[AnalogReigns]

and Hussitism eventually went extinct.

Ahhh, no. The Moravian Church--which founded Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Salem (of Winston-Salem) North Carolina have a good claim to be direct descendants of the original Hussites--pushed underground by Roman Catholic persecution, which continued into the 18th Century. Czech Hussites immigrated across the border into Protestant Saxony, Germany, where the refugees stayed on the estate of Count Zinzendorf, a noble who was also an ordained Lutheran minister, founding the town of Herrnhut (The Lord's House).

Zinzendorf helped them get organized, and became the lead Bishop in the Moravian Church (even while never denouncing his Lutheran orders)--and gave oversight to an amazing work by the Holy Spirit, moving the Moravian Church community to do amazing things--like a tiny community sending the 1st Protestant missionaries to the literal ends of the Earth...in the mid 1700s.

Mission Churches were established in the Aleutian islands, the South Pacific, and many other far-flung places--as well as numerous missions to the American Indians in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and North Carolina.

A 24 hour prayer chain lasted for 100 years....and at their peak, fully 1/3 of the Moravian brethren were missionaries--while 2/3 worked in Church owned factories in Saxony to support them.

Moravian worship and doctrine are distinct, and not identical to standard Lutheranism--though traditional Moravian belief accepts Protestant essentials. Education has always been important to the Moravians (eg. the famous "Moravian Star" was developed as a math-lesson in the mid 1800s).

So no, the Hussites didn't just become extinct.

[tahoeblue]

Thanks for that - I know quite a bit about the Moravians after they founded Bethlehem, but did not know about this part of the story.

[dangus]

Moravians represent Bohemian protestantism, and in that way Hus is historically significant to them, but they are NOT Hussite in theology, ecclesiology or polity. There is in fact a Czech Hussite church which was established after World War One, and is now the largest Czech Protestant church.

[dangus]

Confirmed a little more research about the Moravian Church:

It’s essentially a union church, combining Lutheranism with Calvinism, in a manner similar to Deutch Freikirks. They accept theologically the first 21 chapters of the Augsburg confession, the Small Catechism of Martin Luther, the 39 Articles of the Church of England, and the Heidelberg Catechism. They are part of the Lutheran World Federation, and the Evangelische (Frie) Kirche of Germany. Their differences with Lutheranism are from unique practices which have nothing to do with Hus. And whereas Hus insisted that both species (bread and wine) were necessary for salvation, Moravians believe neither are.

Oh, and they are virtually unknown in Bohemia.