Welcome back. Hallelujah! We are happy to bring you another beautiful Gospel song tagged MSHIPI from Saint Cecilia main Choir located in Arusha Tanzania.
The song talks about how good God is, that is the only one who holds everything together and without him we will perish.
QOUTABLE LYRICS
Ni nani aliye Mungu, Mungu ila Bwana Ni nani aliye mwamba, mwamba ila Mungu Ni Mungu ndiye anifungaye mshipi wa nguvu aha! Ni Mungu ndiye kimbilio la unyonge wangu aha! Naye anaifanya kamilifu njia yangu
AUDIO Kwaya Kuu Mt. Cesilia Arusha – MSHIPI MP3 DOWNLOAD
Tanzanian Gospel recording artist, Walter Chilambo is back with an amazing cover song titled El Shaddai, which was officially released by H_art the band
Tanzanian Catholic Choir, Saint Kizito Makuburi Choir came through with a new single titled, Ukuu wa Yesu, produced by Holy Trinity studios.
In addition, Ukuu wa Yesu is a Swahili Gospel song
which talks about the greatness of Jesus Christ, the miracles, and signs
that Jesus is still performing to this day.
Pope St. Miltiades was the head of the Western Church and
bishop of Rome during the years 311 A.D. through 314 A.D. when he died.
It was during the papacy of this Melchiades the African that the Roman
Emperor Constantine (“the Great”) proclaimed his history changing Edict
of Milan in 313 A.D. providing long-persecuted Christianity with its
first legal status in the empire. Pope Miltiades is also remembered for
accepting the gift of the Empress Fausta Palace where the church would
later build the Lateran Palace the pontiff’s residence and seat of
administration.
Brief History and Background on Pope St. Miltiades
Pope St. Miltiades Early Career and Election
History does not record the exact year of birth for Pope Miltiades
although it does remember that his citizenship was Roman, his ancestry
was North African and he was of Berber descent (per the Liber
Pontificalis). Miltiades and the Pope Sylvester I who succeeded him were
both from the clergy group of the apostate Pope Marcellinus.
Pope St. Miltiades Pontificate
Following the election of Pope St. Miltiades, property belonging to
the church that had been seized under the notorious Diocletian
Persecution became restored by Roman leader Maxentius. Several customs
have become associated with Pope Miltiades per the Liber Pontificalis.
These included the idea of not practicing fasting on either Sundays or
Thursdays and the distributing of consecrated bread to all churches near
Rome as an expression of unity.
In October of 312 A.D., Constantine vanquished Maxentius at the
critical Battle of the Milovian Bridge, ascending to the role of
undisputed Western Roman Emperor in the process. After accepting
Christianity, Constantine gave the Empress Fausta Palace to Pope
Miltiades. This would become the site of the Lateran Palace the
stronghold and seat of power for the Catholic Church administration and
the official residence of the popes.
Pope St. Miltiades is remembered for being the pontiff who
experienced the peace of the church granted by Constantine. Thanks to an
arrangement between Western Emperor Constantine and Eastern Emperor
Licinius in February of 313 A.D., this peace expanded to all parts of
the Roman Empire. Christians could now worship freely and also received
back their confiscated churches and other property.
Pope St. Miltiades and the Lateran Council
The church in Carthage, North Africa suffered from a schism
surrounding Bishop Caecilianus’ election under the pontificate of Pope
Miltiades. Donatus opposed the bishop on the basis that any heretics and
schismatics should have to be baptized and ordained a second time
before regaining their former offices. Donatus’ supporters appealed
directly to Constantine and asked for judges out of the province of Gaul
(modern day France) to hear the case.
Constantine appointed Pope Miltiades and three bishops from Gaul to
judge the argument in what became the first instance of a Roman emperor
getting involved in affairs of the church. Pope Miltiades was torn
between his relationship with Constantine and a church council that
might provide an outcome less than certain so he converted the hearing
into a traditional church synod and named another 15 Italian bishops to
the adjudication panel.
