Restitution, repentance and John Huss /An open letter to the Vatican/

19 June 2015

Vatican Secretariat of State

The feast of Sts Cyril and Methodius and the feast of Master John Huss (5 and 6 July 2015) will be the culmination of national repentance.

The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate hereby presents a proposal to the Vatican for three historic gestures of repentance to be made in Velehrad:

1) The Church in the Czech Republic shall waive the right to restitution.

2) A gesture of repentance shall be made in the form of renunciation of heresies, syncretism and immorality.

3) The Czech martyr John Huss shall be declared a saint.

Ad 1) Waive restitution

John Huss was not burnt at the stake for heresies, which were wrongly attributed to him, but because he took a stand against the Church’s business – the sale of indulgences, i.e. simony. The Apostle declares: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1Tim 6:10), and our Saviour says: “No one can serve two masters – God and mammon” (Mt 6:24).

A specific case of antirestitution in the Church:

Dr K. Š., a widow, in accordance with the last will of her deceased husband, donated her property to the monks of the Order of St Basil on condition that she would use it until her death and in case of illness the monks should provide care for her until death. Bishop Hučko arranged for the dissolution of the Order and stole the donated flat and a small house in Smíchov (Prague) from the widow. He even immediately occupied the stolen house. The widow protested against it. Bishop Hučko used a special method – he sent a canon lawyer with two priests to her. They manipulated her into signing a document prepared by them. When the delegation left, the deceived widow called a notary and cancelled the fraudulent document. However, Hučko has not returned her the stolen property up to this day, although she appealed to the Vatican too.

A Church thief abuses the police and the courts: Three years ago, the condition of the widow suddenly worsened. The widow was transferred from her flat to a hospital for a short time, and thereafter her nephew took her to his flat. Her flat with her personal belongings remained empty. The widow asked Fr Cigánek, a member of the religious order which had been robbed by Hučko, to use her flat for temporary residence. Hučko exerted great pressure; he even deceived the police who subsequently raided the flat where Fr Cigánek was staying. This Hučko’s fraud was exposed, but Fr Cigánek preferred to leave the flat, and it has been vacant for more than one year since then. Now there has been an absurd situation these days: Hučko – the thief – brought an action against the victim robbed – Fr Cigánek! This grotesque trial is to take place on 24 June 2015. The aim of Hučko’s action is to finally force Fr Cigánek to move all the widow’s property out of the flat. In fact, Hučko who has waited anxiously for the widow’s death, has lost patience and wants to occupy her flat as soon as possible.

Hučko’s method of intimidation: Hučko threatens the widow’s nephew that if he allows the widow to return to her flat or allows the Basilian monks to visit her, he will see to it that the tax office keeps an eye on his private business and ruins him. So the widow was not even allowed to go to confession and receive Holy Communion at Easter.

Hučko’s method of abuse of public authorities: In order to achieve his goal – i.e. not to allow the registration of the orthodox Catholic Church and thus to eliminate his competitors – Hučko asked the Minister of Culture D. Herman to pull strings. “In the interests of the Church” the Minister committed with impunity a crime of discrimination against a religious minority and violated the laws of the Czech Republic.

Hučko’s church kleptomania: Hučko also stole a monastery in Sázava which we, monks, re-built out of a desolate barn with the financial help of our parents and friends. Hučko sold the stolen monastery to a person engaged in business. Would that he could have made it into a museum of St Procopius at least!

We, monks of the Eastern rite, were expelled from Sázava to the East in 2003. We followed the fate of the Eastern monks of St Procopius, who were expelled from Sázava in 1096. Thus, the Cyrillo-Methodian tradition and Eastern liturgy were discontinued there.

Although all our property was stolen from us and we came to Ukraine empty-handed, we now publicly give up the return of our property, i.e. restitution! We hereby appeal to the Czech Catholic Church to follow our example! Let them also give up restitution!

We forgive Bishop Hučko as well as the Czech Bishops’ Conference for injustice, defamation, thefts and exile. God turned this evil into good. The Ukrainian orthodox Greek Catholic Church (UO GCC) and the Byzantine Catholic (Universal) Patriarchate were born in Ukraine. So we have to thank Bishop Hučko as well as the Czech Bishops’ Conference for their good service, for it has been of benefit to the Church.

Ad 2) Gesture of renunciation of heresies, syncretism and immorality

These days the Czech nation repents and renounces heresies, neopaganism and sexual perversion by burning at least symbolically three harmful books. We believe that the Pope will make the same gesture in Velehrad on his behalf and on behalf of the whole Church, and that the Czech bishops, priests, religious and believers will follow his example. In such case the evil of the past in connection with the burning at the stake of John Huss will bring a great blessing thanks to repentance. Then it will be true indeed: “Felix culpa!” This will give an opportunity for spiritual resurrection of the spiritually dead Church.

Ad 3) Declare the Czech martyr John Huss a saint

The Church burned Joan of Arc at the stake but she was rehabilitated and canonized thereafter, notwithstanding the fact that she fought with a sword against the English. Huss had no sword except the sword of the Word of God which he used to preach the divine truth, and that was the reason why he was burnt at the stake. The fact that he was not canonized thereafter (santo subito) and that the Church boycotted repentance aroused strong opposition and provoked wars, which was a consequence of the rejection of truth and repentance on the part of the Church hierarchy and temporal authorities.

May 5-6 July 2015 be a historic day for the Czech Republic and for the whole Catholic Church!

+ Methodius OSBMr

Secretary of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate

Copies to:

Czech Bishops’ Conference

President and ex-President of the Czech Republic

MPs of the Czech Republic

Academia of the Charles University

Mass media

Download: Restitution, repentance and John Huss /An open letter to the Vatican/ (19/6/2015)