Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren

Cervené kostely – Red Churches

Cervený kostel, Litomerice © Ricky Yates

The first Toleranzpatent / Patent of toleration of 1781, whilst giving some religious freedom to protestants living within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was still quite restrictive, in particular insisting that any buildings should not look like churches and should not have an entrance directly onto the street. It was only after Emperor Franz Joseph 1 issued his Protestantenpatent / Protestant patent in 1861, that non-Roman Catholics were finally allowed to build and own places of worship which actually looked like churches, with towers or spires and bells, etc.

Therefore within the borders of what is now the Czech Republic, there are numerous church buildings similar to this one in Litomerice, that date from the second half of the nineteenth century, and the early years of the twentieth century. Their architectural style is what I would describe as red-brick Victorian Gothic. In Czech they are known as Cervené kostely / Red or Dark Churches.

These Cervené kostely are located in towns and cities where there was a majority or a large German-speaking population and they were built for worship by German-speaking Lutherans. German-speakers were often the owners of factories and businesses and were wealthy enough to raise the necessary funds for their design and construction.

As I have previously written, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the founder and first president of Czechoslovakia, was very keen that the boundaries of this new nation should be the historic ones of Bohemia and Moravia which predominantly follow the ridges of the surrounding hills and mountains. This was to ensure that the new nation had defensible borders and that also, nearly all Czech speakers would be living within those borders.

However, one important consequence of the adoption of these borders was that many people of German ethnic origin were also incorporated into Czechoslovakia. According to a census taken in 1921, just over three million Germans lived in Czechoslovakia accounting for around 23% of the country’s total population. The areas where Germans formed a majority were known as Sudetenland and the people themselves as the Sudetendeutsche.

In December 1918, less than two months after the new independent state of Czechoslovakia had come into existence, the Czech Lutheran Church and the Czech Presbyterian/Reformed Church agreed to unite, forming the Ceskobratrská církev evangelická (CCE) / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB). They were then, and still are, the largest Czech Protestant Church and celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of their formation in December last year.

But it was only the Czech-speaking Lutherans who joined the newly formed CCE/ECCB. A separate German-speaking Lutheran Church remained, until 1945.

In 1945, under the Potsdam agreement and the Beneš decrees, nearly all ethnic Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia and the German-speaking Lutheran Church within the country, ceased to exist, leaving behind empty Cervené kostely.

Cervený kostel /Red Church, Brno © Ricky Yates

It has been interesting visiting, photographing, and trying to discover what has happened to these abandoned Church buildings since 1945. The Cervený kostel in Brno, which I previously featured in this blog post about the city in 2012, is now in the hands of the CCE/ECCB and is used regularly by them for worship.

The Cervený kostel in Olomouc, which I haven’t visited, meaning that I don’t have a photograph, also initially passed to the CCE/ECCB. But in 1957, it was given to Palacký University and for many years, housed the archives of their Research Library. It is now to be revamped to become a new venue for concerts, exhibitions and a café.

The Cervený kostel in Litomerice, which I featured at the beginning of this post and can be seen again, from a different angle, in the photograph above, now belongs the relatively small Czech Baptist Union. But whether the Baptists in Litomerice had their own building prior to 1945, or how they were able to take over the former German Lutheran Church, is a mystery to which I don’t know the answer. There is no relevant information on their website.

The photograph above is of the Cervený kostel in Varnsdorf, a town which lies right on the border of the Czech Republic with Germany. So far as I can tell, the church is not currently used for anything. I believe it now belongs to the town council who appear to be about to carry out much needed repair work, judging by the recently erected scaffolding around the spire.

Kostel svatého Pavla, Ústí nad Labem © Ricky Yates

Kostel svatého Pavla, located in the centre of Ústí nad Labem, is another fine example of a Cervený kostel. Despite appearances, the building is not made of bricks, but of concrete, covered with glued red tiles to imitate bricks. The Czech Wikipedia article about this church explains that after 1945, all German inscriptions were either ground down or whitened so as to be no longer visible.

This Church is now co-owned and administered by the CCE/ECCB and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (CCSH) who both use it for worship – the CCE/ECCB on Sunday mornings and the CCSH on Sunday afternoons.

I am well aware that there are several more Cervené kostely elsewhere in the Czech Republic which I hope to find, visit, and photograph, over the next few years. In the meantime, if anyone can throw more light on how, post 1945, they have ended up in the hands of their current owners, please do leave a comment here on my blog.

Finally, I once again apologise for the absence of some Czech diacritics. Unfortunately, as I have previously explained, my blog set-up can only cope with certain diacritics. Any it doesn’t like are rendered as question marks, and names such as Litom??ice and ?ervené kostely would appear in the text.

