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Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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survived in Bohemian libraries despite official opposition and prohibition of <strong>the</strong>study of Wycliffe’s works, yet in 1410 his <strong>book</strong>s were burned publicly.Jan Hus’s execution failed to extinguish his teaching that <strong>the</strong> Bible should be<strong>the</strong> sole authority for faith and conduct and that civil or ecclesiastical authoritycould be challenged if it did not conform to its teaching. In <strong>the</strong> Church of StMartin-in-<strong>the</strong>-Walls, not far from Hus’s own Bethlehem Chapel, in 1414, HolyCommunion was celebrated for <strong>the</strong> first time by <strong>the</strong> congregation partaking of<strong>the</strong> cup as well as <strong>the</strong> bread.<strong>The</strong> cup (chalice-calix) became <strong>the</strong> symbol for a reforming section of <strong>the</strong>Church who became known as <strong>the</strong> ‘Utraquists‘ (from utraque, ‘and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r’).<strong>The</strong> Utraquists were given a special status in <strong>the</strong> Catholic Church from 1433and only lost <strong>the</strong>ir position as <strong>the</strong> established Church in Bohemia after <strong>the</strong>Thirty Years’ War, when full Catholicism was restored. Compromises are not atall common in <strong>the</strong> history of <strong>the</strong> Church and <strong>the</strong> Utraquite compromise wasshort-lived. <strong>The</strong> Utraquites <strong>the</strong>mselves were opposed to <strong>the</strong> radical Hussites,<strong>the</strong> ‘Taborites’, based on <strong>the</strong> fortified town of Tabor in Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Bohemia, anddefeated <strong>the</strong>m in battle at Lipany, ending <strong>the</strong> Taborite rebellion.With Utraquist priests officiating at first, a group of reformers calling<strong>the</strong>mselves ‘Brethren‘ met in <strong>the</strong> village of Kunwald in 1457 and at Lhota in1467, and formed <strong>the</strong>mselves into a Church, choosing three of <strong>the</strong>ir number bylot to be <strong>the</strong>ir ministers. Later <strong>the</strong>se men were ordained by Waldensians, andattempts at union were made with <strong>the</strong> Waldensians and o<strong>the</strong>r schismatic,though not heretical, groups, but <strong>the</strong>se attempts came to nothing.<strong>The</strong> Bible was central to <strong>the</strong> Brethren’s life, and a printed Bible in Czech wasproduced from Hebrew and Greek, <strong>the</strong> Kralice Bible (1579-1594). <strong>The</strong>Brethren, like <strong>the</strong> Waldensians, anticipated <strong>the</strong> Protestant Reformation beforeLu<strong>the</strong>r and John Calvin (1509-1564). <strong>The</strong>y had some 200 churches in Bohemiaand Moravia by 1507, when Pope Alexander VI issued edicts against <strong>the</strong>m. In1520 two of <strong>the</strong> Brethren contacted Lu<strong>the</strong>r, who approved of <strong>the</strong>ir confessionof faith.In Nor<strong>the</strong>rn Europe, Johann Rucherat (‘John of Wesel’) (c.1400-1481), JohannWessel of Groeningen (c.1420-1489) and Johann Pupper of Goch wereReformers before <strong>the</strong> Reformation, all living in <strong>the</strong> Ne<strong>the</strong>rlands. John of Wesel,Canon of Worms, was accused of preaching Hussite doctrines on <strong>the</strong> ChurchPage 63

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