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| Unity of the Brethren | |
|---|---|
| Latin:Unitas Fratrum | |
 | |
| Classification | Proto-Protestant |
| Orientation | Hussite (Bohemian) withPietistLutheran influences |
| Associations | Christian Churches Together |
| Founder | Followers ofJan Hus andPetr Chelčický; later renewed byNicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf,Christian David andDavid Nitschmann |
| Origin | 1457 (568 years ago) (1457) 1722 (303 years ago) (1722) Bohemia Herrnhut |
| Congregations | 1,000+[1] |
| Number of followers | 1,112,120(2016)[2] |
| Official website | unitasfratrum |
| Part ofa series on |
| Christianity |
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TheMoravian Church, or theMoravian Brethren (Czech:Moravská církev orMoravští bratři), formally theUnitas Fratrum (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"),[3][4][5] is one of the oldestProtestantdenominations inChristianity, dating back to theBohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the originalUnity of the Brethren (Czech:Jednota bratrská) founded in theKingdom of Bohemia, sixty years beforeMartin Luther'sReformation.
The church's heritage can be traced to 1457 and theLands of the Bohemian Crown, which includedBohemia,Moravia,Silesia, and previously theHussite movement against several practices and doctrines of theCatholic Church. Its name is derived from exiles who fled from Moravia toSaxony in 1722 to escape theCounter-Reformation, establishing the Christian community ofHerrnhut. Hence, it is also known inGerman as the[Herrnhuter] Brüdergemeine [sic][6] ("Unity of Brethren [of Herrnhut]").[7]
The modernUnitas Fratrum has about one million members worldwide,[1] continuing their tradition ofmissionary work, such as in theAmericas andAfrica, which is reflected in their broad global distribution.[8] Moravians continue many of the same practices established in the 18th century, including placing a high value on a personal conversion to Christ, called theNew Birth, andpiety,good works,evangelism (including the establishment of missions),nonresistance,ecumenism, andmusic.[8][9]
The Moravian Church'semblem is theLamb of God (Agnus Dei) with the flag of victory, surrounded by the Latin inscription "Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur" ('Our Lamb has conquered; let us follow Him').
Apart from the Moravian Church, the more conservativeUnity of the Brethren, based in Texas, as well as theCzechoslovak Hussite Church, based in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, are denominations in the same Hussite-Moravian theological tradition.[10]
TheHussite movement that was to become the Moravian Church was started byJan Hus (English:John Huss) in early 15th-centuryBohemia, in what is today theCzech Republic.[3] Hus objected to some of the practices and doctrines of theRoman Catholic Church. Specifically, he wanted theliturgy to be celebrated inCzech, married priests, and eliminatingindulgences and the idea ofPurgatory. Since these actions predate theProtestant Reformation by a century, some historians claim the Moravian Church was the firstProtestant church.[11][12]
The movement gained support from theCrown of Bohemia. However, Hus was summoned to attend theCouncil of Constance, which decided that he was a heretic. Hus was released to the secular authority, which sentenced him to be burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. From 1419 to 1437 were a series ofHussite Wars, initially between various Roman Catholic rulers and the Hussites. Then there was a Hussite civil war, between the more compromisingUtraquists and the radicalTaborites. In 1434, an army of Utraquists and Roman Catholics defeated the Taborites at theBattle of Lipany. The Utraquists signed theCompacts of Basel on 5 July 1436.
Within 50 years of Hus's death, a contingent of his followers had become independently organised as the "Bohemian Brethren" (Čeští bratři) orUnity of the Brethren (Jednota bratrská), which was founded inKunvald, Bohemia, in 1457. A brother known as Gregory the Patriarch was very influential in forming the group, as well as the teachings ofPeter Chelcicky. This group held to a strict obedience to theSermon on the Mount, which included non-swearing of oaths, non-resistance, and not accumulating wealth. Because of this, they considered themselves separate from the majority Hussites that did not hold those teachings. They receivedepiscopal ordination through theWaldensians in 1467.[11]: 36 ff [12]: 107 ff
These were some of the earliestProtestants, rebelling against Rome some fifty years beforeMartin Luther.[11][12] By the middle of the 16th century, as many as 90 percent of the subjects of theBohemian Crown wereProtestant.[13] The majority of the nobility was Protestant, and the schools and printing-shops established by the Moravian Church were flourishing.
