Moravia (and Slovakia), Roš Chodeš, is a periodical, which is published once a month and brings current affairs from the life of the Jewish community in the Czech Republic and from abroad.
In 1994 the FJC, together with Prague´s Jewish Community and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, established the Jewish museum in Prague. This museum, apart from its main mission, which is the presentation of collections treasured in Prague´s synagogues, takes part in cultural and educational activity. For this purpose it established a special centre, which creates theme programmes both for the scientific and the lay audience.
Statistics
The estimated number of Jews in the whole world is 14 million, 5 million of them living in the USA, 4 million in Israel, 3 million in the states of the former Soviet Union, 1.5 million in Western Europe and the rest all over the world.
In 10 Jewish communities in the Czech Republic 1515 members are registered.
Addresses:
Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic
Federace židovských obcí v ČR
Maiselova 18
110 00 Praha 1
phone:+420 224 811 090
fax: +420 224 810 912
e-mail: fedzid@vol.cz
2006-06-13, 09:40:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 683 )
HistoryThe Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (ECAC) in the Czech Republic is a young church among the churches registered on the territory of the Czech Republic. It came to being after the splitting of the Federation in 1993 by the transformation of the Slovak Evangelical congregation of the Augsburg Confession in Prague, which was the only congregation on of the Slovak Evangelical Church in former Czechoslovakia on the territory of the Czech Lands. The home Evangelical church of the Augsburg Confession in the present Slovak Republic is the largest Protestant church among Slavs.
Martin Luther´s reformation teachings got to Slovakia very fast through students and the inhabitants of German nationality who lived in mining regions. By the end of the 16th century the whole territory of Slovakia was on the side of the Reformation. The articles of the faith were reformed the most quickly, followed by the adjustment of God´s service and the church administration. These issues were dealt with at the Synods (in Žilina in 1610; in Spišské Podhradie in 1614, and in Ružomberok in 1707).The persecution of Evangelicals, which followed, lasted until 1781, when the Toleration Act was issued in 1781. As a result of this hard counter-reformation the Evangelicals of the A. C. became a minority.
After the foundation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 Slovaks attained national freedom. The Synod in Trenčianské Teplice in 1921 adopted a new institution of the church. The Slovak clerical-fascist state (1939 – 1945) was not favourably inclined to Slovak Evangelicals. Members of churches and some ministers took part in the resistance movement against this state. The situation under the communists (1948 – 1989) was even worse. Forty-seven ministers were imprisoned and a hundred of them were suspended by the state from the ministry. Free development of the church began only after the revolution in November 1989.
The Slovak Evangelical congregation in Prague was established after the World War II in 1947. As early as the beginning of the existence of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 a great number of Slovak Evangelicals settled in Prague or in other places of historical Czech lands. Before the foundation of their own congregation in Prague, Slovak Evangelicals used to worship in other congregations. A number of Slovaks in the Czech Lands increased after 1939, when many people in mixed marriages had to move out of Slovakia. A mighty stream of Slovaks arriving in Bohemia in order to live there was recorded after the World War II. They settled particularly in border areas. For their new Prague congregation they managed to get St. Michael´s church in Jircháře Street. The church was vacant as until 1945 it had been used by German Evangelicals.
In 1923 Albert Schweitzer gave a concert in that church. In 1997 the present congregation commemorated 50 years since its foundation.
Mission
The ECAC is a community of Christians, the Evangelicals of the Augsburg Confession, who respect as a source of faith and a rule of life only the Holy Scriptures interpreted in the spirit of its symbolic books and general Christian confessions. The church has supranational character. All the participants of the church, irrespective of their nationality, have the same rights. The main mission of the ECAC is:
a) to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, to confess and strengthen the faith in triune God, to witness about him and impress the faith in the hearts of all people, young generation in particular
b) to minister its members, particularly by God´s service, administration of sacraments, religious education, providing spiritual care and material aid, to lead people to mutual respect, support, tolerance and exemplary Christian and civil life
c) in cooperation with the other Christian churches and communities to contribute to the spreading and consolidating of Christianity
d) according to the gospel to strive with all people of good will to apply love, and establish justice and peace in social life.
