Prague Expat Life

Lent Study 2015 – The Bohemian Reformation

Part of our Lent Study Group, with Dr Hana Tonzarová on the right © Ricky Yates

As I mentioned in my first post of 2015, this year marks the six-hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of the early Czech Church reformer, Jan Hus. So at the suggestion of my good friend and colleague Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, our 2015 St Clement’s Lent Course has been looking at various aspects of the Bohemian Reformation, in which Hus was a major figure.

The course has been held on successive Tuesday evenings during Lent, commencing on Tuesday 24^th February, and will conclude in two days time, on Tuesday 24^th March. It has been really encouraging to have between ten to twelve attendees each week, nearly all of whom have been present for every session.

In our first session, Karen Moritz presented an excellent overview of the period in question; cca. 1350 – 1620. She explained how the reform movement began during the reign of Charles IV (1346 -1378), and continued after his death. Its theological foundations were then established over the following forty years, with the preaching and writing of Jan Hus being central.

Following Hus being burnt at the stake in Konstanz in 1415, there followed a period of both revolution and radicalisation, before a settlement was reached in 1434, whereby the Utraquist Church, giving Communion in both kinds, was allowed to exist alongside the unreformed Roman Catholic Church, where only bread was given, and then only on rare occasions.

However, from 1520 onwards, following the beginning of the German Reformation initiated by Martin Luther, the next one hundred years saw ever-increasing efforts to suppress the Utraquist Church, culminating in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. This then led to the re-Catholicization of the Church in Czech lands.

It fell to me to lead our second session, where I explained the influence of the teaching and writing of the early English Church reformer, John Wycliffe, upon Jan Hus. My own alma mater is Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, named to celebrate his legacy.

Wycliffe lived from c1328/30 – 1384. Hus from c1371/2 – 1415. There was therefore, no direct communication between them as Hus was just entering his teens when Wycliffe died. But Wycliffe’s writings in Latin, circulated in Bohemia and greatly influenced the philosophy and teaching of Hus. Some of the published works of Hus, most notably his De ecclesia, are plagiarised versions of the writings of Wycliffe, in an era when no law of copyright existed!

I pointed out the irony of language. Wycliffe preached & taught in vernacular English, Hus in vernacular Czech. But Latin, the language of the educated elite, was their means of communication 🙂

The presenter for our third session, was Father William Faix, an American Roman Catholic priest living and working in Prague and a member of the Augustinian order. He mainly spoke about Martin Luther and his Roman Catholic years, also as a member of the Augustinian order! But at the end of his presentation, he remarked how Luther realised that his own writings which began the German Reformation, actually brought his thinking into line with that of Jan Hus.

The presenter of our fourth session last Tuesday, at which both photographs in this post were taken, was Dr Hana Tonzarová, a priest in the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. Her Church, until 1970, the Czechoslovak National Church, was formed in 1920. It arose from a movement within the Roman Catholic Church of the newly created nation of Czechoslovakia, wanting to celebrate mass in vernacular Czech or Slovak. When the request to do so was refused by Pope Benedict XV, with strong encouragement of the new Czechoslovak government, around 10-15% of the Roman Catholic Church within the new nation, broke away to form this new national Church.

Hana gave an excellent power point presentation, both explaining more about Jan Hus and his life and teaching, but also how her own Church sees him, and how his martyrdom in 1415, is going to be commemorated this year – the six-hundredth anniversary of his death in Konstanz.

Our final session this coming Tuesday, will be presented by Dr Peter Moree, a Dutchman married to a Czech, who teaches in the Protestant Faculty of Charles University. He is going to speak about the legacy of Jan Hus and how his teaching and writing have been both used and abused, down the past six hundred years.

In very simple terms, this course has been both educative and inspirational, one from which I have gained a great deal.

The other half or our Lent Study Group with Dr Hana Tonzarová on the left © Ricky Yates — The other half or our Lent Study Group with Dr Hana Tonzarová the second on the left © Ricky Yates

Spring seems to be arriving!

Snowdrops in Stromovka Park © Ricky Yates

During the past three weeks, we’ve had numerous bright sunny days, enhanced by the hours of daylight getting longer each day. This has encouraged Sybille and I to get out walking and exploring again, especially on Mondays which are meant to be my regular weekly day-off.

As I wrote in an earlier post, three weeks ago on Monday 16^th February, we made a round trip to Prague Zoo. A week later on Monday 23^rd February, late in the morning, we left the flat, took the tram and travelled to Hlubocepy in the southern suburbs of Prague. From the tram stop, we made our way down to the side of the Vltava River and then walked all along the river bank to the village of Zbraslav.

The Vltava River with Central Prague in the distance © Ricky Yates

Our walk started, a little beyond the more distant of the two bridges in this photograph.

