John Huss is considered by many to be one of the first Church reformers. Wycliffe’s work greatly influenced his beliefs. The teachings of Huss had a strong influence, most immediately in the approval of a reformed Bohemian religious denomination and, over a century later, on Martin Luther. His execution as a heretic was followed by the rapid spread of what came to be known as the Hussite movement, sowing many of the seeds for the reformation in Central Europe.
The spread of reform in Bohemia
By the beginning of the 1400’s, seeds of reform had been planted in England and were making their way to Europe. Religious reform had already influenced the city of Prague in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) due to some powerful biblical preaching. Men, such as Conrad of Waldenhausen, Jan Milic of Kromeriz , and Matthew of Janow preached in Bohemia in the last half of the 14th Century.
The early influence of Queen Anne
A strong connection between England and Bohemia was forged by the marriage of Anne of Luxemburg, the sister of the King Wenceslaus of Bohemia, to King Richard II of England. Anne was taught the truths of Scripture from her youth. She was an intelligent young lady and asked many questions. Richard II was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales. When he was just thirteen years old, he heard about Anne and thought she would make him a good wife. In 1382, they married each other when they were fifteen years old. Anne was encouraged to go to England because she had heard that the writings of Wycliffe had begun a revival there.
Anne was beloved by the English people. She was gentle and kind, and she tried to help the poor, the orphans, and widows. King Richard was very pleased with Anne and loved her greatly. At a time when few people had ever seen the Bible, Anne had the gospels in three languages: Bohemian, English, and Latin. When she told Archbishop of York, Aarundel, that she loved reading the Bible, he was alarmed. But since she was the Queen of England, there wasn’t much he could do.
Wycliffe was delighted that Queen Anne loved to read and study the Scriptures, and she gave her protection to Wycliffe. She often went to her husband to gently plead with him on Wycliffe’s behalf.
An exchange of ideas between England and Bohemia
Queen Anne died at the early age of twenty-seven, after becoming ill from the plague. After her death, many of her friends and servants returned to Bohemia. They took with them the translations of the gospels and some of Wycliffe’s writings that Queen Anne had cherished. And some of her friends remained in England to attend Oxford, telling others what they had heard and learned from Queen Anne. So, the Lord used Anne to spread seeds of the Reformation throughout Bohemia and England.
The early life of John Huss
John Huss was born to peasant parents in Husinec, a small town in southern Bohemia, around 1372. Huss was sent away to a monastery when he was about ten years old. He impressed his teachers, and they recommended he move to Prague, where he enrolled at the University of Prague in 1390. This is where Huss was first exposed to Wycliffe’s work, as he earned money copying his works.
Huss graduated with a bachelors degree in 1393 and completed his master of arts degree in 1396. He then began teaching philosophy and was appointed a professor of theology at the University of Prague in 1398. And three years later, Huss became the dean of the theological faculty. He also took priestly vows, motivated largely by his desire for prestige, financial security, and acceptance of the academic community.
Captivated by Wycliffe’s teachings
Greater exposure to Wycliffe’s work through the help of Jerome
In 1401, Jerome of Prague returned from Oxford with more copies of Wycliffe’s writings. Huss began to see that Wycliffe was a man of genuine spiritual depth and experience. And Huss was not completely opposed to the reforms he proposed. He especially agreed with Wycliffe’s view against corruption within the clergy and opposition to the sale of indulgences. He agreed with Wycliffe that the true church consists only of genuine believers within the institutional church. This led him to conclude that the heirarchy within the Catholic Church were among the non-elect and were therefore false shepherds of the Christ’s people.
The conversion of Huss, leading to personal transformation
During these years, Huss was dramatically converted to Christ. Though the details are not clear, his personal transformation was unmistakable. He simplified his lifestyle and became more occupied with spiritual growth. At this point, Huss had already set himself onto the road to Protestantism by placing the authority of the Word of God above that of the Pope or Church Councils.
The impact of James and Conrad of Canterbury
It was about this time when James and Conrad of Canterbury, two young theologians who had graduated from Oxford, entered into Prague to preach the gospel. They undermined the authority of Rome and attacked the supremacy of the Pope. This produced such a stir that the city authorities put an end to their preaching. So, the two men used their creative talends to draw two contrasting images, one of Jesus, meek and lowly, sitting on a donkey and the other of the Pope, in all his finery and splendor, surrounded by his entourage of Bishops and Cardinals. What they failed to do by preaching, they were able to accomplish by their artwork.
The art caused such a stir in the city that James and Conrad thought it best to hastily leave Prague and return to England. Huss viewed the paintings and his mind was completely gripped by what he saw. He went back and poured over the writings of Wycliffe again. This time, however, with a mind that was more readily open to accepting the truths that Wycliffe championed. He began to share these ideas with his parishioners, never dreaming of separating from the church but with a passion to see it reformed.
