Abstract
The monograph offers a comprehensive study about the form and theology of the liturgical ceremonies in the Unity of the Brethren since its beginnings around 1457 until the battle at the White Mountain in 1620. It contains eleven chapters.
The first three chapters deal with the historical and theological presuppositions, the other eight chapters provide an analysis of the service of the word and seven sacraments, or analogical ceremonies (baptism, confirmation, the Supper of the Lord, ordination, penance, matrimony and the anointment of the sick), as outlined in the preserved agendas and other sources. On the basis of these analyses, the Unity of the Brethren is presented not only as a church that was in critical opposition to the Roman Catholic and Utraquist liturgy but also as one which adopted some of their forms and was continually open to the liturgical influences of Czech and European Protestantism.
The monograph also gains liturgical knowledge from two newly identified prints (the register of pericopes by Jan Černý and the monumental postil by Jan Augusta). The supplement contains the list of these pericopes and the edition of several unpublished Brethren's agendas.