The Donatists did not like these Lateran Council arrangements which
now centered on Roman civil proceedings and required arguments backed by
evidence. They departed the council permitting Pope Miltiades to rule
against them and to declare their teachings as heresy. This did not
prevent Donatism from spreading throughout North Africa. Meanwhile they
appealed again directly to Emperor Constantine who convened a church
Council of Arles that also ruled against the teachings of the Donatists
in 314 A.D.
Pope St. Miltiades Quick Facts
– Born exact year unknown, in North Africa
– Birth Name – Miltiades or Melchiades (or Melchiades the African)
– Died – January 10, 314 A.D. – How he died
When Emperor Constantine called for a church Council of Arles in year
314 A.D. Pope Miltiades was already ailing. He perished on January 11
of the same year before the council got underway. Pope Sylvester I
succeeded Miltiades who the church buried along the Appian Way at the
Catacomb of Callixtus.
– Papacy began – July 2, 311 A.D.
– Papacy ended – January 10, 314 A.D.
– Successor – Pope Sylvester I
Interesting Facts About Pope St. Miltiades
Pope Miltiades’ election as pontiff July 2, 311 A.D. ended the sede
vacante or vacancy of the papacy that had resulted from Pope Eusebius’
exile to Sicily (by Roman Emperor Maxentius) and death.
An early Lateran Council occurred under the reign of Pope St.
Miltiades during October 2-4, 313 A.D. in which St. Miltiades used the
template of Roman civil proceedings including strict rules for argument
and evidence.
Though Pope Miltiades ruled against the teachings of Donatism it failed to stop them from spreading throughout North Africa.
Miltiades has been accused by his historical contemporaries of
apostasy (supposedly practiced by his predecessor Pope Marcellinus) in
offering incense to Roman gods and giving up sacred texts.
The innocence of Pope St. Miltiades was argued vehemently by
near-contemporary and legendary church historian and writer St.
Augustine of Hippo.
The date of birth of St. victor is unknown, but we do know that he was Pope from 189 to 199.
Victor
was a native African, and his father's name was Felix. He is known for
having obtained the release of many Christians who had been deported to
the mines of Sardinia, and for being the first Pope to celebrate the
liturgy and write Church documents in Latin rather than Greek.
He
is most famous, however, for decreeing that Easter be universally
celebrated on a Sunday, a practice already common in the West, but not
so in the East.
Tanzanian gospel recording artist, Paul Clement best known for his ways of presenting worship songs and engaged with his audience, is back with another single tagged Ulinamaka, Produced by Fisher Records.
Mwana Wanjye was written by Aime Kayumba and produced by Bruce & Boris
QOUTQBLE LYRICS
Teach him to be self-confident. May love and zeal be his qualities. Having wisdom as a friend Will be for him the path Leading to success and longevity
I have received information that at least some Baptists
do not consider themselves as Protestant, but that they predate the
Reformation Period. Can you tell me where the Baptist movement in the
U.S. came from?
Answer
At least some Baptists do not consider themselves
"Protestants." This is to emphasize their sense that, insofar as the
Protestant Reformation was as a contest between the Roman Catholic
Church and reformers who sought to protest certain features of the
Catholic Church and to reestablish the Church on what they considered
was a purer basis, the Baptists have not entered into that contest. They
have rejected the notion of a "universal Church" altogether, admitting
the authority of only local organizations, individual communities of
believers, and, ultimately, each individual before God. As a result,
they have found themselves at odds with the Catholic Church, the
Orthodox Church, and mainline denominational Protestantism.
They have rejected the notion of a "universal Church" altogether.
The entire Reformation, however, trended in this direction—away from
recognizing a central authority and toward recognizing "private
judgment" as the touchstone of authority. In this light, therefore,
Baptists are heirs of the Protestant Reformation, and their reluctance
to group themselves with other Protestants is a radical form of the
spiritual individualism that characterized the Reformation as a whole.
