The Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum)

The Unity of the Brethren: a worldwide church that traces itself to Kunvald in Bohemia in 1457 and to Herrnhut in 1727, with a Sunday of liturgy, hymns and trombones, a Daily Text, a lovefeast of buns and coffee, and bishops who rule nothing.

Unitas Fratrum, The Ground of the Unity

Unitas Fratrum, Essential Features of the Unity

Unitas Fratrum, Our Origin and Growth

Unitas Fratrum, The Vocation of the Unitas Fratrum

Unitas Fratrum, Unity Board Directory

Message to the Unitas Fratrum from the Unity Board (Antigua, 30 September 2024), on moravian.org

Moravian Church in America, Board of World Mission: Worldwide Unity

Moravian Church in America, About the Moravian Church in America

Moravian Church in America, Quick Facts About the Moravian Church (from the Center for Moravian Studies)

Moravian Church in America, Moravian Guiding Principles of Biblical Interpretation (2012, Interprovincial Faith and Order Commission)

Unity Committee on Theology, Statement on the Core Values of the Unitas Fratrum (2011), reposted on moravian.org

Moravian Church in America, The Observance of the Lord's Supper

Moravian Church in America, The Sacrament of Baptism

Moravian Church in America, The Rite of Confirmation

Moravian Church in America, Orders of the Moravian Ministry

Moravian Church in America, The Lovefeast (from Adelaide L. Fries, Customs and Practices of the Moravian Church, updated 2003)

Moravian Church in America, The Easter Morning Liturgy: A Moravian Profession of Faith

Moravian Church in America, August 13th: The Spiritual Birthday of the Moravian Church

Moravian Church in America, Jan Hus and the Moravian Church

Moravian Church in America, A Brief History of the Moravian Daily Texts

Bethabara Moravian Church (Winston-Salem, N.C.), Worship at Bethabara

Moravian Church in America, Northern Province, Northern Province elects new leadership at 2026 Synod

Moravian Church in America, Northern Province, Brian Dixon, Nasel Ephraim elected bishops (2026)

Moravian Church in America, Southern Province, Southern Province elects new leadership at 2026 Synod

J. E. Hutton, A History of the Moravian Church (1909), ch. 5, “Gregory the Patriarch” (Bible Hub library)

Salem Academy and College, Journey: Decision by Lot

R. Mammana, review of Craig D. Atwood, Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem (Penn State University Press, 2004), Anglicans Online

The Moravians begin with the reform movement in Bohemia that followed Jan Hus. In 1457 Gregory the Patriarch and his followers withdrew to Kunvald, the first home of the Unity of the Brethren, and in time received a ministry of their own from the Waldenses. The Habsburg armies broke the church in 1620. A hidden remnant, with Bishop Comenius praying for its restoration, survived until refugee families reached the estate of Count Zinzendorf in Saxony and built Herrnhut. The church that grew from there sent missionaries across the world within a lifetime, and today most of its members live in Africa.

Jan Hus is burned

A council of the Catholic Church at Constance executed Hus. The Northern Province says plainly what he was and was not: "Contrary to popular belief, Hus was not the founder of the Moravian Church; however, his witness and courageous commitment to reform inspired Gregory the Patriarch to establish a new church forty years after Hus’s death."

The Unity begins at Kunvald

The Unity says it "began its distinct life at Kunvald in Bohemia in the year 1457," under Gregory the Patriarch, "with a three-fold ideal of faith, fellowship and freedom, and a strong emphasis on practical Christian life rather than on doctrinal thought or church tradition." The Statutes of Reichenau (1464) hold "the earliest statement of this common mind."

Orders received from the Waldenses

At a synod at Lhota the Brethren chose their first three ministers by lot, from nine men put forward (Hutton). They "sought to maintain a living contact with the early church, having obtained from the Waldenses the traditional orders of the ministry, including the episcopacy, and thus became an independent ecclesiastical body." The Northern Province dates its bishops' line from this year: "Their line has been unbroken from 1467."

The Unity is suppressed

After the battle of White Mountain, "the Roman Church was placed in power by foreign armies, and the Unitas Fratrum with other Protestant bodies was utterly suppressed." Bishop John Amos Comenius, "who had preserved the discipline of the church," never ceased "to pray and to plead publicly for the restoration of his beloved church." A "Hidden Seed" survived in Bohemia and Moravia.

Herrnhut is founded

Families from Moravia who had kept the Unity's traditions found refuge on the Saxon estate of Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760). The carpenter Christian David cut the first tree on 17 June 1722. They hoped, the Northern Province says, "to live together as a community of awakened believers according to the example of the apostolic church."

