Herrnhut revisited

This is my third visit to Herrnhut. In July 2001 I came over to pray and do research for a yet-to-be-written book on spiritual wells in Europe. In August 2002 we had our (first) Connect Europe gathering here with 50 young leaders from 12 nations. It was a time of birthing, for new Kingdom initiatives to spring forth, in the Spirit of prayer and missions that marked the Moravians.

Most people who visit Herrnhut today still notice God's peace and presence in this town. The community was founded in 1722 by pietist refugees from Moravia. Herrnhut means 'under God's protection', but also 'the watch of the Lord'. This foundation in Christ is most notable when walking over 'God's Acre', the local cemetary on the Hutberg. Hundreds of men and women from Herrnhut went out as missionaries to the far ends of the earth, sowing themselves in foreign soil to make Christ known. This movement was supported by around-the-clock prayer, for over a 100 years. More about the Moravians here.

We took time to visit the watchtower, the Moravian church hall, YWAM's new SOFM base in nearby Ruppersdorf (if you can read German, check out their story), Zinzendorf's to-be-restored castle in Berthelsdorf and the mountain area of Zittau at the border with Poland and the Czech Republic.

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[The Rev'd. Dr. John Roddam]

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The Moravian 100 Year Prayer Watch
by Robert Grey

Introduction
The Moravian Church’s “100-year Prayer Watch” which began in 1727 is often cited approvingly in sermons, articles and books on prayer. To understand what led to the institution of what has been described as the longest prayer meeting in history, something should be known about the history of the pre-Reformation Church of the Bohemian Brethren. And to appreciate what led to the rise of the Brethren’s Church some knowledge of conditions in Western Christendom in the 14th and 15th centuries is helpful.

The Great Schism
In the year 1378 the cardinals of the Church of Rome elected a sixty-year-old archbishop and Vatican official to be pope. He took the title of Urban VI. A moral man, a scholar, and an experienced administrator who was keen for church reform, he was also tactless, obstinate, quick-tempered and, according to some, arrogant. Within a few months Urban VI had antagonized the cardinals who had elected him. Declaring that they had been pressured by the mob of the city of Rome to choose him, they stated that the election of Urban VI, obtained under duress, was illegal. Moreover, said the cardinals, Urban VI was an apostate and the Antichrist, and demanded that he resign. Upon his refusal to do so, the cardinals declared Urban VI deposed and elected another pope, who took the title of Clement VII.

The countries of western Europe then took sides. Spain, France, Scotland, and part of Germany supported Clement VII; northern and central Italy, most of Germany, England, Scandinavia, Bohemia, Flanders and Portugal stood behind Urban VI.

When Urban VI died, a successor was chosen. The rival pope, Clement VII, also had a successor, Benedict XIII. A church council was called at Pisa to solve the problem. It deposed both popes and authorized the cardinals to elect a new one, which they did. There were now three popes, for the other two both refused to resign. Each of the three popes had the support of one or another of the states of Europe. Another church council was called. The Council of Constance (1415-18) resulted in the election of yet another pope, Martin V, and the departure of two earlier ones - John XXIII was successfully deposed and Gregory XII was persuaded to resign and become a cardinal. But Benedict XIII continued to insist that he was the rightful supreme pontiff until his death in about 1423. He had only two successors and they attracted negligible support.

The Effects of the Great Schism
After forty years or so, the Great Schism had come to an end. The sight of two and at times three popes anathematizing each other and each claiming to be the true Vicar of Christ, submission to whom was essential for salvation, had caused great scandal in Christendom. The prestige of the papacy had been profoundly weakened and its claims to spiritual and temporal authority had been questioned by princes, churchmen, scholars and people in general as never before.

Other Church Problems
During the troubled 14th and 15th centuries there were, of course, faithful clergy, both bishops and parish priests, who loved Jesus and faithfully tended their flocks. There were also monks, friars and nuns who sincerely sought to lead holy and charitable lives, to the best of their understanding.

Nevertheless, the church from top to bottom was plagued by many serious problems which scandalized devout souls who knew something of the teaching of the Scriptures. While some popes were men of high character, others exhibited lamentable morals. Some supreme pontiffs became mired in the tortuous world of Italian politics, and some created and sold numerous church offices to raise money.

There were cardinals, archbishops and bishops who lived in the style of secular princes and hunted, gambled, entertained lavishly, and had mistresses. Rome was a magnet for schemers who, to obtain power, prestige and luxury quite contrary to the spirit of Christ, worked their way into the papal curia, the college of cardinals and even the papacy.

There were bishops who involved themselves in the political struggles of nations and led armies into war, to the neglect of their dioceses. The illegitimate sons of kings and nobles were sometimes given high church office, some when they were still children. One boy became a cardinal at 13. Another was given an abbacy at seven, and two more before he was 12. Relatives and illegitimate children of churchmen from the highest office down were usually well provided for. Bribery and simony were commonplace.

At less exalted levels there was still much corruption. Absentee pluralists drew the revenues from several or many parishes, and had their duties performed by poorly paid substitutes while they themselves lived elsewhere. There were parish clergy and monks who had a reputation for sloth, who said Mass hurriedly and carelessly, who frequented taverns and indulged in frivolous and obscene talk.

