Herrnhut and Zinzendorf

So my part of Germany, (and indeed it is ‘my’ part of Germany!) is situated in the east of the country in a region called Saxony. To be more specific I find myself in an area called Upper Lusatia between the Elbe and Neisse rivers, so called because of the nearby Lusatian Hills. This part of Germany is not known for its popularity with tourists as, indeed, very few tourists, if any, grace the region with their presence. The region is more popular with birdwatchers and flower-lovers or should I say ornithologists and botanists? The region is after all home to such an abundance of otters that it is thought to have Germany’s biggest otter population. And, judging by the number of people who seem to live around here, I’m pretty willing to bet the otters outnumber the people…

Herrnhut – the cradle of the Moravian Church

This is the town where I am living and working, although I personally see it being more of a village than a town. Whether it be a town or village it was established in 1722 by the unheard of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, unheard of that is until I arrived in Herrnhut. Now I can’t get through a day without him popping up somewhere even though he died in 1760! He basically used to own the whole region and allowed Moravian and Bohemian refugees to settle on his land thus creating a Christian centre of missionaries. And this is what Herrnhut is famous for, in the Christian world at least – for its extensive missionary work. It is also famous for the Herrnhut Advent Star which, although you may not know by name, I guarantee that each and every one of you have one, or at least, know someone who has.

So, Count Zinzendorf was born in 1700 into a noble family of Lutherans in Saxony. His father died when he was just 6 weeks old and he was brought up by his Grandmother as his Mother re-married and moved away. At the age of 10 he was sent to boarding school to prepare him for his work serving at the Royal Court in Dresden where he and his friends formed ‘The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed’. At the age of 16 he went to the University of Wittenberg – the birthplace of Protestantism and the centre of an effort to reform the Catholic Church. An effort which, instead of reform, led to division and the creation of the Lutheran church. By the time that Zinzendorf was 18, the Lutheran Church was experiencing an internal struggle between Pietists and Traditionalists. At the age of 21 Zinzendorf received his father’s inheritance and bought the estate of Berthelsdorf from his Grandmother not knowing that it would be this very estate that would not only make him famous but also an outlaw.

In 1722 Zinzendorf learnt of a group of Christians in Moravia – a region 200 miles south east of Saxony, who were being persecuted because of their beliefs and so were looking for a place to stay. Zinzendorf agreed to allow them to build on his land and to freely practice their religion there. He called the beginnings of the town the Moravians began to build ‘Herrnhut’ from the German for ‘Lord’s Watch’. But as more and more Christians from many different denominations came to settle in Herrnhut the town changed from a harmonious community to a shambles where it was everyman for himself. Zindendorf worked hard to change the situation around and eventually succeeded. He quit his job at the Royal Court in Dresden and moved his family to Herrnhut.

Herrnhut later became the birth place of the 24 hour prayer. Originally people drew straws as to who would pray which hour of the day. This way, there would always be someone praying for Herrnhut, and the world, no matter what time of the day or night it was. In 1730 Ludwig travelled to Denmark for the coronation of King Christian VI where he met the servant of his friend Count Laurwig. The servant’s simple story set in motion a series of events which would see people from the Herrnhut community spread all over the world. The servant’s story of how slaves in the Caribbean had never heard of Jesus led to Herrnhut sending out missionaries to live and work alongside the slaves in order to preach to them. But whilst all this was going on Zinzendorf was busy trying to fulfil his ambition to become a Lutheran Pastor, an ambition he eventually fulfilled in December 1734. However resentment among the nobility of Saxony towards Zinzendorf’s unorthodox religious ways had been growing and many just did not agree with a Count being ordained a Pastor and complaints were made to the Royal Court in Dresden who issued an edict banning Zinzendorf from his own kingdom. Zinzendorf was forced to look for somewhere else to live and eventually leased Ronneburg Castle which was already home to a group of Jews, tramps and vagabonds. Zinzendorf made it his mission to convert these people to Christianity seeing his banishing from his own kingdom as God’s way of allowing him to expand the work he’d started in Herrnhut. This new Christian community Zinzendorf named Herrnhaag which, along with Herrnhut, began to be referred to as the Moravian Church.

In November 1738 Zinzendorf himself became a missionary in the face of much criticism from those who accused him of sending others across the world as missionaries when he knew there was little chance they would come back alive. When he arrived in the Caribbean he found the missionaries already there were in prison but that the community of slaves had become Christian. He immediately set about trying to free the imprisoned missionaries which he did with success. After putting into place many of the same procedures that were in place at Herrnhut – such as the 24 hour praying, Zinzendorf made his way back to Germany. A few years later Zinzendorf went travelling again setting up Christian communities across the world.

In 1743 he felt it was time to go back to Germany as he had heard disturbing reports of unrest amongst the Christian communities there. As the unrest was sorted out the King of Saxony made a visit to Herrnhut, he was so impressed with what he found there that he began to question why Zinzendorf had ever been banished from the area. He quickly reversed this decision allowing Zinzendorf to return to Herrnhut.

In June 1756 Zinzendorf’s wife died and a year later it was suggested that he remarry as, since his first wife’s death, he had become unsociable spending much of his time alone. It was suggested that he marry a friend with whom he had worked closely over the years. The problem was Zinzendorf was a Count and his possible second wife nothing more than a peasant. In 1757 Zinzendorf passed on all his titles and privileges to his nephew and married Anna Nitchmann, keeping it a secret to avoid bringing shame on the Zinzendorf family. A year later they announced their marriage explaining why they had chosen to keep it secret but shortly after Anna fell ill, closely followed by Zinzendorf himself.

Seventeen days before his sixtieth birthday on May 9th 1760 Count Ludwig Zinzendorf died. His second wife soon followed him on May 22nd 1760. But the work that Zinzendorf had started continued. At the time of his death 226 missionaries had been sent out and over 3000 people had been converted. The Moravian church continued to send out missionaries, indeed their work is still going on today.