Moravian Church Totally Explained

Everything about The Moravian Church totally explained

The Moravian Church or Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde is a mainline Protestant denomination. Its religious heritage began in late 14th century Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). Its official name is Unitas Fratrum meaning Unity of the Brethren (not to be confused with the small Unity of the Brethren church based in Texas). It is also occasionally referred to as the Bohemian Brethren. It places a high premium on Christian unity, personal piety, missions and music.
The church's emblem is the Lamb of God with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription: Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur; or in English: Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow him. This page is about the Moravian Church globally. For information about the church in a particular geographic area, use the links at Organisation below.

Origins

Early history

The movement that became the Moravian Church was started by Jan Hus (English: John Hus) in the late fourteenth century. Hus objected to some of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and wanted to return the church in Bohemia and Moravia to what he believed were the simpler 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, but was eventually forced to be subject to the authority of Rome. Hus was tried and burned at the stake.
   Within fifty years of Hus's martyrdom, a contingent of his followers had become independently organized as the 'Bohemian Brethren' or Unity of the Brethren, which was founded in Kunvald, Bohemia, in 1457.
   These were some of the earliest Protestants, rebelling against Rome more than a hundred years before Martin Luther.
   After 1620, due to the Counter Reformation and the Thirty-Years War (1618–1648), and after being abandoned and betrayed by the local nobility which had previously tolerated or supported them, the Brethren were forced to operate underground and eventually dispersed across Northern Europe and as far as the Low Countries, where bishop John Amos Comenius attempted to direct a resurgence.
   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.

Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde, 18^th century renewal

In 1722, a small group of Bohemian Brethren who had been living as an underground remnant in Moravia for nearly 100 years arrived at the Berthelsdorf estate of Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a nobleman who had been brought up in the traditions of Pietism. Out of a personal commitment to helping the poor and needy, he agreed to a request from their leader (Christian David, an itinerant carpenter) that they be allowed to settle on his lands in the Oberlausitz in the east of modern-day Germany.
The refugees established a new village called Herrnhut, about 2 miles (3 km) from Berthelsdorf. The town initially grew steadily, but major religious disagreements emerged and by 1727 the community was divided into warring factions. Then, on 13 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.
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 up a watch of continuous prayer which ran uninterrupted, 24 hours a day, for 100 years.
The origination of the Daily Watchwords
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 start of missionary work (see next section).
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.

Missions

The Moravian missionaries were the first large scale Protestant missionary movement. The church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world including the Caribbean, North and South America, the Arctic, Africa, and the Far East. They were also the 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 start of far-flung missionary work necessitated the setting up of independently administered Provinces. So from c1750, the history of the church becomes the history of its Provinces. Articles about some of these (and their history) are linked from Organisation below.
   Former mission fields where there's no longer any work include Australia and Greenland.

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 Caribbean. 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. The largest concentration of Moravians today is in Tanzania.
The motto of the Moravian church is: � (Latin) In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas

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

Organization

Provinces

The church has work around the globe and so is organised into provinces, each responsible for a particular geographic area:
The Moravian Church provinces are members individually of the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation. Most provinces are also members of their national councils of churches, such as the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) in Germany and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the US. The American Southern Province was instrumental in the founding the North Carolina Council of Churches. The British Province is in the British council of churches and has an interim Communion agreement with the Church of England. The two North American provinces are in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and are in dialogue with the Episcopal Church in the United States about entering full communion with them as well.
An interesting aspect of Moravian history and work is the so-called "Diaspora" work in Germany and Eastern Europe, seeking to deepen and encourage the Christian life among members of the territorial churches, particularly in Poland and the Baltic, but also throughout the German lands. Count Zinzendorf's ideal was a fellowship of all Christians, regardless of denominational names and the Moravian Brethren sought in the Diaspora not to convert people to the Moravian Church but to awaken the hearts of believers and make them better members of the churches to which they already belonged. At first the objects of a great deal of suspicion, in the course of time the Moravian Diaspora Workers eventually became valued co-workers in the vast expanse of eastern Europe. The Diaspora Work in eastern Europe suffered almost total destruction in World War II, but is still carried on within the territorial churches of Germany. With the independence of the Baltic republics, Estonia and Latvia, it was revealed that much of the Diaspora Work there had been kept alive in spite of Soviet Russian domination and had born fruit.

Historical societies, etc.

American North: the Moravian Historical Society and Historic Bethlehem (Pennsylvania)

American South: the Wachovia Historical Society as well as Old Salem

British: Defunct.

Continental Province Verein für Geschichts- und Gegenwartsfragen der Brüdergemeine

Publications

der Brüderbote, the periodical of the Continental Province

Unitas Fratrum, the publication of the Continental Province's historical society

the Moravian Magazine, the publication of the North American Provinces

the Moravian Messenger, periodical of the British Province

Moravian History Magazine - Published within the British Province but deals with the work worldwide.

Notes and references

Bibliography

Gollin, Gilliam Lindt. Moravians in Two Worlds (1967)

Langton; Edward. History of the Moravian Church: The Story of the First International Protestant Church (1956).Further Information

Get more info on 'Moravian Church'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://moravian_church.totallyexplained.com">Moravian Church Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.