Nikolaus von Zinzendorf

German religious leader

• Born: May 26, 1700
• Birthplace: Dresden, Saxony (now in Germany)
• Died: May 9, 1760
• Place of death: Herrnhut, Saxony (now in Germany)

Zinzendorf revived and transformed the nearly extinct Moravian Church by infusing it with an evangelical Pietistic theology. In so doing, he also became a pioneer of ecumenism among Christians and gave birth to the modern Protestant missionary movement.

Early Life

Count von Zinzendorf (fawn TSIHNT-suhn-dawrf) was born on May 26, 1700, in Dresden, Saxony, to Charles Ludwig and Charlotte Justine von Zinzendorf. His father died from tuberculosis only six weeks later. When he was three years old, on the eve of his mother’s remarriage and move to Berlin, Nikolaus was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, the Baroness Henriette Katherine von Gersdorf. Three women—his mother, his grandmother, and his mother’s sister—profoundly influenced his early life. They were all devout Christians.

The atmosphere at his grandmother’s estate of Gross-Hennersdorf was permeated by religion. Each day’s routine included prayer, Bible study, and the singing of hymns. Like Nikolaus’s parents, Baroness Gersdorf was a Lutheran Pietist. The Pietists were reacting to the Protestant Scholasticism that had transformed the insights and vibrant life of the Reformation into a dead orthodoxy of rigid formulas. In personal life they stressed the new birth, a lifestyle of moral purity, and a daily routine of prayer and Bible study. They also stressed service to the less fortunate and evangelism at home and abroad. These basic tenets of Pietism were to become the guiding principles of the adult Zinzendorf.

In 1710, Baroness Gersdorf enrolled her grandson in the Pädagogium, or boarding school, in Halle. The school was founded and run by the noted social and educational reformer August Hermann Francke. Francke was a follower of Philipp Jacob Spener, the founder of Lutheran Pietism, and was himself one of its leading promoters. At Halle, Zinzendorf joined with five other boys to found the Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, pledging themselves to love all humankind and to spread the Gospel.

Although Zinzendorf wanted a career in the ministry, his guardian insisted that he prepare himself to fulfill his hereditary responsibilities in the state civil service. Hence, he studied law at the Universities of Wittenberg and Utrecht. As was the custom of that day for the nobility, Zinzendorf concluded his education with a Grand Tour of Europe in 1719-1720. While visiting an art museum in Düsseldorf, he paused before Domenico Fetti’s Ecce Homo, a painting of Jesus Christ with the crown of thorns. Below the painting was written, “I have done this for you; what have you done for me?” Zinzendorf was deeply moved and pledged himself to a life of Christian service. Later in life, he often pointed to that event as the turning point in his life.

In 1721, Zinzendorf moved to Dresden, where he entered the civil service of Elector August the Strong of Saxony. His apartment soon became a meeting place for informal religious services on Sunday afternoons. Also in 1721, Zinzendorf purchased the estate of Berthelsdorf from his grandmother, hoping to establish a Christian community there. On September 7, 1722, Zinzendorf married Dorothea von Reuss. From a deeply Pietistic home, she proved to be the perfect companion. She bore twelve children; only three of them survived their parents.

Life’s Work

In December, 1722, a small group of ten Moravian refugees, six adults and four children, arrived at Berthelsdorf. They were a part of the surviving remnant of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren Church, organized in 1457 by followers of the Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus. They were fleeing religious persecution, and Zinzendorf allowed them to settle on his lands. The original ten were followed by others, not only Moravians but also former Catholics, Anabaptists, Separatists, Schwenkfelders, Reformed, and even Lutherans. By 1726, their community, named Herrnhut, numbered three hundred souls and could boast a large meeting hall, academy, print shop, and apothecary. As the community prospered, there was a need to provide civil government and to define the nature and goals of Herrnhut’s spiritual life.

In 1727, Zinzendorf resigned his position at court and devoted the remainder of his life to nurturing the Christian community at Herrnhut, which soon spread throughout Europe and beyond. The need to provide orderly development was met by a two-part constitution, accepted by the community in 1727. The first part recognized Zinzendorf’s role as the lord of the manor and thus dealt with civic responsibilities. Perhaps of more significance was the Brotherly Agreement, which aimed at organizing the community’s spiritual life.

