Gorazd

Matěj Pavlík · Orthodox bishop

26 May 1879–4 September 1942

Gorazd, born Matěj Pavlík, helped build Czech Orthodoxy and consecrated the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Resslova Street in 1935. He learned of the hidden parachutists in June 1942 and accepted responsibility after the church was taken. The Gestapo arrested him and executed him at Kobylisy on 4 September. The church later honoured him as a martyr.

From Matěj Pavlík to Bishop Gorazd

Born in Hrubá Vrbka in 1879, he originally served as a Catholic priest. He was consecrated a bishop in Belgrade in 1921. Later he led the Czech Orthodox eparchy and helped develop its religious life.

Resslova Street and arrest

He knew about the hidden parachutists from 11 June 1942. After the church was taken on 18 June he accepted responsibility for the refuge. The Gestapo arrested him on 25 June. Sentenced to death, he was executed at Kobylisy on 4 September.

Later remembrance

The Czechoslovak Orthodox Church canonized him in 1987. Gorazdova Street near the Resslova Street cathedral also commemorates him.

Explore further

• The church in Resslova Street

  consecrated the church and accepted responsibility after the refuge was discovered

• Kobylisy shooting range

  execution site on 4 September 1942

• The Czech Orthodox Church

  the church he helped build, whose members were persecuted after the refuge’s discovery

• Vladimír Petřek

  the chaplain organizing shelter in the church he consecrated