MORAVIA 



MORAVIANS 



303 



the emperor ; lie subdued the Bohemians and incor- 

 porated their country with his own. From 1029 it 

 was associated with Bohemia, and at the close of 

 the century was erected into a margraviate, and 

 declared a lief of Bohemia, to be held from the 

 crown by the younger branches of the royal house. 

 On the death of Lewis II. at the battle of Mohacz 

 in 1526, Moravia, with all the other Bohemian 

 lands, fell to Austria, in accordance with a pre- 

 existing compact of succession between the reign- 

 ing dynasties. In 1849 it was formally separated 

 from Bohemia, and declared a distinct province 

 and crown-land. See Dudik, Miihrens allgemeine 

 <:'>-/iicftte (11 vols. 1860-86). 



Moravians, otherwise known as Herrnhuters, 

 The Church of the Brethren, or The Unity of the 

 Brethren, are a small body of Protestants who claim 

 to be the modern representatives of the ancient 

 church of the Bohemian Brethren ( see BOHEMIA ), 

 or Unitas Fratrum, which first took a definite shape 

 in 1467, when the followers of Peter of Chelczicky, 

 a pious layman and a contemporary of Huss, 

 formed themselves into a separate ecclesiastical 

 community on the apostolic model. They held 

 that all Christians should lay aside distinctions of 

 rank, abstain from military service and the use oil 

 oaths, and live in literal accordance with the 

 teaching of Christ. These views forced them to 

 keep aloof from lioth sections of the Hussites 

 ]iro|>er, and, though there may have lieen Wal- 

 denses amongst them, they owed very little at any 

 |;riod of their history to these crypto Protestants. 

 At the synod of 1467 three elders, a bishop, and 

 two presbyters were chosen by lot, and receive,! 

 ordination prolmhly from a Waldensian priest, 

 though the lirst beginnings of the church are 

 wrapped in a mist of confused traditions and 

 miraculous tales. Under the influence of Lucas 

 of Prague, a man of strong character and great 

 literary talent, the Brethren in 1494 abandoned 

 their levelling ideas, but maintained their stern 

 and rigid discipline, and bv the licginning of the 

 16th century there were Iietween 300 and 400 

 churches in the Unity. They hail much friendly 

 intercourse with Luther, but stood out for the 

 ri-libacy of the clergy, the doctrine of works, and 

 congregational purism. For a time, however, the 

 Unity was under the influence of Lutheran ideas, 

 though the Brethren had naturally a much stronger 

 sympathy with Calvinism. From the commence- 

 ment of its history times of persecution alternated 

 with times of re|pse, and many of the Brethren, 

 especially in the early part of 'the Kith century, 

 weie forced to flee to Poland and l'ru>sia. In 

 I."i70 the Polish brunch united with the Reformed 

 Church, and, though in 1600 the Bohemian and 

 Moravian branches included two-thirds of the 

 population and most of the nobility, the Brethren 

 naving got mixed up with the revolution which 

 ended so disastrously in 1620, by 1627 the church 

 was entirely broken up and destroyed. In 1722 

 some of the Moravian descendants of the suppressed 

 Unity, who hail l<eeii roused by the preaching of a 

 carpenter, Christian David, a converted Roman 

 Catholic, resolved to emigrate, and were allowed 

 by the pious \oiuigCoiint Xiii/cndorf ( 1700-60) to 

 nettle on a part of his property in Saxony, close to 

 the Austrian frontier. The first company consisted 

 of two brothers, their wives, four children, two 

 relations, and David, but these were soon joined by 

 other emigrants from Moravia and Bohemia, anil 

 by pious ami fanatical people of various national!- 

 l-'i\e \ears later the settlers at Herrnbut 

 /'The Lonl s Keeping') amounted to over three 

 hundred. They at first attended the parish church, 

 but soon Iwgaii to quarrel among themselves and 

 i;!i the Lutheran pastor, and adopted wild and 

 extravagant views. Owing to the exertions of 



Zinzendorf peace was restored, and the settlers 

 formed themselves into a society in communion 

 with the Lutheran Church, and 'drew up certain 

 rules for their guidance in all matters of religion 

 and conduct, the chief of these being that all in 

 Herrnhut should live in love with all their brethren 

 ami with all the children of God in all religions. 



Twelve elders were chosen to lie the teachers and 

 overseers of the community, and these came to be 

 assisted afterwards by male and female ' labourers ' 

 of all sorts, including 'inspectors' of spiritual 

 nuisances, and even of the work done and the 

 goods solil by the Brethren. August 13th of this 

 year ( 1727) is still celebrated as the spiritual birth- 

 day of the renewed church. By 1733 the Society 

 hat! l>ecome a distinct church, and in 1735 the lirst 

 bishop was elected and was ordained by Jablonski, 

 court chaplain in Berlin, one of the two surviving 

 guardians of the precious apostolical succession, 

 which had lieen handed down by Amos Comenius, 

 the last bishop of the old Unity. Although the 

 Moravians imitated certain parts of the constitu- 

 tion and practice of the original church, much of 

 what was peculiar in their views and discipline is 

 to be traced to Zinzendorf, who was consecrated 

 bishop in 1737, and was their 'advocate' until his 

 death in 1760. The members of the community 

 were divided into ' bands,' which met to exchange 

 experiences, to study the Bible, to sing and pi ay, 

 and there was a special division, still maintained, 

 into 'choirs,' which consisted respectively of un- 

 married men. unmarried women, married couples, 

 widowers, widows, IH>\ -s and girls. Some of the 

 ' choirs ' had their own houses, where the members 

 lived under the direction of a brother or sister. 

 There were two daily services in which all joined, 

 and hourly prayer was kept up night and day by 

 certain MMBDHI of the bands, while every morn- 

 ing the Brethren were supplied with a text as 

 a 'watchword.' Love-feasts were introduced by 

 Zinzendorf, and are still held, though the practice 

 of feet-washing before the communion has been 

 abandoned. All important matters, even marriage, 

 were decided by an appeal to the ' lot," and, as 

 Zinzendorf taught that death was a joyous journey 

 home, the departure of a brother or sister was 

 announced by blowing a trumpet, each 'choir' 

 having its own peculiar air. 



Vanous branch settlements were established in 

 Germany, America, and Britain, and in these the 

 Herrnhut arrangements were strictly carried out ; 

 but, when this was not possible, congregations 

 were set up, or societies were created, com- 

 posed of members of other Protestant churches, 

 as Brethren might belong to either of the three 

 ' tropes ' the Lutheran, the Reformed, or the 

 Moravian. These ' diaspora ' societies contain 

 at present 70,000 members, and the German 

 ' diaspora ' mission is the most important part 

 of the home-work of the Brethren. Some of 

 the Moravians came into contact with the 

 Wesleys and Whitefield, and had considerable 

 influence on their views, and they were even 

 patronised by Anglican dignitaries, but partly 

 owing to misrepresentation and partly owing to 

 injudicious conduct on the part of some of the 

 Brethren, their use of certain foolish hymns and 

 sensuous and grotesque language in reference to 

 the wounds of Christ, bitter opposition was roused 

 against them both in England and the Continent. 

 Since the middle of the 18th century the home- 

 history of the Unity has been uneventful. 



At present the executive government of the 

 church is vested in the Elders Conference of the 

 Unity, a clerical body composed partly of bishops 

 and partly of presbyters. This conference carries 

 out the injunctions of the synod, the supreme 

 court of the church, which meets every ten 



