FRATRUM UNITAS. – “Jednota bratrska” (Unity of the Brethren), also called “Čeští bratři” (Bohemian Brethren), condemned as heretical in Bohemia in the 15th–17th centuries. It is a branch of those known as “Bohemian Brethren” (v.).
The F. U. arose in the atmosphere of religious exaltation and disorientation left by the Hussite wars. Ideologically, the F. U. traces its origins to the writings of PETER CHELČICKÝ (b. 1390, d. 1460), a small landowner in southern Bohemia. Drawing on the teachings of the Waldensians, Chelčický, in his works (especially The Net of True Faith and The Beast of the Apocalypse), taught that the “pure” primitive Church had been corrupted by Constantine through the introduction of the politico-religious system with the Pope as Antichrist at its head. To be saved, Christians must return to the purity of the primitive Church in doctrine and life. Chelčický condemned as innovations the cult of the Virgin Mary and the saints, purgatory, the adoration and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the splendor of the liturgy, and denied the validity of the sacraments administered by an unworthy priest. In life, Christians must flee cities, devote themselves to agriculture and humble crafts, suffer and never resist evil. A Christian cannot hold any public office, since the State is a pagan institution irreducibly opposed to Christ. Moreover, it is a mortal sin to be a soldier, merchant, master, innkeeper, painter, musician, to kill an aggressor in self-defense, to swear or defend oneself in court, to wear fine clothes, to seek amusement, etc. Marriage is not condemned, but celibacy is preferable, obligatory for the clergy, who moreover must live in poverty from their manual labor, scorning science as useless and dangerous.
The first organizer of the F. U. was a certain Brother Gregory, who in 1457, with a group of devout laymen, withdrew to the abandoned village of Kunwald in eastern Bohemia and there established a community according to Chelčický’s teachings. Soon other similar groups formed around some zealous preachers in Bohemia and Moravia joined them. In 1457 they assembled at Lhotka near Rychnov 60 delegates from local groups, openly separated from the Roman and Utraquist Churches, elected three bishops, and had them ordained by the laying on of hands of the senior Brethren. George of Poděbrady took energetic measures against the new sect in 1468. But under his successors, Vladislav II (1471–1516) and Louis (1516–26), the F. U. developed quietly, since Vladislav’s decrees of 1503 and 1508 against it remained practically unenforced. Thus by about 1500 the F. U. counted in Bohemia and Moravia about 100 communities.
In 1481, Lucas of Prague (b. c. 1460, d. 1528), a bachelor of arts, joined the F. U. and directed it as bishop from 1500 to 1528. Lucas reconciled the Brethren with culture and strove in numerous synods to mitigate the primitive rigorism, especially regarding studies, public offices, and certain trades. The excessive austerity of worship was also modified, and the internal organization was determined. Synods exercised supreme legislative power in the F. U. A “restricted council” of 14 members (including laymen) presided over by the senior bishop, who was normally also “judge,” directed current affairs. The priests, no longer bound to celibacy, assisted by deacons and acolytes, administered the sacraments. A council of “elders” supervised the discipline of the individual communities of Brethren, divided into three classes: aspirants, advanced, and elected and perfect.
Emerging Protestantism also invaded the F. U. Bishop Lucas resisted Lutheranism, but John Augusta (b. 1500, d. 1572), bishop from 1532, drew up in 1535 a Confession strongly penetrated by Lutheran doctrines. In 1547 the F. U. took part in the insurrection against the new king Ferdinand I. After the revolt failed, Bishop Augusta was imprisoned, and the king renewed Vladislav’s decrees against the F. U. Then part of the Brethren emigrated to Poland, Prussia, and Moravia (first exile).
John Blahoslav (b. 1523, d. 1571), bishop from 1557, though trained in Protestant schools, still strove to maintain the distinctive character of the F. U. and promoted cultural life, especially printing. In 1561 he published the famous Szamotuly Hymnal, and in 1564 the new version of the New Testament, later included in the so-called Kralice Bible (1579–93). In it some books are already marked as apocryphal according to Protestant doctrine.
Under the reign of Maximilian II (1564–76), Rudolph II (1576–1611), and Matthias (1611–19), the F. U. became increasingly reconciled with the world but declined internally. Future priests studied in Protestant schools, and the F. U. increasingly yielded to Protestant influences, especially Calvinism, which was akin to the F. U. in its disciplinary rigorism. Even the activity of Jesuit missionaries backed by Catholic nobles caused considerable losses to the F. U. In 1575 the Brethren, together with the Lutherans, drew up the “Bohemian Confession,” and on July 9, 1600, obtained from Rudolph II a solemn decree (“maiestat”) guaranteeing them full freedom of worship and placing the University of Prague at their disposal.
The F. U. again took part in the insurrection of 1618, supporting the election of Frederick, Elector Palatine, as King of Bohemia. After the defeat of the rebels on the White Mountain (Nov. 8, 1620), King Ferdinand II exiled the clergy in 1621 and in 1627 all the Brethren. Then the Brethren partly emigrated to Slovakia, Silesia, Poland, and Germany (altogether about 100 priests and 400–500 faithful), Comenius (v.) becoming the last bishop of the F. U.
In exile the Brethren gradually merged with the Protestants. Those remaining in the homeland were almost all reconverted to Catholicism. The few descendants of the clandestine Brethren adhered in 1771 to the Lutheran or Calvinist churches authorized by Joseph II’s “Toleration Patent.”
For a group of German Pietist peasants who had emigrated in 1722 from northern Moravia to Saxony, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf founded the village of Herrnhut and drew up statutes inspired by the organization of the F. U. From there they dispersed in small groups, especially to America, known as the Unitas Fratrum or Moravian Brethren.
In 1918 the Reformed and Lutherans in Bohemia united, taking as their basis the “Bohemian Confession” of 1575 and that of the Brethren of 1662 (written by Comenius), and assumed the name Českobratrská církev evangelická (Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brethren). In 1930 this Church counted 299,185 faithful, 2 percent of the population.
Moreover, the Czechoslovak section of the Baptists took the name Bratrská Jednota Chelčického (Unity of the Brethren of Chelčický), and another sect of American origin calls itself Českobratrská Jednota (Unity of the Bohemian Brethren). Both are insignificant sects and present no continuity with the historical F. U.
In theology the F. U. lacked a clear and precise system of its own. In 160 years the Brethren drew up about fifty “confessions,” of which twenty differed in form and content. The exaggerated primitive rigorism prevented the F. U. from effectively influencing the spiritual renewal of the masses, and despite later mitigations, especially to accommodate nobles, at its greatest expansion the F. U. embraced little more than 6 percent of the population in Bohemia and Moravia. With its hymnals the F. U. promoted sacred song, and with its editions it contributed to the development of the Czech literary language. But because of its iconoclastic Puritanism it remained sterile in art.