Baptists
The Baptists, specifically, grew within and from, the Separatist
movement in England during its civil war in the 16th century. The
Separatists wished to separate from the established Church of England
and form independent congregations. They were also called
"Nonconformists" because they did not conform in doctrine or practice
with the established Church. Most of them were Puritans—that is
Congregationalists—and the Pilgrims brought Puritanism to America and
established it in New England.
Some of the Separatists also adopted an extreme skepticism regarding
civil control over religion. They formed congregations that had
essentially no authority over one another in matters of doctrine or
practice, and they also admitted no overarching religious authority.
Some of them were influenced by the teachings of the earlier
"Anabaptists" in northern Europe. Although the Anabaptists adopted
Calvinist theology, they had some unique views that the early Baptists
adopted.
Views on who should be baptized and when were unique.
The most characteristic of these was the conviction that Church
membership was open only to believers who had consciously made a
commitment of faith in Jesus Christ. This meant that children and
infants, who were incapable of a mature commitment, could not be
baptized. Their rejection of infant baptism became one of the most
pronounced differences between them and the practices of other
Christians, both Catholic and Protestant. Converts who had been baptized
previously, therefore, were baptized again (ana-baptist), or,
from the perspective of the (so-called) Anabaptists, were truly baptized
for the first time. All these groups were convinced that this was the
only form of baptism practiced by the first Christians. The Baptists
adopted these views, as well as the idea that Baptism could only be
accomplished by complete immersion in water, rather than by pouring
water over the head.
In England, the early Baptists were persecuted. John Bunyan, the Baptist author of The Pilgrim's Progress, for example, wrote his book while imprisoned for his unauthorized preaching.
Baptists in America
In England and then in America, Baptists were first drawn from the
ranks of Congregationalists whose beliefs had modified to align with
Baptist beliefs. In New England and elsewhere in America, Baptists were
persecuted during the 17th century.
Roger Williams, who had been persecuted for his anti-establishment
sermons in Massachusetts, exiled himself out of reach of his Puritan
opponents and established the colony of Rhode Island. He helped found
what was probably the first Baptist Church in America in Providence in
1638.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Baptists found the religious
freedom they sought, at the beginning in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania,
but then elsewhere. Their ranks were enlarged by converts from
Congregationalism, but also from other Nonconformist sects. In addition,
they embraced the movement of religious revival during the Second Great
Awakening, and found an enthusiastic mass of converts as they spread
down the Appalachians into the South and West. Baptists played a crucial
role in influencing the framers of the Constitution to insure freedom
of religion and conscience in the new Republic, and to promote the idea
of a "wall of separation" between church and state.
The highly autonomous nature of a Baptist congregation, recognizing
no higher "worldly" authority over the religious beliefs and practices
of its members, proved to be a good fit in many ways with the
democratic, populist character of America. It also appealed to African
Americans, who could found their own churches with little religious
interference from others.
Bibliography
William H. Brackney, A Genetic History of Baptist Thought, with Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America, Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2004.
Bill J. Leonard, Baptists in America, New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Mark R. Bell, Apocalypse How? Baptist Movements During the English Revolution, Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2000.
Images:
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: Child singing at
Sunday School at the Baptist Church, San Augustine, Texas, April 1943,
photographed by John Vachon.
Baptism near Mineola, Texas, Summer 1935, photographed by Alan Lomax.
Luther
came from a well-heeled family in the central region of Saxony. Luther
was born in Eisleben in November 1483. Shortly after his birth, the
family moved about 10 miles away to the town of Mansfeld. A successful
businessman in copper mining and refining, his father, Hans, had young
Martin educated at a local Latin school and later at schools in
Magdeburg and Eisenach. In 1501, at age 19, he enrolled in the
University of Erfurt to continue his studies.
In 1505 he was
returning to Erfurt after visiting his parents when a violent
thunderstorm arose with raging winds and driving rain. “[I was] besieged
by the terror and agony of sudden death,” the young Luther later
recalled. In his panic he made a terror-stricken vow to St. Anne. He
would join a religious order, he promised, if only she would save his
life.
