ЧЕШСКІЙ ПРАВОСЛАВНЫЙ ВЛАДЫКА
ВЪ АМЕРИКѢ

Передъ концомъ лѣта 1922 г. до Нью Іорку пріѣхалъ Владыка Гораздъ, первый Чехо-Словацкій православный Владыка отъ временъ Кирилло-Меѳодіевскихъ.

Цѣль его пріѣзда — основати тутъ правосл. парохіи межи чехами и словаками.

Въ Нью Іорку, въ Пассайкѣ и другихъ головныхъ мѣстахъ Владыка Гораздъ уже основалъ чешско-словенскіи парохіи.

При неоднократномъ посѣщеніи Владыки Горазда о. редакторомъ «Свѣта» онъ завсе говорилъ: «якъ дома (въ Чехіи), такъ и тутъ, я не маю отдыха. Розъѣзжаю и проповѣдую православную правду Божію всемирно».

Что робота Владыки Горазда дѣйстно значна. о томъ найлучше свѣдчитъ то, что за два года его роботы основано уже до 150 парохій, числящихъ 800,000 православныхъ чеховъ!

Кромѣ нашей 97-ой Улицы, Владыкой Гораздомъ интересуются веѣ. Представители Америк. Епископальной Церкви, напр., покликали его на свою церковную конвениію ажъ до далекого города Портландъ, Орегонъ.

Представителемъ 97-ой Улицы тамъ былъ арабскій Бруклинскій епископъ Евфимій, произнесшій тамъ рѣчь передъ 118 епископальными епископами. То самое зробилъ и Владыка Гораздъ.

Тая рѣчь его такъ интересна, что считаеме потребнымъ подати ю полностью:

Upon my arrival in America, I was greatly honored by the attention and Christian love of your Church. The Rt. Rev. Presiding Bishop, Daniel S. Tuttle, in a letter delivered to me personally by the Rev. Robert Keating Smith, invited me to this General Convention. I also had the great pleasure of a visit from the Rt. Rev. Bishop Darlington in New York, and the Rev. Thomas J. Lacey was so kind as to permit me to hold a service according to the Czechoslovak rites, in the Church of the Redeemer, in Brooklyn, N. Y., and in true brotherliness escorted me out here to the far East. I was invited to visit your Church Mission House in New York, which gave me the opportunity of learning of your great organization, of your work and of your Christian friendliness to the foreign born in your wonderful land.

It was in order to repay these acts of kindness that I decided to leave my work in New York, although I was hardly prepared for such a long journey, if only for the pleasure of greeting personally, in the name of the Czechoslovak Church, this General Convention.

I came from the land of the CHALICE, of the great martyr John Hus, from the land of God's warriors, who fought for liberty of conscience.

After the lost battle of the White Mountain, in 1620, the victorious Hapsburgs, Helped by the Roman Church, did everything possible to, exterminate the roots of the Church of Hus. The political leaders of the people were put to death, their property confiscated and divided as spoils among the foreign offices of the Emperor's army. All the priests of the National Church were driven from the country, among whom was the well known pedagogical writer and reformer John Amos Komensky. All statues of John Hus were destroyed. The national language was forbidden in all the churches, their edifices being given over to the Roman priests. The people were punished by the seizure of their property, the leaders thrown into prison and even subjected to bodily torture. The destruction of the National Church obliged all to attend the Roman services, as no others were held. The University of Prague was handed over to the Jesuits, who administered all other schools, as well, even establishing many new institutions throughout the country.

In those terrible times many a revolt arose against the oppressors, but having no leaders to organize a successful rebellion, the revolutionists were annihilated. In this manner our people were forced to remain in the Roman Church for 150 years. Now, however, after the lapse of three centuries, our downtrodden nation, with the aid of the American people, has obtained political liberty, founding the Czechoslovak Republic. Many desired spiritual freedom as well, and a huge number left the Roman Church, among whom many are now without any religious path. A few of the seceders joined the Protestant Evangelical Church of the Czech Brothers, while very many became members of the Czechoslovak Church, of which I have the honor of being the first Bishop, and which has a membership of 800,000, organized in 147 parishes, divided into three dioceses.

