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Monday, September 17, 2018

Not Amish, Not Quakers ... Moravians!


Everyone has heard of the Amish. If you wander into a Christian fiction section of a bookstore, you won’t be able to escape the present-day fascination with “the plain people.” You’ve probably also heard of Quakers, well-known for their pacifism. But what do you know about Moravians? I’d guess most folks know very little, even though the church of over a million members is still in existence today. My research for my latest work-in-progress led me deep into the history of this unique Protestant European church.
Reformer Jan Hus
The movement began in ancient Bohemia and Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic with converts of Greek Orthodox missionaries. University of Prague Professor of Philosophy and Rector John (or Jan) Hus protested the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and was burned at stake in July 1415. By 1517 the Unitas Fratrum, Unity of Brethren, numbered at least 200,000 and printed the Scriptures for the people in their own language. Following a period of bitter persecution, Moravian families found refuge on the Herrnhut estate of Saxon Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf. The people followed a simplified style of communal living and a watch of continuous prayer that ran for a hundred years.
Zinzendorf as young man
The revival of 1727 led to the Moravian Church becoming the foremost mission-sending organization of its time. Witnesses for Christ sailed to the West Indies, the Caribbean, the Arctic, Africa, the Far East, and North and South America. It was John Wesley’s exposure to a Moravian service that led to his heart being “strangely warmed.”
With the view of reaching Native Americans, the church established settlements in Bethlehem and Nazareth, Pennsylvania in the 1740s. Congregations soon sprang up in Lititz, Philadelphia, and Hope, as well as in New Jersey, Maryland, and Staten Island, New York. In 1753, Bishop Augustus Spangenberg led a party to survey the Wachau Tract of North Carolina. This settlement included Bethabara, Bethania, and Salem (now Winston-Salem).
While Moravians believe largely like other Protestant churches, they did practice some unique traditions, especially during Colonial times. Want to know what living in a choir system meant? Or what it would be like to have your marriage plans “go before the lot”? Check back for future posts! And stay tuned for my upcoming novel, The Witness Tree, about a marriage of convenience in Salem that leads to an adventure in the Cherokee Nation. 
~ Denise Weimer, Denise Weimer Books
First timbered houses built in Salem, NC

8 comments:

  1. Great post Denise!
    I actually have heard of the Moravian's but knew only a bit about them so your post filled in more. I read about them in a Christian fiction book I read a few years back but can't remember the name.
    Blessings, Tina

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  2. Thank you for your post, Denise!

    I too have heard of the Moravian's, probably from a book.
    But knew little about them. I look forward to learning more.

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  3. Thanks, ladies! There was a "Love Finds You In..." series book that focused on Moravian missionaries to the more northern Indian tribes during an earlier period.

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  4. I’ve read about them a long time ago.

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  5. Denise, I'm quite intrigued about your book! I was married in my grandparents' Moravian country church about a mile from my childhood home. (My grandparents donated the land on which the church was built.) Prior to them building the church there, it was a few miles away, at a location I often biked to in the summer time to attend vacation Bible school with my neighbor kids. Now, that church has closed its doors. It died slowly, and unfortunately, I think it lost its way doctrinally. What a rich history though!

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  6. Very interesting book I have heard about them a a long time ago. I am intrigued to learn more. The book sounds great. rose blackard@gmail.com

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    1. Thank you so much! I hope I can share with with readers not too far in the future. :)

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