Gorazd of Prague, given name Matěj Pavlík (26 May 1879 – 4 September 1942), was the hierarch of the revived Orthodox Church in Czechoslovakia after World War I.
During World War II, having provided refuge for the assassins of SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, called The Hangman of Prague, in the cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Prague, Gorazd took full responsibility for protecting the patriots after the Schutzstaffel found them in the crypt of the cathedral, hoping to minimize Nazi reprisals on his congregation.
Born into the Roman Catholic society of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Matthias entered the Faculty of Theology in Olomouc after finishing his earlier education.
With Carpathian Ruthenia and Slovakia part of Czechoslovakia, he assisted many who had returned to their ancestral Eastern Orthodox faith, thus helping the creation of the Eparchy of Mukačevo and Prešov in 1931.
Gorazd, wishing to help his fellow believers and the Czech Church itself, took the blame for the actions in the Cathedral on himself, even writing letters to the Nazi authorities.
On 4 September 1942, Gorazd, the Cathedral priests and the lay officials were executed by firing squad at Kobylisy Shooting Range.
[1] The reprisals went much further as the Nazis conducted widespread roundups of Czechs, including the whole village of Lidice, then summarily killed the men and children, while they placed the women in concentration camps.
By these actions the Orthodox Faithful, led by their bishop, proved the qualities of their little church in bravery and devotion to matters of justice and showed how firmly it was connected to the Czech nation.