Paths of Celts, Romans and Slavs became paths of Christians

9th–11th Century A.D.

Following the collapse of the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne into three parts (in 814), and in the shadow of the rising of Eastern Frankish Empire, the basis of the new state of the Western Slavs – Great Moravia - is formed. Great Moravia maintains contacts with the Christian West (Rome) and the East (Byzantium). After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire - the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids which creates closer ties with the Western Christianity. Prominent figures of this period are Byzantine missionaries Constantine and Methodius, Přemyslid Prince Wenceslas and Adalbert of Prague (a bishop from a noble Czech family of Prince Slavník). The era of the birth of the Czech statehood is followed by the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, which brings the victory of Christian education, and culture. The European continent is endowed with a common spiritual dimension.

These ancient routes, which for centuries had been carrying the Celtic merchants and the Druids, the Roman legions, the Slavic tribes, the Avars nomads, Irish missionaries and Carolingian (Frankish) troops, brought (in 864) into the area of Moravia from Macedonian Thessaloniki two brothers - Constantine and Methodius. They were sent here by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III. at the request of the Moravian Prince Rastislav I with the intention to teach the Christian religion, educate priests and established churches.

The success of the two brothers was primarily based on the fact that they didn’t insist on using Latin. Instead, inspired by the Greek alphabet - they devised a Slavic script - the Glagolitic alphabet. They translated basic Christian texts and brought the Slavs Christianity in their native language. They worshiped and taught Christianity in the Old Church Slavonic language. The remains from this period can still be found in Southern Moravia, in particular in Mikulčice and Staré Město u Uherského Hradiště.

The spreading of faith from above
The first baptism of Czech Princes took place as early as the year 845 in Regensburg, Germany. The ancient pagan ways were converted to Christian ways when Přemyslid Prince Bořivoj and his wife Ludmila received baptism at the hands of Archbishop Methodius in Moravia in the year 880. This baptism was most certainly celebrated in a Church which was built according to a model of Byzantine churches.

Its lightweight and illuminated dome representing the heavenly dome symbolizes the celestial kingdom of heaven with a reigning Christ; the lower hall, intended for gatherings, represented the human world (the most famous example of a church of this type is the Hagia Sophia in present-day Istanbul). The Byzantine churches used to have the western hall covered. It was called narthex and designated for people who were not yet baptized and who were studying the Christian faith.

Bořivoj, the first known Přemyslid Prince, had to be very much impressed by this – because the Slavic liturgy was then in Bohemia used alongside the Western (Latin) until the time of his grandson, Prince Wenceslas. The focus of Wenceslas, however, was to the west - towards the Eastern Frankish Empire. The first Pre-Romanesque churches are being built on the Czech territory. They are inspired by the Western models. The oldest of these is the rotunda in Levý Hradec dedicated to St. Clement, whose remains were brought from Crimea to Rome by the Thessaloniki missionaries. The Church in Stará Boleslav was dedicated to the same saint. It was commissioned and built out of wood by the order of Prince Wenceslas. It was later decorated with precious frescoes after the Romanesque reconstruction. These frescoes depict not only Prince Wenceslas but also St. Ludmila – his pious grandmother.

She raised him and his brother Boleslaus in a Christian faith. Meanwhile – the country was ruled by the mother of the teenage boys - Princess Drahomíra who acted as a Regent. Princess Drahomíra did not welcome the new Christian innovations. The result of the rivalry between mother-in-law and daughterin-law was the political murder of St. Ludmila performed by two guards from the Drahomíra’s entourage. The main dispute of the two princesses was only connected to the adoption of or a failure to adopt Christianity – it had to do with the foreign policy. One of the women wanted to focus in the foreign policy on Bavaria – where Wenceslas’ father Vratislaus had maintained good relations, the other preferred Saxony, whose king Henry Fowler was more and more powerful. Others had a different opinion – one that the dishonest Boleslaus listen to – and it was suggesting to try to fight for full sovereignty from the German princes and kings...