The life of some monasteries, convents and friaries, which had been founded during times of religious zeal, had been invaded by a spirit of lethargy, luxury, laxity, and even immorality. Some religious houses had become all but vacant and the revenues went to absentee ecclesiastics, who were often worldly.

Some convents became homes for unmarried daughters of the nobility. Having private incomes and servants, and lacking a call to the religious life, these ladies disregarded the rules of the nunneries and used them, in effect, as hotels. In Spain some kings made abbesses of their castoff mistresses. Some monasteries, too, became a refuge for sons of nobility who drank, feasted and enjoyed the pleasures of the chase.

The Pagan Spirit of the Renaissance
Another serious problem for many earnest believers was the de-Christianizing of a partly Christianized Western Europe. This was caused by the rise of a renewed Paganism - the fruit of the Renaissance. In the 15th century the reunited Papacy was captured by the Renaissance and its spirit of secular humanism. Determined to make Rome the literary and artistic capital of Renaissance Europe, some popes became the patrons of writers and artists who had turned from the Bible to the pagan authors of ancient Greece and Rome. These gifted Renaissance artists produced paintings, statues, tapestries and literature which repudiated Christian ideals and celebrated frankly pagan themes. All over western Europe powerful churchmen patronised humanists who were essentially pagans.

John Wyclif

It was against the background of the Great Schism and the widespread corruption in the church of the 14th century that the Morning Star of the Reformation, John Wyclif (1328-84), translated the Bible into English and wrote and preached his message of reform. In his day the ablest scholar at Oxford University, Wyclif taught that the pope was capable of committing sin and that he was not to be obeyed unless his commands were in accordance with the Scriptures. This placed the authority of the Bible above that of the pope. Wyclif also denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, denounced the sacerdotal system and taught that people could come into contact with God without the aid of priests. These teachings swiftly spread to Bohemia, for in those days there were close links between the universities of Oxford and Prague.

John Hus
The son of a poor peasant in Bohemia, John Hus (c. 1373-1415) became, by sheer ability, Rector of the University of Prague. A man of exemplary life, he preached powerfully in the Czech language against the corruption in the church. Crowds came to hear him speak in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents in Prague. Hus soon became a national hero, stimulating the growing patriotism of the Bohemians, who resented the many German people who were pressing into Bohemia. Introducing their own laws, customs and language, Germans were especially numerous in Prague. Hus was deeply influenced by Wyclif’s reforming doctrines and reproduced them, with some revision, in his books and sermons. He taught plainly that Christ, and not Peter, was the foundation on which God had founded the church, and that, far from being inerrant, many popes had been heretics.

The Council of Constance
John Hus, and through him the writings of Wyclif, now created a stir throughout Europe. Hus was summoned to present his case before the Council of Constance. Relying upon a safe conduct granted him by Sigismund, the German king and emperor elect of the Holy Roman Empire, Hus went. On his arrival in the city, Hus was arrested and imprisoned, for he was under the ban of Pope John XXIII.

After seven months in a dungeon, Hus was brought before the council. He refused to abjure his views and was degraded from the priesthood. He was then turned over to the secular authorities and burned at the stake on July 6th 1415. His last audible words were, “Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

A.A. Renwick in The Story of the Church writes, “It is ironic that Pope John XXIII who, with the Council, was responsible for the death of this righteous man was himself steeped in wickedness. The historian, Margaret Deanesley, calls him ‘a clerical brigand,’ and Archbishop R.C. Trench records that, before this same Council of Constance was over, he was compelled to resign ‘accused of crimes strange for their multitude and enormity, and not daring to face an investigation.’ R.C. Trench, Mediaeval Church History, p. 291.”

A year after the death of Hus, his disciple, friend and fellow Bohemian, Jerome of Prague, was burned at the stake on the same spot on May 30th 1416.

The Hussite Wars

The betrayal and burning of their national hero infuriated the followers of Hus, now a large and important body. Nor did the future look promising, for immediately after the Council of Constance ended, a papal legate arrived in Bohemia and began his work by burning a priest and a layman who opposed him. Knowing that there would be more to follow, many thousand of Hus’ followers participated in a great open air communion service held on a high tableland, which they named Tabor, about fifty miles south of Prague. Then they entered the capital, attacked and plundered convents and put the magistrates to flight.

The terrified Bohemian monarch, King Wenceslaus, was seized with apoplexy and died a few days later. He was succeeded by his hated brother, Emperor Sigismund - the man who had betrayed John Hus. His accession was the signal for fresh and more violent disturbances. A war of unprecedented ferocity broke out, and for sixteen years Bohemia single handedly defied all Europe. Under their blind general, a fanatical military genius named John of Ziska, the Hussites won every battle against the emperor and his German troops. After Ziska’s death in 1424 AD, Bohemia was invaded three years later by four armies totalling 200,000 men. The Hussites could put only 31,000 soldiers in the field. As this small force, led by Procop the Great, advanced upon the great host of Emperor Sigismund and the Papal Legate, the 200,000 men were seized with unaccountable panic and fled. In their flight they lost 10,000 men.

The Compactata of Basle
A weary and depressed Emperor Sigismund agreed to come to terms. Most of the Hussites, known as Utraquists or Calixtines, were satisfied with four concessions granted by the Compactata of Basle: (1) The Communion was to be given to laymen under both kinds (the bread and the cup); (2) The Word of God was to be allowed to be preached freely by priests of the Lord throughout Bohemia in the vernacular; (3) there was to be strict discipline among the clergy; (4) the clergy were to renounce secular lordship and temporalities.

