History of Třinec Lutheran Church

I found a great pamphlet here in the church the other day that contains the history of the parish in Czech, Polish and English. I was very excited and gratified to find this and thought you might find it interesting, too.

The Church History
It was already during Luther's lifetime when the region of Tesin Silesia had been reached by the Reformation. Around 1550, the whole region was Lutheran. Vaclav Adam, the Piast, who was Duke of Tesin, became and eager adherent of the Reformation and allowed the first church constitution and worship order to the Lutherans.

Adam Vaclav, Vaclav Adam's son, became Roman Catholic and began to persecute the Lutherans. Thus, the worst time for the Lutherans had begun. Beginning in 1617, they began taking churches away from the Lutherans. By 1654 they lost the final fifty churches. Lutheran pastors were banished from the country and Lutheran worship was outlawed. only the most faithful retained their Lutheran confession as they gathered at secret meetings in the mountains and woods.

After 50 years of strong persecution, the Lutherans of the Tesin region were allowed to build the "Upper Gate" Church in Tesin in 1709, thanks to the grace of the King of Sweden. This beautiful Church of Jesus that the Lutherans built with great zeal became the Mother Church of all Silesian Lutheran parishes.

In 1781 the Letter of Tolerance issued by Emperor Joseph II made it possible for Lutherans to start new parishes.

Lutherans were granted full equality with Catholics by means of the Emperor's Patent in 1861.

Our church stems from the roots of pietism which has become a permanent trait for the majority of our members. It follows the heritage of the Church Fathers and the Reformation emphasis on Scripture as the foundation of our faith and the norm of life. This makes our church trustworthy in the family of Christian churches.

The Parish of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (read: Lutheran) in Trinec
Sept. 10, 1882 a meeting of 130 Lutheran was held which concluded that there was a need for a common gathering of Lutherans in Trinec.

Feb. 22, 1884 a committee was appointed to prepare Lutheran worship in Trinec.

March 25, 1884 the first Lutheran service took place.

1891: The Lutherans from Trinec and from Folvark obtained permission from other Lutheran parishes to form a daughter church. Ten elders were elected for this congregation.

June 21, 1896 the dedication of the church cornerstone took place.

July 9, 1899 The dedication of the church building.

Feb 28, 1902 the daughter church received permission to form a parish with full rights.

1999: The centennial of the church was celebrated.

The parish of Trinec aims to help the community by providing pastoral care inherent to the Church, not forgetting to organize public concerts and reasonable activities for the young generation's leisure time. Therefore, the believers can take part in creating a sound social climate in the city.

The History of the City of Trinec
Trinec, originally a small, insignificant community in the southern part of Tesin Silesia, is situated on both the banks of of the Olse River surrounded by the beautiful Beskid Mountains. The first mention of the community didn't occur until the 15th century. In 1799, Albert of Saxonia and Tesin had bought Trinec, adding it to the property of the town of Tesin. There were 318 inhabitants in the community in 1804.

The officials of Tesin Council decided to locate new iron works in Trinec of the Olse River. The first charcoal furnace construction started in 1836 and was put into operation in 1839. In a short time, this little foothill village had sprung to life.
Another important step that affected the development of the region was the construction of the Kosice-Bohumin railway in 1871. In 1880 there were already 1,612 inhabitants in Trinec.

The Christian consciousness led the people to build churches in the community and so in 1885 the Roman Catholic church had been built by an initiative of the Archduke Albert of Hapsburg, who paid all the expenses.

The Evangelical Lutheran church was built in 1899 and its construction was financed entirely by believers.

When the Austrian Mining and Metallurgical Company became the new owner of Trinec ironworks in 1906, the change had a great impact on the development of the community. There was also an unprecedented expansion of Trinec iron works and a general boom in the 20s which accelerated the development of the community.

On September 25, 1928, the board of representatives appealed to the government that Trinec obtain the status of a city. On December 11, 1930, the government of the Czechoslovak Republic decided to confer the status of a city to Trinec. There were 5,734 inhabitants at this time.

The Nazi German occupation lasted almost 6 years. The liberation of Trinec took place on May 3, 1945 after 6 AM.

The city of Trinec is a significant industrial and social center of the region. It contains one of the largest metallurgical factories in its territory in the Czech Republic. Today the city has about 45,000 inhabitants.

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I hope you enjoyed that little history lesson. I was sure interested in it.

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Prayer Requests:
-Please pray that God would heal me: I have never had allergies in my life, and all of a sudden I developed this strange itchiness around my eyes and mouth, and in my throat. I thought that it was an allergy to some plants here that I've never been around before. Someone pointed out to me today that my eyes and mouth may be irritated by the pollution from the iron works here in town. I am basically constantly rubbing my eyes and scratching around my lips. It is really uncomfortable! Oh, and I have the stuffy nose and congestion that accompany allergies frequently.
-I had my second English class here at the parish. Please pray that God would keep giving me strength and drive for this task. Also, pray that I would be an effective teacher, that my students would learn a lot and REMEMBER the material they've learned.