PETR EBEN’S ORGAN CYCLE THE LABYRINTH OF THE WORLD AND THE PARADISE OF THE HEART
Abstract
John Amos Comenius (1592-1670; known in
Czech as Jan Ámos Komensky´), was a bishop and
spiritual leader of the Bohemian Brethren (Unitas
Fratrum), a grouping of Czech Protestants dating
back to the fifteenth century. In addition, he was a
widely respected and highly influential philosopher,
writer, educational theorist and theologian.
His book The Labyrinth of the World and the
Paradise of the Heart (first published in Czech in
1631) is the story of a fictional spiritual journey,
but it is also a reflection of the author’s personal
suffering during the Thirty Years’ War.2 It is about
a pilgrim who wanders through a metaphorical
world characterised by vanity and pointlessness in search of the deeper meaning of human existence.