The Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church (Czechoslovak Orthodox Church up to 1993) traces its roots to the Church of the Czech Brethren of the 1920s. It was first headed by Matej Pavlik, ordained as bishop Gorazd by the Serb Orthodox Church under whose authority the Church operated. 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties. // Events and trends Technology John T. Thompson invents Thompson submachine gun, also known as Tommy gun John Logie Baird invents the first working television system (1925) Charles Lindbergh becomes the first person to fly... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Early history The Serbs migrated to the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641). ...

Almost all of the members of the Czech and Slovak Orthodox Church were 20th century converts from Roman Catholicism or Eastern Rite Catholicism (Uniates). The faithful included Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks and back then Rusyns (Carpatho-Ukraine was a part of Czechoslovakia up to 1945) who felt disenfrachised by the Catholic priests. The conversions and the Church itself was an attempt to return to Slavic roots and to the teachings of the Saints Cyril and Methodius who first converted Moravia in 863. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... The term Eastern Rites may refer to the liturgical rites used by many ancient Christian Churches of Eastern Europe and the Middle East that, while being part of the Roman Catholic Church, are distinct from the Latin Rite or Western Church. ... Moravians are the Slavic inhabitants of modern Moravia, the easternmost part of the Czech Republic. ... Rusyns, also called Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusins, Rysins, Carpatho-Rusins, and Russniaks, are a modern group of ethnic groups that speak the Rusyn language and are descended from the Ruthenians that did not become Ukrainians in the 19th century. ... Carpatho-Ukraine (Ukrainian: , Karpats’ka Ukrayina, Kárpátalja in Hungarian), also called Subcarpathian Ruthenia (Підкарпатська Русь, Pidkarpats’ka Rus’), was an autonomous state within Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... See Saint Cyril (disambiguation) for other persons with this name. ... Saint Methodius was a bishop of Great Moravia (Moravia) (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 826; he died in the (unknown) capital of Great Moravia, April 6, 885). ... Moravia (Czech: Morava, German: Mähren, Polish: Morawy, Hungarian: Morvaország) is the eastern part of the Czech Republic. ... Events Constantine I succeeds as king of Scotland. ...

The faithful of the then Czechoslovak Orthodox Church were Czechoslovak patriots as well as pan-Slavs and their ranks quickly grew from almost no Eastern Orthodox faithful to 145,000 by the 1931 census (of that some 120,000 Ruthenes in Carpatho-Ukraine). National flag of all Slavs approved on the Pan-Slav convention in Prague in 1848 The 19th century movement Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid 19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. ... ...

In 1942, the head of the church, bishop Gorazd was arrested, tried and executed by the Nazis. His offence was harbouring the conspirators who had assassinated Reinhard Heydrich. This involvement caused harsh reprisals for Eastern Orthodox faithful in German-occupied Bohemia and Moravia. Some 256 Orthodox priests and prominent believers were either executed or deported to slave labour camps in the Third Reich. This article is about the year. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Reinhardt, March 7, 1904 – June 4, 1942) was an Obergruppenführer in the Nazi German paramilitary corps—the SS led by Heinrich Himmler. ... Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: ÄŒechy; German: Böhmen) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ...

Following the end of the war, in 1945, the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church held a memorial service for bishop Gorazd. Prominent citizens of Prague of all faiths paid their respects to the murdered cleric in the Orthodox cathedral of Sts Cyril and Methodius. 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. ...

Links

• Page on Orthodoxy in Czech
• Czech Travel Page on Orthodox Church