Biographies of the founder of the Protestant Reformation
point out that a deep sense of religious turmoil probably shaped
Luther’s thoughts long before the storm. Even so, following his safe
deliverance from the tempest, Luther kept his promise and, to the dismay
of his father, abandoned his legal education to join the strictly
observant Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. It was a decisive, stubborn
act, mixed with a deep sense of religious vocation—an attitude he would
display for the rest of his remarkable and turbulent life.
A Rising Storm
During
his first years at the monastery, Luther did not seem to be especially
subversive. He quickly made a name for himself not only with his
brilliance as a theologian but also with his meticulous observance of
the harsh rules governing life in the monastery; he fasted, prayed, and
confessed. Content with just a table and chair in his unheated room, he
would rise in the early morning hours to pray matins and lauds. By the
fall of 1506 he had gained full admission to the order.
Luther
continued his theological education after becoming a monk. In 1507 he
was ordained by the Bishop of Brandenburg. In 1508 he taught theology at
the newly founded University of Wittenberg, where he also received two
bachelor degrees.
In 1510 Luther’s studies were interrupted by a
political crisis that engulfed the Augustinians. The current pope,
Julius II, had decided to merge two opposed branches (the observant and
nonobservant) of the order, a plan that horrified Luther’s strictly
observant monastery. Luther was chosen by his superiors to defend the
views of their monastery before the general Augustinian council in Rome.
In
late 1510 Luther made his first—and last—visit to Rome. During his
stay, the friar followed traditional pilgrimage customs. Among other
observances, he climbed the steps of the St. John Lateran Basilica on
his knees, reciting the Lord’s Prayer on each step. It is said that
during his ascent he was perplexed to find the words of the Apostle Paul
coming back to him: “the righteous shall live by faith,” a tenet that
would form a central part of his later doctrine. During his stay, Luther
found himself unsettled by the corruption and lack of spirituality he
saw in Rome. He saw openly corrupt priests who sneered at the rituals of
their faith. He later described his visit: “Rome is a harlot . . . The
Italians mocked us for being pious monks, for they hold Christians
fools. They say six or seven masses in the time it takes me to say one,
for they take money for it and I do not.”
After returning to
Germany, Luther earned his doctorate in 1512. As a professor, he taught
several classes at the University of Wittenberg. The spiritual
hollowness he had seen in Rome did not break his faith with the church,
but scholars believe it continued to disquiet him.
Nailing a Myth
Pages from a printed copy of the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences, better known as the Ninety-Five Theses.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
That
Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses helped launch the Reformation is
beyond question. Dated October 31, 1517, Luther’s letter to his
superiors did include copies of the theses. But did he actually nail
them to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints’ Church? The historical
consensus is . . . probably not. Luther himself never mentioned having
done so. At the time, he had no idea his theses would create such a stir
and would not have seen the need to carry out such a provocative act.
Nevertheless, the legend arose and gained traction.
Luther Enters the Fray
The
spark that ignited Luther’s confrontation with Rome was the sale of
“indulgences,” which would lessen the impact of, or pardon, a person
from their sins. In theory, indulgences were granted by the church on
the condition that the recipient carried out some kind of good work or
other specified acts of contrition. In practice, indulgences could be
bought. The practice was abused by the church, which began relying upon
their sale as a way of raising money, especially to pay for costly
building projects.
Rome
in the early 1500s was under the spell of the artistic projects of the
Renaissance. Around 1515, Pope Leo X published a new indulgence in a bid
to fund the reconstruction of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome,
entrusting Albert of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Mainz, with
promoting its sale in Germany.