Protestantism had a strong influence in the education of the population. Even in the middle of the 16th century there was not a single town without a Protestant school in theBohemian Crown Lands. Many had more than one, mostly with two to six teachers each. InJihlava, a principal Protestant centre in Moravia, there were five major schools: two German, one Czech, one for girls and one teaching in Latin, which was at the level of ahigh/grammar school, lecturing on Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Rhetorics, Dialectics, fundamentals of Philosophy and fine arts, as well as religion according to theLutheran Augustana.[14]
With theUniversity of Prague also firmly in hands ofProtestants, the localRoman Catholic Church was unable to compete in the field of education. The Jesuits were invited, with the backing of the Catholic Habsburg rulers, to come to theLands of the Bohemian Crown and establish a number of Roman Catholic educational institutions. One of thesewas the university in the Moravian capital ofOlomouc. In 1582, they forced the closure of local Protestant schools.
In 1617,Emperor Matthias had his fiercely Roman Catholic brotherFerdinand of Styria elected as King of Bohemia. In the year that followed,Protestant Bohemian noblemen, in fear of losing their religious freedom,[15]instigated a revolt with the unplannedDefenestrations of Prague. The Protestants were defeated in 1620 in theBattle of White Mountain near Prague, known as the first battle in the Thirty Years' War.[16] As a consequence, the local Protestant noblemen were either executed or expelled from the country, while the Habsburgs placed Roman Catholic, and mostly German-speaking nobility in their place. The war, plague, and subsequent disruption led to a decline in the population from over 3 million to some 800,000 people. By 1622, the entire education system was in the hands of Jesuits, and all Protestant schools were closed.
The Brethren were forced to go underground, and eventually dispersed acrossNorthern Europe as far as theLow Countries, where theirbishop,John Amos Comenius, attempted to direct a resurgence. The largest remaining communities of the Brethren were located inLeszno (German:Lissa) inPoland, which had historically strong ties with the Czechs, and small, isolated groups inMoravia. The latter are referred to as "the Hidden Seed", which John Amos Comenius had prayed would preserve the evangelical faith in the land of the fathers.
In addition to the RenewedUnitas Fratrum or Moravian Church, which preserves theUnitas Fratrum's three orders ofepiscopal ordination, theEvangelical Church of Czech Brethren and theCzechoslovak Hussite Church also continue the Hussite tradition in the Czech Republic andSlovakia today, as with theUnity of the Brethren in the United States; these are denominations in the same Hussite-Moravian theological tradition.[10] They only account for0.8% of the Czech population, which is 79.4% non-religious, and 10.4% Catholic.[citation needed][when?]
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In 1722, a small group of the Bohemian Brethren, the "Hidden Seed", who had been living in northernMoravia, as an illegal underground remnant surviving in the Catholic setting of the Habsburg Empire for nearly 100 years, arrived at theBerthelsdorf estate ofNikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf in present-daySaxony in the eastern part of present-dayGermany. Out of a personal commitment to helping the poor and needy, von Zinzendorf, a nobleman who had been brought up in the traditions ofPietisticLutheranism, agreed to a request from their leader,Christian David, an itinerant carpenter, that they be allowed to settle on his lands inUpper Lusatia in Saxony. The Margraviates of Upper and Lower Lusatia were governed in personal union by theSaxon rulers and enjoyed great autonomy, especially in religious questions.
The refugees established a new village calledHerrnhut, 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 factions. Count Zinzendorf worked to bring about unity in the town, and theBrotherly Agreement was adopted by the community on 12 May 1727. This is considered the beginning of the renewal. On 13 August 1727, the community underwent a dramatic transformation when the inhabitants of Herrnhut "learned to love one another", following an experience that they attributed to a visitation of theHoly Spirit, similar to that recorded in theBible on the day ofPentecost.
Herrnhut grew rapidly following this transforming revival and became the centre of a major movement for Christian renewal and mission during the 18th century. Theepiscopalordination of the AncientUnitas Fratrum was transferred in 1735 to the RenewedUnitas Fratrum by the Unity's two surviving bishops,Daniel Ernst Jablonski and Christian Sitkovius. The carpenterDavid Nitschmann and, later, Count von Zinzendorf, were the first two bishops of the Renewed Unity. In 1756, Zinzendorf founded a Brüdergemeine that still exists today inNeuwied on the Rhine. Moravian historians identify the main achievements of this period as:
Along with theRoyal Danish Mission College, the Moravian missionaries were the first large-scaleProtestant missionary movement. They sent out the first missionaries when there were only 300 inhabitants in Herrnhut. Within 30 years, the church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world, including theCaribbean,North andSouth America, theArctic,Africa, and theFar East. They were the first to send lay people as missionaries, the first Protestant denomination to minister to slaves, though some communities also owned slaves, and the first Protestant presence in many countries.