Advent 2016

Advent ring with the first candle lit © Ricky Yates

This year, the season of Advent has been as long as it possibly can be – a full four weeks. In 2017, quite the reverse happens with the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent, also being Christmas Eve!

I have very much appreciated the length of the Advent season this year, for a number of reasons. One slightly selfish reason is the cause of Advent lasting fully four weeks – the result of Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, which is every clergyperson’s delight! No need for services on three successive days, or on three out of four days. Instead, a full week beforehand, to prepare for services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and then an uninterrupted week afterwards, to take as a post-Christmas break 🙂

I also very much appreciated the way the Sundays fell in Advent this year, allowing me to hold a Service of Lessons and Carols in Dresden, Brno and Prague on separate Sundays. Last year, the Brno and Dresden services had to be held on the same Sunday evening.

As happens each year, I arrived at Church in Prague on Advent Sunday morning, to be greeted by a beautiful hanging Advent ring, with the first candle already lit. This is one of the joys of borrowing the Church building from our host Kliment congregation of the Ceskobratská Církev Evangelická / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren – the main Czech Protestant Church. They provide the Advent ring at no cost to us! All we have to do is ensure we snuff out the candle(s) at the end of our service, as part of our duty of leaving the building safe and secure.

In previous years, the candles have always been red. This year, for no apparent reason of which I am aware, the candles are white. Certainly they seem to be of a better quality as, over the four Sundays of Advent, none of them has burnt down so much as to need being replaced, despite one of them being alight for nine services 🙂

The Order of Service for Sunday 4th December at 6pm

On the evening of Sunday 4^th December, the second in Advent, I conducted the December English-language Anglican Service in the Frauenkirche, Dresden – A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas. At the equivalent service last year, I was introduced as the new service coordinator and read one of the lessons. This year, I had to organise the complete service, including finding several different readers.

I fortunately inherited the tradition of a Berlin-based choir, the Embassy Singers, under their musical director Andrew Sims, singing at this service. They sang five choir items as well as supporting the congregational carols. A number of choir members volunteered to read and I took Lay Reader Jack Noonan along with me to also be one of the lesson readers.

The Embassy Singers together with Jack Noonan © Jack Noonan

Here he is, posing with the choir whilst I was shaking hands with the departing congregation who I suspect numbered about two hundred.

The Brno congregation in ‘The Upper Room’ following Lessons and Carols © Ricky Yates

On the evening of Sunday 11^th December, I conducted a Service of Lessons and Carols in Brno, marking the fifth anniversary of our first ever Brno service held on 18^th December 2011. Despite getting the service well publicised we were only a little congregation of sixteen people but we still made a joyful noise with our carol singing. Most importantly, all those who attended expressed their enjoyment of the service.

On Sunday 18^th December, I didn’t travel anywhere further than within Prague itself. It was the one Sunday in the year when we hold two services, our regular 11.00 Sung Eucharist in the morning and a Service of Lessons and Carols in the evening. For both services we were blessed by having a visiting choir of Old Blundellians – former students of Blundells School, Tiverton, Devon UK, under their recently retired music master Andrew Barlow.

In the morning, they sang a setting of Kyrie, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei, written by Andrew Barlow, together with an Introit, and two anthems during the administration of Communion. In the evening, they sang five choir carols as well as supporting the congregational ones. I particularly enjoyed their final choir carol – ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, to a setting by Harold Darke.

Along with wonderful congregational singing and choral music, probably the most encouraging aspect of Advent 2016, has been the number of people attending worship in Prague on each Sunday morning. This has ranged from 73 to over 80 when our normal average Sunday attendance is around 50 – basically a 50% increase! Unfortunately, I’ve no photographs to illustrate our Advent worship at St Clement’s, Prague, so instead I finish with a photograph of one of several magnificent sunsets that we had during the early days of December.

Sunset over the Vltava River and Prague Castle © Ricky Yates

Farewell to Karen

From l to r: Yours Truly, Rev'd Dr Karen Moritz, Jack Noonan © Sybille Yates — From l to r: Yours Truly, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, Jack Noonan © Sybille Yates

On Sunday 17^th April, I, together with the St Clement’s congregation, bid a sad farewell to my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz.

As I explained in a post in May 2011, Karen is an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She has been in the Czech Republic since September 2010 as a mission co-worker, working with the Ceskobratrská církev evangelická (CCE) / Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB), the main Czech Protestant Church, which is a united Lutheran/Presbyterian denomination. The Kliment congregation of the CCE/ECCB own Kostel sv Kliment, the Church building where we worship in Prague.

