| Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf | |
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Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf |
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| Born | May 26, 1700 Dresden |
| Died | May 9, 1760 (aged 59) Herrnhut |
| Occupation | theologian, priest, Bishop of Moravian church |
| Spouse | Erdmuthe Dorothea, († 1756) Anna Nitschmann, († 1760) |
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, Imperial Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, (May 26, 1700 – May 9, 1760), German religious and social reformer and bishop of the Moravian Church, was born at Dresden.
Zinzendorf had a naturally alert and active mind, and an enthusiastic temperament that made his life one of ceaseless planning and executing. Like Martin Luther, he was often influenced by strong and vehement feelings, and he was easily moved both by sorrow and joy. He was an eager seeker after truth, and could not understand men who at all costs kept to the opinions they had once formed; yet he had an exceptional talent for talking on religious subjects even with those who differed from him. Few men have been more solicitous for the happiness and comfort of others, even in little things. His activity and varied gifts sometimes landed him in oddities and contradictions that not infrequently looked like equivocation and dissimulation, and the courtly training of his youth made him susceptible about his authority even when no one disputed it. He was a natural orator, and though his dress was simple his personal appearance gave an impression of distinction and force. His projects were often misunderstood, and in 1736 he was even banished from Saxony, but in 1749 the government rescinded its decree and begged him to establish within its jurisdiction more settlements like that at Herrnhut. He is commemorated as a hymnwriter and a renewer of the church by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on their Calendar of Saints and on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on May 10.
The Zinzendorf family belonged to one of the most ancient of noble families in Lower Austria. They were feudal lords over many places in the Wachau area of the Danube Valley. Family members occupied many important positions in the imperial household, at the Reformation they became Lutherans. Among the Zinzendorf ancestors was the Emperor Maximillian I. Zinzendorf's great grandfather was made an Imperial Count. His son Erasmus Maximillian von Zinzendorf chose to sell his Austrian possessions and emigrate to Franconia rather than accept forced conversion to Catholicism. His children entered the service of the Electors of Brandenburg and of Saxony Zinzendorf's father was in the service of the Saxon Elector at Dresden at the time of his youngest son's birth. He died six weeks later and the child was sent to live with his maternal grandmother and an aunt. His parents were engaged in Pietist circles and had Philipp Jakob Spener appointed as his godfather. His mother married again when he was four years old, and he was educated under the charge of his pietistic Lutheran grandmother, Henriette Catharina von Gersdorff, who did much to shape his character.
His school days were spent at Halle where Pietism was strong, and in 1716 he went to the university of Wittenberg, to study law so as to be ready for a diplomatic career. Three years later, he was sent to travel in the Netherlands, in France, and in various parts of Germany, where he made the personal acquaintance of men distinguished for practical goodness and belonging to a variety of churches. On his return he visited the branches of his family settled at Oberbürg near Nuremberg and at Castell. During a lengthened visit at Castell he fell in love with his cousin Theodora; but the widowed countess, her mother, objected to the marriage, and the lady afterwards became the wife of Count Henry XXIX of Reuss and Zinzendorf married Reuss's sister Erdmuthe Dorothea.
Zinzendorf seems to have considered this disappointment as a call to some special work for God. He had previously, in deference to his family, who wished him to become a diplomat, rejected the invitation of August Hermann Francke to take Baron von Canstein's place in the Halle orphanage; and he now resolved to settle down as a landowner, spending his life on behalf of his tenantry. He bought Berthelsdorf from his grandmother, Baroness von Gersdorf and called Johann Andreas Rothe for pastor and John George Heiz for factor; he married Erdmuthe Dorothea, sister of Count Heinrich XXIX of Reuss-Ebersdorf, and began building on his home.
His intention was to carry out into practice the Pietist ideas of Spener. He did not mean to found a new church or religious organization distinct from the Lutheranism of the land, but to create a Christian association the members of which by preaching, by tract and book distribution and by practical benevolence might awaken the somewhat torpid religion of the Lutheran Church. The "band of four brothers" (Rothe, pastor at Berthelsdorf; Melchior Schäffer, pastor at Görlitz; Friedrich von Watteville, a friend from boyhood; and himself) set themselves by sermons, books, journeys and correspondence to create a revival of religion, and by frequent meetings for prayer to preserve in their own hearts the warmth of personal trust in Christ. From the printing-house at Ebersdorf, now in Thuringia, large quantities of books and tracts, catechisms, collections of hymns and cheap Bibles were issued; and a translation of Johann Arndt's True Christianity was published for circulation in France.