Fanning widespread popular support for reform
In 1402, Huss was appointed the rector and preacher of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. The chapel was built by a wealthy merchant a decade earlier to be a center for Reformed preaching. It could seat three thousand worshipers, but it often could not contain its growing congregation.
Huss stressed the supreme authority of Scripture and elevated biblical preaching to a central place in the worship service. He was a fiery preacher, who carefully studied the Sciptures. His preaching garnered popular support for reformation views. His preaching had such an impact that university students rioted in opposition to Rome’s false teaching and in support of Wycliffism.
Charged with heresy
Defending Wycliffe’s writings at the university
In 1403, A German teacher, selected forty-five theses from Wycliffe’s writings, which led to charge of heresy from the university faculty. This caused a split between the German professors, who opposed Wycliffe and the Czech professors, who defended his ideas. Initially, the new archbishop of Prague, Zbynek Zajic, favored Wycliffe’s reforms, but in 1408, he was persuaded by the adversaries of reform to reinstate the old doctrines of Rome.
The refusal to stop preaching
The next year, the Council of Pisa met to resolve the dispute over who should be the recognized pope, Benedict XIII or Gregory VII. Instead, they elected another claimant, Alexander V. Huss, along with King Wenceslaus and the Czech teachers sided with Alexander. The German teachers, however, sided with Gregory. Archbishop Zajic secured a decree from Alexander, which prohibited preaching in private chapels, including Bethlehem Chapel. Huss quicky rejected the order and continued to preach. So, Zajic excommunicated him and had Wycliffe’s books burned. But with the continuing support of the government, Huss continued to preach at Bethlehem Chapel.
Defiance of papal authority
Huss was excommunicated a second time for comtempt of papal authority after he refused a summons to appear in Rome. Alexander’s successor, Pope John XXIII, excommunicated him again for condemning the Pope’s sale of indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. And after a public demonstrations broke out in Prague in response to the biblical teaching of Huss, which resulted in the beheading of three young men, Huss was excommunicated for a fourth time. The pope placed Prague under interdict–an act that effectively excommuniated the whole city, because no one there could receive the church sacraments.
Huss in exile
Huss then went into exile in Southern Bohemia after violence had been threatened against the papacy. However, he continued to preach in churches and held open-air gatherings. It’s during the time of his exile when Huss wrote some of his finest works, including Exposition of Faith, The Ten Commandments, and The Lord’s Prayer.
The arrest, imprisonment, and trial of Huss
In 1414, at the order of King Sigismund, Pope John XXIII reluctantly convened a church Council at Constance, Germany. The Council was called to address two escalating problems, the papal schism and what the Roman Church believed to be rising heresy. Huss was summoned to appear and was given an assurance of safety by Sigismund. Thought the friends of Huss urged him not to go, Huss accepted the invitation.
Once he arrived, Huss was immediately arrested for heresy and thrown into prison, where he languished for eight months and suffered a great decline in his health.
In 1415, Huss was put on trial for “Wycliffism”, and was ordered to condemn Wycliffe’s works. But he firmly held onto the teachings of Wycliffe, saying that he supported Wycliffe, but would condemn his teachings if they were proven wrong by the Bible. Huss was then urged to recant his own teachings, which he also refused to do so, unless they were proven false by Scripture. Late, he wrote:
“I refuse to be the enemy of the truth and will resist to the death all agreement with falsehood….It is better to die well than to live badly.”
John Huss1Letter 27, in The Letters of John Huss, eds. R. Martin Pope and Herbert B. Workman (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904), 120.
The martyrdom of John Huss
On July 6, 1415, the Council of Constance declared the teachings of Wycliffe to be heretical. Huss was then condemned as the chief expounder of Wycliffe’s views. To humiliate Huss further, six bishops ceremoniously stripped him of his priestly garments and shaved his head. They placed a paper hat on his head that was covered with demons with the word heretic. Then they committed his soul to the Devil. Huss responded, “And I commit myself to my most gracious Lord Jesus.” He told his executioners:
” Today you are burning a goose [the meaning of his name in Czech]; however, a hundred years from now, you will be able to hear a swan sing; you will not burn it, you will have to listen to him.”
John Huss2Erwin Weber, “Luther with the Swan,” The Lutheran Journal, vol 65, no. 2, 1996, 10
Huss was ordered to recant or die multiple times, which he refused to do. That afternoon, he was burned at the stake as a martyr. He reportedly died singing, “Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me.
The reform movement lived on
John Huss was a key contributor to Protestantism. By killing Hus, the church authorities provided the Czech reformers with a martyr. From then on, the movement, that became known as Wycliffite, took the name Hussite, and it grew rapidly. His teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe and on Martin Luther, whose beliefs helped birth the Reformation.
