The symbol of the flaming chalice was inspired by Jan Hus, a religious leader in the late fourteenth century. Where previously the common folk had to rely on priests to translate from the Latin, Hus gave the Bible to the people, who translated it into their own words. And in time, while the Church reserved the communion wine for the priest, he gave the chalices to the people, that they might have both bread and wine together. For these and other heresies, the Church ordered Jan Hus burned at the stake in the year 1419. After his death, the people he had served combined the fire of his martyrdom with the communion cup to create the symbol of the flaming chalice, which became the symbol of freedom in Czechoslovakia. During the Second World War, it was adopted by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee which was working to fight Nazism in Eastern Europe. Today, many Unitarian Universalist congregations light the chalice at the beginning of their Sunday services as a potent symbol of the "light of reason, the warmth of life, and the fire of our passion for justice."