National Holiday – St. Cyril and Methodius & Jan Hus Days /July 5-6, 2023/

Dear students,

this is to notify you that on Wednesday and Thursday, July 5-6, 2023, public holidays known as St. Cyril and Methodius Day and Jan Hus Day are observed in the Czech Republic.

PLEASE NOTE: On account of their being state holidays, there are NO OFFICE HOURS held on these days.

? Did you know ?

• St. Cyril and Methodius: 2 Byzantine Greek brothers, missionaries, who, at the end of the 9th century (in 863), were invited to the Slavic countries to preach the gospel and spread Christianity. They contributed profusely to the proliferation of Christianity in the Great Moravian Empire and to the development of the Slavic languages – they devised the Cyrillic alphabet called hlaholice (a predecessor of Czech) and translated the Bible and liturgical books into Slavonic, which at that time had no written form. Revered as national saints, they are considered the founders of Slavic literature and are sometimes known as the “apostles of the Slavs.”
• Jan Hus (John Huss): A significant early 15th-century Czech religious reformer; a theologian and scholar, he was the predecessor of Martin Luther. Hus stood up for reforms in the Church (using Czech as liturgical language, for instance, limiting the power of the Church to spiritual matters only and calling for stopping of indulgences from being sold.) As a result, he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for insubordination, summoned to ecclesiastical Council of Constance in 1414 where he was worded to repent and call off his teachings. Refusing, he was burned at the stake on July 6, 1415. His death triggered the Hussite wars of the 15th century. Over the centuries, he has become the a powerful symbol of an independent Czech national identity.