The Utraquists were also recognized for nearly 200 years by Bohemian law and by the Church of Rome as the national self-governing church of Bohemia. In doctrine and practice, however, the Utraquists differed little from the Roman Catholics.

The Radical Hussites Are Crushed
The more extreme Hussite party, known as the Taborites, demanded much more. They wanted, among other things, the confiscation of church property for common benefit, the establishment of the Divine law as the only rule of government and justice, the destruction of altars, images, rich vestments, church plate, “and the whole idolatrous plantation of Antichrist.”

Weary of the ceaseless strife of the past years, and at the instigation of the Utraquists, the Bohemian nobles determined to crush the troublesome Taborites. They formed a league, raised a mighty army and marched against the Taborites and their supporters. On May 13th 1434 the Taborites suffered a crushing and decisive defeat at Lipan. Prokop the Great, and 13,000 of his men lay dead upon the field.

Peter of Chelcic
During these troubled times, in the small Bohemian village of Chelcic (pronounced Kelchits) lived an obscure man named Peter (1419-1450) who was a devout student of the Scriptures. Peter was appalled by the state of affairs in both church and society. He wrote many books protesting the corruption and the fighting and denouncing the faults of both nobles and priests.

A Christian, wrote Peter, should be a simple follower of the teaching of Christ and the apostles. Their teaching was perfect, nothing more should be added to it. A Christian should be a pacifist. He should submit to the government but hold no office in it, and have as little as possible to do with the state. He should live quietly, away from the corrupt towns and cities, earning his living preferably by farming or gardening. Trade or business was suspect, but if a Christian was involved in it he must never try to make big profits and thereby cheat his neighbour. Nor must a Christian ever take an oath.

Peter of Chelcic’s Followers Set Up a Community
Peter’s writings influenced a number of people - there was abroad a vague desire to return to primitive Christianity. In 1457 some of these people from Bohemia and Moravia gathered in a remote, almost deserted village called Kunwald. It was located in a valley of the same name near the north east border of Bohemia. There they would set up a community that would live according to Peter of Chelcic’s interpretation of Christianity. Among these earnest folk were citizens of Prague, teachers from the university, peasants and nobles, rich and poor, with their wives and children. The Bible and the writings of Peter of Chelcic were the foundation documents of the community.

The settlers at Kunwald became known, then or soon after, as the “Brethren of the Law of Christ.” By the Law of Christ was meant the Bible. But the Sermon on the Mount, and especially six commands in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, summed up their understanding of true Christian living. The six commands were: (1) Mt. 5:22 - Thou shalt not be angry with thy brother. (2) Mt. 5:28 - Thou shalt not look upon a woman to lust after her. (3) Mt. 5:32 - Thou shalt not commit adultery, or divorce they wife. (4) Mt. 5:34 - Thou shalt not take an oath. (5) Mt. 5:39-40 - Thou shalt not go to law (non-resistance). (6) Mt. 5:44 - Thou shalt love thine enemy.

The Ministry of the Brethren of the Law of Christ
In 1467 the Brethren set up their own ministry with the orders of bishop, elder and deacon. Up till then they had relied upon the ministrations of sympathetic Utraquist priests. The first Brethren ministers were ordained by a Bishop Stephen of the Waldenses. Little is known of him, but with the setting up of their own pastors, the Brethren’s Church took more definite form. The Brethren demanded a strictly disciplined life from their ministers and they in turn emphasized obedience to the “Law of Christ.”

From time to time, the Brethren of the Law of Christ suffered severe persecution, but in spite of this the Brethren multiplied. Congregations were founded in different towns of Bohemia and Moravia, and later in Poland.

With the growth of the Brethren, Peter of Chelcic’s writings ceased to be regarded as authoritative. It was sufficient to follow the teachings of the Bible. There was still, however, emphasis on obedience to the Law of Christ. Holiness of life, pacifism and separation from the world were still strongly taught.

The Brethren’s Church and the Reformation
Sixty years after the founding of the Kunwald community, the Reformation dawned when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg. The Brethren visited Luther, Melancthon and Calvin. These three great reformers, and others, accepted the confession of faith of the Brethren’s Church and expressed admiration for its discipline. In the course of time, Lutheran and Reformed churches were planted in Bohemia, Moravia and Poland, and there they and the Church of the Brethren grew.

The crowning achievement of the Church of the Brethren was their translation of the Bible from the original tongues into the Czech language in 1579. The Bible was named for the small Moravian town of Kralice where the Brethren’s printing press was located. The Kralice Bible exhibited such accuracy, dignity, and beauty that it became the standard for the Czech language and became the “King James Version” of Bohemia and Moravia.

The Crushing of the Brethren’s Church
Then came the Counter Reformation. In 1612 the decrees of the Council of Trent began to be put into execution against Protestants, beginning with Bohemia and Moravia. The harsh persecution of the Protestants there moved them to revolt and thus began the Thirty Years War. The Protestant forces were decisively defeated at the battle of Weissenberg near Prague in 1620. On June 21st 1621, twenty-seven of their principle nobles were executed.