Enraged, Luther took a stand against the papal actions. On October 31, 1517, he composed his Disputation on the Power of Indulgences,
better known as the Ninety-Five Theses. According to tradition, he
nailed these to the door of All Saints’ Church, Wittenberg, although
modern historians are somewhat skeptical that such a lengthy document
could be posted in this way. Regardless of how the Ninety-Five Theses
were distributed, many found Luther’s arguments explosive. He argued
that the practice of relying on indulgences drew believers away from the
one true source of salvation: faith in Christ. God alone had the power
to pardon the repentant faithful. The pontifical council ordered him to
retract his claims immediately, but Luther refused.
An Elector for an Enclave
Luther’s
reformation was not born in a vacuum, and his fate rested as much on
the turbulent politics of the day as it did on pure questions of
theology. Wittenberg was part of Saxony, a state of the Holy Roman
Empire, a patchwork of territories in central Europe with roots deep in
the medieval past. The Holy Roman Emperor was appointed by the heads of
its main states, influential rulers known as electors.
At the time
that Luther wrote his theses, the elector of Saxony was Frederick the
Wise. A humanist and a scholar, Frederick had founded the new university
at Wittenberg that Luther attended. Frederick’s response to Luther’s
theological challenge was complex. He never stopped being a Catholic,
but he decided from the outset to protect the rebel friar both from the
fury of the church and the Holy Roman Emperor. When in 1518 Luther was
summoned to Rome, Frederick intervened on his behalf, ensuring that he
would be questioned in Germany, a much safer place for him than Rome.
The church was forced to respect Elector Frederick’s wishes because he
would be instrumental in choosing the replacement to the ailing Holy
Roman Emperor, Maximilian I.
Safe
under the wing of Frederick, Luther began to engage in regular public
debate on religious reforms. He broadened his arguments, declaring that
any church council or even a single believer had the right to challenge
the pope, so long as they based their arguments on the Bible. He even
dared to argue that the church did not rest on papal foundations but
rather on faith in Christ.
Luther
must have realized early on that his reform movement had a political
dimension. In 1520 he wrote a treatise, “Address to the Christian
Nobility of the German Nation.” It argued that all Christians could be
priests from the moment of their baptism, that anyone reading the
Scripture with faith had the right to interpret it, and that every
believer had the right to assemble a free council. This declaration was
revolutionary for the ecclesiastic hierarchy of the time.
Heretics and Heroes
This 15th-century print by Diebold Schilling the Elder depicts the burning of Czech reformist Jan Hus in 1415.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
Luther
was not the first person to confront the Catholic Church. Writing in
the 1370s and ‘80s, Oxford scholar John Wycliffe denounced the wealth of
the church, called for a greater emphasis on scripture, and oversaw an
English biblical translation. The church condemned Wycliffe, but Oxford
University shielded him from arrest. In the 1400s Jan Hus, a scholar at
the University of Prague, was exposed to Wycliffe’s works. Hus too
believed that scripture was greater than tradition and preached in his
native language, Czech. His writings led him to leave Prague for fear of
reprisals, but Hus was later arrested in 1414, charged with heresy, and
burned at the stake in 1415. Following his death, his followers
continued the fight, forming the Hussite movement which spread through
what is today the Czech Republic.
Luther in Peril
In January 1521 a papal decree was published under which Luther was declared a heretic and excommunicated.
Under normal circumstances, this sentence would have meant a trial and,
most likely, execution. But these were no ordinary times. Both
Frederick and widespread German public opinion demanded that Luther be
given a proper hearing. The newly elected Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V,
finally acquiesced and called Luther to come before the Imperial Diet
(assembly) to be held that spring in the ancient Rhineland city of
Worms.
On his journey to Worms Luther was acclaimed almost as a
messiah by the citizens of the towns he passed through. On his arrival
in Worms in April 1521, crowds gathered to see the man who embodied the
struggle against the seemingly all-powerful Catholic Church. Once inside
the episcopal palace, Luther was met by young Charles V, princes,
imperial electors, and other dignitaries. When charged, Luther said that
he stood by every one of his published claims.
The Archbishop of
Trier urged him to retract his theses, and Luther asked for time for
consideration. After a night of reflection, he remained steadfast. His
writings, he maintained, were based on Scripture; on his conscience, he
declared he could not recant anything “for to go against conscience is
neither right nor safe.” He is said to have concluded with the famous
words in German: “Hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders—Here I stand, I can do no other.”
