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.