Bohemian Reformation in the context of "Hussite movement"

The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren, formally the Unitas Fratrum (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original Unity of the Brethren (Czech: Jednota bratrská) founded in the Kingdom of Bohemia, sixty years before Martin Luther's Reformation.

The church's heritage can be traced to 1457 and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, which included Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and previously the Hussite movement against several practices and doctrines of the Catholic Church. Its name is derived from exiles who fled from Moravia to Saxony in 1722 to escape the Counter-Reformation, establishing the Christian community of Herrnhut. Hence, it is also known in German as the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine [sic] ("Unity of Brethren of Herrnhut").

Prague (/ˈprɑːɡ/ PRAHG; Czech: Praha [ˈpraɦa] ) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 million people.

Prague is a historical city with Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378) and Rudolf II (r. 1575–1611). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austria-Hungary. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era.

Jan Hus (/hʊs/; Czech: [ˈjan ˈɦus] ; c. 1369 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Goose or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as Iohannes Hvs or Johannes Huss, was a Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and the inspiration of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism, and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation. Hus is considered to be the first Church reformer, even though some designate the theorist John Wycliffe. His teachings had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther.

After being ordained as a Catholic priest, Hus began to preach in Prague. He opposed many aspects of the Catholic Church in Bohemia, such as its views on ecclesiology, simony, the Eucharist, and other theological topics. Hus was a master, dean, and rector at the Charles University in Prague between 1409 and 1410.

Czech Renaissance architecture refers to the architectural period of the early modern era in Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia, which then comprised the Crown of Bohemia and today constitute the Czech Republic. The Renaissance style flourished in the Czech lands from the late 15th century to the first half of the 17th century.

In the Crown of Bohemia as well as in other parts of Central Europe the Renaissance style was accepted slower than in southern Europe and its development was delayed in comparison with Italy. It was partly caused by the situation in the Kingdom after the Hussite Wars. The Bohemian Reformation was mistrustful of the influences coming from "papal" Italy and rather respected the traditional values expressed with the older Gothic style. Therefore, the first examples of Renaissance architecture in the Czech lands can be found in the domains of the Catholic aristocracy or the Catholic king. The Renaissance style first appeared in the Czech Kingdom in the 1490s. Bohemia (together with its incorporated lands, especially Moravia) thus ranked among the areas of the Holy Roman Empire with the earliest known examples of Renaissance architecture.

Communion under both kinds in Catholicism is the reception under both "species" (i.e., both the consecrated bread and wine) of the Eucharist. Denominations of Christianity that hold to a doctrine of Communion under both kinds may believe that a Eucharist which does not include both bread and wine as elements of the religious ceremony is not valid, while others may consider the presence of both bread and wine as preferable, but not necessary, for the ceremony. In some traditions, the second element may be grape juice in place of wine containing alcohol.