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Comenius remains for our day a prophet of internationalism and ecumenism. His message has a special relevance for the 1980’s, as displaced groups in Asia, Latin America, and Africa desperately seek refuge, as did the Brethren more than three centuries ago. Cornenius’s ecumenical world view, with its emphasis on the sacredness of human life, cries out to be heard in a world plagued by mindless terrorism.

Comenius lived in a disorderly era. Not only was the Thirty Years War tearing apart the political, religious, and social fabric of Europe, but the theoretical foundations—the theological, philosophical, and political ideas of that age—were also in disarray. Recognizing these needs, Comenius sought to create an orderly but non-authoritarian world view.

Comenius’s pansophist philosophy prescribed a system of truth and value which promised that people could acquire the knowledge that led to understanding and peace. Pansophism sought to embrace all knowledge within an integrative system, multi-dimensional in its scope but holistic in its purposes. Comenius asserted that: (1) God’s plan of creation was orderly and that human knowledge of the world should also be orderly in its organization; (2) it is possible and desirable for human beings to possess this knowledge of an ordered creation in a systematic fashion and to use this knowledge to create orderliness in their personal lives and social behavior; (3) ordered knowledge would stimulate a love of wisdom that, transcending national boundaries and sectarian divisions, would help humankind to create an orderly and peaceful social order. In such a world order, persons would be free to worship their Creator according to their own liturgical forms but would also engage in an ecumenical dialogue. By reaffirming common humane beliefs and values, Pansophism as a form of international education would enable human beings to overcome the accidental differences of nationality and language that separated them. Although human life was varied in its responses to climate and geography, the themes of a common Creator, a common humanity, and a common knowledge would transcend these differences to create a perspective that would restore order to a contentious people.

The Comenian theme of an orderly world view was closely related to the need for universality. If the seeds of world order were to sprout from the common knowledge and values that human beings shared, then Pansophism’s message needed to be heard universally by all persons. Pansophism was not to be merely a verbal rendition of philosophical doctrines. It was also to be the instrument of universal reform and renewal.

The universality of Comenius’s message was reflected in his DeRerum Humanarum Emendatione Consultatio Catholica, or The General Consultation on the Improvement of All Things Human. Among the themes of this massive work was the need for a universal awakening and reform of humankind by means of universal wisdom, language, and education. Firmly believing that knowledge has the power to incline human beings to truth and love, Comenius hoped that such universal knowledge would engender international peace.

Comenius’s ecumenical vision of international peace was illustrated in his The Labynnth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart. Although for long historic periods humankind had wandered through the world’s maze of deceit, violence, and bigotry, it was possible still to find peace through truth and love. He envisioned a Christian unity that respected differences in prayer and ritual. Christianity, in the Comenian vision, was one great, universal church—an architectonic edifice—comprised of many denominational chapels in which people prayed in their own way to the one God.

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