A dislike of the dry Lutheran orthodoxy of the period gave Zinzendorf some sympathy with that side of the growing rationalism which was attacking dogma, while at the same time he felt its lack of earnestness, and of a true and deep understanding of religion and of Christianity, and endeavoured to counteract these defects by pointing men to the historical Christ, and seeking to recapture practices and spirituality of the Apostolic church. He seems also to have doubted the wisdom of Spener's plan of not separating from the Lutheran Church, and began to think that true Christianity could be best promoted by free associations of Christians, which in the course of time might grow into churches with no state connection. These thoughts took a practical turn from his connection with the Bohemian or Moravian Brethren. In 1722, Zinzendorf offered an asylum to a number of persecuted wanderers from Moravia and Bohemia, (part of Czech Republic today), and permitted them to build the village of Herrnhut on a corner of his estate of Berthelsdorf. Most of the initial refugees who came to this asylum were recruited by Christian David and came from areas where the early Protestant groups such as the Unitas Fratrum had been dominant prior to the Thirty Years' War. As the village grew it became known as a place of religious freedom, and attracted individuals from a variety of persecuted groups, including the Schwenkfelders. The concentration of differing beliefs in the village produced intense conflict. Personal and religious differences between the estate manager Heitz and Johann Andreas Rothe, the Lutheran pastor of Berthelsdorf, were made more tense by the apocalyptic preaching of Johann Sigismund Krüger.[1]
The village fell into disarray and severe conflict. Some, including village founder Christian David, got caught up in apocalyptic fanaticism, referring to Zinzendorf as the Beast of the Apocalypse, and Rothe as the False Prophet. Zinzendorf finally took an indefinite leave from his court commission in Dresden and moved back to his estate to devote himself full-time to reconciliation of the conflict. He began to visit each home for prayer, and finally called the men of the village together for an intense study of the Scriptures. The question they came to focus on was how the Scriptures described Christian life in community. These studies, combined with intense prayer, convinced many of the community that they were called to live together in love, and that the disunity and conflict they had experienced was contrary to the clear calling of Scripture.[1]
Out of this study and prayer, the community formed a document known as the Brüderlicher Vertrag, the Brotherly Agreement, a voluntary discipline of Christian community. This document, and a set of rules laid down by Zinzendorf known as The Manorial Injunctions, were signed by the members of the community on May 12, 1727. This document, which has been revised over many years, is today known as "The Moravian Covenant for Christian Living." The Moravian Church is one of the few denominations that emphasizes a code of Christian behavior over specific doctrines or beliefs.[2]
Continued study and prayer in small groups known as banden resulted in a powerful sense of reconciliation in the community, leading to a powerful spiritual renewal on August 13, 1727 during a special communion service at the Berthelsdorf Church. This experience, referred to as the "Moravian Pentecost," marked the beginning of a new era of spiritual growth in Herrnhut. It also began a period of radical experimentation with communal Christian living as expressed in Zinzendorf's theology.[1]
As the renewed community of Herrnhut grew, Zinzendorf obtained a copy of Ratio Disciplinae, the church order of the early Unity. As he began to study the history of the Moravians and Bohemians, he was astonished to find powerful similarities between the theology and practice of the early Unitas Fratrum and the newly established order of Herrnhut. Zinzendorf and the Herrnhuters felt a strong identity with the writings of Moravian Bishop John Amos Comenius and incorporated many of the ideas of the early Unity. However, Zinzendorf saw the new group as a spark for renewal of all denominations, not a new and separate denomination. This theological bent was reinforced by the legal structure of the Lutheran State church.[1]
In this renewed community, Zinzendorf was able to organize his refugees into something like a militia Christi, based not on monastic but on family life. However his ideas of family were centered not on a traditional nuclear family of parents and children. Indeed, he wanted to break traditional family bonds by organizing communal families based on age, marital status and gender. The banden, or small groups, continued but were organized into "choirs" based on age, marital status, and gender. Zinzendorf's theology recognized that at each stage of life, we had different spiritual needs and a different relationship with the Savior.[2] Moravian communities based on this model, such as Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Salem, North Carolina, were designed for the sole purpose of serving Christ, who also was considered to be the community leader. In these communities, a radical equality of spiritual life was practiced. In Bethlehem, nobility and converted native Americans shared common quarters; in Salem, slaves were full members of the Church and could be elected to offices of leadership.
Zinzendorf was consecrated a bishop at Berlin on 20 May 1737 by Bishops David Nitschmann der Bischof and Daniel Ernst Jablonski.