This was followed by a systematic extermination of Protestantism in Bohemia and Moravia. Within a few years the Brethren’s Church appeared to have been completely destroyed in those two lands. In Poland the Brethren’s Church survived longer but the unrelenting pressure caused it to dwindle and finally disappear.

An estimated 90,000 Protestants fled from Bohemia and Moravia. Lutherans who emigrated found Lutheran Churches in their new homes. Calvinists who fled linked up with Reformed or Presbyterian Churches. But the many Brethren who escaped from Bohemia and Moravia found no Brethren’s Churches in the Protestant lands to which they went. They were absorbed mainly by the established Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican Churches.

However, a small number of Brethren remained in Bohemia and Moravia, practising their faith in secret for 100 years. They became known as “The Hidden Seed.” In the providence of God, these few persecuted and powerless believers were chosen and destined to play a strategic role in the extension of God’s kingdom. Paul refers to this divine principle in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 and so does Mary the mother of Jesus in Luke 1:46-55.

The Resurrection of the Church of the Brethren
In 1690 in the town of Senftleben in Moravia a boy who was to be named Christian David was born. He was first a shepherd and later became a carpenter. Though he was a zealous Roman Catholic he did not posses an assurance of his salvation. For a number of years he wandered through many parts of Europe seeking help, but without success. It was only when he met two Pietist Lutheran clergymen in the town of Gorlitz in Silesia that he found peace and felt assured that all his sins were forgiven. He now began to go about preaching the Gospel of salvation.

On a journey back to his homeland of Moravian, Christian David met some of the “hidden seed” who were practising their faith in secret. They asked him to find them a place of refuge in a Protestant country. Returning to Germany, Christian David sought in vain for many months for such a refuge until he met Nicholas Lewis, Count of Zinzendorf and Potterdorf.

Count von Zinzendorf

Zinzendorf, who was born on May 26th 1700, had been brought up chiefly by his pious grandmother who frequently entertained in her home devoted Christian leaders such as Philipp Jakob Spener, the founder of German Pietism. From his childhood Zinzendorf was filled with a desire to spread the Gospel - “to win souls for the Lamb.” At school he had started a number of Christian clubs for mutual encouragement and help. As a young man, Zinzendorf was greatly moved in an art gallery by a painting of Christ wearing the crown of thorns. Beneath the picture were written, in Latin, the words, “I have done this for you; what have you done for me?” Tears filled Zinzendorf’s eyes as he said to himself, “I have loved Him for a long time but I have never actually done anything for Him. From now on I will do whatever He leads me to do.”

The Founding of Herrnhut
Soon after this experience, in April 1722, Count von Zinzendorf bought the little estate of Berthelsdorf from his grandmother so that he might “live among the peasants and win their souls for Christ.” He immediately appointed a faithful evangelical Lutheran pastor, John Andrew Rothe, to the parish church of Bertholdsdorf. It was about this time that Zinzendorf met Christian David and was told by him of the persecuted believers in Moravia who were seeking a place of refuge. Zinzendorf immediately responded, “I will give them land to build on, and Christ will give them the rest.”

Christian David returned to Moravia with the good news. A party of descendants of the Brethren’s Church immediately determined to leave everything behind and go to Zinzendorf’s estate. They arrived on June 8th and on the 17th the refugees began felling trees on a little hill for the first house of their settlement, which came to be called Herrnhut. When Zinzendorf met the first refugees he welcomed them and then fell to his knees and prayed, asking God to bless these people who had left home and country for the Gospel of Christ.

After a while, the refugees in Herrnhut sent back word to their relatives in Moravia about their warm reception by Count von Zinzendorf. So in August 1723 eighteen more refugees arrived from Moravia. In December of that year Christian David returned to Moravia again, and also went to Bohemia. From there he brought back to Herrnhut more persecuted believers, some of them descendants of the old Unity of the Brethren who had practised their faith in secret in spite of the threat of imprisonment and the slave-galleys.

Religious Strife Breaks Out in Herrnhut
But it did not take long for problems to arise in Herrnhut. As soon as it became known that persecuted Protestants were being allowed to settle on Count von Zinzendorf’s estate, all kinds of unhappy people from various parts of Europe began to settle there. Some of these individuals had never been persecuted at all, but were drawn by purely secular motives. Furthermore, as the settlers had come from various churches and sects, theological disputes and even fanaticism broke out. Influenced by a religious crank, who shortly after became insane, Christian David began to refer to Count von Zinzendorf as the Beast and to Pastor Rothe as the False Prophet! Some refused to attend the “wicked” parish church. Within five years it seemed that the community, which had begun with such promise, might be destroyed through bitter sectarianism.

Discipline Comes to Herrnhut
In the spring of 1727 Count von Zinzendorf took action. He talked with each settler individually about spiritual things, and at public gatherings spoke on the sole ground of salvation - that it was by the grace of God alone through faith in Christ alone. He avoided teachings which had caused confusion and division. Then on May 12th Zinzendorf called a public meeting and reminded the 300 Brethren and Sisters, half of whom were Moravian refugees, that they were living on his land and that he would not permit quarrelling to break up the settlement. He informed them that he had drawn up a set of rules and would require all to sign them.