The Statutes of Herrnhut

After a severe crisis among the inhabitants, Zinzendorf gave up his state career to lead the community. He "united them for communal life under the Statutes of Herrnhut (May 12, 1727), which were found to follow the pattern of the old Unitas Fratrum."

Holy Communion at Berthelsdorf

During a Holy Communion service in the Lutheran parish church of Berthelsdorf, the Herrnhut community "experienced a profound moment of spiritual renewal and reconciliation." Moravians keep the day as the spiritual "birthday" of the renewed Unity. The Unity calls it "an outpouring of the Holy Spirit"; the Northern Province adds that "there were no signs of ecstatic or extraordinary spiritual manifestations."

The lovefeast is begun

After the communion of 13 August, seven groups stayed together to talk over what they had experienced. Zinzendorf "sent them food from his manor house." This "reminded Zinzendorf of the primitive agape, and the idea was fostered until lovefeasts became a custom in Moravian life." The church says it "resuscitated" the lovefeast of Apostolic times "in its original simplicity" in 1727.

The first watchword

At the evening service Zinzendorf "gave the congregation a ‘watchword’ for the next day." The first printed Daily Texts (Losungen) appeared at Herrnhut for 1731, each pairing a verse of Scripture with a stanza of a hymn.

The first mission

The Unity's "first mission outside Europe was to the enslaved Africans on St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies." Relations had been established with "earnest Christians in many lands of Western Europe, in England from 1728, as well as in North America from 1735."

A bishop for the Renewed Church

The Moravians decided to continue the old Unity's episcopal orders "to secure official recognition for their workers" and as a link with the old Unitas Fratrum. "In 1735 Bishop Daniel Jablonsky consecrated David Nitschmann as the first bishop of the Renewed Church."

The first woman bishop

"The American Northern Province in 1998 moved forward in a new direction by electing the first female bishop of the Unity, the Rt. Rev. Kay Ward. Since that time, several other female bishops have been elected in various provinces."

Gregory the Patriarch

The founder of the Unity of the Brethren, who withdrew with a group to Kunvald in 1457. The Northern Province says: "If Gregory was the father of the Moravian Church, then Hus was like a grandfather of the church."

John Amos Comenius

The bishop "who had preserved the discipline of the church, and who had pioneered educational methods." In exile he "never ceased to pray and to plead publicly for the restoration of his beloved church," and the line of bishops that Jablonsky passed on in 1735 had come down through him.

Nicolaus Ludwig, Count von Zinzendorf

The patron of Herrnhut, who gave up his place in state service to unite its mixed company "into a real Christian fellowship." He "became their spiritual leader, as well as their patron and protector against interference from without." He gave the first watchword in 1728.

David Nitschmann

Consecrated by Bishop Daniel Jablonsky in 1735 so that the Renewed Church's workers had official recognition and a link to the old Unity.

Kay Ward

The first woman elected bishop in the Unity, by the Northern Province in 1998.

Roberta Hoey

A member of the British Province, elected to lead the Unity Board at its meeting in Antigua in 2024. The Unity Board is the standing council of the international church between Unity Synods.

The 1741 experience. The Ground of the Unity says the Unity "treasures in its history the vital experience of the Headship of Christ of September 16, and November 13, 1741." The Northern Province keeps those days.

Zinzendorf's piety, as a historian reads it. In a review of Craig D. Atwood's Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem (2004), R. Mammana writes that Atwood finds in colonial Bethlehem "graphic devotion to the blood and wounds of the crucified Christ (Blut- und Wundentheologie)," and a community life lived in that devotion. Traditional Moravian historians had said that such features faded after the "Sifting Time" of about 1738 to 1753. Atwood, the reviewer says, shows that "persistent and comprehensive Zinzendorfian piety" continued well after it. The same review reports that the Moravians' ties with the Church of England led to Parliament's recognition of them as an "ancient episcopal church." This chart does not rest any verdict on that book; it is named so a reader can see how a modern scholar describes the church's early piety.

Today's leaders in America. The Northern Province's Provincial Elders' Conference is led by the Rev. David Bennett. In 2026 the Northern Province elected two bishops, the Revs. Brian Dixon and Nasel Ephraim, and the Southern Province elected Andrea (Andi) Williams, the first woman and the first lay person to hold the presidency there. The Unity's own directory lists Sr. Roberta Hoey as chairman of the Unity Board and the Rev. Dr. Jørgen Bøytler as its administrator.

Scripture is the sole standard of doctrine and faith; the Unity has no doctrinal system of its own, and it honors the old creeds as the Church's acclaim, to be tested by Scripture.

