History of the Moravian Church

The History of the Moravian Church has two broad phases. This article covers the period from the church's origin in the late fourteenth century to the beginning of mission work c1732. With missions came the need for Provinces (independently administered geographical regions), and so from this date, the history is (in the main) the history of the Provinces. Articles about the provinces can be reached from the main article in this series: Moravian Church, which also contains information about the modern church.

Early history: the Czech background

The movement that would develop into the Moravian Church was started by a Christian priest named Jan Hus (in English John Hus) in the late fourteenth century. The church was established as a reaction against alleged errors within the Roman Catholic Church. Hus wanted to return the practices of the church in Bohemia and Moravia to the allegedly "purer" practices of early Christianity: liturgy in the language of the people, having lay people receive communion in both kinds (bread "and" wine), and eliminating indulgences and the idea of purgatory. The movement gained royal support and a certain independence for a while, even spreading across the border into Poland, but was eventually forced to be subject to the governance of Rome.

A contingent of Hus's followers struck a deal with Rome that allowed them to realise most of their doctrinal goals, while recognising the authority of the Roman Catholic Church; these were called the "Utraquists". The remaining Hussites continued to operate outside Roman Catholicism and, within fifty years of Hus's death, had become independently organized as the 'Bohemian Brethren' or Unity of the Brethren. This group maintained Hussite theology (which would later lean towards Lutheran teachings), while maintaining the historic episcopate, even during their persecution. The Bohemian Brethren's Church was founded in Kunvald, Bohemia, in 1457.

The Moravians were some of the earliest Protestants, rebelling against the authority of Rome more than a hundred years before Martin Luther. One unusual and (for its time) shocking belief was the group's eventual focus on universal education. Very often the Brethren were protected by local nobles who joined their ranks to assert their independence from Habsburg Vienna.

During the Thirty-Years War (1618–1648), which devastated not only the Holy Roman Empire but the whole of Central Europe, the Brethren's Church was targeted by local counter-reformation nobles, and persecuted severely in its geographical homeland. As a result the followers of the movement were forced to operate underground in the Habsburg-controlled and other Roman Catholic regions, eventually dispersing to other Slavic lands, German states and as far as the Low Countries, where bishop John Amos Comenius attempted to direct a resurgence.

After 1620, due to the Counter Reformation in the Roman Catholic Church, and after being abandoned and betrayed by the local nobility which had previously tolerated or supported them, all Protestants were offered an ultimatum. They were forced to choose to either leave the many and varied southeastern principalities of what was the Holy Roman Empire (mainly Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia and parts of Germany and its many states), or to practice their beliefs secretly. As a result, members were forced underground and dispersed across Northwestern Europe. The largest remaining communities of the Brethren were located in Lissa in Poland, which had historically strong ties with the Czechs, and in small, isolated groups in Moravia.

The 18^th century renewal under Zinzendorf

Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf was a nobleman born in 1700 in Dresden, Saxony, in the east of modern-day Germany where he was brought up in the traditions of Pietism.

Zinzendorf studied law at university in accordance with the wishes of his family, but his main interests were in the pursuit of his religious ideas. In 1722 he left the court in Dresden to spend more time on his estates at Berthelsdorf, where he hoped to establish a model Christian community.

Out of a personal commitment to helping the poor and needy, Zinzendorf agreed to a request (from an itinerant carpenter named Christian David) that persecuted Protestants from Moravia should be allowed to settle on his lands. Among those who came were members of the Bohemian Brethren who had been living as an underground remnant in Moravia for nearly 100 years since the days of Comenius.

In 1722 the refugees established a new village called Herrnhut, about 2 miles from Berthelsdorf. The town initially grew steadily, but major religious disagreements emerged and by 1727 the community was divided into warring factions [One faction were modalistic monarchians who insisted on baptizing using the shorter, non-Trinitarian formula. Lawyer Johann Sigismund Krüger's introduction of deviant Christological teaching alienated Christian David, the founder of Herrnhut, who accepted this teaching wholeheartedly for a time as did many of the Brethren. Krüger's erratic behavior and extreme pronouncements led to his removal. He subsequently died in a Berlin asylum.] . Zinzendorf used a combination of feudal authority and his charismatic personality to restore a semblance of unity, then on 13^th August 1727 the community underwent a dramatic transformation when the inhabitants of Herrnhut "Learned to love one another." following an experience which they attributed to a visitation of the Holy Spirit, similar to that recorded in the Bible on the day of Pentecost [The great revival at Herrnhut was accompanied by prophecies, visions, glossolalia, and healings.] . Many issues were settled by this renewal or revival and, while different doctrinal views still occasionally threatened the unity of the community, Count Zinzendorf was able to maintain harmony of spirit from then on, so the revival could continue unhindered.

Herrnhut grew rapidly following this transforming revival and became the centre of a major movement for Christian renewal and mission during the 18th century. Moravian historians identify the main achievements of this period as:
# Setting a up a watch of continuous prayer which ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 100 years.
# The origination of the "Losungen", the "Daily Watchwords," on 3 May 1728, published today in 50 languages, the oldest and most widely read daily devotional work in the world. Old Testament texts, the "Watchwords", are chosen by lot annually in Herrnhut from a collection of 1200 verses; the New Testament texts, "Doctrinal Texts," are then selected to comment on the Watchwords. This is an ecumenical ministry of the worldwide Moravian Unity that transcends confessional, political and racial barriers of all kinds.
# The establishment of over 30 settlements globally on the Herrnhut model, which emphasised a lifestyle of prayer and worship and a form of communal living in which personal property was still held but simplicity of lifestyle and generosity with wealth were considered important spiritual attributes. As a result, divisions between social groups and extremes of wealth and poverty were largely eliminated.
# The sending out of hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world including the Caribbean, North and South America, the Arctic, Africa, and the Far East. The Moravian missionaries were the first large scale Protestant missionary movement. They were also first to send unordained "lay" people (rather than trained professional clergymen), the first to go to slaves, and the first in many countries of the world. The first Moravian missionaries were a potter named Leonard Dober and a carpenter named David Nitschmann, who went to the Caribbean island of St Thomas in 1732.
# The formation of many hundreds of small renewal groups operating within the existing churches of Europe, known as "diaspora societies". These groups encouraged personal prayer and worship, bible study, confession of sins and mutual accountability.

The Moravian Church in the present

The modern "Unitas Fratrum" or Moravian Church, with about 825,000 members worldwide, continues to draw on traditions established during the 18th century renewal. In many places it observes the convention of the lovefeast, originally started in 1727, and sometimes continues to use older and traditional music in worship. In addition, in some older congregations Moravians are buried in a traditional God's Acre, a graveyard organized by gender, age, and marital status rather than family. The Moravians continue their long tradition of missionary work, for example in the West Indies of the Caribbean and Greenland. This is reflected in their broad global distribution. The Moravians in Germany, whose central settlement remains at Herrnhut, are highly active in education and social work. The American Moravian Church sponsors Moravian College and Seminary, recognized as the sixth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The largest concentration of Moravians today is in Tanzania.

The motto of the Moravian church is:: (in Latin) "In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas"

: (in English) "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love"

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