Fighting for Faith
This
17th-century engraving depicts the 1531 Second Battle of Kappel in
which Swiss Catholics crushed Zürich Protestants led by Zwingli.
AKG/ALBUM
Luther’s
revolt inspired other religious leaders in cities outside Germany such
as Strasbourg, Geneva, Basel, and Lucca. In Zürich Huldrych Zwingli, a
Swiss leader of the Reformation, persuaded the city council and a large
part of the population to accept a full program for the strict
observance of the Gospel. Priestly celibacy was abolished. Baptism and
the Eucharist were still celebrated as sacraments, but the belief that
during the Mass the bread and wine actually turned into the body and
blood of Christ was abandoned. In Zwingli’s view, the Eucharist became a
symbolic rite in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. Sacred music was
prohibited, and paintings in churches were destroyed. An army of
preachers was chosen to go out into the city and foment this radical new
teaching.
The Revolution Spreads
Luther
left Worms unbowed, but his life was in peril. Charles V signed an
edict naming him and his followers political outlaws and demanded their
writings be burned. Seized by his protector, Frederick, Luther was
granted sanctuary in the castle of Wartburg until the situation evolved
and the danger passed.
Despite
his absence, Luther’s words and writings were spreading like wildfire
throughout Germany, thanks in part to the printing revolution. Luther’s
declarations at Worms sparked a revolutionary spirit that had been
smoldering among the German people, many of who were tired of seeing
their earnings gobbled up by the church. Supported by their rulers, also
eyeing the opportunity of greater freedom from Rome, a host of
reformers came forward in support of Lutheran principles.
Some, to
Luther’s dismay, went very much further. Just after Christmas, in 1521,
the so-called Zwickau prophets foretold the imminent return of Christ.
They wanted to tear down and destroy all religious images, statues, and
altarpieces. They even proposed radical changes to the sacraments, the
most dramatic of which was their rejection of the rite of baptism for
children and a demand that adults be rebaptized. It was from this
element that Anabaptism—from the Latin anabaptista, meaning “one
who baptizes over again”—grew. Despite savage repression, Anabaptism
periodically flared up during the following years.
Another
serious threat to the established order was the struggle unleashed by
the peasants in 1524 and 1525. The ideas of equality and social justice
inherent in Luther’s reform were seized upon by a rural society hungry
for change. A revolt erupted across huge swaths of Germany.
Luther
may have been a theological radical, but he was not a social reformer.
On hearing news of these movements, he voiced his opposition. Having
left Wartburg Castle in 1522, he upbraided all Christians who were
taking part in insurrections against authority. In an essay entitled
“Against the Murderous and Robbing Hordes of the Peasants” (1525), he
condemned the peasant violence as work of the devil. He called out for
the nobility to track down the rebels like they would rabid dogs as,
“nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful and devilish than a rebel.”
Without Luther’s backing, the radical revolution was dealt a death blow.
In May 1525 the peasants were defeated in Frankenhausen, and their
leader was executed.
An Unstoppable Force
When
the Holy Roman Empire attempted to harden its line against Lutheranism
and the wider reform movement at the Diet of Speyer in 1529, the
pro-reform German princes dissented, or “protested.” Luther spent the
rest of his life consolidating this new “Protestant” movement, whose
tenets were spreading across Europe to Strasbourg, Zürich, Geneva, and
Basel.
Luther’s efforts created a great rift in Western
Christianity and dominated European politics for several centuries as
western Europe split into a largely Catholic south and a Protestant
north. France straddled the fault line, and for much of the later 16th
century was engulfed by religious conflict. The Lutheran doctrine,
combined with Tudor power politics, led to England’s ultimate break from
Rome in 1534. Years of Catholic-Protestant tensions in England prompted
the Pilgrims to embark for the New World in the Mayflower, and
laid the foundations for the English Civil War—events that stemmed from
the actions of an obscure monk, on an October day exactly five hundred
years ago.
