Please do not open this letter until you learn that I am dead.
Master Martin, dearest brother in Christ!
I urge you in the Lord to fear God, observe His commandments, and avoid the company of women. (…)
Remember that I have taught you to serve Christ Jesus since your youth – and how I would love to teach you everything I know one day, if only I could! You also know that I condemned greed and the unrestrained life of the clergy. It is precisely because of this that I suffer persecution by the grace of God, which will soon be fulfilled against me; however, I am not afraid to be disgraced for the name of Jesus Christ. I also ask you with all my heart not to crave possessions. If you are called to the care of a parish, take care of God's honor, the salvation of souls, and the work, not the rearing of pigs or the management of lands. And if you become a pastor, be careful not to have a young cook, lest you build a house rather than a soul. See that you are a builder of the spiritual temple, helping the poor, and living in humility – and do not squander possessions on feasting.
I also fear that if you do not amend your life and renounce beautiful and excessive clothing, you will be severely reprimanded by the Lord – just as I, the unfortunate one, will be reprimanded for having been involved in such things when I allowed myself to be led astray by the bad habits of people and their praises, struck by the spirit of pride against God.
And since you have known my preaching and public appearances excellently since youth, there is no need for me to write you anything more. But I ask you for the mercy of Jesus Christ not to follow me in any frivolity that you may have seen in me. You know that before I became a priest, I – oh woe! – liked to play chess often and wasted time on it, and many times I unfortunately provoked anger in others as well as in myself through that game. Therefore, for countless other sins I have committed, I surrender myself to your prayers for the most merciful Lord to forgive me, to graciously guide my life, and after overcoming the trials of this present age – the flesh, the world, and the devil – to ultimately grant me a place in the heavenly homeland on the day of judgment.
Be healthy in Christ Jesus along with all who keep His law. You may keep my gray cloak as a memento. However, I think you will find the gray color ugly; so give it to whomever you deem fit. Give the white cloak to the pastor, my student. Give Jiří (Jiřík) also a pile of groschen or even that gray cloak, for he has served me faithfully.
(Jan Hus /1370–1415/, letter to Master Martin from Volhynia, early October 1414;
translated into contemporary Czech by Alexandr Flek)
