More and More People in Czechia and Slovakia Are Giving Preference to the Orthodox Church
An interview with Metropolitan Christopher, Archbishop of Prague and Metropolitan of the Czech and Slovakian lands.
Will Czechia and Slovakia return to the faith of their
fathers, that is, to Orthodoxy? How do you see the future of your Church
in the country?
Metropolitan Christopher: Return to the original Church of St.
Methodius? It is possible. Theoretically. But I don’t normally talk
aloud about it. Although I dream of it and pray. I also believe that I
am not alone. With the Lord all is possible, and we need to work. After
all, the majority of the population is not in the Church. We need to
work with them in particular. Our efforts need to be directed against
abortions, same sex marriages (although we are against any persecution
of such people). We need to explain what the Lord said to us in His
commandments: about life, love, friendship, help of neighbor, and about
everything good. We need to struggle against evil and violence, against
the deception of people…
I
am for the one Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Then it will be
possible to restore moral values, and raise the peoples’ spirituality.
And in this was, is, and always will be the strength of the people and
the nation.
Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague died a martyr’s death for
Christ’s truth. Their memory lives on not only in Czechia. Your
Beatitude, why have they not been canonized as saints?
Metropolitan Christopher: Czechs began to venerate Jan Hus and
Jerome of Prague as saints immediately after they were burned at the
stake. Jerome of Prague was the first to call Jan Hus a saint—at the
very Council of Constance, which condemned Jan Hus and which awaited a
“statement of repentance” and condemnation from Jerome of Jan Hus. They
were venerated for two hundred years. However, after the defeat by the
Catholic Leagues at the fatal battle on White Hill in 1620 and the
forced Catholicization of the Czech people, the names of Jan Hus and
Jerome of Prague were basically outlawed. In 1918, when Czechoslovakia
became an independent state, the modernist Church took the name of Jan
Hus. The communists called him something of a revolutionary. In fact, he
never called for modernism in his sermons, but spoke only about the
undistorted, original teaching of Jesus Christ, which was in fact
Orthodoxy.
Does that mean that Jan Hus’s and Jerome’s martyric deaths could be considered martyrdom for Orthodoxy?
Metropolitan Christopher: It was precisely of Orthodoxy that they
were accused. This was one of the points of accusation of their heresy.
However, they considered themselves Catholics and officially were so.
Only at the end of the twentieth century did the Primate of the Roman
Catholic Church, John Paul II, express his deep regret over their
burning at the stake. But he did not go beyond regret. And they both,
Jan Hus and Jerome of Prague, died for the undistorted faith, for the
pure faith of Christ—that is, for Orthodoxy. Therefore we are completely
justified in canonizing them as saints. This has already been confirmed
by the Church of Cyprus and the Greek Church. Other Orthodox Churches
also support us.
Your Beatitude, what are the greatest problems facing your Church right now?
Metropolitan Christopher: The greatest problem is the lack of
space. Did you see what is going on in the Churches? People can barely
squeeze in. Many stand outside. We have nowhere to gather, nowhere to
receive pilgrims—and they would come to us. Many people would come from
Russia, to the relics of St. Liudmila and St. Wenceslaus; they would
come to the place where the first Slavic desert dweller, St. John of
Czechia, lived.
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