This text examines Jan Patočka's complex intellectual relationship with the personality and philosophical legacy of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. While Masaryk was essentially connected to practical social, political, and religious struggles, Patočka approached these topics with critical distance and entered the public sphere more out of situational necessity than inner inclination. Patočka held Masaryk in high regard as a brilliant statesman and visionary who could capture the crisis of the modern era, yet he remained very critical of Masaryk's philosophical work, often dismissing it as overly sociologized. The study focuses on Patočka's rejection of interpreting Masaryk as a precursor to existentialism and highlights the internal tension in Patočka's thought, where despite methodological disagreement, he constantly returns to Masaryk's questions and rethinks them. The text thus reveals a profound ambivalence in Patočka's stance toward the founder of the Czechoslovak state, characterized by a mix of deep respect and intellectual resistance.