The Brotherly Agreement emphasized practical Christian behavior and was to serve as a model for future Moravian communities. The community was divided into “choirs” determined by age, gender, and marital status. It also provided for a governing council of twelve elders, elected by the community, or, in the case of the four chief elders, chosen by lot. As if to emphasize the spiritual nature of their duties, no one of noble rank or advanced education was allowed to serve on the council.

On August 27, 1727, the Brethren at Herrnhut began an around-the-clock prayer meeting that continued unbroken for one hundred years. The year 1727 was later regarded as the birth year of the Renewed Moravian Church. It also marked the point at which Zinzendorf’s brand of Pietism began to diverge from the mainstream of German Pietism. Zinzendorf never desired that the Christian community at Herrnhut develop into a denomination. He believed that his mission in life, and the mission of Herrnhut, was to be an apostle of what he termed “heart religion.” Zinzendorf rejected both the rationalism of the secular world and the dead orthodox Scholasticism of the churches. His concept of “heart religion” stressed the emotional and experiential side of religion. It emphasized a personal conversion to Jesus Christ, followed by a life of prayer, Bible study, and communal worship.

Zinzendorf was thoroughly ecumenical in his approach to Christianity. Indeed, many scholars regard him as the father of the modern ecumenical movement. Unlike most Christians of that era, Zinzendorf not only accepted the plurality of institutional churches but also regarded that pluralism positively. He believed that each denomination had a unique contribution to make to the spread of Christianity. All churches were a part of the one true church, the Body of Christ. Unity could be, and should be, sought on the experiential level, not on the intellectual or institutional level.

The success of Herrnhut aroused opposition from the leaders of the established Lutheran Church, who feared that Zinzendorf was a sectarian. He was not, however, and he did all that he could to allay their fears. He insisted that all that was done at Herrnhut should conform to the Augsburg Confession of the Lutheran Church. He invited deputations from the established church to visit the community and see for themselves that all was in line with the Augsburg Confession. The brethren at Herrnhut took communion regularly from the local Lutheran parish priest. In 1734, Zinzendorf himself was ordained as a Lutheran minister.

Zinzendorf also felt an obligation to take the Gospel to the unbelieving in the farthest reaches of the globe. Through his efforts in these areas, Zinzendorf became the founder of the Protestant foreign missionary movement and a pioneer in Christian missions to the Jews. In 1731, Zinzendorf suggested sending missionaries to minister to the slaves in the West Indies. The response was enthusiastic. On August 21, 1732, the first Moravian missionaries departed Herrnhut for the West Indies. By 1735, twenty-nine missionaries had gone there, of whom only seven were still alive.

The period from 1732 to 1742 is often called the “golden decade” of Moravian missions. The Moravians were the first to believe that missionary work was the calling of the whole Christian community, laypersons and clergy alike. By 1742, Moravian missionaries were serving in various parts of Africa, Asia, North America, and even Lapland and Greenland. They also sent missionaries to the Jews in Amsterdam.

As long as Zinzendorf lived, the Moravian missionaries acted almost exclusively on instructions from him. His mission philosophy had three emphases: Preach Christ, not theology; live humbly among the indigenous peoples; and look for the “seekers after truth” rather than try to convert whole nations. Zinzendorf also believed that the missionaries should support themselves, thereby teaching by example the dignity of labor.

Between 1736 and 1747, Zinzendorf was banished from Saxony for his alleged sectarian activities. In 1737, he was ordained a bishop in the United Brethren Church by one of its two surviving bishops. During his banishment, he traveled widely, founding Moravian communities in Europe, England, and the United States (for example, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania). He organized a traveling executive, known as the Pilgrim Congregation, to direct the foreign missionary work and minister to the “diaspora,” those cells of converts within the established churches throughout Europe. After his banishment was repealed in 1747, Zinzendorf made London the center of the Moravians’ worldwide activities until 1755. One year after the death of his first wife, on June 19, 1756, Zinzendorf married Anna Nitschmann, a longtime coworker at Herrnhut. He died at Herrnhut on May 9, 1760. Anna died thirteen days later.

