Prague, July 6 (CTK) – A Mass was held to commemorate the 603rd anniversary of the death of Czech church reformer John Huss, who was burnt at the stake over his heretic views, in Prague’s Betlemska kaple (Bethlehem Chapel) on Friday.
At the close of the divine service, Senate chairman Milan Stech (Social Democrats, CSSD) evoked Huss’ love for the truth and expressed the hope that his words that the truth defeats everything would be still valid and would not become any empty phrase.
Stech said he had always been most impressed by Huss’ humility before the faith and truth.
“John Huss was writing and preaching that no authorities have the right to rule if their members live in sin, not in truth. Are not these words still an urgent affair? I think that they have the same weight as 600 years ago,” he added.
The divine service also reflected the centenary of Czechoslovakia. The priests of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church said Czechoslovakia had been established on democratic values in 1918.
There was also Interior Minister Jan Hamacek (CSSD leader), representatives of Charles University in Prague and dignitaries of other Christian churches.
The masses remembering Huss’ martyr’s death were also held in other towns across the Czech Republic.
Huss was declared a heretic by a church council and burnt at the stake in Constance (now Germany) on July 6, 1415. He was a key predecessor to the 16th-century Protestant movement.
He preached in the Bethlehem Chapel.
Huss was one of the church reformers. He was against indulgences and he claimed that the Holy Scripture, not papal decrees and encyclicals should be the sole source of faith.
Huss’s contribution to the development of Christianity has made him one of the most outstanding Czechs in history.