Owing to Zinzendorf's personal contacts with their royalty, the first Moravian missions were directed to theDano-Norwegian Empire. While attending the coronation ofChristian VI of Denmark-Norway in 1730, Zinzendorf was profoundly struck by twoInuit converts ofHans Egede'smission in Greenland and also by an African from theWest Indies.[18] The first Moravian mission was established on the Caribbean island ofSaint Thomas in 1732 by a potter namedJohann Leonhard Dober and a carpenter namedDavid Nitschmann,[19]: 7 who later became the first bishop of the Renewed Unity in 1735.Matthaeus Stach and two others founded the firstMoravian mission in Greenland in 1733 atNeu-Herrnhut onBaal's River, which became the nucleus of the modern capitalNuuk.
Moravians also founded missions with theMohicans, anAlgonquian-speaking tribe in thecolony of New York in theThirteen Colonies. In one instance, they founded a mission in 1740 at the Mohican village ofShekomeko in present-dayDutchess County, New York. The converted Mohican people formed the first native Christian congregation in the present-day United States of America. Because of local hostility from New Yorkers to the Mohicans, the Moravian support of the Mohicans led to rumors of them being secretJesuits, trying to ally the Mohicans withFrance in the ongoingFrench and Indian Wars.
Although supporters defended their work, at the end of 1744, the colonial government based inPoughkeepsie, New York, expelled the Moravians from theProvince of New York.[20]
In 1741,David Nitschmann andCount Zinzendorf led a small community to found a mission in the colony ofPennsylvania. The mission was established onChristmas Eve, and was named Bethlehem, after theBiblical town in Judea. There, they ministered to the Algonquian-speakingLenape.Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is today the seventh-largest city in Pennsylvania, having developed as a major industrial city in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1772, the first European-Native American settlement of what later becamePunxsutawney, Pennsylvania, occurred when Reverend John Ettwein, a Moravian missionary, arrived there with a band of 241 ChristianizedLenape.[21]
In 1771, Moravians established a settlement atNain, Labrador, which became a permanent settlement and the Moravian headquarters in Labrador.[22] The mission stations expanded toOkak (1776),Hopedale (1782),Hebron atKauerdluksoak Bay (1830–1959), serving alsoNapartok Bay andSaeglek Bay,Zoar (1864–1889),Ramah (1871–1908),Makkovik (1896), andKilliniq onCape Chidley island (1905–1925).[22][23] Two further stations were added after this period atHappy Valley nearGoose Bay (1957) andNorth West River (1960).[22]
Colonies were founded in North Carolina, where Moravians led byBishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg purchased 98,985 acres (40,058 ha) fromJohn Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville. This large tract of land was nameddieWachau, orWachovia, after one of Zinzendorf's ancestral estates on theDanube River inLower Austria. Other early settlements includedBethabara (1753),Bethania (1759), and Salem, now referred to asOld Salem (1766) inWinston-Salem, North Carolina.
In 1801, the Moravians established Springplace mission to theCherokee Nation in what is nowMurray County,Georgia. Coinciding with theforced removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma, this mission was replaced in 1842 by New Springplace inOaks, Oklahoma. Due toCivil War-related violence, New Springplace closed in 1862 and resumed during the 1870s. In 1898, the Moravian Church discontinued their missionary engagement with the Cherokees and New Springplace, now the Oaks Indian Mission, was transferred to theDanish Evangelical Lutheran Church.[24]
The start of far-flung missionary work necessitated the establishment of independently administered provinces. So, from about 1732,[19]: 7 the history of the church becomes the history of its provinces.
Eventually, the Moravian missions inAustralia andGreenland were transferred to the local Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches, respectively.
The first mission station in present-daySouth Africa was established by the Moravian Georg Schmidt atGenadendal in 1738. The mission atWupperthal, established by theRhenish Missionary Society, was eventually transferred to the Moravian Church.
