Czechoslovak Hussite Church

Czechoslovak Hussite Church Církev československá husitská
Jan Hus Memorial and St. Nicholas Church, Prague
Classification	Christian
Orientation	Protestant
Polity	Presbyterian
Patriarch	Tomáš Butta
Region	Czech Republic Slovakia
Language	Czech, Slovak
Founder	Karel Farský
Origin	8 January 1920 Czechoslovakia
Separated from	Roman Catholic Church
Separations	Czechoslovak Orthodox Community

The Czechoslovak Hussite Church (Czech: Církev československá husitská, CČSH or CČH) is a Christian church that separated from the Roman Catholic Church after World War I in former Czechoslovakia. It traces its tradition back to the Hussite reformers and acknowledges Jan Hus (John Huss) as its predecessor. It was well-supported by Czechoslovakia's first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who himself belonged to the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren—the main Protestant denomination in what is now the Czech Republic.

It contains mixed Protestant, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and national elements. Classifying it as either one is disputable.

The forerunner of the CČSH was the Jednota (Union of the Catholic Czechoslovak Clergy), which was founded in 1890 to promote modernist reforms in the Roman Catholic Church, such as use of the vernacular in the liturgy and the adoption of voluntary rather than compulsory clerical celibacy. The radical movement that resulted in the foundation of a new Church began in the Christmas season of 1919, when Christmas masses were celebrated in the Czech language in many Czechoslovak churches. The CCH was established on January 8, 1920 by Dr. Karel Farský, who became its first Patriarch and author of its liturgy. It was known until 1971 as the Czechoslovak Church. The head of the church continues to bear the title of Patriarch.

Membership is estimated at between 100,000 and 180,000 adherents, mostly in the Czech Republic and some in Slovakia. There are 304 congregations divided into five dioceses situated in Prague, Plzeň, Hradec Králové, Brno, and Olomouc in the Czech Republic and three congregations in the Bratislava Diocese in Slovakia. There are approximately 266 priests in active ministry, of whom 130 are women. Candidates of ministry are prepared at the Hussite Faculty of Theology at Charles University in Prague.