Twelve people were then elected as elders who served as a sort of town council for Herrnhut. Their powers were considerably wider than those of town councillors today! For example, no man could marry without proving to the elders that he could support a wife. The elders could also punish a man if he mistreated his wife, and they could punish a wife if she proved to be a trouble maker. Four of the elders were chosen by lot to work with Count Zinzendorf and his associate Baron de Waterville to see, among other things, that all members used their gifts in the service of the church through offices such as helpers, overseers, monitors, sick-visitors and almoners.

In fact, the powers of the elders and the social and religious system which they were to enforce were similar to the discipline of the old Bohemian Brethren. This was not known when Zinzendorf’s rules were introduced at Herrnhut. Among other things, the Elders were to:
 Levy rates and taxes to keep the streets and wells in order.
 Undertake the care of widows and orphans.
 Watch the relations between single young men and women.
 Observe the happenings at the village inn.
 Call to order the tellers of evil tales.
 Banish from Herrnhut all who disobeyed its laws.
 Drive away from Herrnhut all who behaved in an unbecoming, frivolous or
 offensive manner.

The elders’ permission had to be obtained by:
 New refugees who wished to settle in Herrnhut.
 Residents who wished to go on a journey.
 Those who desired to build a house.
 Those who wished to set up a business.
 Those who desired to change their trade or calling.
 Those who wanted to lend money on interest.
 Apprentices who wished to leave their masters.
 Visitors who desired to stay the night.
 Those who wished to propose marriage.

Work and Worship but Little Leisure
In Herrnhut work was regarded as a sacred duty and as a means of serving the whole community. Vagabonds, tramps, beggars and the lazy were ordered off the settlement. So too was anyone who did not come to terms within a week with someone with whom he had had a disagreement. Anyone who went to law was also expelled.

Popular entertainers, clowns, tight-rope walkers, dancing bears, lottery ticket sellers or quacks were not allowed to enter Herrnhut. There were to be no dances, wedding breakfasts, drinking parties, funeral feasts, or games like those played in the surrounding villages. No bride at Herrnhut ever carried a bouquet! In short, there was no “entertainment.” Work, sleep and Christian meetings of various kinds made up the way of life of the new Herrnhut.

Prayer, Fellowship and the Night Watch
At Herrnhut three services were held every day - Scripture reading at 5:00 a.m., a meeting at the dinner hour at about noon and a song service after supper at approximately 9:00 p.m. For the aged and infirm the morning Scripture reading and prayer meeting was held at 8:30 a.m.

The congregation was divided into about 90 small bands or classes of two or three people. These met two or three times a week for prayer. Separation of the sexes was rigidly maintained in the formation of these groups. Membership of them was often shuffled so that all came to know each other and thus fellowship was increased.

A night watch was set up and all males between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to take turns in fulfilling this duty. The passing hours would be marked by the night watchman singing out the following verses:

The clock is eight! To Herrnhut all is told,
How Noah and his seven were saved of old.

Hear, Brethren, hear! The Hour of nine is come!
Keep pure each heart, and chasten every home!

Hear, Brethren, hear! Now ten the hour-hand shows;
They only rest who long for night’s repose.

The clock’s eleven, and ye have heard it all,
How in that hour the mighty God did call.

It’s midnight now, and at that hour you know,
With lamp to meet the bridegroom we must go.

The hour is one; through darkness steals the day;
Shines in your hearts the Morning Star’s first ray?

The clock is two! Who comes to meet the day,
And to the Lord of Days his homage pay?

The clock is three! The Three in One above
Let body, soul and spirit truly love.

The clock is four! Where’er on earth are three,
The Lord has promised He the fourth will be.

The clock is five! While five away were sent,
Five other virgins to the marriage went!

The clock is six, and from the watch I’m free,
And every one may his own watchman be!

The Holy Spirit Moves at Herrnhut
Throughout the summer of 1727 Zinzendorf went from house to house praying for and with each family and emphasizing that all who professed to love the Saviour should also love one another. Gradually the bitterness began to dissipate. On July 2nd more than a thousand people from Herrnhut, Berthelsdorf and the surrounding communities gathered at the Lutheran parish church. Pastor Schwedler preached to those in the building while Pastor Rothe preached to the overflow outside.

Residents at Herrnhut during the summer of 1727 felt a holy calm brought by the Holy Spirit descend upon the community. Zinzendorf wrote, “The whole place represented a visible tabernacle of God among men. For the next four months Herrnhut was “the home of ineffable joy.” People who recently had quarrelled formed little groups for prayer and praise. In the evenings the whole settlement met to pray, glorify God and talk with each other as brother and sister. Zinzendorf held meetings every day. The church at Berthelsdorf was crowded out. Christian David encouraged all to study the First Letter of John - the epistle which perhaps more that any other emphasises Divine and Christian love.

Children Are Awakened
During the summer of 1727 a theological student was appointed to be the pastor of the children. Count Zinzendorf also began to give spiritual instruction to a class of nine girls between the ages of ten and thirteen, but with little success at first. A historian of that period writes, “The count frequently complained to his wife that though the children behaved with great outward propriety, he could not perceive any traces of spiritual life among them; and however much might be said to them of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet it did not seem to reach their hearts.” The count prayed earnestly for these children. It was not long before his prayers were answered.