The Unity says in the Ground of the Unity that Holy Scripture is "the sole standard of the doctrine and faith of the Unitas Fratrum." It also says that Scripture "does not contain any doctrinal system" and so the Unity has "not developed any of its own." In reading Scripture the Unity looks to "two millennia of ecumenical Christian tradition and the wisdom of our Moravian forebears." Of the creeds it says they are "the thankful acclaim of the Body of Christ" and that all creeds "stand in need of constant testing in the light of the Holy Scriptures."

In the various Provinces, the Ground notes, ten texts in particular "gained special importance": the Apostles', Athanasian and Nicene Creeds, the Bohemian Confession of 1535, the Augsburg Confession, Luther's Shorter Catechism, the Synod of Berne of 1532, the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Barmen Declaration and the Heidelberg Catechism. The Northern Province uses the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.

this Scripture is the sole standard of the doctrine and faith of the Unitas Fratrum and therefore shapes our life.

just as the Holy Scripture does not contain any doctrinal system, so the Unitas Fratrum also has not developed any of its own

The Unitas Fratrum maintains that all creeds formulated by the Christian Church stand in need of constant testing in the light of the Holy Scriptures.

The Northern Province's Faith and Order Commission wrote that "it is not Scripture and our conformity to a particular interpretation of it that unites us, but rather Christ, our Chief Elder, who holds us together by keeping us all close to Him." The Unity's motto, the Unity Committee on Theology says, is "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty and in all things love."

A person is saved through Christ alone and a personal decision; children of believers are baptized as infants and confirm their faith later. Baptism is a sign and seal, and most often sprinkled or poured.

The Unity confesses that "there is no salvation apart from" Christ. Its essential features say that church membership is "for no one a substitute for a personal encounter with the Saviour." The Ground speaks of forgiveness "daily," and of the believer's "acceptance of the redemption achieved by Christ."

On baptism the Northern Province says: "Baptism is the sacrament of Christian initiation." Children of Christian parents are baptized on "the faith of parents and of the church," and adults on profession of faith after instruction. Those baptized as children later confirm the covenant their baptism placed them in. The Northern Province says the baptized "become a part of the fellowship of the church," and describes baptism as "a sign and a seal." In the United States, churches and pastors "practice sprinkling or pouring"; elsewhere immersion is used. Moravians "do not rebaptize" anyone baptized in the Trinitarian name in any church.

We believe and confess that God has revealed Himself once and for all in His Son Jesus Christ; that our Lord has redeemed us with the whole of humanity by His death and His resurrection; and that there is no salvation apart from Him.

formal membership in a congregation is for no one a substitute for a personal encounter with the Saviour, nor does it relieve any from making a personal decision to accept Him.

Baptism is the sacrament of Christian initiation. Through baptism believers and their children are embodied in the covenant of grace and become a part of the fellowship of the church.

The Northern Province's own words on faith and water: "While Moravians believe that baptism is the act of God, we do not believe that it is a magical act that makes our human response to God’s initiative unnecessary." And on the infant: "The baptism of a child – particularly the baptism of an infant – reminds us that God’s love precedes any act of faith on our part." Children are "customarily" baptized and "later received by confirmation into the communicant membership" (the Unity's Vocation). At confirmation the minister asks the candidate to "confirm the covenant into which your baptism placed you, and to seal that covenant in the Holy Communion," then lays hands on the candidate. The Moravian baptismal formula is: "Into the death of Jesus I baptize you."

Christ is present in the Supper, but the Moravian Church does not define how. Bread and cup are given to every communicant, most congregations about six to eight times a year, with a handclasp and silent prayer.

The Northern Province says the church "has repeatedly affirmed the position that it is neither possible to define the exact relationship of the elements used to the presence of our Lord’s body and blood, nor profitable to do so." Christ "is present in the sacrament and meets us there." The Ground says that "He Himself invites us to communion in His supper" and that in it He "makes our unity in Him evident and certain even today."

The service is a hymn with the Right Hand of Fellowship, a prayer of thanksgiving, the consecration of the bread and then of the wine, distribution "as hymns are sung," silent prayer, and a closing handclasp. Most congregations use individual cups, and many use grape juice. Every communicant member, members of other Christian churches, and baptized children prepared by the pastor may receive.

We affirm that Christ is present in the sacrament and meets us there, but we do not define precisely how this occurs.

Most congregations offer the Holy Communion six to eight times a year. Many congregations are moving toward more frequent observance.

He Himself invites us to communion in His supper.

The Northern Province lists what the Supper gives: it makes us aware of our sin, makes the presence of Christ more real in our lives, brings spiritual strength and joy, brings assurance of eternal life, and deepens fellowship with other believers. It adds that "Christians will want to participate in the Holy Communion at every opportunity." The Unity says the Supper is where the congregations "have the assurance of being united with their Lord, enjoy the fruits of His sufferings and death for the forgiveness of sins."