The Moravians sought to unify the converts into "one people" living together with the same religious beliefs. Zeisberger, a significant Moravian missionary, implored the converts to remember that they were "one people not two."[25]
The modern Moravian Church has about 750,000 members worldwide.[1]
The motto of the Moravian Church is: "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love".[26]
For its global work, the Church is organised into Unity Provinces, Mission Provinces and Mission Areas and four regions of Africa, Caribbean and Latin America, Northern America, and Europe. The categorisation is based on the level of independence of the province. Unity Province implies a total level of independence, Mission Province implies a partial level of supervision from a Unity Province, and Mission Area implies full supervision by a Unity Province. (The links below connect to articles about the history of the church in specific provinces after 1732, where written.)
In the Czech Republic and Honduras splits occurred within the churches aftercharismatic revivals; non-charismatic minorities formed their own bodies, but both sides remained connected to the international church. The minority communities are listed as "mission provinces".[27]
| Provinces (year of foundation) or mission area | Congregations | Membership[2] |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 907,830 | |
| Burundi (mission province) | 40,000 | |
| Tanzania, North (2007) | 25 | 3,910 |
| Tanzania, East (2007) | 56 | 28,510 |
| Tanzania, Rukwa (1986) | 60 | 66,410 |
| Tanzania, South (1891) | 170 | 203,000 |
| Tanzania, South West (1978) | 211 | 300,000 |
| Tanzania, Lake Tanganyika (2005) | 30 | 32,100 |
| Tanzania, West (1897) | 61 | 104,000 |
| Zambia (1989) | 17 | 5,210 |
| South Africa (1792/1737) | 87 | 98,000 |
| Congo/DR Congo (2005) | 80 | 21,500 |
| Malawi (2007) | 10 | 5,190 |
| Caribbean & Latin America | 204,980 | |
| Costa Rica (1980/1941) | 3 | 1,900 |
| Guyana (1878/1835) | 960 | |
| Honduras (1930) | 85 | 34,450 |
| Jamaica (1754) | 65 | 8,100 |
| Nicaragua (1849) | 226 | 97,000 |
| Suriname (1735) | 67 | 30,000 |
| Eastern West Indies (1732) Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, Antigua, St. Kitts, and the Virgin Islands including St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Tortola and Grenada | 52 | 15,100 |
| Honduras (Mission Province) | 16,870 | |
| Cuba (1997) (Mission Province) | 600 | |
| North America | 39,150 | |
| Alaska (1885) | 22 | 1,690 |
| America (North) (1741/1735) Greenland, Canada and the Northern States of the US | 89 | 20,530 |
| America (South) (1753) Southern States of the USA | 55 | 15,030 |
| Labrador (1771/1752) (mission province) | 1,900 | |
| Europe | 20,180 | |
| European Continental [de] (1727) Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Albania, Estonia, Latvia | 24 | 14,530 |
| British (1742) Great Britain and Ireland | 30 | 1,200 |
| Czech Republic (1862/1457) | 29 | 3,800 |
| Czech Republic/Herrnhut Seniority (mission province) | 650 | |
| Missions Areas Belize, French Guiana, Garifuna, Haiti, Kenya, Northern India & Nepal, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Sierra Leone, Tanzania Kiwele Region, Kivu and Katanga in DR Congo, Tanzania Iringa Region; Tanzania Ruvuma/Njombe Region, Uganda, Peru | 25,000 | |
| Total | 1,112,120 |
Other areas with missions but that are not yet established as Provinces are:
Tanzania is divided into seven provinces because of the size of country and the numbers of people in the church. The "Moravian Church in Tanzania" co-ordinates the work in the nation.
The lists above, except for some details given under 'Other areas', can be found inThe Moravian Almanac.[28]
Each province is governed by asynod, made up of representatives from each congregation plusex officio members.
The Synod elects the Provincial Board (aka Provincial Elders' Conference or PEC[29]) to be responsible for the work of the province and its international links between synods.
Many, but not all, of the provinces are divided into districts.
Each congregation belongs to a district and has spiritual and financial responsibilities for work in its own area as well as provincially. The Congregation Council (all the members of a congregation) usually meets twice a year and annually elects the Joint Board of Elders and Trustees that acts as an executive.
In some provinces two or more congregations may be grouped into circuits, under the care of one minister.
The Unity Synod meets every seven years and is attended by delegates from the different Unity Provinces and affiliated Provinces.
The Unity Board is made up of one member from each Provincial Board, and acts as an executive committee between Unity Synods. It meets three times between Synods but much of its work is done by correspondence and postal voting.
