MORAVIAN BRETHREN or MORAVIAN CHURCH, a Christian communion founded in the east of Bohemia. For some years after the death of John Huss (1415), the majority of his followers were split into two contending factions. Some were pacified by concessions, and were recognized by the pope as the national Church of Bohemia ; but with this result some of Huss's followers, who wished to preserve his spiritual teach ing, were not content. They laid great stress on purity of morals; and convinced that the official Church was morally corrupt, they founded a number of independent societies in Moravia and Bohemia. At this crisis Peter of Chelcic became the leader of the advanced reforming party. In ethics he anticipated much of the teaching of Tolstoy ; in doctrine he often appealed to the au thority of Wycliffe; and in some of his views it is possible to trace the influence of the Waldenses. He interpreted the Sermon on the Mount literally, denounced war and oaths, opposed the union of Church and State, and declared that the duty of all true Chris tians was to break away from the national Church and return to the simple teaching of Christ and His apostles. His followers were known as the Brethren of Chelcic, and wore a distinctive dress. His most famous supporter was John Rockycana, arch bishop-elect of Prague, under whose influence the new com munity was founded and settled in the deserted village of Kun wald. Fresh recruits came streaming in, not only from the little societies already assisting, but also from the Waldenses, the na tional Church at Koniggratz, and the university of Prague. They called themselves Jednota Bratrska, i.e., the Church or Com munion of Brethren ; and this is really the correct translation of their later term, Unitas fratrzsm. At the Synod of Lhota (1467), they broke away entirely from the papacy, elected ministers of their own, and had Michael Bradacius consecrated a bishop by Stephan, a bishop of the Waldenses. At the synod of Reichenau (1495), they rejected the authority of Peter of Chelcic, and ac cepted the Bible as their only standard of faith and practice. In doctrine they were generally broad and radical. They taught the Apostles' Creed, rejected Purgatory, the worship of saints and the authority of the Catholic Church, practised infant bap tism and confirmation, held a view on the Sacrament similar to that of Zwingli, and, differing somewhat from Luther in their doctrine of justification by faith, declared that true faith was "to know God, to love Him, to do His commandments, and to submit to His will." With the Brethren, however, the chief stress was laid, not on doctrine, but on conduct. For this purpose they instituted a severe system of discipline, divided their members into three classes—the Perfect, the Proficient, and the Beginners. They made great use of the press. In 1501 Bishop Luke of Prague edited the first Protestant hymn-book; in 1502 he issued a cate chism, which circulated in Switzerland and Germany and fired the catechetical zeal of Luther; in 1565 John Blahoslaw translated. the New Testament into Bohemian; in 1579-1593 the Old Testa ment was added; and the whole, known as the Kralitz Bible, is still in use. The constitution was practically Presbyterian. The growth of the Brethren was rapid; and by 1609, when Rudolph II.
granted the Letter of Majesty, they were half the Protestants in Bohemia and more than half in Moravia.
At the very height of their power, however, they were almost crushed out of existence. The cause was the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War (1618). At the battle of the White Hill (162o) the Bohemian Protestants were routed; and for a hundred years the Brethren were almost extinct. But their bishop, John Amos Comenius (1592-1672), held them together. With an eye to the future, he published their Ratio discipline, and collected money for the "Hidden Seed" still worshipping in secret in Moravia. Of the "Hidden Seed" the greater number were Germans ; they were probably descended from a colony of German Waldenses, who had come to Moravia in 148o and joined the Church of the Brethren; and, therefore, when persecution broke out afresh they naturally fled to the nearest German refuge. With Christian David, a car penter, at their head, they crossed the border into Saxony, set tled down near Count Zinzendorf's estate at Berthelsdorf, and, with his permission, built the town of Herrnhut (1722-1727). But under Zinzendorf the history of the Moravians took an en tirely new turn. He was a fervent Lutheran of the Pietist type, and a follower of Spener; and now he tried to apply these ideas to the Moravian refugees. For some years he had a measure of success. Instead of reviving Moravian orders at once, the settlers attended the Berthelsdorf parish church, regarded themselves as Lutherans, agreed to a code of "statutes" drawn up by the count, accepted the Augsburg Confession as their standard of faith, and, joining with some Lutheran settlers in a special Communion serv ice in Berthelsdorf (Aug. 13, 1727), had such a powerful unifying experience that modern Moravians regard that day as the birth day of the renewed Moravian Church. They desired the re-estab lishment of their ancient church. In form the Moravian Church was soon restored. Before long persecution broke out against Herrnhut; the count sent a band of emigrants to Georgia; and as these emigrants would require their own ministers, he had David Nitschmann consecrated a bishop by David Ernest Jablon sky, grandson of Comenius (1735). In this way the Moravian orders were maintained; and yet, on the other hand, Zinzendorf's type of Lutheranism hampered the Brethren's progress in Ger many. Instead of aiming at Church extension, they built settle ments on the estates of friendly noblemen, erected Brethren's and Sisters' houses, and cultivated a quiet type of spiritual life. It is true that they evangelized all over Germany; but this part of their work was known as the Diaspora (I Pet. i. 1) ; and the idea underlying this word is that the Brethren minister to the "scattered" in other Churches without drawing them into the Mo ravian Church. In Germany, therefore, the importance of the Moravians must be measured, not by their numbers, but by their influence upon other Christian bodies. It was from the Moravians that Schleiermacher learnt his religion, and they even made a passing impression on Goethe; but both these men were repelled by their doctrine of the substitutionary sufferings of Christ.