Barabizna Mexican Restaurant & Café © Ricky Yates

Just as we were entering Zbraslav and were about to walk into the main square, Sybille spotted this beautifully decorated building in a street off to our left – the Barabizna Mexican Restaurant & Café. It was just as beautifully decorated inside as on the outside. Here we enjoyed a most delightful very, very late lunch 🙂 Sybille’s only disappointment was discovering that none of the staff hablaba español 🙁

Last Monday 2^nd March, got somewhat taken over by preparation for my presentation the following evening for our Lent Course on the Bohemian Reformation, about the writing of the early English Church Reformer, John Wycliffe and its influence on Jan Hus. But with the sun still shining in the late afternoon, we set off and walked up to the top of the wooded ridge called Baba, that lies behind the complex of flats where we live. As I’ve previously explained, we live in Podbaba. ‘Pod’ in Czech, means ‘under’ or ‘beneath’ – hence we live under the ridge called ‘Baba’.

Residence Podbaba and Hotel International © Ricky Yates

On a clear day like last Monday, the views from the Baba ridge are outstanding. In the foreground of this photograph is ‘Residence Podbaba’, where the Chaplaincy Flat is located. Beyond, is the wonderful example of Stalinist-Baroque architecture, now once more known as ‘Hotel International’ (formerly the Crowne Plaza Hotel). The tall white chimney belongs to the plant that supplies our hot water and heating.

Stadion Juliska, the home of FK Dukla Praha © Ricky Yates

This is the view to the right of the first photograph and shows Stadion Juliska, the home of FK Dukla Praha. With Spring on its way, the Czech football season resumed a couple of weeks ago, following the regular mid-season break.

Kaufland supermarket, Hotel International & Prague Castle © Ricky Yates

Whilst this view, shows our nearby Kaufland supermarket with a large red ‘K’ on the side of the building, with Hotel International directly behind and Prague Castle in the distance.

Farmer's Market © Ricky Yates — Farmer’s Market © Ricky Yates

This past weekend, the weather really has become Spring-like, with warm sunshine during the day. The nights are still cool because of clear skies, but the temperature hasn’t been below freezing for several nights. Yesterday, Saturday 7^th March, under these blue skies, the regular Farmer’s Market at Vítezné námestí resumed, after a break of over two months since Christmas. No market in the Czech Republic would be complete without flowers….

Beer stall at Farmer's Market © Ricky Yates — Beer stall at Farmer’s Market © Ricky Yates

…….and certainly not without beer!

Štefánikuv most © Ricky Yates — Štefánikuv most with the yellow spire of St. Clement’s Church beyond © Ricky Yates

This morning, the warm sunshine meant that it was warmer outside the Church than within it! Following worship and Coffee Hour, Sybille and I decided to walk home. We crossed Štefánikuv most and then climbed the steps and steep path to Letna Park. Drinking Czech beer in a beer garden, with warm sunshine and a perfect view. I think Winter is over – Spring seems to be arriving!

Welcome refreshment in Letna Beer Garden © Ricky Yates

Celebrating our birthdays

As many of our friends know, Sybille and I have birthdays that are just two days, but several years 🙂 apart. 24^th February for Sybille – 26^th February for me. Our usual plan is to have a joint celebration on the intervening day, which is what we successfully managed to do last Wednesday. However, sometimes the liturgical calendar conspires against us. The last time our birthdays respectively fell on a Tuesday and a Thursday, as they did this year, was in 2009. Then the intervening day was Ash Wednesday 🙁

Whilst attending the Christmas Party at the British Embassy last December, we met Paul and Michaela, a British/Czech couple who have a business with the interesting name of ‘The Happy Monkey s.r.o.’ Their company run a butchers shop, another butchers shop combined with a bar – Maso a kobliha / Meat and doughnuts, together with an upmarket dégustation restaurant entitled Sansho. As a special treat to mark our birthdays, we booked a table at Sansho for the evening of Wednesday 25^th February.

Sybille's cocktail © Ricky Yates — Sybille’s cocktail © Ricky Yates

When we arrived at 18.30, surprisingly we were the only customers. However, that soon changed as more people arrived. Apparently most evenings, if you want a table at Sansho, you need to book in advance.

Knowing it was our joint birthdays, Paul kindly presented us with aperitifs – this interesting green cocktail for Sybille and a glass of Prosecco for me. The courses that followed are better illustrated by Sybille’s photographs rather than by my wordy descriptions.

Fourth course - we did have one each :-) © Sybille Yates — Fourth course – we did have one each 🙂 © Sybille Yates

We washed all of this down with a very quaffable rosé wine.

Our dessert, as can be seen in the photograph at the beginning of this post, came complete with two candles. We did blow them out before consuming!

The total cost was around five times what we would normally pay in one of our local bar-restaurants for an evening meal with wine. But the quality of the food, the ambience of the location, and the high standard of service, more than justified the expense.

