Moravian Church, also Unitas Fratrum, American branch of the Renewed Church of the Unity of the Brethren, an evangelical Protestant denomination organized in Herrnhut, Saxony, in 1727 as a reconstitution of the 15th-century Bohemian Brethren. Members are called Moravian Brethren and Herrnhuters. The Moravian Church is governed by the conferential system; its ministry is composed of bishops, elders, and deacons. For administrative purposes, the church is divided into northern and southern provinces, which have headquarters at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, respectively. Provincial synods exercise legislative authority delegated to them by the component congregations. The two American provinces, together with the German and British branches of the Renewed Church of the Unity of the Brethren, are under the overall jurisdiction of a general synod, which meets every ten years.
The Moravian Church conducts missionary work among the Native Americans, the Inuit (Eskimo), and in many foreign countries. Moravian institutions of higher education include Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa., and Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C. The official organs of the two American provinces are The Moravian and The Wachovia Moravian.
The Moravians have no specific creed, but their tenets agree in substance with those incorporated in the Apostles' Creed and the Augsburg Confession. The Bible is the only guide to faith and conduct. Infant baptism is practiced, but full church membership requires only a voluntary profession of faith. Congregations follow a liturgical form of worship; many retain the love feast in imitation of the ancient agape. Special stress is placed on fellowship and missionary work. Moravian church music, especially singing, is known worldwide. The Moravian Church in America is noted for its unity.
The first Moravians in America settled in Savannah, Georgia, in 1734, but moved to Pennsylvania six years later. About 1740 other Brethren, immigrating in groups, settled Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other Pennsylvania towns. Another group founded Salem (now part of Winston-Salem), N.C., in 1766. For a full century, residence in Moravian communities was closed to outsiders, but this policy was abandoned after 1856.
In the early 1990s the Moravian Church in America reported about 52,200 members and 162 separate churches.
Bohemian Brethren
Bohemian Brethren, a religious society established in Prague about the middle of the 15th century and originally composed of remnants of the Hussites. They were also known as Unitas Fratrum. In the 1450s the Brethren settled on the borders of Silesia and Moravia. In the 1600s the group was almost extinguished by forced conversion to Roman Catholicism during the Counter Reformation. The spirit remained, however, and in 1722 some of the Brethren migrated, settling in Herrnhut in Saxony, on the estates of the religious reformer Nikolaus von Zinzendorf.
Nikolaus von Zinzendorf.
Zinzendorf, Nikolaus Ludwig, Graf von (1700-60), German religious reformer, who led the Renewed Church of the Unity of the Brethren, also known as the Moravian Church.
Zinzendorf was born in Dresden, Saxony, and was brought up by his grandmother, who was a member of the Pietism movement. He studied law at the University of Wittenberg. In 1722 Zinzendorf granted refuge on his estate in Upper Lusatia to a group of Moravians of the persecuted Bohemian Brethren. Their community, called Herrnhut, became a refuge for the Brethren from other lands and for members of other persecuted Protestant sects.
The Brethren functioned for a time within the Lutheran church, of which Zinzendorf was a member. In 1727, however, they formed a new denomination, known as the Renewed Church of the Unity of the Brethren. Although opposed to the separation, Zinzendorf continued to lead the congregation. In 1734 he was ordained a Lutheran minister under an assumed name. Herrnhut missionaries meanwhile had been dispatched to many parts of the world. Zinzendorf's activities aroused the antagonism of influential orthodox Lutherans, and in 1736 he was banished from Saxony.
For the next ten years Zinzendorf traveled widely, founding Moravian congregations in the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Germany, and the Russian provinces of Estonia and Livonia. He visited the American colonies in 1741 and during the next two years helped to establish several Moravian communities in Pennsylvania, including Bethlehem. In addition, he promoted missionary work among the Native Americans. Saxony repealed his banishment in 1748, permitting him to spend his final years in Herrnhut. He died there on May 9, 1760.
Zinzendorf taught and practiced fervent devotion to Jesus Christ, through whom alone, he believed, God had revealed himself to humankind. He exalted the importance of full emotional participation in worship and insisted that reason has no place in religion. He was also, however, a strong advocate of church discipline. His writings include about 2000 hymns, many sermons, and various polemical treatises.