Historian and author Josep Palau Orta is a specialist in religion in 16th-century Europe.
For over five centuries the Moravian Church has proclaimed the gospel
in all parts of the world. Its influence has far exceeded its numbers
as it has cooperated with Christians on every continent and has been a
visible part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Proud of its heritage
and firm in its faith, the Moravian Church ministers to the needs of
people wherever they are. The name Moravian identifies the fact that
this historic church had its origin in ancient Bohemia and Moravia in
what is the present-day Czech Republic. In the mid-ninth century these
countries converted to Christianity chiefly through the influence of two
Greek Orthodox missionaries, Cyril and Methodius. They translated the
Bible into the common language and introduced a national church ritual.
In the centuries that followed, Bohemia and Moravia gradually fell under
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Rome, but some of the Czech people
protested.
The foremost of Czech reformers, John Hus (1369-1415) was a professor
of philosophy and rector of the University in Prague. The Bethlehem
Chapel in Prague, where Hus preached, became a rallying place for the
Czech reformation. Gaining support from students and the common people,
he led a protest movement against many practices of the Roman Catholic
clergy and hierarchy. Hus was accused of heresy, underwent a long trial
at the Council of Constance, and was burned at the stake on July 6,
1415.
Hus being burned at the stake
Organized in 1457
The reformation spirit did not die with Hus. The Moravian Church, or
Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), as it has been officially known
since 1457, arose as followers of Hus gathered in the village of
Kunvald, about 100 miles east of Prague, in eastern Bohemia, and
organized the church. This was 60 years before Martin Luther began his
reformation and 100 years before the establishment of the Anglican
Church.
According to Gregory the Patriarch, considered the founder of Unitas
Fratrum, what made a Christian was not doctrine or what he or she
believed, but that a person lived his or her life according to the
teachings of Jesus Christ. He described these first Moravians as “people
who have decided once and for all to be guided only by the gospel and
example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles in gentleness,
humility, patience, and love for our enemies.” (Rican, History of the Unity)
By 1467 the Moravian Church had established its own ministry, and in
the years that followed three orders of the ministry were defined:
deacon, presbyter and bishop.
Growth, Persecution and Exile
By 1517 the Unity of Brethren numbered at least 200,000 with over 400
parishes. Using a hymnal and catechism of its own, the church promoted
the Scriptures through its two printing presses and provided the people
of Bohemia and Moravia with the Bible in their own language.
A bitter persecution, which broke out in 1547, led to the spread of
the Brethren’s Church to Poland where it grew rapidly. By 1557 there
were three provinces of the church: Bohemia, Moravia and Poland. The
Thirty Years War (1618-1648) brought further persecution to the
Brethren’s Church, and the Protestants of Bohemia were severely defeated
at the battle of White Mountain in 1620.
The prime leader of the Unitas Fratrum in these tempestuous years was
Bishop John Amos Comenius (1592-1670). He became world-renowned for his
progressive views of education. Comenius, lived most of his life in
exile in England and in Holland where he died. His prayer was that some
day the “hidden seed” of his beloved Unitas Fratrum might once again
spring to new life.
Renewed in the 1700s
The eighteenth century saw the renewal of the Moravian Church through
the patronage of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, a pietist
nobleman in Saxony. Some Moravian families fleeing persecution in
Bohemia and Moravia found refuge on Zinzendorf’s estate in 1722 and
built the community of Herrnhut. The new community became the haven for
many more Moravian refugees.
Count Zinzendorf encouraged them to keep the discipline of the Unitas
Fratrum, and he gave them the vision to take the gospel to the far
corners of the globe. August 13, 1727, marked the culmination of a great
spiritual renewal for the Moravian Church in Herrnhut, and in 1732 the
first missionaries were sent to the West Indies.