An eleven-year-old girl, Susanna Kuehnel, became spiritually awakened. Her Christian mother’s happy death caused the child to long for a similar living faith and assurance of salvation. She was encouraged to seek the Lord in prayer until the answer came. As a consequence, she frequently went into her father’s garden, especially in the evenings, to pray to God “with strong crying and tears.”

In the house next door lived a lad named Jacob Liebich. “We could hear her prayers as we were going to rest and as we lay upon our beds,” he later recalled. “We were so much impressed that we could not fall asleep as carelessly as formerly, and asked our teachers to go with us to pray. Instead of going to sleep as usual, we went to the boundaries which separated the fields, or among the bushes, to throw ourselves before the Lord and beg Him to turn us to Himself. Our teachers often went with us, and when we had done praying, and had to return, we went again, one to this place and another to that, or in pairs, to cast ourselves upon our knees and pray in secret.

The following is a chronology of the revival at Herrnhut in 1727:

July 22nd A number of Brethren covenanted together of their own accord to meet together often on the Hutberg, the little hill on which Herrnhut was built, to pour out their hearts in hymns and prayers.

August 5th Count Zinzendorf and twelve or fourteen of the brethren spent the whole night in watching. At midnight there was held on the Hutberg a large meeting for prayer, at which great emotion prevailed.

August 10th “On Sunday, August 10, about noon, while Pastor Rothe was holding the meeting at Herrnhut, he felt himself overwhelmed by a wonderful and irresistible power of the Lord, and sunk down into the dust before God, and with him sunk down the whole assembled congregation, in an ecstasy of feeling. In this frame of mind they continued till midnight engaged in prayer and singing, weeping and supplication.” (When the Spirit Came by John Greenfield)

August 13th 1727

On Monday, August 13th 1727 Pastor Rothe invited the people of Herrnhut to a Holy Communion service at the church at Berthelsdorf. As they walked down to the church the sense of awe was overpowering and “those who had been estranged one from the other cordially embraced one another.”

“The service opened with the hymn, ‘Unbind me, O My God, From All My Bonds and Fetters.’ Two girls who had completed their instruction were confirmed. Everyone knelt in prayer as the hymn, ‘My Soul Before Thee Prostrate Lies,’ was sung. By this time many of those present could not sing. The old bitterness, the hard words and anger were all being washed away in a flood of tears. “We learned how to love,” one of those present wrote later. One after another opened his heart in confession and prayer and the Lord heard and answered. Bishop Spangenberg described it as “a baptism of love.”

The Moravian hymnwriter, James Montgomery (1771-1854) expressed it this way:

“He found them in the House of Prayer
With one accord assembled,
And so revealed His presence there;
They wept for joy and trembled;
One cup they drank, one bread they broke,
One baptism shared, one language spoke,
Forgiving and forgiven.”

“After the service closed members of the congregation stood around talking about the blessing they had received and renewing broken friendships. Zinzendorf suddenly had an inspiration. He sent up to the manor house and had food sent to six or seven homes in the community. In these homes members of the congregation gathered and had simple meals together. Zinzendorf was reminded of the way in which the early Christians often ate together as an expression of their love for one another. Soon it became customary to have, every now and then, what came to be called a lovefeast - a simple meal served in the church as an expression of mutual love. Early Moravians often gave lovefeasts on their birthdays. There were farewell lovefeasts for departing missionaries, lovefeasts for the married people, the young men, the young women and the children.”

The Children’s Revival
Meanwhile, Susanna Kuehnel was still seeking the Lord for a living faith and an assurance of salvation. For three days she was so absorbed in thought and prayer that at times she forgot to take her food. After having passed through a severe spiritual struggle, “At one o’clock one morning [August 17th], while weeping and praying, she broke out into indescribable joy, called to her father, who slept in the adjoining room, and who had, unknown to her, heard all that passed, and cried out: ‘Now father I am become a child of God; now I know how my mother felt.’” (When the Spirit Came by John Greenfield.)

Susanna also told the young people at Herrnhut about her experience, and a revival soon broke out among the other children. “The children of both sexes felt a most powerful impulse to prayer and it was impossible to listen to their infant supplications without being deeply moved and affected,” writes the historian Bishop Hamilton. “A blessed meeting of the children took place in the evening of the 26th of August, and on the 29th, from the hours of ten o’clock at night until one the following morning a truly affecting scene was witnessed, for the girls from Herrnhut and Berthelsdorf spent these hours in praying, singing and weeping on the Hutberg. The boys were at the same time engaged in earnest prayer in another place.

“The spirit of prayer and supplication at that time poured out upon the children was so powerful and efficacious that it is impossible to gave an adequate description of it in words. These were truly days of Heavenly enjoyment to the congregation at Herrnhut; all forgot themselves, and things terrestrial and transitory, and longed to be above with Christ their Saviour, in bliss everlasting.”

Another eyewitness of the children’s revival wrote: “I cannot ascribe the cause of the great awakening of the children at Herrnhut to anything but the wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the communicant congregation assembled on that occasion. The breezes of the Spirit pervaded at that time equally both young and old.”
Many who were saved during the Children’s Revival during the summer of 1727 later became missionaries and church leaders. The date of Susanna’s conversion was remembered and became the date of the annual Children’s Festival. In every Moravian settlement and congregation special meetings for children were held regularly on August 17th.