This change in the field of the church and religion called the attention of the entire Christian world, and what was especially pleasing to us is the interest paid by your Church, for in August 1920, Bishop Darlington called up on us in Prague, and your Presiding Bishop and Council sent the Rev. Robert Keating Smith, who had many conferences with our Church leaders and was with us in our St. Nicholas Church, Prague, on August 29, 1920,, with the Serbian Bishop Dositej. He was of much help to us, and reported our religious conditions to you and to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Our Czechoslovak Church, born as it was in the bosom of the Revolution which took place at the end of the last great war, had a long time to consider which of the 2 systems to choose, Protestant or Orthodox. At two great conventions, our Church decided for union with the Eastern Orthodox Church with the reservation, however, of keeping those characteristics of the National Church which the historical development of the Czechoslovak people had evolved. But the details have not as yet been definitely settled. I, as a bishop, consecrated in the Serbian Orthodox Church by the Patriarch Dimitrij, have striven continually for the Eastern form of Christianity, keeping in mind two principal points in doing so.

The first is historical. Our Slavonic apostles (Cyril and Methodius), were members of the Eastern Church and introduced among us that form of Christianity. Later this was subjugated by the Roman Church. The followers of John Hus turned to the East, and began relations in the year 1451, sending a representative to Constantinople the following year. The negotiations were successful and the Church of Constantinople welcomed the Church of Hus as a member, allowing it full liberty in its national characteristics. The capture of Constantinople in 1453 by the Turks severed all connections, and so when I work today for the coalition between the Czechoslovak and Eastern Churches, I am only carrying on the work of my forefathers.

My other point is likewise very important. None can deny but that the division of Christendom into numberless sects does not fulfill the will of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For, according to St. John the Apostle, at the last Supper HE prayed that all those who believe in HIM might be ONE. The division of Christendom has already lasted too long. After this period of division and intoleration must come the time of reaproachment, and the duty of us a}l is to work for a nucleus of such a union, I am sure that this General Convention will do much for the propagation of a better understanding between the various Christian Churches. It is necessary that everything possible be done to have a better knowledge of their several organizations, and of the beauty and the way of preaching the Christian faith. This will have as a consequence a united work, from which springs interest and love, and where there is love, there is the blessing of God, where there is love, there is Jesus and the unity of HIS body, the Church.

It is only the Roman Church that keeps aloof from this common desire for unity. The Czechoslovak Church, having arisen among people whose character is of the West, having united with the Eastern Church, will be a point of contact between the Christian East and the Christian West. The Czechoslovak people live in the middle of Europe. Our Republic unites politically the West and the East. The provinces of our country: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia have western culture and civilization, and the province of Subcarpathian Russia has the eastern, while Slovakia forms a point midway between East and West. What the Czechoslovak Republic means in the political sense, that the Czechoslovak Church can represent in the religious sphere. No other Church has such possibilities for aiding the approaching union of Christendom as the Czechoslovak Church united with the Eastern Church. Whereas in our spiritual life we are Europeans of the West, as a people we belong to the great Slavonic Race, which is enrolled for the greater part in the Eastern Church. This enables us to understand both, West and East, and thus help the coming union. May we not be prophetic and say that the Czechoslovak Church hopes to have that Theological Faculty where the professors of the western and eastern world will lecture, and to which students from all over the world will gather to study the Christian Idea in its entirety and in all its phases.

We wish to be the missionaries of this coming together of the Christian Nations just as in the fifteenth century we were the first to seek to reform the Roman Church. It is in the. name of that Czechoslovak Church, united with the Eastern Church, that I salute your Church as fellow members of Christ's one Holy Catholic Orthodox and Apostolic Church. Regarding Faith and Order, your Church and our Church are the same. Together let us work for the final re-union of all Christendom. I ask you, therefore, to pray with us and work with us for the realization of our common ideal of unity as it has sprung up in the East and in the West that synthesis which we have made in Czechoslovakia may, by GOD'S grace, be the beginning of a new formulation of Catholicity.

Allow me to express mv deepest appreciation of your courtesy extended to me so sincerely and generously. My reception in the House of Bishops was an honor that I shall ever treasure. Your venerable Presiding Bishop Tuttle was most gracious to me..

Owing to the magnitude of the work which awaits me among my countrymen, I must leave this Convention and go back to New York. Nevertheless I shall be among you spiritually, and I pray God to bless your work and may it rebound to the growth of His Kingdom!