Three orders (deacon, presbyter, bishop), with bishops elected for life and in a line the church dates from 1467. The church says these form no hierarchy; government is by synods and elders' conferences.

The Northern Province says: "Moravians have preserved the historic three orders of church: deacon, presbyter (priest), and bishop. These do not form a hierarchy; and the bishops by virtue of their offices have no dioceses or administrative authority." That authority "is vested in the provincial elders’ conferences and the district boards." Bishops are "a symbol of the continuity of the Unitas Fratrum," elected for life, and they "perform all ordinations and ministerial consecrations." Deacons are ordained by bishops and, after three to five years, are consecrated presbyters. Calls to a congregation are issued by the Provincial Elders' Conference.

Women are ordained to the ministry and may be bishops. The Northern Province describes its government as "conferential": synods, a Provincial Elders' Conference, and local boards. Acolytes, lay servants named by the congregation's boards, assist the pastor and serve the elements.

Moravians have preserved the historic three orders of church: deacon, presbyter (priest), and bishop. These do not form a hierarchy; and the bishops by virtue of their offices have no dioceses or administrative authority.

Bishops in the Moravian Church are a symbol of the continuity of the Unitas Fratrum. Their line has been unbroken from 1467.

believe that discerning God’s will is a task to be shared among many leaders rather than vested in a single person or office.

The Unity Board is the standing council of the international church between Unity Synods. The Northern Province elected the first woman bishop of the Unity, Kay Ward, in 1998, and says "several other female bishops have been elected in various provinces." The Southern Province's Provincial Elders' Conference president is now a lay woman, Andrea Williams; the church's boards include both clergy and lay members, and the Northern Province's PEC "is made up of four lay members, plus the presidents of each of the province’s three districts" and its own president. Ministers who join from other churches "are accepted as deacons" and become presbyters only "through consecration by a Moravian bishop."

Liturgical worship with hymns, an organ, choirs and brass, following the church year. The lovefeast, the Singstunde and the Easter morning liturgy are its own services.

The Northern Province calls its worship "Liturgical, but congregations have freedom to develop own style of worship," and its quick-facts page lists "High musical culture in colonial America: voice, organ, brass, woodwinds, and strings in worship." A congregation such as Bethabara describes a service of liturgy, hymns, Scripture readings, a sermon and prayer, with an organ leading the singing, and special services that include the lovefeast and the Singstunde.

The Easter Morning Liturgy, reprinted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship, is, the Northern Province says, "the Moravian Church’s profession of faith." The church also keeps the church year, with the Daily Texts and a candle service at Christmas.

our time of worship tends to follow a liturgical style: consisting of a liturgy, hymns, Scripture readings, a sermon, and abundant prayer.

The lovefeast is primarily a song service, opened with prayer.

Over the years, the Easter Morning Liturgy has come to represent the Moravian Church’s profession of faith—a statement of what we believe.

The Northern Province's quick-facts page lists: "Liturgical, but congregations have freedom to develop own style of worship," and "High musical culture in colonial America: voice, organ, brass, woodwinds, and strings in worship." Bethabara says a Singstunde, the German for an hour of singing, is "a music-filled service where the congregation sings together a series of hymns or stanzas of hymns," chosen "in order to convey a specific devotional theme," so "the music becomes the sermon."

The Spirit calls, unites and gives gifts to each; the church keeps August 13, 1727 as an outpouring of the Spirit but says it had no ecstatic signs.

The Unity says that the Lord "directs and unites us through His Spirit and thus forms us into a Church," and that it is His will "to confront and call to Himself each individual through His Spirit." The Easter liturgy confesses the Spirit "allotting gifts to each one individually, just as the Spirit chooses," and says that "by our own reason and strength we cannot believe in Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Unity calls the communion of 13 August 1727 "an outpouring of the Holy Spirit." The Northern Province says this is why it has been called the "Moravian Pentecost," "although there were no signs of ecstatic or extraordinary spiritual manifestations." The pages read do not teach tongues, healing or prophecy as gifts to be expected today.

He directs and unites us through His Spirit and thus forms us into a Church.

It also has been called the “Moravian Pentecost,” although there were no signs of ecstatic or extraordinary spiritual manifestations.

allotting gifts to each one individually, just as the Spirit chooses.

The Unity's origin page names the day "an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at a celebration of the Holy Communion on August 13, 1727." In the liturgy the Spirit comes "to comfort us as a mother comforts her children." Of the early Bethlehem community, a modern reviewer of Atwood's study reports devotion in which the Spirit was often spoken of "as a person of the Trinity with maternal characteristics"; that is a historian's account of the eighteenth century, not a present teaching of the Unity.

Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead; the dead will be raised. The church waits for its Lord and prays to be found ready.

The Ground ends with the church waiting: "it awaits the appearing of Jesus Christ, goes forward to meet its Lord with joy, and prays to be found ready when He comes." The Unity also calls the church a pilgrim people moving toward the Lord's coming. The Easter liturgy says: "He will come again to judge the living and the dead," and "we shall never taste eternal death, but shall attain the resurrection of the dead." It prays for fellowship "with the whole Church Triumphant in heaven."

The pages read do not say what the Unity teaches about the final fate of the lost.

In this spirit it awaits the appearing of Jesus Christ, goes forward to meet its Lord with joy, and prays to be found ready when He comes.

The Lord will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of God’s trumpet. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

awaits wholeheartedly the coming of its Lord as King.

The Ground says the Unity "hopes for and looks to the day when the victory of Christ will be manifest over sin and death and the new world will appear." The Unity's Vocation speaks of a "fellowship with the Church triumphant before the Throne."

The lovefeast

A song service in which a bun and a cup of coffee are shared in the assembly. The church calls it a custom "after the practice of the Apostolic Church" and a "means of grace," and says its food is not consecrated.

The Northern Province describes the lovefeast as a service of hymns, opened with prayer, in which a "slightly sweetened bun" and coffee, tea or lemonade are passed along the pews while the choir sings an anthem. It is held on festivals of the church year, anniversaries and missionary occasions, "any day in fact on which there is a desire to stress the headship of the Lord and the oneness and fellowship of His followers." Children and members of any denomination may partake.

The church's claim to apostolic warrant is stated plainly. Early believers "met and broke bread together, thereby signifying their union and equality." These meals "were associated with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which followed them." They were called agape, and the church "gave it up" toward the end of the fourth century. The Moravian Church "resuscitated" the lovefeast "in its original simplicity" in 1727. It is not the Supper: "The food served is not consecrated, as in the communion." A congregation's page adds that "the Lovefeast is not a sacrament of the Church."

The holding of lovefeasts, after the practice of the Apostolic Church, has come to be one of the outstanding customs of the Moravian Church and has proved to be a real means of grace.

The lovefeast of Apostolic times was resuscitated in its original simplicity by the Moravian Church in 1727.

The food served is not consecrated, as in the communion.

And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,

When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord’s supper: for in your eating each one taketh before other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not.

Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another. If any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I set in order whensoever I come.

These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

The Moravian Church deserves credit for two things: it does not make the lovefeast a sacrament, and it does not bind it on anyone. The word is in Scripture, "love-feasts" (Jude 12), and the early church did eat together, "breaking bread at home" and taking "their food with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:46). But that was a daily meal of believers in their homes, and Paul did not make a meal the assembly's act. When the Corinthians turned the assembly into a meal, Paul said "it is not possible to eat the Lord’s supper" (1 Corinthians 11:20), and sent the hungry home: "If any man is hungry, let him eat at home" (1 Corinthians 11:34). The church's own history says the agape was "associated with" the Supper and "followed" it, which is the arrangement Paul corrected. A bun and a cup of coffee passed in the pews, with an anthem, is a pleasant custom of fellowship. It is not the meal of Acts 2, and no apostle commanded it, so the claim that it revives the apostolic practice "in its original simplicity" is more than the evidence will carry.

The weight of the matter falls on what stands in the Supper's place. The apostolic assembly gathered "to break bread" "upon the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), and the Lord's table was the center of it. Where the Supper is kept six to eight times a year and the lovefeast on a number of festivals and anniversaries, the fellowship meal is nearly as regular as the Lord's own meal, and the Lord's meal is an occasion. Moravians say the lovefeast is not the Supper, and that is right. The remedy is the one the apostles set: the Supper every first day of the week, and the shared table in the homes of the saints.

Bishops, in a line from 1467, with no hierarchy

Three orders, with bishops elected for life and said to be in an unbroken line from 1467, and a government by elders' conferences. Women are ordained and may be bishops.

The Moravian Church keeps deacon, presbyter and bishop, and dates its bishops' line from the orders its ancestors received from the Waldenses. It says the three orders "do not form a hierarchy" and that bishops have "no dioceses or administrative authority." They are "counselors and pastors of pastors," who "offer intercession for the entire Unity" and "perform all ordinations and ministerial consecrations." Authority to govern is in the provincial elders' conferences and the district boards. Women have been bishops since 1998.