Significance

Count von Zinzendorf’s life had a profound impact on the history of Christianity. In an age when individual Christian sects were generally intolerant of one another, Zinzendorf labored for a unity of purpose that would overlook, but not suppress, denominational distinctions. His goal was to unite all Christians in evangelism: He was the first Christian leader to use the term “ecumenical” in its modern sense. Although he was himself a nobleman, he was perfectly at ease among the humble. While in the United States in 1741, he personally preached to Native Americans. He set an example that was followed by Moravian missionaries who ministered among slaves in the West Indies and lepers in South Africa. By 1832, there were forty-two Moravian mission stations around the world.

Stimulated by the example of the Moravians, the Baptists began foreign mission work in 1793. The annual Herrnhut Ministers Conference, inspired by Zinzendorf, led directly to the founding of both the London Missionary Society in 1795 and the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804. Perhaps one of Zinzendorf’s most far-reaching influences on church history resulted from the conversion of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, through the influence of Moravian missionaries.

Wesley first encountered the Moravians while on a voyage to the United States. He was greatly impressed by their humility and by their willingness to serve others. In Georgia, and later in England, Wesley frequented Moravian meetings. Then, on the evening of May 24, 1738, he experienced what he later described as his conversion experience. In August, 1738, Wesley visited Herrnhut. He summed up his impression of what he saw in his journal: “O when shall this Christianity cover the earth, as the ’waters cover the sea?’”

Christians and non-Christians alike have been generous in their praise of Zinzendorf. His zeal for spreading the Christian gospel and his deep, genuine concern for practical ministry to the poor have served as an inspiration for both Christian evangelists and secular social reformers. Perhaps the most fitting epitaph for Zinzendorf was provided by a church historian, who, referring to Jesus Christ’s parable of the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30), characterized him as “the rich young ruler who said yes.”

Bibliography

Atwood, Craig D. Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004. A history of the town Zinzendorf established as the first permanent outpost of Moravians in North America. Atwood describes the community’s religious beliefs and explains the strong ties between life in Bethlehem and the religious symbolism of Zinzendorf.

Cairns, Earle E. An Endless Line of Splendor. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1986. A noted church historian establishes the historical roots of nineteenth and twentieth century Christian revivals in the work of Zinzendorf and German Pietism.

Christian History 1 (1982). The entire issue of this popular church history magazine is devoted to Zinzendorf and the Moravians. Includes chronological charts, short biographies of leading figures associated with Zinzendorf, and numerous illustrations. “The Rich Young Ruler Who Said Yes” is an excellent biographical sketch of Zinzendorf.

Freeman, Arthur J. An Ecumenical Theology of the Heart: The Theology of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf. Bethlehem, Pa.: Moravian Church in America, 1998. An interpretation of Zinzendorf’s life and theology, containing the first English translations of many of his German writings. The book’s title refers to Zinzendorf’s belief that Christian faith consisted of an individual’s personal relationship with God through Christ—a relationship that was known through the heart, not the mind.

Gollin, Gillian Lindt. Moravians in Two Worlds: A Study of Changing Communities. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967. Gollin provides an interesting history of two Moravian communities founded by Zinzendorf: Herrnhut, Germany, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Using primary sources, Gollin attempts to explain the differing development of the two communities between 1722 and 1850, with respect to their religious, political, social, and economic institutions.

Langton, Edward. History of the Moravian Church. London: Allen & Unwin, 1956. A popular, illustrated survey of the history of the United Brethren Church from the time of Jan Hus through the death of Zinzendorf. Discusses the connections between the movement begun by followers of Hus, the revival under Zinzendorf, and the Methodist movement.

Lewis, A. J. Zinzendorf: The Ecumenical Pioneer. Philadelphia, Pa.: Westminster Press, 1962. The author was a Moravian minister in England. The book discusses Zinzendorf’s efforts to unify Christians by igniting among them an interest in missionary and evangelistic work. Zinzendorf is portrayed as a forerunner of the twentieth century ecumenical movement.

Weinlick, John R. Count Zinzendorf. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1956. The standard English-language biography of Zinzendorf. Illustrated and very well written.