Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

CHAPTER 6 HOPES FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE 17 TH CENTURY
Foremost among those who called for toleration in a war-torn 17 th Century in Central Europe
must be the name of Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) (1592-1670). He was born in
Moravia, part of the Czech Republic, in or near Uhersky Brod, where today there is a fine
museum of his life and work. His father was a prosperous miller, but by the age of 12
Komensky had lost both of his parents.
A sensitive and thoughtful lad, he came to join the Unitas Fratrum („Unity of the Brethren‟),
a community of the poor with high ideals of peace, integrity of life and deep spirituality.
Founded in the 15 th Century as spiritual descendants of John Hus, the Brethren had by
Komensy‟s day expanded their ranks to include the nobility, and were between five and 10%
of the population of Bohemia.
They were thoroughly orthodox in doctrine, trinitarian and confessing the classical Creeds,
and had been inspired by the orthodox but schismatic Waldensians. In 1575 the Czech
Confession had been signed in Prague by the Utraquists, the Lutherans and the Unity. The
Confession was Lutheran-based and it united (outwardly at least) the Protestants of Bohemia.
Komensky became a life-long worker for Christian Unity, especially between Protestants.The
Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian accepted the Confession in that he did not persecute its
adherents, and in 1609 the Bohemian nobility received a charter from the new and decidedly
eccentric Rudolf II, guaranteeing them freedom of worship.
Anti-Hapsburg agitation had been going on in the Empire since the end of the 16 th Century,
and in Government reprisals Komensky, then 13 years of age, lost his home in the flames. He
moved to live in Přerov to study at the Brethren School there from 1608 to 1611, and then
went to Germany, to the Nassau Academy at Herborn, for two years.
Here he came under the influence of three teachers in particular. From J H Alsted he learned
to relate revelation to science in a synthesis which was being overturned by new advanced
thinkers of the age. J Fischer-Piscator taught him Bible doctrine and inspired him with the
teaching of the Parousia (the „Coming Again‟) of Christ. From J H Althusius he learned
political theory and the concept of a contract between a ruler and the leaders of the Estates he
ruled over. Komensky met David Pareus (1548-1622) at Heidelberg and came under the
influence of his ecumenical spirit. Pareus hoped the Unity of Protestants could be brought
about by holding a sort of Protestant Council of Trent.
In Bohemia things came to a head politically when a crowd of Protestants stormed the
Hradčany Palace in May 1618 and threw two Hapsburg governors out of a window. The mob
was protesting against violations of the Royal Charter of Toleration of 1609, and that the
Hapsburg Ferdinand II, aiming to become Emperor, was also assuming the throne of
Bohemia.
As they threw the governors out of the window (still pointed out to tourists today) they cried
out, „Shout to Mary to help you.‟ They fell on a dung heap below the window and survived.
When Ferdinand did become Emperor the next year Bohemian Protestants deposed him as
their king and put Frederick V of the Palatinate in his place. He lasted only a few months, as
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