Organisation
The basic unit of the church is a congregation, which is formed by its members, Evangelicals. At the head of the congregation is a presidium, which is formed by the pastor and the non-ordained congregation curator (overseer). The supreme body of the congregation is a convent, formed by the adult members of the congregation. In the period between the sessions of the convent the congregation is administered by the Board of Elders involving the pastor, the curator and elected presbyters. The supreme body of the Evangelical Church is the Church Convent. The Church Convent consists of the administrator of the church and the church overseer. The administrator of the church is the pastor of the church´s largest congregation. The seat of central bodies of the ECAC in the capital city of the Czech Republic, Prague.
The church has no theological facility of its own. It closely cooperates with the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Some students study at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Charles university in Prague.
The Evangelical Church issues a bimonthly “Evanjelík“ (An Evanlgelical). The Slovak weekly “Evanjelický posol“ (An Evangelical Messenger) and a monthly “Církevné listy“ (The Church Paper) is read as well. The ECAC is a member of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic and it it in close labour contacts with its home church in Slovakia and with the other sisterly Lutheran Churches around the world.
Statistic
According to the census in 2001 the ECAC has 14.885 memebers.
Address:
The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic
Evangelická církev a. v. v ČR
Čajkovského 8
130 00 Praha 3
phone: +420 222 716 864
e-mail: ecav@ecav.cz
2006-06-12, 15:09:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 657 )
IntroductionThe 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“.
Statistic
The Orthodox Church has 22.968 believers.
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: +420 224 315 015
fax: +420 224 313 137
christofor.cz@worldonline.cz
The Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands
Prague Eparchy:
Pravoslavná církev v českých zemích
Pražská eparchie
Resslova 9a
120 00 Praha 2
phone/fax: +420 224 920 686,
+420 224 916 100
e-mail: milko@volny.cz
The Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands
Olomouc-Brno Eparchy:
Pravoslavná církev v českých zemích
Olomoucko-brněnská eparchie
Masarykova tř. 17
772 00 Olomouc
2006-06-12, 15:08:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 646 )
IntroductionThe Old Catholic Church is part of the one, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Christian Church. It follows the belief, tenets, teachings and practice of early Christians. It has no property and does not want to have more than is necessary for the securing of basic needs. The word “old“ in the name of the church expresses the spirit of originality, openness and confidence – the spirit of the first Christian communities.
It avows the alternative catholicism, which has always been present in the Czech history: the tradition of Cyril and Methodius, the legacy of Master Jan Hus and the Czech Church in Both Kinds of Jan Rokycana.
History
The Old Catholic Church as a movement of Christians who had not accepted the dogma of the First Vatican Council came to being in the territory of the present Czech Republic after 1870, its Bishopric being established in Varnsdorf (North Bohemia). The priest Anton Nittl and the first administrator of the church P. Miloš Čech (died in 1922), brother of the famous poet Svatopluk Čech, were important personalities of the beginnings of the church. After Čech´s death Alois Pašek, the South Bohemian priest, was elected and ordained a Bishop. He died in 1946. After the administrator V. J. Ráb, who was head of the church at the time of the communist coup in 1948, in 1950 the Synodal Council elected PhDr ThLic Augustin Podolák. The year 1968 brought the reanimation of the church – Dr Podolak was elected and ordained a Bishop. The short period of the church flourishing was supressed after the occupation of the country when political opression of the 1970s began. As early as 1971 Bishop Podolák was deprived of state permission for his public activity and the leadership of the church was taken over by the people who collaborated with the regime and who devastated the church spiritually, sacramentally as well as materially. Under Bishop Podolák the church, however, continued its living in informal structures. After the November Revolution of 1989, the brave activity of bishop Podolák and the priests who were faithful to him, as well as believers, resulted in summonning the Synod of Restoration (29th April 1990), which opened the work of the restoration of the church. Bishop Podolák, however, died on 7th January 1991 and the 39th Synod (on 23rd February 1991) elected his successor – his disciple and the closest co-worker, ThMgr Dušan Hejbal. Despite all the difficulties, which the legacy of the preceeding period has brought to the newly elected Bishop and the Synod Council, the church has been experiencing the time of new development. The new concept of the leadership of the church brings new forms of pastoration as well as new social activity. Many people, particularly young ones, found their spiritual home in this church. The candidates of priesthood and pastoral woman assistants are getting ready for their demanding ministry. The jubilee 40th Synod (11th November 1995) confirmed by its unanimous decision the correctness of the started way and also cleared up the position of the church in the international Old Catholic community. Bishop Hejbal was ordained on the 27
September 1997. The celebration with the participation of a great number of Bishops and representatives of the Oikumene took place in the cathedral church of St. Lawrence in Prague.
