March 4 - John Hus

March 4 – John Hus

The teaching of John Wycliffe soon left England and began permeating the continent. A famous preacher and scholar had become the rector at the University of Prague in 1402. Bohemia was connected to England at the time through the wife of King Richard III, so a number of Czech students had studied in England and brought home Wycliffe’s writings. John Hus, while at the University of Prague also preached in a chapel in Bethlehem (Bohemia). Within the church there were images of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet beside the image of people kissing the feet of the pope. The pope was seen riding a horse, while Christ was seen walking. Hus could barely tolerate the idea of extreme excess that was seen in the clergy and began emphasizing the role of the Bible in church authority, raising it far above papal authority.

While the people and even the aristocracy loved what he taught and his popularity increased, the archbishop in Prague was not happy. He told Hus to stop preaching and then informed the University that they were to burn Wycliffe’s writings. Hus refused and the archbishop condemned him. Because of Hus’ refusal, Pope John 23 (one of the three popes at the time) excommunicated all of Prague. No one in that city could receive the sacrament. Hus finally agreed to leave the city, but continued to preach in open air gatherings.

He wrote a book “On the Church” in which he defended the authority of the clergy, but claimed that only God could forgive sin. He also stated that no pope or bishop could establish doctrine that ran contrary to the Bible and gave permission to the people to disobey a priest’s order if it was obviously wrong.

For quite some time, though Hus was excommunicated by the pope, the king of Bohemia supported him and so he was allowed to continue preaching and teaching. Until the day that the pope decided to declare a crusade against Naples (Italian politics) and to financially support it, he began selling indulgences. Hus was furious and protested quite loudly. The public got involved and there were demonstrations and outcries from the Czech people. The king finally bowed to the pope and removed his support.

In 1415, there was a council of churches that met at Constance. Hus hoped that this would be a chance to begin a reformation of the church. The intention of this council was to deal with the three separate popes.

Hus was promised safe conduct, but as soon as he arrived was taken into custody and imprisoned. He was ordered to retract his statements and named a heretic. John XXIII was also arrested and there was hope that Hus – as an enemy of John – would be released.

When he was chained and brought in front of the council, he refused to renounce what they called heresy saying, “I appeal to Jesus Christ the only just judge who will not judge based on false witnesses and erring councils, but truth and justice.” He was sent back to prison.

On July 6, he was taken to the cathedral. They shaved his head and then covered it with a paper crown on which demons had been drawn. As they led him to the stake, they took him past a pyre where his books were burning. The church handed him over to secular authorities who tied him to a stake and burned him alive. His prayer was “Lord Jesus, please have mercy on my enemies.”

The church had committed a great error. In Bohemia many different groups came together to oppose this Council. They created “Four Articles” as the basis of the Bohemian resistance: the Word of God would be preached freely, communion would be open to the laity, clergy should be deprived of its wealth and gross and public sin would be punished.

The next king was told he had to adhere to these articles and refused, calling a crusade against the Hussites. It failed, other crusades came into Bohemia and these also failed. Finally the church decided to negotiate and brought the church in Bohemia back into the fold. But, many refused and established the “Unitas Fratrum” or Union of Brethren. This church grew rapidly in Bohemia and in Moravia. Later we will see the development of this group into one we call “Moravians.”