two learned ecclesiastics of the Greek Church, who were intro-
duced by the sister of Bogaris, King of Bulgaria. Cyril is said
to have been the author of the translation of the Bible which
is still used among the Slavonians, who remain attached to the
Greek Church. Until this time the Greek Church may justly
claim them as her sons. ¹

Christianity spread gradually from Moravia to Bohemia.
Many persecutions followed, when the priests were massacred,
the churches demolished, and the Christians driven out of the
country. Some relief was brought when the Emperor Otho I
(962-973) took occasion to unite Bohemia to the Empire. His
design, however, was to subject them to the Church of Rome;
and from that time another contest arose which lasted for
several centuries. In 968 duke Boleslaus II erected a bishopric
at Prague, and requested that Dithmar, a canon of Magdeburg,
should be consecrated bishop. By the command of Pope John
XIII, however, the Archbishop of Mentz refused to instal him
until the Bohemians should abandon the Greek and adopt the
Latin ritual. The Bohemians opposed this innovation, and after
a struggle of ten years they won the concession of having
divine service in their own language, at least for a period. ²

The contest went on for more than a century, and was
brought to a close by Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand 1073-
1085). Prince Wratislaus had made further efforts to obtain for
the Bohemians their former liberties. In his reply the Pope
gave reasons why they could not be restored. He said that he
could by no means grant the request for the divine service to
be conducted according to the old Slavonic ritual: 'for, having
frequently searched the holy scriptures, we have discovered
that it has pleased, and still pleases, Almighty God, to direct
His worship in a hidden language.' etc., etc. ³

Opposition to the Roman rites continued, and it was in-
creased by the emigration into the country of a number of
Waldenses about the year 1176. Their leader, Peter Waldo, is
said to have died there. ⁴ In private, however, if not in public,

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