Czechs Commemorate Saint Cyril And Methodius And Jan Hus

7 July 2006, 18:09 - Culture
Czechs enjoy two public holiday during this week. Both of them are related to Christianity, but in different ways. While on Wednesday Czechs commemorate the arrival of missionaries – Saint Cyril and Methodius – to the former Great Moravia, on Thursday it was 591 years from the death of Czech Reformist Jan Hus who died at the stake.

Cyril and Methodius were two brothers born in Thessaloniki, Greece. They had been invited by Prince Rostislav of Great Moravia, while he asked Constantinople – in that time the center of Christianity – for missionaries. The two started their work among Slavs using Slavonic language in the liturgy.

They translated parts of Bible into the language later known as Old Church Slavonic. Also presented Slavic alphabet based on Greek characters that in its final Cyrillic form is still in use as the alphabet for modern Russian and a number of other Slavic languages – not in Czech. Czech alphabet now uses latin charcters.

Both brothers had been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1880.

Jan Hus is quite different example. He was religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer, master at Charles University in Prague. Hus was excommunicated in 1411 from the Catholic Church, because of his teaching and preachments were considered as heretical. He was condemned by the Council of Constance to death, and burned at the stake on July 6, 1415, in Konstanz. He never recall his thought before the death.

Hus is quite important person in the Protestant movement. You can see his statue on the Old Town Square (see photo) in Prague.