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The '''Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia''' is a self-governing body of the Orthodox Christian church that territorially covers the countries of the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia. The current ruling hierarch is His Beatitude, Metropolitan Nicholas of Presov.

==History==

The Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia presents both an ancient history as well as a very modern history. The present day Church occupies the lands, Moravia, where the brothers SS. Cyril and Methodius began their mission to the Slavs, introducing the liturgical and canonical order of the Orthodox Eastern Church, translated into the Slavic language. In doing this they developed the first slavic alphabet. This mission was destroyed after Methodius died in 885, as Pope Stephen V of Rome forced all disciples of the brothers to leave the countryside which now is the Czech Republic. The Orthodox order survived in present day Slovakia due to its nearness and influence to Kievian Russia until the union with Rome was instituted by the Viennese Court.

==Administration==

After the Czech and Slovak Republics separated into independent republics in 1993, activity continued in each country as separate legal entities: in the Czech Republic as the '''Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands''' and in the Slovak Republic as the '''Orthodox Church in Slovakia''', but canonical unity was maintained as the '''Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia'''. The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia is now organized into four eparchies divided into two administrative centers: the Metropolitan Council for the Czech Republic resident in Prague and the Metropolitan Council for the Slovak Republic in Presov. Under the Council in Prague are the eparchies of Prague and Olomouc-Brno, while the eparchies of Presov, and Michalovce are under the Council for Slovakia.

== External Links ==

* [http://www.pravoslavnacirkev.cz/ Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands]

* [http://www.orthodox.sk/ Orthodox Church in Slovakia]

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