For this special occasion, Sybille honoured her promise to me when we made our booking, and wore a dress. In return, I wore my suit with a shirt and tie. But I’m afraid I don’t have a photograph to post as Sybille always wants to be behind the camera, rather than in front of it. So instead, here is a photograph from nearly three years ago with Sybille in the same dress and me wearing the same suit and tie, though with a different shirt.

A round trip to Prague Zoo

As Monday 16^th February dawned cold, but fine and sunny, Sybille suggested that we should take advantage of the weather on my day-off, and pay our first visit of 2015 to Prague Zoo. Here is an illustrated account of our most enjoyable day out.

The ferry boat waiting at Pobabe © Ricky Yates

Prague Zoo lies directly opposite from where we live in Podbaba, on the other side of the Vltava River. As there is no immediate bridge, the only way to get there is by ferry. So we walked down to the Podbaba bus stop and took the bus, two stops to Podbabe from where the ferry departs.

Here we are, approaching the arrival and departure point of the ferry at Podhorí, on the other side of the river. I love the sticker that declares that this small boat is part of the Prague Integrated Transport System 🙂

The main entrance to Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates

There is a half-hourly bus service from Podhorí to the zoo entrance, but as it would have been a twenty minute wait, we decided to walk instead. Upon arrival at the zoo entrance, we paid our admission fee, (CZK 200 for Sybille and CZK 150 for me, as being between aged 60 and 69, I am deemed to be ‘senior’ 🙂 ), and then set off to explore. My apologies that I took the photograph above, as we were leaving in the late afternoon, hence the metal gates across the entrance!

Here are a variety of creatures that we met during our visit.

Cassowary © Sybille Yates	Bird with a dangerous beak! © Ricky Yates
Flamingoes © Ricky Yates	Great Grey Owl © Sybille Yates

Trying to be camouflaged :-) © Sybille Yates — Trying to be camouflaged 🙂 © Sybille Yates

Rather than retracing our steps, we decided to walk home, first passing by Zámek Troja.

Footbridge over the Vltava River © Ricky Yates

Then crossing an untamed section of the Vltava on this footbridge…..

Bridge over the Vltava navigation channel © Ricky Yates

…..followed by crossing the nearby parallel navigation channel on this bridge…..

……before walking back home through Stromovka Park, just as the sun was beginning to set.

Anglican worship in Brno

The rear of Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie with the entrance to 'The Upper Room' on the bottom right © Ricky Yates — The rear of Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie with the entrance to ‘The Upper Room’ on the bottom right © Ricky Yates

On 18^th December 2011, aided by several members of the Prague Anglican congregation, we held the first ever English-language Anglican service in Brno – a Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas. Since the beginning of 2012, I have conducted a regular monthly service in Brno, usually on the second Sunday evening of each month, along with an additional service each year, on the evening of Easter Day.

As I explained in my post entitled ‘Holy Week and Easter Day 2014 in Prague and Brno‘, in March 2014, we suddenly lost the use of our previous Brno worship venue. Fortunately, the Roman Catholic Jesuits came to our rescue, offering us the use of the most appropriately named ‘Upper Room’. This is my long-promised post about our new Brno worship venue.

‘The Upper Room’, is part of Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie. Access to it is through the door seen here at the bottom right of this photograph, on the corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno. There then follows the only slight drawback to our new worship venue – having to climb up two floors via a stone spiral staircase. This does mean that it is wheelchair unfriendly and somewhat difficult for toddlers in buggies.

However, once up the stairs, everything else is ideal. ‘The Upper Room’ has a fairly low ceiling, together with excellent heating, meaning that it is warm in winter! It is not overly large, so that the current relatively small congregation doesn’t rattle in it but gives us the right amount of room into which to grow. Then there is an excellent electronic keyboard, seen on the left of the photograph below, which Ailsa our keyboard player, says is better than the one in our previous venue! At the back of the room, there are simple kitchen facilities, allowing us to share refreshments together following worship. And at the top of the stairs, just outside the room, is a most useful toilet.

The interior of 'The Upper Room' © Ricky Yates — The interior of ‘The Upper Room’ © Ricky Yates

As you can see, it being a Roman Catholic Chapel belonging to the Jesuits, we are overlooked by statues of St Francis Xavier & St Ignatius Loyola, whilst behind the altar is a painting depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, a doctrine without Biblical foundation. But beggars can’t be choosers and the Brno Jesuits have been wonderfully hospitable towards us.

Anglicans often describe themselves as the Via media, the middle way and as a bridge between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. By borrowing Kostel sv Kliment from the main Czech Protestant Church in Prague and ‘The Upper Room’ from the Roman Catholic Jesuits in Brno, I believe we are a very practical expression of being that Via media. And because we do not own our own places of worship, we can concentrate on being what ‘the Church’ should be – the worshipping people of God.

Since May 2014, monthly Brno services have moved to being held at 17.00 on the first Sunday of each month. Full details, including a map, can be found on the Brno page of our Church website.