History of the Moravian Church

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 contingency 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 nobility was able to force the emperor Rudolf II to issue Letter of Majesty in 1609, safeguarding the religious freedom in the Kingdom of Bohemia.

The Brethren were forced to operate underground and eventually dispersed across Northern Europe 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 Bohemia and Moravia.

Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf was a nobleman born in 1700 in Dresden, Saxony, in present-day eastern Germany, where he was brought up in the traditions of Pietism.

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.

[4] Zinzendorf used a combination of feudal authority and his charismatic personality to restore a semblance of unity, then on 13 August 1727 the community underwent a dramatic transformation when the inhabitants of Herrnhut "Learned to love one another."

[7] Missionary settlers in Bethlehem were part of one of the oldest recognized Protestant denominations in the world, the Unitas Fratrum or the Unity of the Brethren which began in 1457 in what is now the Czech Republic.

[8] While the prime objective of reaching the colonies was to convert the Native population of the Delaware River region, the Moravian method of evangelizing was not always looked upon kindly or welcomed.

[9] 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 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.