The Old Catholic Church is not yet large in number. It is, however, aware of its spiritual significance as a possible bridge for the reapprochement of different Christian traditions in the spirit of its ecumenical ecclesiology. It takes part in the work of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and other ecumenical activities. It is open in its social work as well. Despite all obstacles it proved its vitality and gained credit by its principality.
Mission
The Old Catholic Christians did not accept the teachings of the infallebility and the divine origine of Papal power, which was declared at the First Vatican Council in 1870 as the doctrine that is strange to original Christianity.
The Utrecht Declaration of the Old Catholic Bishops of 1889 expresses what the church believes. It preserves the early Christian principle, which is characterized by St. Vincent of Lerine (before the year 450): “We keep to what all people have always and everywhere believed. This is really true catholic.“ According to this it preserves the belief of the early Church, as it remained expressed in ecumenical Creeds and in generally acknowledged dogmas and resolutions of the ecumenical councils of the Church of the first millenium. All later doctrines are accepted by the OCC only in what they are consistent with the doctrines of the early Church.
The OCC preserves the accepting of the Christ´s Body and Blood, which are really present in bread and wine, in both kinds, by all believers and since the beginning of the church its worship has been in mother tongue.
In accordance with the practice of the Church of the first millenium it does not impose celibacy as a condition of the ordination and makes possible for its deacons, priests and Bishops to live in a marriage and have a family. It does not exclude the divorced from the accepting of sacraments and with kindness it considers the possibility of their remarriage.
Organisation
Priests of the OCC are elected by their parish communities, the Bishop is elected by the Synod consisting of priests and lays. This democratic, Episcopal and synodal principle enables the true realization of the priesthood of the faithful and the right of every member of the church to take part in decisions on all the matters of the life of the church.
The international Old Catholic community comprises the autonomous Old Catholic Churches in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, the U. S. A., Canada, Chroatia, France, Sweden, Denmark and Italy, which are associated on the basis of voluntariness and parity in the so called Utrecht Union. The OCC in the Czech Republic is also in sacramental community with the Old Catholic Church of Mariavites, the Independent Catholic Church in the Philippines and with the Anglican Church. It also strives for full sacramental reapprochement with other churches, which stand on the apostolic doctrine in full apostolic succession.
The OCC CR issues the magazine Communio.
Statistic
a number of believers:1.605
Addresses:
Bishop´s office and the Synodal Council of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic
Biskupský ordinát
a synodní rada Starokatolické církve v ČR
Na Bateriích 93/27
162 00 Praha 6
phone/fax: +420 224 319 528
e-mail: stkat@starokatolici.cz
2006-06-12, 15:00:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 788 )
IntroductionThe Apostolic Church(AC) in the Czech Republic belongs to Evangelic churches. From the point of view of its doctrine and practice it ranks among Pentacostal churches which are associated in the Pentacostal World Conference, and in the European scale it is a member of the Pentacostal European Fellowship.
History
The first Pentacostal congregation on the territory of the present Czech Republic emerged in North Moravia before 1910. A group of Christians of different denominations started to meet in order to study God´s word and to pray. They prayed for the empowering to spiritual work and God baptised them in the Holy Spirit. They received a gift of speaking languages. This work was spreading and other groups came to being in Brno, Prague and other places. Soon they applied with the administrative organs for official registration. In 1910 they were registered under the name The Union of Resolved Pentacostal Christians. During the Nazi occupation their activity was forbidden. After 1948 the Unions were abolished. Therefore the brothers tried to integrate in some church communities, but due to the doctrinal differences it was not possible.