The Beginning of the 100 Year Prayer Watch
Soon after the August 13th Communion Service, the thought struck some brothers and sisters that it would be good to set apart certain hours for fervent prayer. It was also felt that as in the days of the Old Covenant the sacred fire was never permitted to go out on the altar (Lev. 6:13-14), so in a Christian congregation, which was a temple of the living God and in which He had His altar and His fire, the intercession of the saints should incessantly rise up to Him like holy incense.

On August 26, twenty-four brothers and the same number of sisters met and covenanted together to continue from one midnight to the next in prayer. They agreed to divide up the twenty-four hours among themselves by lot so that one man and one woman would be assigned to pray every hour of the day and night in their homes. On August 27, 1727 the “Hourly Intercession” was put into practice. More intercessors came forward, increasing the number to seventy-seven. Even the awakened children began a similar plan among themselves. Each person carefully observed the hour which had been appointed for them, and so prayer never ceased in the community. The intercessors had a weekly meeting at which they were informed of things which they were to consider as special subjects for prayer and remembrance before the Lord. At these special meetings intercession was also made for confidential needs. At first the Hourly Prayer Watch intercessions were focussed on the needs of those in Herrnhut. Later the prayer were extended to include missionaries, other congregations, countries, those in authority, and mankind in general.

When other Moravian congregations were planted in Europe and America, hourly prayer watches were set up in them, but these proved more difficult to maintain. It was harder to keep the twenty-four hour cycle of prayer than in Herrnhut, with its daily round of services and ongoing life of prayer.

For about one hundred years, 98 to be exact, the prayer watch was continued. It was, as has often been said, “the longest prayer meeting on record.”

Fruit of the Revival of 1727
The experience of August 13th 1727 did not, of course, for ever put an end to all disunity at Herrnhut. The difference was that after 1727 the Moravian Brethren had the spiritual resources to handle their problems. And many other things flowed from their overwhelming experience of the Holy Spirit:

1. Moravian Missions
A stream of missionaries began to pour out of Herrnhut and go all over the world “seeking souls for the Lamb.” From this Christian village 68 missionaries went out between the years 1732 and 1740. From 1741 to 1769 another 158 set forth.

The Moravian Church was the first Protestant denomination to send out missionaries as a church. Their missionaries were supported by the settlements and congregation which sent them out. There were clergymen belonging to other Protestant churches working in India and North America, but they were sent out by the state as chaplains to their nationals living outside the homeland. There were also in some Protestant denominations a few societies composed of pious people who were interested in the spread of the Gospel. These societies, however, were small, and were not official church bodies.

The dedication of the missionaries who went out from Herrnhut soon after the revival of August 13th 1727 can be seen from the fact that they were willing to become slaves themselves in order to bring the Gospel to those who were enslaved.

In 1731 Count von Zinzendorf met at the court of the King of Denmark a slave named Anthony who had been brought by from the West Indies to Copenhagen by his master. Anthony told the count of the bitter lives of the slaves. Taught nothing about God and not allowed to attend church, the slaves lived under the constant fear of the whip. Zinzendorf felt this to be a call from the Lord. On his return to Herrnhut, he told the congregation about Anthony and the West Indian slaves. Two young men felt called to volunteer as missionaries. Soon after this Anthony came to Herrnhut and explained that to reach the closely guarded slaves on the plantations it might be necessary for the two young men to become slaves themselves. They still did not hesitate. On December 13th 1732 Leonard Dober and David Nitschmann arrived at the island of St. Croix and began to preach the Gospel. They were not in fact enslaved, but they found that it was necessary to adopt the lifestyle of the desperately poor in order to have credibility with the slaves who were wretchedly fed and housed.

Missionaries began to pour out from Herrnhut to the West Indies. Due to disease and polluted water the mortality rate was high. Of 29 who went out in 1734 and 1735, only eight lived to return home. Yet replacements were never lacking and the Lord blessed the work for soon hundreds of the slaves responded to the Gospel.

Herrnhuters often felt called to do missionary work in difficult fields. As a result of the revival, Missions were started in the following places: 1733 - Greenland; 1735 - the American Indians in Georgia; 1735 - Surinam; 1737 - South Africa (Southern Cape); 1752 - Labrador; 1768 - the Gold Coast (within a few months the nine missionaries had died of disease); 1828 - South Africa (Eastern Cape); 1891 - Southern Tanzania; 1898 - Western Tanzania.

Missionaries also went to the following lands but were expelled by the authorities: 1734 - Lapland; 1736 - St. Petersburg, Russia; 1736 - the Gold Coast; 1739 - Algiers (the missionary was martyred); 1740 - Constantinople (the missionary was tortured before being expelled).

2. The Inspiring of the Modern Missionary Movement

The beginning of the modern missionary movement is often dated from William Carey’s departure for India in 1793. What is not generally known is that Carey had been inspired by the work of the missionaries sent out by Herrnhut and other Moravian congregations. Their efforts were recorded in England’s first missionary magazine, Periodical Accounts Relating to the Missions of the Church of the United Brethren which was published by Moravian Church. At a meeting of Baptist ministers in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Carey threw down on the table some issues of Periodical Accounts and said to his fellow pastors, “See what the Moravians have done. Can we not follow their example, and in obedience to our heavenly Master go out into the world and preach the Gospel to the heathen.” As a result of this challenge, the Baptist Missionary was founded in 1792. Other societies were quickly formed. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was started, the Scottish Missionary Society and the Glasgow Missionary Society in 1796, the Church Missionary Society in 1799, the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews in 1809. In 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society was set up by Christians of many different churches to supply the rapidly growing missions with the Scriptures.