Luther read Huss’s writings and was deeply inspired. He caught spiritual fire from Huss’s books and received much of his evangelical boldness thru Huss’s writings. Luther later declared, “I have hitherto taught and held all the opinions of Jan Hus unawares…In short, we are all Hussites without knowing it.” Huss absolutely laid the foundation for the Protestant Reformation!
The teachings of Huss had a strong influence on the states of Europe and on Martin Luther. Bohemia was the site of one of the most significant pre-reformation movements. The Hussite Wars led to the Basel Compacts, which allowed for a reformed church in the Kingdom of Bohemia, almost a century before such developments would take place in the Lutheran Reformation. A century after the Hussite Wars began, 90% of the inhabitants of the Czech lands were Hussites.
Reflections on the life of John Huss
Followers of Jesus strive to know and embrace the truth
Sinful man resists the truth about his condition. He will not believe it because he is unwilling to change. However, the Holy Spirit changes the hearts of God’s elect. When that person is heart-broken over their sin, knows that God will judge sin, but has made a way for reconciliation and peace with God possible by faith alone in His only Son, nothing is more important than embracing that truth.
John Huss was converted by the power of the Holy Spirit when he was confronted with biblical preaching of the gospel. He was especially moved by the contrast between the humble portrait of Christ and an image of pompous pope, adorned in all his regalia, and surrounded by his adoring cardinals. This helped to open Huss’s eyes to the obvious hypocrisy of the Roman Church and it’s leaders. With this mindset, Huss was more readily open to seriously ponder Wycliffe’s critique of the church. He eventually became convinced of many of Wycliffe’s beliefs.
True Christians persevere under persecution
The true Christian may stumble from time to time, but will not completely fall away from his faith in the Lord. He will persevere to the end because God is able to keep him from falling away. Just as Christ prayed for Peter to return to Him after he denied Him, He also intercedes with the Father on behalf of all the faithful.
For a time, Huss faced little oposition to his biblical preaching. Everything seemed to be going well for him. But soon, he drew the anger of the popes, archbishops, a king, and others for speaking against the church’s teachings and traditions. Huss was excommunicated four times, greatly demeaned, convicted of heresy, and sentenced to die. Yet, he would not budge off his firm beliefs, unless the Bible itself could prove them to be false. As Huss said, it is better to die well than to live badly.
Christ’s disciples place God’s will above all else.
When worldly authorities use their power to order others to refrain from doing what God requires or from doing what God forbids, it is incumbent upon the Christian to refuse that authority and follow God’s will.
The pope ordered Huss to go to Rome, but he refused. He sent representatives instead. Huss didn’t believe the Pope had any God-given authority over him. Therefore, he didn’t feel obliged to go. And when he was ordered not to preach, he preached anyway. Again, he knew that it was God’s will that he continue preaching the Scriptures.
Courage to stand for the truth
God tests the hearts of people. The Bible says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). So, the Lord will allow various trials in our lives to reveal our reactions to them. To what degree does our faith in God’s promises control our response? We may find ourselves responding with strong faith, weak faith, or perhaps no faith at all. Our reactions will either stengthen our faith and drive us closer to the God we love, or they will drive us further away from the God we don’t trust.
If you find yourself feeling distant from God, it’s time to remind youself of the incredible lengths God has gone to save sinners like you and me. He did not even spare His only Son, Jesus Christ, who willing gave up His life for us. God will reject those who reject His Son. But, He will give everlasting life to all who receive the Son as their Lord and Savior.
Start by prayerfully reading the Gospel of John, asking God for true understanding. Then, read my blog, How to Begin Your Life Over Again. You may also want to click here to view some excellent YouTube video presentations of the gospel. May God bless as you strive to embrace the Lord your God by faith!
Sources and references
Sources
Steven J. Lawson. Pillars of Grace – AD 100-1564, A Long Line of Godly Men. Ligonier Ministries, Sanford, FL, 2011, 315-330.
A. Kenneth Curtis, J. Stephen Lang, and Randy Petersen. The 100 Most Important Events In Christian History. Flemming H. Revell (Baker Book House Publishing), Grand Rapids, MI. 1991. pages 87-89.
Diana Kleyn and Joel R. Beeke. Reformation Heroes. Reformation Heritage Books (digital ver.), Grand Rapids, MI. 2009, Ch. 4.
Jan Hus – https://wikipedia.or/wiki/Jan_Hus
References
- 1Letter 27, in The Letters of John Huss, eds. R. Martin Pope and Herbert B. Workman (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904), 120.
- 2Erwin Weber, “Luther with the Swan,” The Lutheran Journal, vol 65, no. 2, 1996, 10