Count Zinzendorf
Moravians in America
The Moravians first came to America during the colonial period. In
1735 they were part of General Oglethorpe’s philanthropic venture in
Georgia. Their attempt to establish a community in Savannah did not
succeed, but they did have a profound impact on the young John Wesley
who had gone to Georgia during a personal spiritual crisis. Wesley was
impressed that the Moravians remained calm during a storm that was
panicking experienced sailors. He was amazed at people who did not fear
death, and back in London he worshiped with Moravians in the Fetter Lane
Chapel. There his “heart was strangely warmed.”
After the failure of the Georgia mission, the Moravians were able to
establish a permanent presence in Pennsylvania in 1741, settling on the
estate of George Whitefield. Moravian settlers purchased 500 acres to
establish the settlement of Bethlehem in 1741. Soon they bought the
5,000 acres of the Barony of Nazareth from Whitefield’s manager, and the
two communities of Bethlehem and Nazareth became closely linked in
their agricultural and industrial economy.
Other settlement congregations were established in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Maryland. They built the communities of Bethlehem, Nazareth,
Lititz, and Hope. They also established congregations in Philadelphia
and on Staten Island in New York. All were considered frontier centers
for the spread of the gospel, particularly in mission to the Native
Americans. Bethlehem was the center of Moravian activity in colonial
America.
Bishop Augustus Spangenberg led a party to survey a 100,000 acre
tract of land in North Carolina, which came to be known as Wachau after
an Austrian estate of Count Zinzendorf. The name, later anglicized to
Wachovia, became the center of growth for the church in that region.
Bethabara, Bethania and Salem (now Winston-Salem) were the first
Moravian settlements in North Carolina.
In 1857 the two American provinces, North and South, became largely
independent and set about expansion. Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and
Winston-Salem in North Carolina became the headquarters of the two
provinces (North and South).
The Southern Province grew mainly in Forsyth County, but over time
established congregations in Charlotte, Greensboro, Wilmington, Raleigh,
and Stone Mountain, Georgia. Moravian churches in Florida are growing
with the influx of immigrants from the Caribbean basin.
The Northern Province expanded with the influx of immigrants from
Germany and Scandinavia into the upper Midwest in the late 19th century.
It now reaches both coasts and as far north as Edmonton, Canada. Green
Bay, Wisconsin, was founded by Moravians. Such wide geographical spread
caused the Northern Province to be divided into Eastern, Western and
Canadian Districts.
After World War II, strong pushes for church extension took the
Northern Province to Southern California (where only an Indian mission
had existed since 1890) as well as to some Eastern, Midwestern and
Canadian sites. The Southern Province added numerous churches in the
Winston-Salem area, throughout North Carolina and extended its outreach
to Florida and to Georgia. In North America, the Moravian Church has
congregations in 16 states, the District of Columbia, and in two
Provinces of Canada.
Bethlehem in 1757
A worldwide Christian Church
Always ecumenically minded, the Moravians were among the first
members of the National and World Council of Churches. The church
established a number of schools in America, the most important of which
are Salem Academy and College, Moravian College and Theological
Seminary, and preparatory schools in Lititz and Bethlehem. In 1957 the
worldwide Moravian Church was reorganized into more than a dozen
semi-autonomous provinces that remain part of a single global church. A
Unity Synod is held every seven years to decide matters that affect the
whole Moravian Church.
Today there are more than one million members of the Moravian Church
in the world. Most of them live in eastern Africa. Other major Moravian
centers are the Caribbean basin (U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua, Jamaica,
Tobago, Surinam, Guyana, St. Kitts, and the Miskito Coast of Honduras
and Nicaragua), South Africa, Winston-Salem, and Bethlehem, Pa. There
are now 24 provinces of the Unity.
Though the Moravians played an important role in colonial American
history, the church in North America numbers only about 60,000
(including Canada, Alaska, Labrador). One of the reasons for the
difference in membership between the United States and the rest of the
world is that Moravians saw their distinct calling as bringing the good
news of God’s infinite love to the poorest and most despised people of
the world.