3. The Ministry to the State Churches
The 18th century was the age of Deism. In continental Europe and in Britain many clergy of the state churches had fallen prey to the chilling doctrine that after God had created the universe He had withdrawn Himself and was allowing His creation to run by itself like a piece of clockwork. It was an age of rationalism. Jesus was just a moral teacher and enthusiasm was viewed with horror. To counter this paralysing teaching the Moravian Brethren set up societies for warm Christian fellowship, prayer, Bible study and worship. Meetings were deliberately held at hours when there were no services in the established churches so as not to challenge them. The Moravians encouraged members of the state churches to attend the “prayer houses” where these societies met, but they made it almost impossible for them to join the Moravian Church. They were encouraged to remain members of the Lutheran, Reformed or Anglican Churches and bring to them the warm, biblical, evangelical, missionary faith which they had discovered among the Moravians.

4. The Conversion of John Wesley
Sailing to Georgia in 1736 John Wesley was greatly impressed by the calm courage showed by Moravians from Herrnhut in a terrible gale. “The English passengers screamed with terror as the sea poured in between the decks. The Moravians calmly sang a hymn. ‘Was not you afraid?’ asked Wesley. ‘I thank God, no,’ replied the Brother. ‘But were not your women and children afraid?’ ‘No; our women and children are not afraid to die.’” John Wesley was challenged. Though a clergyman, he saw he lacked the Brethren’s triumphant faith in God and was not prepared to die.

From then on he had many conversations with Brethren from Herrnhut in Georgia, and later back in England, on their faith in Christ which brought them assurance of salvation and peace with God.

Wesley came to that faith on May 24th 1738. In his diary he wrote, “in the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Romans. About a quarter to nine while he was describing the change which God works in he heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Soon after this, John Wesley went to Herrnhut and stayed there for part of August 1738. Much of what he learned there he incorporated into the Methodist societies which he established. John’s brother Charles was brought to a similar assurance of salvation through the ministry of Peter Boehler, a missionary from Herrnhut. The conversion of the Wesleys was the beginning of the great 18th Century Revival which awakened the churches and purified society in Britain and elsewhere for a time.

5. Hymn Writing
An outburst of hymn writing in German and later in English was another result of the 1727 revival at Herrnhut. “The Saviour’s Blood and Righteousness” by Zinzendorf sums up the theology of Herrnhut after the awakening of 1727, just as the hymn “The Word of God, Which Ne’er Shall Cease” is typical of the emphasis of the Church of the Bohemian Brethren. (Moravian Book of Worship 1995, No. 327 and 509.)

The Ending of the Prayer Watch
Many church histories and articles on the theme of prayer mention the Moravian Prayer Watch and say that it lasted for “a hundred years.” Some state that it continued for “more than a hundred years.” Few of these histories or articles, however, refer to its ending.

Though in fact the Hourly Prayer Watch lasted for 98 years, signs of problems appeared long before it ceased. Because of changes in the membership of groups involved, it was not always easy to maintain the twenty-four hour watch. In a letter to a church synod in 1769, Count von Zinzendorf’s friend, the venerable Friedrich von Watteville, referred with concern to “formalism in the Holy Communion, neglect of foot washing and of the hourly intercession, the discarding of the former office of exhorter or reprover, the mechanical use of the liturgical services of the church, the belittling of the lot, the effeminate training provided for children within the church, and the way in which conferences and synods were dominated by a few of those attending them.”

By the end of the 18th century difficulties connected with the Prayer Watch in various Moravian congregations appeared to have increased. It was becoming hard to find the right people for the twenty-four hour prayer watch. The synod of 1801 decided to call people to participate by lot. This plan, however, did not work - a fact which came to light at the next synod which was held 1818. Lack of sufficient interest in the prayer watch by church members was cited as the cause. However, members of the Synod did not feel free to abolish the prayer watch at that time, though they were also not able to give it new impetus.

In 1825 the synod again discussed the Hourly Prayer Watch, and this time the decision was made to end it. Congregations continued to have prayer groups which met together regularly, but no longer was there a continuous twenty-four hour prayer roster. Ninety eight years after it had begun the twenty-four hour prayer watch had officially ended. In fact, in most Moravian congregations it had already died a considerable time earlier.

A New World Wide Prayer Watch
The ideal of a daily twenty-four hour prayer watch, however, was not forgotten. In 1956 the sisters of the church at Herrnhut proposed that the 500th Anniversary of the founding of the Brethren’s Church in Bohemia should be commemorated by the restarting of the Hourly Prayer Watch. This was done in 1957, when it was decided to make the new prayer watch part of the program of the world wide Moravian Church.

Now each congregation of the Moravian church throughout the world is asked every year to organize a twenty-four hour prayer watch on a day it has been allotted. In this way, if all goes well, prayer never ceases to rise up to God twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year from a Moravian church somewhere in the world.
February 23rd 2002