From the 1960s on they were trying to obtain the permission for the establishment of their own church. In 1977 the church was founded on the territory of Czechoslovakia but it was not legalised until 1989.
Mission
The Apostolic Church accepts the Scriptures as a criterion for faith and the Christian life as the only dogmatic basis. It follows Christ´s and the apostles´ way of life. They baptise by immersion those who are able to believe and who confess their faith in Jesus Christ as God´s Son, their Lord and the Saviour.In the doctrine and practice the person of the Holy Spirit, the baptism by the Holy Spirit and an active role of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual and of the church are emphasised apart from traditional axioms of Christian theology. It aims at the proclaiming of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. As for the relationship to other churches, the AC considers all those who believe in Jesus Christ, have experienced the forgiveness of sins and are followers of Jesus Christ, as the Christ´s Church, which means their brothers and sisters.
Ecclesiology: The Church is a community of all those newly-born believers who live under the authority of Jesus Christ and are connected by the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God.
Christology: Christ is a complete God and a human being, who was born of the Virgin Mary and in his birth he abased himself in order to fulfil God´s perfect will – the rescue of the man. He came to the world to reveal God the Father, to show us the way of salvation and to take our sins on himself, to break the rule of the Satan and to free us from the power of the death and sin. He died on the cross and resurrected in order to justify all who believe in him. He said:
“It is finished“ – nothing is necessary to add for the salvation. He pleads for us, saves us, and baptises in the Holy Spirit, reigns over the whole Church through the Holy Spirit, the Word and spiritual ministers.
Soteriology: everybody has sinned and turned away from God. An imperfect human beings cannot save themselves. They need to repent their sins and to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Principally, the AC has two main rites: the baptism by immersion into water and the Lord´s Supper. The Word of God is contained in 66 books of the Bible, without the Apocryphas. This Word is fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is infallible, its original version is without mistakes and it is a rule for the Christian life and doctrine.
Organisation
The Apostolic Church is administered in a Congregational-Presbytarian way. The basic unit of the church is a congregation, which is administered by the Elders. The church itself is a union of separate congregations with their stations and diasporas. Head of the church is a Bishop.
The church has established the Missionary and Theological College in Kolín (Central Bohemia), which provides instruction to ministers of the AC.
The church has its publishing house Křesťanský život (The Christian Life) and it issues the magazine Život v Kristu (The Life in Christ).
Further activities of the AC:
- Foundation Nehemia - gathering finances, clothing, and foods. It delivers them by its own van to the areas which need help.
- The Society AC Teen Challenge - works among alcoholics and drug-addicts.
- Royal Rangers - works among children and young people, stressing the balanced development of spirit, soul and body as well as social relations.
- The Diaconia - deals with homeless people and other people in need (the old and the sick)
- The ICI University - the correspondence form of Christian education, which is organized on several levels, starting from the elementary education up to the Baccalaureate.
- The missionary society Život (Life) proclaims the gospel in towns and villages of the Czech Republic.
- The Women´s Section addresses women in the church as well as outside.
Statistics
The AC has 4565 members (2001) on the territory of the Czech Republic.
Addresses:
The Apostolic Church
Apoštolská církev
V Zídkách 402
280 02 Kolín 2
phone: +420 321 720 457
fax: +420 321 727 668
e-mail: ustredi.kolin@apostolskacirkev.cz
The Central Council of the Elders of the Apostolic Church
Ústřední rada starších Apoštolské církve
735 43 Albrechtice u Českého Těšína 504
phone/fax: +420 558 742 323
e-mail: acrc@volny.cz
2006-06-12, 14:53:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 611 )
HistoryIn the region of Těšín (Silesia) evangelical teachings in the sense of the Lutheran reformation started to spread beginning from the year 1524. The whole region soon became evangelical. It was a prince of the Piast House, Václav Adam from Těšín, who much contributed to that development. He worked out the first order of the divine service and of the administration of the Evangelical Church on that territory. In 1690? the counter-reformation movement started in the region of Těšín and it lasted for half a century. All Evangelical churches were seized, pastors were expelled from the country and the worship was interdicted. The faithful believers gathered in the mountains and forests for secret worship. The Bible, the Tranoscius´ (Třanovský) hymn book and the Sermons by pastor S. Dabrovský were their spiritual fare.