Elected for life, they perform all ordinations and ministerial consecrations, and are primarily spiritual leaders of the church. They are counselors and pastors of pastors.

to secure official recognition for their workers

Moravian bishops hold no administrative role (unlike bishops of many other denominations)

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time, serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews; how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

The Moravians stand nearer the New Testament than Rome or the Anglicans on one point: their bishops rule no one, and the governing is shared among elders' conferences. They stand short on the others. In the apostles' churches the bishop and the elder were one office: Paul "called to him the elders of the church" at Ephesus and told them the Holy Spirit "hath made you bishops" (Acts 20:17, 28), and told Titus to "appoint elders in every city," then called the same men "the bishop" (Titus 1:5-7). A separate order of bishop set over presbyters is a later arrangement, and a line "unbroken from 1467" is a claim the apostles never made for themselves or asked of the churches. The women who are ordained and made bishops hold an office that Paul did not permit them: "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12).

The Unity admits that the succession is chosen: it was continued "to secure official recognition for their workers." That is a reason of prudence, not of Scripture. The Moravian Church does not make the bishop necessary to the sacraments: deacons "have full privileges to preach, administer the sacraments, and do the pastoral and administrative work," which is to its credit. The pattern the apostles left is a plurality of elders in each congregation, appointed by and from that congregation (Acts 14:23), with no council above it. Provincial elders' conferences and district boards, which call the pastors and govern the congregations, are that kind of authority above the congregation.

The Daily Texts

A watchword from the Old Testament, a verse from the New and a hymn stanza for every day of the year, begun by Zinzendorf in 1728 and printed since 1731.

The Daily Texts began on 3 May 1728, when Zinzendorf "gave the congregation a ‘watchword’ for the next day." Members went to each of the 32 houses of Herrnhut with the day's text and talked over it with the families. The first printed edition (Losungen) appeared at Herrnhut for 1731. Each day's entry has "the characteristic coupling of a Bible verse and hymn stanza." Zinzendorf "called the hymns ‘collects’ and considered them to be the answer of the congregation to the Word of God." The texts are used in homes and congregations across the Unity.

On May 3, 1728, during the evening service, Count Zinzendorf gave the congregation a “watchword” for the next day.

Zinzendorf called the hymns “collects” and considered them to be the answer of the congregation to the Word of God.

The first printed edition of the Daily Texts (Losungen) was published in Herrnhut, Saxony, in 1731.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

The Daily Texts put Scripture into the hands and homes of ordinary people, which is what the Bereans did: they were "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). The habit of taking God's word to every house is the habit of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and the early church, and it is one to commend. It is a custom, not an ordinance, and no verse requires a selection chosen for every day by another person. The risk is that a lectionary of the day stands in the place of reading whole books for oneself and testing what is taught. Where it leads people to read, it is good; where it replaces study, it falls short.

Easter morning and the church year

The Easter sunrise service at the graveyard, with a liturgy that the church calls its profession of faith, set within a church year of seasons and festivals.

The Moravian Easter service began at Herrnhut in 1732, when a group of Single Brothers "met by appointment on God’s Acre (the graveyard) to sing appropriate hymns and to meditate upon Christ’s death and resurrection." Many congregations still greet the sunrise there. The liturgy, taken in large part from Luther's Small Catechism, is recited by the congregation and "has come to represent the Moravian Church’s profession of faith." It affirms the Trinity, the incarnation, the Spirit, baptism and the Supper, the resurrection of the dead and the return of Christ. The service is part of a church year of festivals and anniversary days, such as 13 August, on which lovefeasts are held.

It originated in Herrnhut in 1732, when a group of the Single Brothers met by appointment on God’s Acre (the graveyard) to sing appropriate hymns and to meditate upon Christ’s death and resurrection.

Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

The Easter liturgy confesses the faith the apostles preached, and its words about the resurrection and the return of Christ are true. The weight falls on the day. The apostles gave the church one day to keep, "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), on which Christians met each week to break bread, and they warned against making other days binding: "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day" (Colossians 2:16). The Moravians do not say that Easter is commanded, and Paul allowed a man to esteem one day above another (Romans 14:5). Used freely, a sunrise hymn among the graves is a custom and does no harm. Made a fixed round of seasons, with a service that stands as the church's confession, it asks more of the church than the apostles did.

Unity among the churches

The Unity prizes fellowship with other Christians, confesses the guilt of division, lives in full communion with Lutheran, Episcopal and Methodist churches, and holds that in nonessentials there is liberty.

The Ground says the Unity "confess[es] our share in the guilt which is manifest in the severed and divided state of Christendom." The Unity Committee on Theology names "Ecumenical" as one of four core values. In America the Northern and Southern Provinces are in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church. The church's motto, the Unity Committee on Theology says, is "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty and in all things love."

We confess our share in the guilt which is manifest in the severed and divided state of Christendom.

our motto continues to determine our conduct with one another, and with all other members of Christ’s church: “In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty and in all things love.”

