Page:The Net of Faith.pdf/113

41 to Biblical Christianity he gathered around himself a small group of loyal followers who were called the "Brethren of Chelc̄ice." They distinguished themselves by being absolute pacifists who, by their insistence on unconditional obedience to the commandment "thou shalt not kill", dissociated themselves entirely from the patriotic Hussite wars; they refused to sanction capital punishment, to make oaths, to accept any government position, thus in many features paralleling the Rhinelandish Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Dutch Brethren of the Common Life, the Mennonites, the Fratricelli, and anticipating the British Quakers.

In A.D.1434 there occurred an event which led indirectly to the foundation of the Moravian Church or, as it is more accurately called, the Unity of Brethren: the Battle of Lipany. In this great fratricidal battle of the two Hussite factions the radical Taborites were defeated by the moderate and aristocratic faction of the Utraquists. The consequence of this tragic event was a general religious tiredness and torpidity. The moderate Utraquism did not muster enough courage to settle accounts with the Church of Rome or to eradicate abuses within its own ranks of clergy. The Utraquist Archbishop, John of Rokycana, preached vehemently against this degeneration of the movement; he soon had the following of a small group of