I don't have time to write a full post, but I just noticed that today is Master John Huss Day in the Czech Republic.John Huss (Jan Hus) was born in southern Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in about 1371 and died 592 years ago today. His followers were called Hussites. He was condemned at the Council of Constance in 1414 and was burned at the stake, a martyr for Christ, on July 6, 1415.
Your can read more at Wikipedia here.
I checked a few sources (online and in my library), and though there are some minor variations in the account of his martyrdom, it is apparent that Huss met his death like a true believer, entrusting himself to Christ his Redeemer.
ReplyDeleteHe went to Constance thinking he was going to defend his beliefs, having received a promise of safety from his emperor. Instead he was given only a chance to recant. When he refused, he was charged with heresy, mocked, and immediately sent out for execution. He gave glory to Christ throughout the ordeal, not accepting release (Heb. 11:35).
Some sources claim that Huss prophesied that in a hundred years one would arise that they could neither roast nor boil. About a hundred years later Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, igniting the Protestant Reformation. Huss' circumstances sound a lot like Luther's, except that Huss was burned and Luther was spared. Who can scrutinize the secret counsels of God? Either way, martyred or surviving, God's estimate of His persecuted faithful is the same: men of whom the world was not worthy (Heb. 11:38).