The Moravian Church in America, Northern and Southern Provinces, are in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church

that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us: that the world may believe that thou didst send me.

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.

The Moravians feel division as the Lord's prayer does: "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), and their sorrow over it is right and to their credit. But the unity the apostles describe is the unity of "one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5), which Paul asked for in a church speaking "the same thing" with "no divisions" (1 Corinthians 1:10). Full communion with churches that baptize, order their ministry and keep the Supper in other ways than Moravians do places unity in fellowship and leaves baptism, the Supper and the ministry to liberty. The New Testament does not give the church the right to leave those to liberty. Where the gospel itself is in question, Paul says, "let him be anathema" (Galatians 1:8).

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Moravians hold a good deal in common with the apostolic church: they hold to Scripture, they have no hierarchy over the congregation, and they deplore the divisions of Christendom. Where they stand nearer the pattern than most, that is credited plainly; where they stand further, that is said too.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The Unity says in so many words that Scripture "is the sole standard of the doctrine and faith," that creeds "stand in need of constant testing" by it, and that no human system captures the mystery of Christ. That is the Bereans' way, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and on it the Moravians stand near the line, nearer than any church that binds councils or tradition. They stand short in what they keep beside it. The Ground lists ten creeds and confessions that have "gained special importance" and tells the church to look to "two millennia of ecumenical Christian tradition" in reading Scripture, and the church is bound to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). The Unity does not bind these texts as tests, and for that it gets credit.

The Unity's boldest statement also carries its weakness: it says Scripture contains "no doctrinal system" and it declines to state one. That keeps the church from writing a creed beside the Bible. But it leaves the "essentials" of the motto to be named by the church, and a church that names its own essentials has set something beside the text. The Northern Province's own Faith and Order Commission says it is "not Scripture and our conformity to a particular interpretation of it that unites us, but rather Christ." The apostles bound both: the person of Christ and "the apostles’ teaching" (Acts 2:42).

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

The Moravians hold what Scripture holds about the Savior: "there is no salvation apart from" Christ, and membership is "no substitute" for a personal decision. They also refuse to call baptism a magic act. But they baptize infants "on the faith of parents and of the church," when the New Testament puts faith first: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16), and "when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). An infant cannot repent, and Peter's command was "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). They call baptism a sign and seal, and the Northern Province does not tie it to the forgiveness of sins. Most American congregations sprinkle or pour, when baptism is a burial: "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Romans 6:4). Confirmation, which completes a child's baptism later, is a rite the apostles never named.

The Moravians have their reasons, and they say them: baptism shows "that God’s love precedes any act of faith on our part." That is true of grace. But the apostles did not show it with an infant's water. The church's own article reasons from Paul's comparison of baptism with circumcision in Colossians 2:11-15 and concludes that "most Christians believe that baptism is for adult believers and their children"; it points to no command to baptize an infant. Their acceptance of every baptism "regardless of mode" means that the immersed believer and the sprinkled infant are counted the same, so the burial of Romans 6 is not required of anyone. The Moravian Church deserves credit that it baptizes adults on profession of faith, and that an African pastor, the article says, may baptize "by immersion" in a river.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The Moravians give bread and cup to every communicant, a practice they inherited from the Bohemian reformers, and they refuse to define how Christ is present. Both are good: the cup is not withheld, and no change of substance is bound on the communicant. But the Lord named the Supper a remembrance, "this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24), and a presence of Christ in the elements is more than that text says. They stand short most of all on the day. The disciples "were gathered together to break bread" on "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), and that example binds. The church's own page says that most congregations have the Supper "six to eight times a year," so it is an occasion, not the weekly act of the assembly.

The Northern Province says "many congregations are moving toward more frequent observance," and it counts the Supper "a means of appropriating God’s grace." Both are signs that the church feels the lack. The ceremony that surrounds the Supper, the consecration by an ordained minister before the elements are served by acolytes, adds an order to the Lord's table that the apostles did not. In the apostolic church the whole assembly came to the table together "upon the first day of the week."

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

The Moravian Church stands nearer the line than churches with rulers over dioceses: its bishops rule no one, and the work of governing is shared, which is closer to "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). But it keeps three orders, with a bishop set above the presbyter, though in the New Testament the elders of a church were its "bishops" (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5-7). It claims a line of consecrations "unbroken from 1467," which Scripture never asks of a church. The Provincial Elders' Conference and the district boards govern congregations from outside and issue the call to the pastor, where the apostles had "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23). And women are ordained and made bishops, where Scripture requires an overseer to be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2).