ThePresident of the Unity Board (who is elected by the Board for two years and not allowed to serve for more than two terms) works from his/her own Provincial office. TheUnity Business Administrator is an officer appointed by the Unity Board to administer the day-to-day affairs of the Unity through the office of the Unity.
The highest order of ministry is that of abishop. Bishops are elected by Provincial Synods usually through ecclesiastical ballot without nomination. In the Moravian Church, bishops do not have an administrative role but rather serve as spiritual leaders and pastors to the pastors. Bishops serve the worldwide Unity.[30] The Moravian Church teaches that it has preservedapostolic succession.[31]
In order to preserve the succession, three Bohemian Brethren were consecrated bishops by Bishop Stephen ofAustria, aWaldensian bishop who had been ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop in 1434.[32][33] These three consecrated bishops returned toLitice in Bohemia and then ordained other brothers, thereby preserving the historic episcopate.[32]
The Moravian Church teaches the necessity of theNew Birth,piety,evangelism (especially missionary work), and doinggood works. As such, the Moravian Brethren hold strongly that Christianity is a religion of the heart.[9] It emphasizes the "greatness of Christ" and holds theBible to be the "source of all religious truths".[9] With regard to the New Birth, the Moravian Church holds that a personal conversion to Christianity is a joyful experience, in which the individual "accepts Christ as Lord" after which faith "daily grows inside the person."[9] The Moravian Church, following the teaching of bishopNicolaus Zinzendorf, holds that "We are sanctified wholly the moment we are justified, and are neither more nor less holy to the day of our death;entire sanctification and justification being in one and the same instant."[34]
For Moravians, "Christ lived as a man because he wanted to provide a blueprint for future generations" and "a converted person could attempt to live in his image and daily become more like Jesus."[9] The Moravian Church historically adheres to the position ofChristian pacifism, evidenced in atrocities such as theGnadenhutten massacre, where theMoravian Christian Indian Martyrs practicednonresistance, singing hymns and praying to God until their execution.[35][36][37][38]
In theBook of Order[39][40] the several provinces of the Moravian Unity accept:
Moravian missions in which missionaries and the believers they ministered to lived together and adhered to Moravian practices, such as the following taught byDavid Zeisberger,John Heckewelder and John Ettwein:[41]
- We will know no other God, but the one only true God, who made us and all creatures, and came into this world in order to save sinners; to Him alone we will pray.
- We will rest from work on the Lord's Day, and attend public service.
- We will honor father and mother, and when they grow old and needy we will do for them what we can.
- No person shall get leave to dwell with us until our teachers have given their consent, and the helpers (native assistants) have examined him.
- We will have nothing to do with thieves, murderers, whoremongers, adulterers, or drunkards.
- We will not take part in dances, sacrifices, heathenish festivals, or games.
- We will use no Tschappish or witchcraft when hunting.
- We renounce and abhor all tricks, lies and deceits of Satan.
- We will be obedient to our teachers and to the helpers who are appointed to order our meetings in the town and fields.
- We will not be idle nor scold, nor beat one another, nor tell lies.
- Whoever injures the property of his neighbor shall make restitution.
- A man shall have but one wife—shall love her and provide her and his children. A woman shall have but one husband, be obedient to him, care for her children, and be cleanly in all things.
- We shall not admit rum, or any other intoxicating liquor into our towns. If strangers or traders bring intoxicating liquors, the helpers shall take it from them and not restore it until the owners are ready to leave the place.
- No one shall contract debts with traders, or receive to sell for traders, unless the helpers give their consent.
- Whoever goes hunting, or on a journey, shall inform the minister or stewards.
- Young persons shall not marry without the consent of their parents, and minister.
- Whenever the stewards or helpers appoint a time to make fences or perform other work for the public good, we will assist and do as we are bid.
- Whenever corn is needed to entertain strangers, or sugar for love-feasts, we will freely contribute from our stores.
- We will not go to war, and will not buy anything of warriors taken in war.[41]
According to the Ground of the Unity[39][40] of 1957, fundamental beliefs include but are not limited to:
These tenets of classical Christianity are not unique to the Moravian Church. The emphasis in both the Ancient Unity and the Renewed Unity is on Christian living and the fellowship of believers as a true witness to a vibrant Christian Faith.