Since successfully getting Karen licensed under the Ecumenical Canons of the Church of England, she has contributed enormously to the life of St Clement’s during her time in Prague. She has regularly preached, led non-Eucharistic worship in my absence, helped with the administration of Holy Communion, and led intercessions.

Karen has also been a great supporter and contributor to our midweek activities. In 2014, she organised and led our Lent Study Course entitled ‘Discovering your spiritual gifts’ which was much appreciated by all those who attended. Then in 2015, she was the main organiser, as well as one of the speakers, at probably our best attended Lent Course during my time as Chaplain, looking at the Bohemian Reformation.

During her time with us, Karen has become a good friend of many in the congregation and on occasions, has given a listening ear, together with pastoral care and support, to a number of people. As I know from having, at various times in the past, three different ordained female colleagues working with me, sometimes an individual needs the insights that a female minister brings, rather than mine. None of us are gifted in all areas!

At a personal level, what I have very much valued and what I will miss the most, is having someone with whom I have been able to share issues or particular situations that I’ve faced in my ministry. Being able to talk with Karen, have the insights and understanding that she has gained from her many years of ministry in a variety of situations, knowing that anything said will be kept with complete confidentiality, has been invaluable to me.

The reason Karen has now returned to the USA is tied up with decision making, or lack of willingness to make a decision, within the Synodal Council and HQ of the CCE/ECCB. It is my personal view that they have basically shot themselves in the foot! They will only fully realise all that Karen has contributed, most notably getting a whole variety of things into English rather than Czenglish, and organising various events and visits for members of partner Churches, when she is no longer there to do these things.

As I write this, Karen still does not have a definite new position to go to. She will continue to be employed by Presbyterian World Mission until the end of June and over this month and next, will be carrying out deputation work as well as hopefully attending interviews for a possible future post. I am very much hoping for positive news very soon.

On Sunday 17^th April, when the photograph at the beginning of this post was taken, Karen was the preacher at our 11.00 Sung Eucharist. You can listen to her sermon here, though the sound quality is not as good as I would like it to be. My Licensed Reader Jack Noonan, led our intercessions and Karen and Jack administered the two chalices.

Because Karen had already packed and dispatched most of her belongings back to the USA, including her black preaching gown and stoles, Jack and I dressed her up as an Anglican 🙂 , wearing my black cassock and surplice, together with a white stole that lives in our wardrobe in the Church vestry.

Thank you, Karen, for everything you have given in the five and half years you have been such an intrinsic part of St. Clement’s. We will miss you enormously!

Two Ecumenical events from November 2015

November 2015 was quite an ecumenical month. Not only did I sit through a nearly two hour meeting in Dresden, conducted predominantly in German and attended by various German Protestant ministers and theologians, I also attended two important services in Prague, conducted in Czech.

On 21^st November, I was an ecumenical guest of the Ceskobratrská církev evangelická/Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren – the main Czech Protestant Church. The service was to bid farewell to the Moderator and Synodal Council of the Church for the past six years, and to welcome and formally install their successors who had been elected a few months previously. The service was held in Salvátor Church in central Prague which is effectively the ‘Protestant Cathedral’.

Whilst the whole two-and-a-half hour service was in Czech, because of having guests from other countries, there was a simultaneous translation service offered in English and German for parts of the it and I was also given a printed translation into English, of the new Moderator’s sermon. There were inevitably one or two rather ‘interesting’ interpretations. The most notable was when the new Synodal Council members, were asked a series of questions to each of which they had to answer, affirming their commitment to their new roles. But what should have been ‘I commit myself’, was interpreted as ‘I oblige myself’!

One very nice bonus arising from this event was that most international guests attending the service, were in Prague for the whole weekend and were therefore looking for somewhere to worship on Sunday morning. So my good friend Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, brought several fluent English-speakings guests, to our 11.00 Eucharist the next day.

Monika, Petra & Martin with Bishop Dušan following the Ordination Service © Ricky Yates

The following Saturday morning, 28^th November, I attended a Eucharist held in the Old Catholic Cathedral of Sv Vavrince on Petrín Hill, Prague, during which Bishop Dušan Hejbal ordained three new deacons – including two women! From left to right they are, Monika Johanka Mádlová, Petra Baslová & Martin Kovác.

Whilst the whole service was in Czech, I am now quite familiar with the Old Catholic liturgy, not least because it is quite similar to ours, and so was able to join in fairly well. And like us, the Old Catholics stand to sing their hymns, unlike the Czech Protestants who do so sitting, something I always find very strange.

With Martin following his ordination as deacon © Ricky Yates

Following the ordination service, I posed for this photograph with Martin. He is Slovak but has done his academic studies in Prague and is also a fluent English-speaker. So I may well invite Martin to ‘deacon’ at St Clement’s on one Sunday in 2016.

