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The Czech Orthodox Church and Resslova Street

clergy and lay helpers of the parachutists

Church obtained 1933 · banned 1942 · restored from 1945

The Czech Orthodox community obtained the former Church of Saint Charles Borromeo in 1933 and turned it into the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius. In 1942 some clergy and lay representatives worked with the domestic resistance to shelter seven parachutists. The Nazis subsequently executed Petřek, Čikl, Sonnevend and Gorazd, banned the church organization and confiscated its property. The community and worship resumed after the war.

The community and its cathedral

The Orthodox Church obtained the Resslova Street building in 1933 and adapted it for worship. Bishop Gorazd consecrated it in 1935. It became a spiritual and cultural centre. Its older Baroque history and later Orthodox use are different phases of the same site.

The people who provided assistance

The refuge was made possible by identifiable people. Church council chairman Jan Sonnevend established contact with chaplain Vladimír Petřek; priest Václav Čikl knew of and assisted the shelter. The domestic network around Zelenka, the Moravecs and the Fafeks brought supplies and contacts. Bishop Gorazd learned of the men later and accepted responsibility after their deaths.

Ban, deaths and return

After the church was taken, Petřek, Čikl, Sonnevend and Gorazd were tried at Petschek Palace on 3 September 1942. Jindra dates the executions of Čikl, Sonnevend and Gorazd to 4 September and Petřek’s to 5 September; Čikl’s Prague 2 encyclopaedia biography instead gives 5 September. The church was banned and its property seized. After liberation, services resumed and a memorial was later established.

Explore further

Sources

  • Atentát: Operace Anthropoid 1941–1942 · Michal Burian, Aleš Knížek, Jiří Rajlich, Eduard Stehlík · VHÚ Praha

    Original citations and evidence accompany the underlying accepted claims; especially relevant are PDF/printed pages 48–65, 76–80 and 90–93.

    This link leads to information about the publication. Chrona does not host a scan of the book.

  • Nepostradatelná úloha domácích podporovatelů operace Anthropoid · Martin Jindra · Paměť a dějiny 2/2012 · ÚSTR

    PDF pages 1–6 (establishing the refuge, arrivals, Zelenka, the Moravec family and supplies), 10–15 (discovery, trial, executions and the Fafek family).

  • Gorazd 1879–1942 · Historický ústav AV ČR · Biografický slovník českých zemí

    BSČZ 20 (2017), pages 685–686. Passages beginning Poté se v Kroměříži and Od 11. června 1942; birth and death heading.

  • Jan Sonnevend · Encyklopedie Prahy 2

    Biographical passages on Brno, Prague, the refuge and persecution of the family.

  • Alois Václav Čikl · Encyklopedie Prahy 2

    Biographical passages on the priesthood, resistance and family.

  • Výročí 90 let vysvěcení chrámu sv. Cyrila a Metoděje · Vojenský historický ústav Praha

    Passages on the 1935 consecration, church assistance, restoration in 1945 and the 1995 memorial.