Unity of the Brethren
Encyclopedia
- For the Moravian Church, see Unitas FratrumUnitas FratrumThis article is about the coordinating body of the Moravian Church worldwide. For the Christian denomination based in Texas see Unity of the Brethren....
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The Unity of the Brethren ' onMouseout='HidePop("39019")' href="/topics/Latin">Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: Unitas Fratrum
Unitas Fratrum
This article is about the coordinating body of the Moravian Church worldwide. For the Christian denomination based in Texas see Unity of the Brethren....
, also known as Czech or Bohemian Brothers or Brethren) is a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
whose roots are in the pre-reformation work of priest and philosopher Jan Hus
Jan Hus
Jan Hus , often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague...
, who was martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed in 1415.
History in Bohemia
The roots of this radical and pacifistic stream within the early reformation movement go back to 1457 in a small village called Kunvald
Kunvald
Kunvald is a village in 5 km north of Žamberk in the Ústí nad Orlicí District, in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has over 1,000 inhabitants. The Unitas Fratrum was founded in Kunvald in 1457, when followers of the martyred Jan Hus found refuge on the estate of King George of...
near Žamberk
Žamberk
Žamberk is a town in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,100 inhabitants.-Museums and Historic Sites:* Municipal Museum – Československé armády 472* House of Prokop Diviš – Helvíkovice 326* Litice - ancient castle...
, on Litice
Litice nad Orlicí
This article is about village Litice nad Orlicí which is part od municipality Záchlumí. For information about castle Litice, see Litice ...
lordship of king George Podiebrad, in the North-East part of Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. Theologians and thinkers who provided inspiration for the future Unity of the Brethren were Hussite bishop Jan Rokycana and Petr Chelčický
Petr Chelcický
Petr Chelčický was a Christian and political leader and author in 15th century Bohemia .-Chelčický's background:...
. Some other influential theologians and thinkers of Unity of the Brethren were: Brother Řehoř (Gregor) one of the founders, Lukáš Pražský — an inspiring theologian, Brother Jan Augusta, and the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren — Comenius
Comenius
John Amos Comenius ; ; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) was a Czech teacher, educator, and writer. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren, and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica...
(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
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
. This translation is known as Bible of Kralice
Bible of Kralice
The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into the Czech language. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in the town of Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had six volumes and was published between the years 1579 and 1593...
(Bible kralická) — until recently the most widely used Czech biblical translation — an equivalent to English King James Version.
After 1620, due to a counter-reformation by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, 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
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) and those who left under persecution, mostly from villages on the Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
n-Silesian border, regrouped a century later in Saxony
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
under the influence of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf
Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, , German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden....
and formed the church which is now known as Moravian Church (in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
except Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
), Jednota bratrská (in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
) 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 its geographical homeland, and dispersed as a result to other Slavic lands, various German states and as far as the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, where Comenius attempted to direct a resurgence, much as the secret Jews (The Marranos) were forced to operate in Habsburg controlled Spain and other Roman Catholic Lands. The Thirty Years War was a time of much religious bloodletting, witch-burning 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
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
as the wars ground on and on and forcible conversion and the inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
were much practiced, even common. Most of the deaths were by-products of mercenary armies of occupation foraging for sustenance among peoples hanging on the edge of subsistence themselves, not out-and-out executions, excepting save perhaps isolated (and accidental) atrocities like the sack of Magdeburg
Sack of Magdeburg
The Sack of Magdeburg refers to the siege and subsequent plundering of the largely Protestant city of Magdeburg by the forces of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League during the Thirty Years' War...
.
Those who stayed practiced their beliefs in secret and privately passed their beliefs from one generation to the next. Even after Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
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
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and formation of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in 1918, Czech Lutherans and Calvinists formed a united church — The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren
Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren
The Protestant Church of Czech Brethren , was formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of the Protestant churches of the Lutheran and Reformed confessions...
.
The Czech-originated Unity of the Brethren should not be confused with the Unity of the Brethren Baptists, a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
organization in the Czech and Slovak Republics.
Instauration in Texas
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 TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
decided to form their own denomination. Jindřich 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 Bohemian-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
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. In 1959, the name Unity of the Brethren was adopted.
Doctrine
This body accepts the Apostles' CreedApostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...
as a valid expression of their beliefs, and stresses the ancient motto, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love." They believe the Bible is God's revelation to man, the sourcebook for all spiritual truth; that one God is revealed in three persons; that Christ is the only way of salvation; that salvation is by grace through faith; that the Holy Spirit dwells in believers; and that Jesus Christ will return to judge the world and reward the faithful believers. The Unity practices two sacraments—water baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
and holy communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
. Christian parents present their infant children for baptism. All Christians are invited to communicate with them at the Lord's supper or communion. However, they do not regard full agreement on the elements, methods and modes of the sacraments as essential. They believe that love is the supreme evidence of Christian disciples.
Church emblem
The Unity of the Brethren church has adopted a church emblem having an open Bible, with a cross behind in the center, and a chalice in front to the left. According to the church, the "cross represents Christ as the resurrected and living Lord, the Bible is the sourcebook of all Christian truth, open for all to explore, while the chalice holds special significance for Brethren: not only is it a symbol of the Lord's Supper, but it is also a reminder of the pre-Reformation insistence of John Hus and the early Brethren upon receiving the Cup as well as bread in Holy Communion."Status
Currently the church is made up of 28 congregations with an estimated membership of 3500, with all except one located in the state of Texas. The location of the majority of churches is roughly the area from West, Temple, to AustinAustin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
to Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. The synod meets every two years. The Unity of the Brethren maintains several ministry organizations, including the Board of Christian Education; Brethren Youth Fellowship; Brethren Bookstore, operated in Caldwell, Texas
Caldwell, Texas
Caldwell is a city in Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,449 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Burleson County. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area....
; Brethren Journal (founded 1902); Christian Sisters Union; Friends of the Hus Encampment; Grants and Bequests Board; the Hus Institute for Lay Leadership (which meets with the various congregations); and the Mutual Aid Society. The Hus Encampment Facility is located near Caldwell, Texas
Caldwell, Texas
Caldwell is a city in Burleson County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,449 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Burleson County. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area....
. They have no seminary, but support the Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
. Three missionary families are serving in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
External links
- The Birth, Life, and Death of the Bohemian Revival – a historical overview of the Unity's early days (1457–1620)
- Unity of the Brethren (Texas) – official Web site
- Jindřich Juren – Unity of the Brethren minister, father of Texas church