page_title: History of Christianity in the Czech Lands
section_title: Beginnings (c. 830–c. 906)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Christianity in the Czech Lands / Early Middle Ages (till 976) / Beginnings (c. 830–c. 906)
caption_attribution_description: prague014
context_page_description: The history of Christianity in the Czech Lands began in the 9th century. Moravia was the first among the three historical regions of what now forms the Czech Republic whose ruling classes have officially adopted Christianity, between 830s and 860s. In 845 Bohemian chieftains or duces also converted to the new faith, but it was just short-lived political gesture; real beginning of efforts to promote Christianity in Bohemian territory have to be put to the period after 885. Moravia was the earliest center of Old Church Slavonic liturgy after the arrival of Constantine and Methodius in 863, but their opponents, mainly priests of German origin, achieved the banishment of their disciplines in the 880s. Bohemia became the center of Christianization following the fall of Moravia in the early 10th century. Changes in burials and the erection of churches throughout the Czech Lands demonstrate the spread of the new faith in the 10th century.
  Two dioceses came into being by the end of the 11th century, but the system of local parishes only strengthened in the 12th century.
context_section_description: The earliest Christian missionaries came to Moravia from the dioceses of Passau, Regensburg, and Salzburg. The Frankish aristocrats' way of life attracted the Moravian and Bohemian leaders who identified it with Christianity. The adoption of the new faith was initially the personal decision of individual aristocrats. Czech religious terminology also indicates the chieftains' preeminent role in Christianization. For instance, the Czech word for church (kostel) derived from Old High German kastel ("fortress") and the word for priest (kněz) from Common Slavonic kŭnędzĭ ("prince or chieftain"). Reginhar, bishop of Passau, baptized "all Moravians" and their prince, Mojmir I (r. c. 830–846) in 831, at least according to the Reports of the Bishops of Passau. Crosses from graves at fortresses suggest that most Moravian chieftains converted to Christianity by the 850s, but the Frankish prelates described the Church in Moravia as "coarse" at their synod of 852. Indeed, the pagan temple at Mikulčice which was in use till around 850 demonstrates that heathen cults survived the official adoption of the new faith.
  No objects connected to Christianity which can be dated to the period before the mid-9th century have been unearthed in Bohemia. The Annals of Fulda writes of "fourteen of the duces of the Bohemians" who visited Louis the German in Regensburg where they were baptised "on the octave of the Epiphany," that is on January 13, 845. The Czech chieftains hoped that their conversion could contribute to maintain the peace with the Franks, because they soon returned to paganism after Louis the German invaded the Christian Moravia and dethroned Mojmir I in 846.
  Mojmir I's nephew and successor, Rastislav (r. 846–860) turned to the Holy See to ask for missionaries in 860. However, his request fell on deaf ears, so he sent emissaries to Constantinople with the same task. The Byzantine Emperor Michael III sent two brothers, Constantine and Methodius, who were fluent in Slavic, to Rastislav's realm. They arrived in Moravia in 863 or 864. They used the vernacular not only in education but also in liturgy which enabled them to strengthen the local element of the clergy. Constantine even created a new script fitted to Slavic phonology.
  The Byzantine missionaries' success caused conflicts with the Frankish prelates who accused the two brothers of heresy at the Holy See. On hearing this, Constantine and Methodius visited Rome where Pope Hadrian II sanctioned the use of Slavonic in liturgy and ordained their disciples as priests in 869. Constantine adopted the name Cyril and entered a monastery in Rome, but died on February 14, 869. Although the Pope consecrated Methodius as archbishop of Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia), he was arrested by German prelates on his travel from Rome. He only returned to Moravia after Pope John VIII had in 873 achieved his release. According to his Life, Methodius received jurisdiction over all churches, most of which were located in fortresses, in Moravia.
  [The Moravians] sent to the Apostolic Father, saying. "Since our fathers once received Baptism from Saint Peter, give us Methodius as archbishop and teacher." And the Apostolic Father sent him at once. And Prince Svatopluk and all the Moravians received him. They entrusted to him all the churches and clergy in all the towns. And from that day forth, God's teachings grew greatly and the clergy multiplied in all the towns.
  — The Life of Methodius
  Moravia underwent a significant territorial expansion in the reign of Svatopluk I (r. 869–894). The Bohemian dukes also accepted his suzerainty from the 880s. According to a legend which was first recorded in the Life of Václav and Ludmilla around 994, Methodius personally baptized a Bohemian duke named Bořivoj I (r. 872–889) who was the head of the emerging Přemyslid dynasty. The duke soon had a church erected at Levý Hradec, but his subjects who insisted on paganism rose up and expelled him. Assisted by Svatopluk I, Bořivoj I returned to Bohemia and defeated his enemies around 885. He had a new church built at Prague C
caption: Sculpture of Saints Cyril and Methodius on Charles Bridge (Prague)
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