ABSTRACT
The territory of Czechoslovakia witnessed three major branches of Christianity in its history. In the west and south of the country, the Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religious confession due to the Catholicization of Czech lands under the Habsburg Monarchy; the north developed Protestant internal factions, of which Hussitism and the Unity of Brethren were the most important; and in the east, Eastern Christianity flourished. In 1895 a Union of Catholic Clergy (Jednota Katholického Duchovenstva)
aimed to reform the Catholic Church. After the establishment of Czechoslovakia on 28 October 1918, a general council of Jednota founded the Union of Czechoslovak Clergy in Prague. Entering into conflict with Rome, a radical group within Jednota established the National Czechoslovak Church which celebrated the liturgy in the Czech language on 8 January 1920. The government recognised the new church on 15 September 1920. The Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Church received an unex-
pected letter from the Serbian Orthodox Church dated 1 December 1920 claiming that it was prepared to recognise the church as autocephalous under the title ‘Orthodox Czechoslovak Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius’. Serbian interest in the region was due to expanding its influence and replacing the position of the Russian Orthodox Church which was now under Bolshevik rule. The Czechoslovak Committee was divided between joining the Serbian Orthodox Church and remaining independent, and a split developed between the two factions. The Serbian hierarchy encouraged the Czechoslovak Church to send a local clergyman to be ordained in Belgrade as its spiritual head. On 25 September 1921, Father Matthias Pavlík (1879-1942) was consecrated bishop under the name of Gorazd. However, Bishop Gorazd failed to bring under his leadership the whole Czechoslovak Church. An assembly on 19 August 1924 in Olomouc separated from it and established its own entity titled the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church under Bishop Gorazd.1
