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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 CyrilSaint Cyril (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 827; died Rome, February 4, 869) was a Byzantine monk, scholar, theologian, and linguist. With his brother Methodius he is credited with inventing the Glagolitic alphabet, a precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. The t and Methodius who first converted MoraviaMoravia ( Czech: Morava is the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Its historical capital is Brno. For history see Great Moravia. It is named for the Morava (or March) river around which a group of Slavs settled sometime after 500 AD. The Moravians speak in 863Events Constantine I succeeds as king of Scotland. or 862) Pope Nicholas I excommunicates patriarch Photius I of Constantinople. After the death of Charles, Lothair takes part of the Jura and Louis II takes the Provence. Carloman revolts against his fathe.
The faithful of the then Czechoslovak Orthodox Church were Czechoslovak patriots as well as pan-SlavsSlavs 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. Its main center was in the Balkans where Southern Slavs had been ruled over and their ranks quickly grew from almost no Eastern OrthodoxEastern Orthodox Christianity (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox) is the modern name primarily applied to the Christian church that claims to be the original historical church started by Christ Jesus and his Apostles 2000 years ago. They claim unbroken apo faithful to 145,000 by the 1931 census (of that some 120,000 Ruthenes in Carpatho-Ukraine).
In 1942Events January January 1 World War II: The word " United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact. January 2 World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. January 5 Amy Johnson disappears in flight over River Thames estuary ass, 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.
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.