(CZ) O bratrské výchově vzhledem ke Komenskému
(EN) On Czech Brethren's Education in Relation to Comenius

In the light of new research, the family origin of Comenius, rooted in the Unity of Czech Brethren, has acquired considerable significance in determining the place occupied by Comenius in the social differentiation of his time, and in finding the social intent of his thinking and pedagogy. The Czech Brethren’s pedagogical elements used to be sought, above all, in the Unity’s schools. The author shows, however, mainly on the basis of the material he has published in a book entitled »Czech Brethren’s Education before Comenius« that the culmination of the educational endeavours in the Unity of Brethren were not schools, but the educational structure of the Brethren’s Church community itself, three grades of membership (beginning, continuing, perfect), order and discipline. Education among Brethren was the function of baptism, thus restoring the militant intentions of the early Christian’s catechumen. Its bias was anti-feudal, even though Brethren’s Schools, since the latter half of the 16th century, had been subject to the influence of the aristocracy, and were declining for economic reasons. Comeniology must take an interest in the history of Brethren’s education. The fact that Comenius followed up the Brethren’s tradition does not suffice to explain his personality completely, of course, but it conditions substantially his religious, social, and national allegiance. By means of hitherto unused documents on the activities of Jan Lanecius, a senior of the Brethren’s Unity, the author proves that Comenius grew up in an environment, where the pedagogical practice of Czech Brethren mixed with the educational schemes of the Swiss reformer Henry Bullinger. Comenius himself later on in his life reverted to the earlier periods in the history of Brethren’s development, taking over from them the stress they laid on the educational discipline in a collective, and on the universal objective of man’s education.