English-language Anglican worship in the Frauenkirche, Dresden

The Frauenkirche in Dresden is an 18^th century Protestant Church featuring a 96m high dome resting on eight slender pillars. It was severely damaged during allied bombing raids on the city on 13^th February 1945 and collapsed two days later. Because, following the end of World War Two, Dresden was situated in the Soviet zone of occupation which became the satellite communist state of East Germany, no efforts were made by the authorities to rebuild the Church. Instead, in 1966, the ruins were declared a ‘memorial against war’.

Following the collapse of communism and the reunification of Germany, quite appropriately 25 years ago today 🙂 , a society was formed to promote the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche and to raise funds to finance the project. Reconstruction commenced at the beginning of 1993 and was completed in 2005. The tenth anniversary of the consecration of the rebuilt Church will be celebrated at the end of this month on 30^th October.

From the outset of the rebuilding project, very strong links have been established between the Frauenkirche and Coventry Cathedral, through the Community of the Cross of Nails. Their shared experience of the devastation caused by bombing during the Second World War, means that they both are involved in the work of reconciliation and the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation is used regularly at the Frauenkirche.

Since soon after the consecration of the rebuilt Frauenkirche, once a month, on a Sunday evening, an English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer has been held. This has been under the auspices of the Berlin Anglican Chaplaincy, in particular the Assistant Chaplain, Rev’d Dr Irene Ahrens. She doesn’t always officiate as sometimes there are guest Anglican clergy from England, invited to take the service and preach. But she has overall responsibility to ensure things run smoothly!

Interior of the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

Earlier this year, Irene contacted me, asking if I would be willing to take on her role from the beginning of 2016. She only works in a voluntary capacity; she is now 75 years old and her husband has had serious health issues in recent months. So during the week that Lea Williams was with me on placement back in early July, we spent the day in Dresden, meeting both Protestant Pastors, Holger Treutmann and Sebastian Feydt, together with their administrator Monika Schneider.

During our visit, we were given our own private tour of the amazing Church building, including parts that the average tourist or worshipper, never gets to see. We also spent time in their administrative offices just round the corner from the Church, discussing what normally happens each month at the Anglican service and enabling me to ask certain pertinent questions as to what to expect. All three were most pleased to discover my Coventry connections, being born and educated in the city.

Following further email exchanges and phone conversations, including one phone call when I was sitting in my hospital bed, it was agreed I would officiate at the service on the evening of Sunday 20^th September. The original plan was for Irene to be there with me, to guide me as what to expect and show how things are normally done. Unfortunately, her husband’s continued ill health meant she was unable to attend.

Decorated ceiling of the dome of the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

On Sunday 20^th, after both attending the Czech Protestant service, (to make a presentation to Pastor Eva who was retiring), and celebrating the Eucharist with the Prague Anglican congregation, I set out for Dresden by train, as my car was out of action having a new clutch installed & two new sections of exhaust fitted. Unfortunately, the train arrived late from Budapest and left Prague fifteen minutes later than it was meant to do so. It was then held up for a further twenty minutes just over the German border, by a broken-down train ahead of us. Thus I had a bit of a rush to get from Dresden Hauptbahnhof to the Frauenkirche.

Yours truly in the Frauenkirche following the service © Ricky Yates

Upon arrival at 17.30, feeling somewhat flustered by my delayed train journey, I was made welcome by a verger, who took me to the vestry where Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt and Monika Schneider were waiting for me, together with the organist, Daniel Clark. Having talked me through what was expected, they all went off to sit in the congregation, except for the organist who disappeared to the organ loft.

There was a congregation of around one hundred. As I discovered as I shook hands with people at the door following the service, they were a mixture of regular attending English-speakers, Germans with varying amounts of English – several wished me ‘Schönes abend’ as they left, together with English-speaking tourists from around the world. With Pfarrer Sebastian Feydt in the congregation, I did feel a little as though I was ‘preaching with a view’, as happens in some Protestant denominations. But he was very positive following the service and seems very pleased about me taking on the role of overseeing the English-language Anglican service.

Having successfully officiated in September, I’m next due in Dresden in December when the service will be one of Lessons and Carols. It will be Irene’s farewell service and our Diocesan Bishop Rt Rev’d Dr Robert Innes will also be present. Then from January, it will be over to me!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get to lead worship and preach in the Dresden Frauenkirche, yet alone on a regular basis. Maybe I need to change the title of this blog to ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague and Dresden 🙂

The Frauenkirche looking across the River Elbe © Ricky Yates