In 1790? Evangelicals were allowed to build the only church in Těšín (now in Poland). Further construction of churches started after the Toleration Act had been issued. After the World War I this church was part of the Evangelical Church of A. C. in Poland with the seat in Warsaw. After the World War II an indepemdent Evangelical church came to being under the name of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (SECAC).
Mission
The SECAC is concentrated on a comparatively small territory of about 100 km along the river
Olše and about 40 km southward.
Mission and evangelisation take place in that region in accordance with biblical principles. The blessed work is done by the Christian Community ( Křesťanské společenskví, Spoleczność Chrześcijańska). It has a considerable share in organizing the work with children and young people. There are large choirs and music groups of various genres working within the church. The aim of the churches policy is to address modern men and women, particularly those living in large citiy conglomerations.
In the charity field it is the Silesian Diaconia that gives practical shape to biblical principles of love, taking care of senior citizens, lonely, forsaken, physically or mentally challenged people and other who suffer or are in need. It runs seventeen centres.
Two languages are used in the church, Czech and Polish. In the congregations whose members are also Slovaks, the worship is led also in Slovak. The co-existence of all the nationalities is harmonious and brotherly. The church has very active congregations and stresses evangelisation. The awakening movement has deep roots in the church, forming principal and decisive part of the church.
Organisation
The church is devided into five administrative units – seniorates. The supreme body of the church is the Synod, which elects the Church Council and the Bishop.
Publishing and historical research activities are entrusted to Evangelická společnost (Towarzystwo Ewangelickie, the Evangelical Society). The church issues the monthly Přítel lidu (Przyjaciel ludu, The People´s Friend), Evangelický kalendář (Kalendarz Ewangelicki, the Evangelical Calendar) and a number of further publications of theological, educational and historical character.
The Silesian Evangelical Church of A. C. leads the department of catechetics within the Pedagogical Faculty of the Ostrava University and cooperates with the Institute of Social and Theological Studies at the Silesian University in Opava.
Statistics
The SECAC has 14.020 members.
Address:
Silesian Evangelical Church of A. C., the Church Council
Slezská církev evangelická a. v.
Církevní rada
Na nivách 7
737 01 Český Těšín
phone: +420 558 764 200
fax: +420 558 764 201
e-mail: sekretariat@sceav.cz
2006-06-12, 14:50:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 624 )
HistoryThe beginnings of this church go back to the years 1860-1880. At first the people´s awakening occurred in the area of north Bohemian town of Náchod and it led to the foundation of the congregation of the first Free Evangelical Czech Church with the contribution of the Free Scottish Church, which was active in neighbouring Prussia. In addition in 1880 a congregation of the Free Reformed Church was established in Prague as a result the activity of American congregational missionaries from Boston. Both churches joined in one church – the Free Reformed Church, which was further growing. After the emergence of the Czech Republic in 1918 this church extended its activity even in Slovakia and the Sub-Carpathian Ukraine. After adopting a new name – the Czech Brethren Unity, the church acknowledged the spiritual heretage of the old Brethren Unity and has gradually created the presbytarian-congregational system of administration. In the communist era, in 1951, after the abolishment of religious associations, this church incorporated a substantial part of the association The Blue Cross (Modrý kríž), which had been active in Slovakia, and of the association The Resolute Christians (Rozhodní křesťané) in the area around Český Těšín in Silesia, in which Polish nationality prevailed. The growing number of Slovak and Polish members made the church change its name and so in 1967 it addopted the name Brethren Church. It belongs to the family of evangelical and reformed churches, it is a member of IFEC, WARC, CEC and ERC CR.