Wenceslas let Ludmila be buried at the Prague Castle and punished his mother by banishing her from the Royal Court (indeed, perhaps even from the country) as soon as he grew up and took over the government. Later, however, he was able to forgive her and it is possible that Drahomíra tried to warn Wenceslaus about the intentions of his brother Boleslaus who was encouraged by the belligerent Lords to commit fratricide, which he did in front of the Saints Cosmas and Damian Church in Stará Boleslav in 935.

The establishment of the diocese of Prague

Bohemia and Moravia made a significant spiritual step in establishing the diocese of Prague in 973. Saint Adalbert of Slavník’s dynasty was elected the second bishop of Prague (and the first Czech bishop) in 982 in the rotunda in Levý Hradec (the same place where he was previously confirmed and ordained as a deacon). As a young man he studied theology in Magdeburg where he became acquainted with future Emperor Otto III. Ascetic traits of Saint Adalbert of Slavník’s dynasty were in conflict with the reality of the Bishop’s Office in Czech lands where the inhabitants were just recently baptized and their faith was not yet steadfast.

He left the Bishop’s Office after 5 years of fruitless efforts to eradicate the slave trade (from which Prague of that time was getting its wealth), polygamy and alcoholism and with Radim Gaudentius (who was his brother and an inseparable companion) traveled to Rome. Adalbert returned to his post as a bishop in 992 after an appeal from Prince Boleslaus II. and brought with him a group of Italian Benedictine monks. He founded the first male monastery in Bohemia for them near the Prague Castle - in Břevnov. The first convent in the Czech lands was the women’s Benedictine convent of Saint George at the Prague Castle which was founded in 976.

Adalbert dies as a martyr on a mission trip to the Baltic Prussians. At the same time - the Eastern Frankish Empire connects with the spiritual authority of Rome to form a big power in Central Europe - the Holy Roman Empire. Bishop Adalbert of Prague tried to strengthen the autonomy of the Church, which was then heavily dependent on secular power. He is one of the most important saints in Hungary and in Poland because of his evangelical activities there (according to a legend - he baptized the future first Hungarian King - Stephen I.).

St. Radim Gaudentius, who witnessed his brother’s death, was captured and is responsible for making the Polish King Boleslaus I the Brave win Adalbert’s body from the hands of the Prussian pagans (according to a legend - his body was bought back for its weight in gold). Adalbert was then buried in a central Polish city of Gniezno, where on that occasion, archdiocese was founded and entrusted to Radim Gaudentius. Adalbert’s remains returned to Prague in 1039 as the spoils of Bretislaus I and are stored in the St. Vitus Cathedral.

The monastery in Sázava and the diocese of Olomouc Bohemia became the spiritual intersection between the Christian East and West again during the reign of a tough warrior Ulrich, the Duke of Bohemia. He found a monastery in Sázava after meeting hermit Procopius in 1032 and made him its first abbot. Saint Procopius of Sázava is the first Czech saint, who did not come from the ruling family, and whose earthly life did not end in a violent death. The Sázava monastery was Benedictine but Slavic liturgy was used and books were written in the Old Church Slavonic language. The monks have established ties with Kievan Rus’. Ties to the West, however, were stronger, and the Church Slavonic language in Sázava was no longer used in 1096 when the monks were expelled and replaced by the Benedictine brothers and Latin liturgy.The founding of the diocese of Olomouc in 1063 at least symbolically continues in the heritage left by Methodius (it, together with the diocese of Prague, belonged under the Archdiocese of Mainz). The diocese of Olomouc was established after the formal division of Christendom into the Eastern (Byzantine, later Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic). This division in 1054 brought to an end a rivalry lasting several hundred years between the two spiritual powers about the leading authority in the Christian world.

Moravia was divided one year later. It was controlled by the Přemyslids (after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire). Bretislaus I, Duke of Bohemia, shortly before his death in 1055 divided Moravia into three appanage principalities, which he entrusted into the care of his sons. Those principalities were Olomouc, Brno and Znojmo. These three principalities were in 1182 merged into the March of Moravia (Margraviate of Moravia), which throughout the history always had a certain political and religious independence with its own Assembly and later also provincial committee.