Lhotka (Rychnov nad Kněžnou)
Lhotka is a submerged village in the foothills of the Eagle Mountains . It was southwest of Reichenau , which is why it is known as Lhotka near Reichenau ( Lhotka u Rychnova nad Kněžnou ). The area is now part of the Synkov-Slemeno municipality .
Lhotka is a historically significant place of the Unity of the Bohemian Brethren .
history
With the permission of the Utraquist Jan Rokycana , followers of the persecuted religious community of the Bohemian Brethren settled in Kunwald in East Bohemia from 1453 onwards . At that time it belonged to the Lititz rule and was owned by the later King George of Podebrady . There they were looked after by some preachers, among them Michael Bradacius , who was the utraquist pastor in Žamberk and is therefore referred to as Michael von Žamberk . In 1457 he moved to the faithful brothers in Kunwald, who initially called themselves "Fratres Legis Christi" ( brothers of the law of Christ ). In the spirit of the Gospel , they lived there according to the apostolic model in a Christian and fraternal community. In contrast to the Hussite "god fighters" they rejected all violence.
In March 1467 they organized a synod of brothers in the nearby Lhotka near Reichenau. At the synod it was decided to rename it “Unitas Fratrum” ( Unity of the Brothers ) or “Fratres Unitatis” ( United Brothers ). This synod gained importance because the friars decided to elect their own priests and to have them ordained under canon law . Therefore they sent Michael von Žamberk and two other priests to see the Waldensian bishop Stephanus, who was hidden in Austria and consecrated them as bishops. Upon their return, Michael von Žamberk, who held the office of senior, ordained three men elected at the Synod of Lhotka to priests in the same year. They were Thomas von Přelouč († 1518), Elias von Křenowitz († 1503) and Matthias von Kunwald , who was ordained bishop after his ordination.
Through the election and ordination of own priests and the rejection of compacts , the remaining ties to the utraquist church were consciously broken. Since the Utraquists saw their survival endangered, the Brethren Union was subjected to renewed persecution.
In the area of the extinct village of Lhotka, a Scots pine in a grove by the Kněžná reminds of the synod of 1467. The Scots pine, of which only the trunk is preserved, is called Bratrská borovice .
literature
- David Cranz : Old and New Brothers History . Barby 1772. Reprinted 1973, ISBN 3 487 04619 9
- Franz Machilek: Bohemian Brothers . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 7, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-008192-X , pp. 1-8.
- Jiří Otter: The first united church in the heart of Europe . Prague 1991, ISBN 80-7072-816-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to David Cranz: Alte und Neue Brüder-Historie, p. 91 there was a Waldensian preacher and a Catholic priest.
- ↑ cs: Bratrská borovice
Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ N , 16 ° 15 ′ E