Mission
Brethren Church lays stress on the authority of the Scripture. It builds congregations out of the believers, who personally decided for the life with Christ and who were in their repentance spiritually born to the new life, as it is revealed in the New Testament. In addition to full members the church has also members in preparation. Full membership is accessible only to those baptised Christians who confess Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord and apply for the membership. The admission in the church takes place after a talk with the elders, public confession of faith and the promise before the congregation. The baptism of adults prevalis though the baptism of children is also made possible. Newly born children are usually brought by their parents to the congregation for blessing. At this dedication the parents take a vow of responsible Christian upbringing of their children. The baptism from other Christian churches is aknowledged. As a rule, once a month the Lord´s Supper is administered in congregations and their extensions. The church sees its main mission in preaching and exegesis. The proclamation of gospel is focused on evangelisation with the emphasis on the turning from the old life to the life with Christ and to the spiritual birth from the Holy Spirit. The stress is laid on catechesis, spiritual growth and active discipleship.
Brethren Church wants to be a community with distinctive integration of lays, who are led to and instructed for the testimony, and some also for the proclamation and preaching of God´s word. Special attention is paid to the spiritual education of children, young people and young families. The proclamation is connected with the instruction to prayers in privacy as well as in prayer communities. It is stressed that every newly born Christian has a certain charisma, through which he or she is to minister as a lively member in the body of the church. Each congregation is considered to be a miniature church. The elders of congregations help in the church by preaching and by personal pastoral care. For the development of further ministry groups of workers are formed in congregations, as well as choirs, music and evangelisation groups, Bible study groups, prayer groups etc. The church has always connected the proclamation with the diaconical ministry within the congregations and church institutions. At present different events take place that are focused on the revival and extension of various charitable facilities.
Organisation
The reformed and evangelic character of the church reflects in its presbytarian-congregational administration, which enables the congregations to be independent, while the unity of the church is preserved. The congregations are administered by the leders, headed by the shepherds of the church. For preserving the spiritual unity the congregations are regulated by a common constitution, confession of faith, order and principles, which were adopted by the whole-church convention, which is the supreme body of the church. The executive body of the church is a seven-member Council of Brethren Church, which is elected for a four-year period. In head of the Council are the representatives of the church, namely the chairman and the secretary, who also represent the church in public. Among the members of the council are also always at least two lays.
The splitting of Czechoslovakia in 1993 resulted in the new administration of Brethren Church. At present there are two independent churches, which are registered in their countries, namely the Czech and the Slovak Republics. In 1993 the common convention of both parts accepted an agreement on mutual cooperation. It says that every other year a common convention of both parts will take place. This convention has the right of changing the confession, the constitution as well as the order. All the other matters, including the representation of the church in local as well as international gremiums are regulated by the Czech and the Slovak part separately.
The church issues a monthly “Bratrská rodina“ (Brethren Family) and together with the Bible Unity it publishes by its own publishing house Oliva an ecumenical aid “Mana“ for daily worshiping. Brethren Church is an establisher of the ecumenical Evangelic Theological Seminary in Prague, which is an alternative for the intsruction of preachers, evangelists and diacons of the church.
Statistics
The church has 9931 members.
Addresses
The Council of Brethren Church
Rada Církve bratrské
Soukenická 15
110 00 Praha 1
phone/fax: +420 222 318 131
e-mail: rada@cb.cz
The Evangelic Theological Seminary - VOŠT
Evangelikální teologický seminář - VOŠT
Stoliňská 920
193 00 Praha 14 – Horní Počernice (Chvaly)
e-mail: estpraha@login.cz
2006-06-12, 14:49:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 601 )
HistoryThe beginnings of the UNITAS FRATRUM, or the Moravian Church, date back to Middle Ages, from great spiritual awakening in Bohemia (Hussitism). To large extent it was influenced by the teachings of Petr Chelčický about the refusal of violence. In 1457 they left under the leadership of Brother Gregory to seclusion in Kunvald (Eastern Bohemia) and called themselves “Brothers and Sisters of Christ´s Church - Unitas Fratrum“ (The Unity of Brethren).
The Unity stressed the ideal of three kinds – of faith, love and hope, always cosidering the practical Christian life as more important than the doctrine or church traditions. It spread in Bohemia, Moravia and in Poland and it greatly influenced the reformation theology and the Czech culture. The Bible of Kralice, which had been translated from original languages, was extraordinary important for the preservation and purity of the Czech language for the following four centuries. Among the most outstanding representatives of the Unity were Lukáš Pražský, Jan Augusta, Jan Blahoslav and also the “teacher of nations“, Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius).