An account of the ethos of the Moravian Church is given by one of its British bishops, Clarence H. Shawe.[42] In a lecture series delivered at the Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Shawe described the Spirit of the Moravian Church as having five characteristics: simplicity, happiness, unintrusiveness, fellowship, and the ideal of service:
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The Moravian Church provinces are members individually of theWorld Council of Churches and theLutheran World Federation. Most provinces are also members of their national councils of churches, such as theEvangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) in Germany and theNational Council of Churches of Christ in the US, the all African Council of Churches, the Caribbean Council of Churches, the Jamaica Council of Churches. The American Southern Province was instrumental in the founding of the North Carolina Council of Churches. The British Province is of theChurches Together in Britain and Ireland (formerly theBritish Council of Churches) and has an interim Communion agreement with theChurch of England.[44]
The two North American provinces are in full communion with theEvangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Northern Province of the Moravian Church voted 18 June 2010 to enter into full communion with theEpiscopal Church. The Moravian Church's Southern Province voted to enter into full communion with the Episcopal Church during its synod in September 2010. Each province can independently enter into full communion relationships.[45]
The Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church inNorth America and thePresbyterian Church USA agreed to enter covenant partnership with one another. The two churches celebrated their agreement with a national service of worship on 5 June 2016 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church inMadison, Wisconsin. National leaders from both denominations participated in the service which included sharing the eucharist.[46] In the 1980s there were discussions in England by which an agreement was created that would have created full communion between the Moravians,Presbyterians,Methodists, and theChurch of England. The Presbyterians and Methodists would have accepted theHistoric Episcopate, but since the Moravians already had this, they would have changed nothing. This agreement fell through, because theGeneral Synod of the Church of England did not give approval.
One aspect of Moravian history and mission is the diaspora work inGermany andEastern Europe, seeking to deepen and encourage the Christian life among members of the territorial churches, particularly inPoland and theBaltic states and throughoutGerman-speaking 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 object of suspicion, in the course of time the Moravian Diaspora workers became valued co-workers in eastern Europe. This Diaspora work suffered almost total destruction in World War II, but is still carried on within the territorial churches of Germany. With the restored independence ofEstonia andLatvia, it was revealed that much of the Diaspora Work there had been kept alive in spite of occupation and annexation by theSoviet Union, which had held to the doctrine ofstate atheism.
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Unitas Fratrum, the Worldwide Moravian Church consists of Unity Provinces, Mission Provinces, Mission Areas and certain areas of work which are the responsibility of the Moravian Unity as a whole.
The Moravian Church's impact on Christianity and world culture is disproportionate to its size (about 750,000 members in 2007). In the 18th century, the church engaged in social experiments that challenged patriarchy, racism, and economic exploitation, and pioneered culturally sensitive missions to indigenous peoples in the Americas and Africa. It is also famous for its contributions to Protestant hymnody and liturgy, and itsLosungen or daily watchwords remain one of the most popular resources for personal devotions in Germany. The most famous reader of theLosungen, was the theologianDietrich Bonhoeffer, whose Finkelwalde Seminary was modeled in part on the example of the Moravians.
Martin Luther seemed personally indifferent to apostolic succession, but branches of the Lutheran Church most notable the Church of Sweden, preserve episcopal leadership and apostolic succession...Among other Protestants that claim apostolic succession is the Moravian Church.
They were extremely solicitous to secure a ministry whose validity the Roman Catholics and others would be compelled to recognise. For this reason they resolved to seek the episcopal succession. At that time a colony of Waldenses lived on the Bohemian border. The synod was satisfied that these people possessed the regular authenticated episcopal succession. Their chief was Stephen. To him the Brethren sent a deputation consisting of three priests or presbyters. These were Michael Bradacius, a priest of the Roman Catholic, and a priest of the Waldensian Church, whose names have not been preserved. They were instructed to inquire into the validity of the Waldensian episcopate. Stephen received the deputies with great kindness, assembled his assistant bishops, and entered into a minute account of the episcopacy which they had. Fully satisfied with what they lad learned the deputies requested to be consecrated bishops. This request Bishop Stephen and his assistants fulfilled in a solemn convocation of the Waldensian Church. The new bishops immediately returned to the barony of Lititz where another synod was convened and three of the brethren were set apart for the work of the ministry, by the laying on of hands. In spite of the terrible persecutions suffered by the Ancient Church, this episcopate was most wonderfully preserved.
they sought regular ordination from a Waldensian bishop, Stephen of Austria, who was reported to have been ordained by a Roman bishop in 1434, and who afterwards suffered martyrdom in Vienna.
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