The Moravians have a plurality of lay boards in each congregation, called boards of elders, and a pastor who is trained and called; the apostolic pattern is elders from the congregation, with no clergy class above or among them. The Northern Province says that deacons are ordained "almost always after obtaining a degree in theology." The qualifications Paul gives for elders are about character and the household, "blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe" (Titus 1:6).

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

The Moravians have always put hymns at the center. Their lovefeast and Singstunde are services of song, and the church stresses "singing with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16) more than most. Much of what they sing is faithful to Scripture, and the Singstunde in which hymns carry the lesson is a strong form of "teaching and admonishing one another." They stand short on the instruments: an organ leads the congregation's singing, and the church's own history prizes "voice, organ, brass, woodwinds, and strings in worship," where the New Testament names singing and "making melody with your heart" (Ephesians 5:19) and nothing else. They also stand short in the choir anthem that is sung while the people eat and drink, and in the fixed liturgy and church year in which the congregation recites a written profession, where in Paul's assembly "each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching" (1 Corinthians 14:26). The instrument is the plainest departure: it adds to the singing a second kind of music that no apostle commanded and no church of the New Testament is recorded using.

The lovefeast, the Singstunde and the Easter liturgy are the Moravians' own and draw on a long hymn tradition that began with the Bohemian Brethren's hymnal. Singing is not the weak point of Moravian worship; the instruments and the fixed order are. The Daily Texts, which pair a verse with a hymn, bring that singing into the home.

But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

The Moravian Church teaches that the Spirit calls, unites and gives gifts to each member, "if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:9). It does not make tongues, prophecy or healing the proof of the Spirit's presence, and the Northern Province says plainly that the day it calls its Pentecost had "no signs of ecstatic or extraordinary spiritual manifestations." On those points it stands near the line, well apart from the churches that look for such signs. It stands short where it speaks of an "outpouring of the Holy Spirit" at a communion service, as though the Spirit were poured out in the manner of Pentecost and not given, as Scripture shows, "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18). The apostles' signs "confirmed" the word (Hebrews 2:3-4), and the church does not say that they have ceased.

The Moravian use of the lot for ministry, mission and marriage, was an attempt to read the Spirit's guidance directly. The historian J. E. Hutton tells how the Brethren chose their first three ministers by lot at Lhota in 1467, and a Moravian college history says the church "continued to use the Lot to determine marriage partners, calls to service, and locations for settlements." The church no longer uses it for those, though the Old Testament watchwords of the Daily Texts have been "drawn by lot" since 1788. The apostles' choice of Matthias was a once-only act before Pentecost (Acts 1:23-26); after it the church was guided by the apostles' teaching and the Scriptures, and not by the lot.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The Moravian Church teaches what Scripture teaches about the end of the age: Christ will come again, "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), the dead will be raised, and the living and the dead will be judged. It prays to be "found ready when He comes," as the Lord asked. It stands short only where it is silent. The pages read do not state what the Unity teaches about "eternal punishment" for the lost (Matthew 25:46), nor that "after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27) falls on every person; the liturgy speaks of Christ coming to judge, and the sources read say nothing of the lost.

This placement rests on the Ground of the Unity, the Essential Features and the Easter liturgy. They teach the return, the resurrection and the judgment and do not state the fate of the lost, which is a gap in what was read and not a finding that the Moravian Church denies it.

The Moravians hold much that Scripture also holds, and it should be said plainly. They confess the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and Christ as God and man, crucified and risen, the only Savior. They hold that Scripture is the sole standard of doctrine and faith, and they bind no creed as a test of it. They call every person to a personal decision and refuse to let membership stand in its place. Their bishops rule no one, and their government is shared. They keep the Lord's Supper in both kinds for every communicant, and they sing, in the lovefeast, the Singstunde and the Easter liturgy, the faith of Christ's death and resurrection. They sent missionaries in 1732 to the enslaved Africans on St. Thomas, grieve over the divisions of Christendom, and have given the world a Daily Text that puts a verse of Scripture in homes. Their forebears held to the Bible through persecution until the Unity was suppressed in 1620.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Moravians stand near the line on the authority of Scripture and on the absence of any ruler over the congregation, and they stand short in five places: the baptism of infants, the frequency of the Supper, the order of bishops and the call to the pastor from above the congregation, the instruments and the fixed liturgy, and a unity willing to leave baptism, the Supper and the ministry to liberty.

Baptism is the immersion of a penitent believer for the remission of sins, and the water poured on an infant does not carry that meaning. The Supper belongs to every first day of the week, and the lovefeast, though kept in good faith as a custom of fellowship, was not the apostles' meal and cannot stand in the place of their table. The elders of each congregation are its bishops and need no line from 1467. A people who say that Scripture is their sole standard have only to put every custom beside the text and let the text decide.

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