Post by Tamrin on Sept 6, 2009 8:55:22 GMT 10
Early history: the Czech background
The movement that would develop into the Moravian Church was started by a Catholic 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 18th 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. Zinzendorf used a combination of feudal authority and his charismatic personality to restore a semblance of unity, then on 13th 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. 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.[/quote]
Jan Hus