The persecution of Protestants after the Battle of the White Mountain (in 1620) was for tens of thousands of people the cause for leaving the country. Others remained, trying to preserve the faith in secrecy and pass it at least to their children. They were bolstered up by the secret reading of the Scriptures and encouraged by visits of preachers from abroad. This way the Evangelicals survived the whole century as “a hidden seed“ .
Around 1722 the religious opression from Moravia (Suchdol, Fulnek) escalated and the emigration grew stronger. Under the guidance of Kristián David the refugees used to find a shelter on the estate of Earl M. L. Zinzendorf in the Upper Lusatia, where they founded a settlement, which they called Herrnhut (in Czech Ochranov, meaning the place under God´s protection), where they strove to preserve the traditions of the original Unity. As a decisive impetus for the uniting they felt the celebration of Lord´s Supper on August 13, 1727, when the participants experienced the mighty presence of the Holy Spirit (“the restoration of the Unitas Fratrum“). This experience not only led to inner unification, but awoke the desire to bear the good news about God to those who had not yet heard it. The first missionaries set out on their journey to slaves on the Island of St. Thomas in the Carribic in 1732, followed by others who travelled to Greenland, the South and North Americas, to the Souith Africa and Australia. For less than thirty years 226 missionaries left a small town for their mission around the world, where they were called Moravian Brethren according to the place of their origin.
In their Fatherland the Unitas Fratrum were allowed to start their activity again only after 1861. The first congregation of the “Restored Unitas Fratrum“ in Bohemia was founded in Potštejn in 1870.
Mission
In its confession and teachings the present Unitas Fratrum returns to the original legacy of the Old Unitas Fratrum and develops the heritage of the Restored Unity. It seeks present ways of missionary work and proclamation of the gospel, laying stress on the “word of the cross“ and on personal, live faith in Jesus Christ the Saviour. It endeavours to apply this faith even in the educational and social spheres, running a nursery school and an elementary school, and a missionary college, and being active in social and community care service.
The Unitas Fratrum is an ecumenically opened church and wants to be a bridge between Episcopal and Congregational churches, as well as between “traditional“ and “charismatic“ churches.
Their confession is expressed in the motto: VICIT AGNUS NOSTER, EUM SEQUAMUR (“our Lamb has won, let us follow him“). It enriched the form of Christianity with several customs like Advent stars and the agape. It is known for using selected verses from the Bible as an aid for everyday retreat. They are regularly published under the title “Hesla jednoty bratrské“ (Watchwords of the Unitas Fatrum).
Organisation
The Unitas Fratrum in the Czech Republic is an independent province within the world Unitas Fratrum – Moravian Church, which involves 19 provinces in Europe, North and South America and Africa. The administration is presbytarian and synodal, the supreme body being the Synod. Between the Synods the Church is administered by a three-member Provincial Board (Úzká rada). Bishops of the Unity Fratrum have no administrative capacity. Their office is spiritual. They are supposed to be elder brothers and advisors to preachers, shepherds to sheperds and guards of orders. Therefore the sphere of their activity is not limited by frontiers and they are bishops of the whole world Unitas Fratrum.
Statistics
At present the Unitas Fratrum has 3.426 members.
Address:
The Central Office of the Unitas Fratrum
Ústředí Jednoty bratrské
Kollárova 456
509 11 Nová Paka
phone/fax: +420 493 721 258
jb.kancelar@tiscali.cz
2006-06-12, 14:08:00 Církve popisy Visited ( 642 )
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Kontakt:
Secretariat:
Ecumenical Council of Churches
in the Czech Republic
Donská 5,
101 00,
Praha 10 - Vršovice
Tel., fax: +420 271 742 326,
e-mails:
General Secretary: erc@ekumenickarada.cz
Assistant of General Secretary: info@ekumenickarada.cz
Bank account:
IBAN:
CZ7903000000000473492623
BIC: CEKOCZPP
Bank address: ČSOB, Anglická 20, 120 00 Praha 2