Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol4, 1920.pdf/170

ing the war, when the deputies of both nations presented at the first war session of the Austrian parliament, on May 30, 1917, demands for the destruction of dualism and transformation of the Austrian Monarchy into a federal union of free and equal nations. Since that day representatives of Czechs and Jugoslavs worked in perfect harmony for the common goal of breaking up Austria-Hungary and creating their own national states; finally they succeeded. Out of the ruins of the Hapsburg empire smashed by the world war two closely related Slav states arose on almost the same day: Czechoslovak Republic on October 28, 1918, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on October 29.

If our relations with the Jugoslavs have been intimate heretofore, they will be even more cordial and sincere, as the two nations will have to rely on each other’s support in the keen rivalries of the neighboring states.

Relations of Czechoslovaks with t he Slavs of the South date from the beginning of their history. There is considerable interest in the oldest Jugoslav traditions about the origin of the Croatian and Serbian nation, as well as in the Czech tradition about the Czech beginnings. Constantine Porfyrogennitos, an author of the tenth century, writes that Croatians and Serbians according to their own traditions came to their present home from the north. from White (Great) Croatia and White Serbia. Similarly Thomas, archdeacon of Split, the oldest Croatian chronicler, who wrote in the 13th century, says that the Croatians came to Croatia from the North. Against that Czech chroniclers record a tradition, according to which the Czechoslovak tribes came to the Bohemian lands from the south. So Dalimil who composed a chronicle in rhymes at the beginning of the 14th century states that in the Serbian nation there is a land, known as Croatia; in this country there was a chieftain whose name was Čech. This Čech committed a homicide and lost his land in consequence, and then with his six brothers and their numerous retinues left Croatia for the country to which he gave his name. This tradition noted by Dalimil is found also in later Czech and Polish chronicles, and was known to later Croatian historians. Mention of it is found as late as 17th and 18th centuries.

We find similar references in Jugoslav authors Faustus Vrančič, Junius Palmotič, Jerome Kavenin, Sebestian Sladič (Dolci) etc. Among Czech authors Pešina of Čechorod calls all Christianity to arms against the Turks and emphasizes the kinship of Slav nations who suffer most by Turk cruelty. Balbín believes that Čech and Lech (legendary ancestors of the Czech and Polish nations) came originally from Illyria or Croatia. The same opinion is expressed by Jordan in his treatise on the origin of Slavs (De Originibus Slavicis, 1745).

The ties that bound the Czechoslovaks to Jugoslavs were not limited to mere literary expressions, but had a practical basis. The very beginning of our history is bound up with Jugoslavs. In the second half of the ninth century two Greek brothers, Cyril and Methodius, who knew the Slav tongues, came to Greater Moravia as apostles of the Christian religion, and not only introduced Christianity in Moravia, but also laid the foundations for a new Slav literature. Their disciples, after the destruction of the Moravian empire, continued their labors among the southern Slavs. For centuries religious relations were maintained between the Czechs and Jugoslavs. In Bohemia Slav liturgy held its own alongside Latin liturgy in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Princess Ludmila and her grandson, St. Václav, learned the Christian religion from Slav books. Slav legends of Czech saints, Ivan, Ludmila and Václav, written in Bohemia in the 11th century, were circulated among other Slavs, especially in the South. Slav liturgy was limited in the 11th century to the single abbey of Sázava, ruled by St. Procopius. At the end of the 11th century the monks were expelled and went to Hungary. Now and then liturgy was used at the court of King Václav II., when it was visited by distinguished Slav priests, among them Serbian and Croatian priests. Restoration of Slav liturgy took place during the reign of Charles IV. In 1348 this ruler received permission from Pople Clement IV. to establish in Prague a monastery with Slav liturgy, and the following year the monastery of Emaus was founded in Prague with Benedictine monks from the diocese of Sen in Croatia. This monastery was dedicated to Sts. Jerome, Cyril, Methodius, Vojtěch (Adalbert) and Procopius, patrons of the kingdom Bohemia. In 1372 on Easter Sunday the mona-