Our History to the Present Time

The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Puchov was founded around 1560. Around 1600 the majority of Puchov's population was Lutheran. During the time of the Counter-Reformation, the congregation went out of existence. From 1709, Lutherans from Puchov had to go to the congregation in Sulov for worship services. After the Edict of Toleration in 1783, the congregation was restored. The members immediately began construction of a building using stone and unburned bricks. On the same site as the previous church, the present church was constructed in Neo-Gothic style, completed in 1880. It houses an altar that dates back to 1643. After the Battle of the White Mountain in the early 17th Century, Bohemian and Moravian Brethren came to Puchov as a place of exile. This United Brethren Community of Bohemians and Moravians (Unitas Fratrorum) gathered into its own street and there was self-governed.

Several important people deserve to be mentioned by name:

Jan Amos Komensky (1592-1670) was Bishop of the Unitas Fratrorum. His several visits to Puchov are commemorated on a memorial plaque in parsonage. Komenskeho Street was named in his honor.

Samuel Tesedik, Sr. was born in Puchov in 1710 and went on to be Pastor in Bekesska Caba.

Ludovit Ladislav Zsambokrety served as Pastor in Puchov from 1875 to 1911.

Vladimir Roy (1885-1936) was a poet and served as Pastor in Puchov from 1912 to 1925. A Memorial Plaque, with the relief picture of the poet, was installed in the Parsonage, which had been built in 1904.

Education has always been vital to the life of the Puchov congregation. The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation constructed its own school building. The earliest information we have about this comes from the school's Administrator in 1921.

The first Teacher and Administrator of the schools was George Botik, who worked at the school until 1928. He was succeeded by Juraj Matejka, who also led the church choir and organized various student cultural events, including theatrical productions.

The school building was restored in the 1930's. School activities were declining up to 1945. The building was taken over by the communists and at the end of the communist regime destroyed.

The work of Diakonia or Social Ministry is an important aspect of our congregation's life. One ministry takes place at the Vladimir Roy Children's Care Center. It is directed at people in the territory of the congregation, helping families with small children. It is the first such Children's Care Center in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia to work with children aged one to three.

These days our congregation also works with older children up to adulthood. There are meetings organized for women as well as for women who are mothers. We have a good music program which includes choirs and youth music teams.