Zinzendorf's interest in missionary work was sparked by meeting a freed slave, Anthony Ulrich, and hearing of the terrible oppression of the slaves in the West Indies. In 1732, the community began sending out missionaries among slaves in the Danish-governed West Indies and the Inuit of Greenland. Zinzendorf's personal and familial relation to the court of Denmark and to King Christian VI facilitated such endeavors. He saw with delight the spread of this Protestant family order in Germany, Denmark, Russia and England.[3]
In 1736, accusations from neighboring nobles and questions of theological orthodoxy caused Zinzendorf to be exiled from his home in Saxony. He and a number of his followers moved to Marienborn ((near Buedingen) and began a period of exile and travel, during which he became known as the "Pilgrim Count."[1]
The missionary work in the West Indies had been hugely controversial in Europe, with many accusing Zinzendorf of simply sending young missionaries off to die. Zinzendorf decided to place himself on the line, and in 1739 left Europe to visit the mission work on St. Thomas. Convinced that he himself might not come back, he preached his "last sermon" and left his will with his wife.[4] The visit was a huge success, however, and enabled him to free some of the missionaries who had been illegally jailed. However, the missionaries' mistreatment by the plantation managers established their credibility with the slaves, and after Zinzendorf's visit the mission work was much more successful.
In 1741, Zinzendorf visited Pennsylvania, thus becoming one of the few 18th century European nobles to have actually set foot in the Americas. In addition to visiting leaders in Philadelphia such as Benjamin Franklin, he met with the leaders of the Iroquois and, with the assistance of Conrad Weiser reached agreements for the free movement of Moravian missionaries in the area.[4]
In 1749, Zinzendorf leased Lindsey House, a large manor in Chelsea built on the estate of Sir Thomas More to be a headquarters for work in England. He lived there until 1755.
Missionary colonies had by this time been settled in the West Indies (1732), in Greenland (1733), amongst the North American Indians (1735); and before Zinzendorf's death the Brethren had sent from Herrnhut missionary colonies to Livonia and the northern shores of the Baltic, to the slaves of South Carolina, to Suriname, to the Negro slaves in several parts of South America, to Tranquebar and the Nicobar Islands in the East Indies, to the Copts in Egypt, to the Inuit of Labrador, and to the west coast of South Africa.
Zinzendorf was a very eclectic theologian. He called his group the "Church of God in the Spirit" or the "Congregation of God in the Spirit." Zinzendorf's theology is very relational and profoundly Christ-centered. Rather than focusing on doctrine or belief, it emphasizes the growth of the spiritual relationship between the believer and the Savior. As reflected in the communities he established, he believed in Christians living lives of radical love and harmony, and believed that every Christian needed to live in a faith community, or Gemeinde (congregation). He taught that the Savior had a relationship with each believer, but a different level of relationship with the Gemeinde. Decisions on interpretation of Scripture were to be made communally, not individually. He believed it was the Gemeinde, not the ecclesiastical and political institution, that was truly the Church of Jesus Christ.[2]
Zinzendorf's theology strongly included the emotional life of the believer as well as the intellectual. He criticized the coldly intellectual approach common in his day, and built a great deal of practice around the transformation of the emotions. He referred to this as the "religion of the heart."
Zinzendorf's thought and practice was radically ecumenical in a world of rigidly defined religious/political boundaries. He believed that each denomination had a unique perception of Christ, and a unique gift to offer the world. He met and had profound personal relationships with religious leaders ranging from Cardinal Louis Antoine de Noailles, the Catholic Archbishop of Paris to John Potter, the Anglican (Episcopalian) Archbishop of Canterbury, both of whom became members of Zinzendorf's Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, pledging to use their positions of power to serve Christ. Others who were members of the Order included Christian VI, King of Denmark, General James Oglethorpe, Governor of Georgia, Tomochichi, Chief of the Creek nation of native American Indians, and Erskine, a Scottish member of the British Parliament.
Zinzendorf often worked to have denominations work together and respect one another. In 1742 he advocated respect for the Saturday Sabbath keeping among the German speaking Christians in Philadelphia citing the use of that day by the Ephrata Cloister, thus promoting the first practice of the two-day weekend in America. He also used Sunday for preaching the Gospel.
Zinzendorf's theology was sometimes controversial to contemporaries. He encouraged followers to visualise Christ's wounds in great detail (‘so moist, so gory’, as he described them), and his sermons included exhortations to imaginitively ‘enter into’ these wounds and drink from them. His ‘obsession’[5] with Christ's wounds was linked the eroticism of his language – in particular the spear-wound in Christ's side which he and the community called the Seitenhölchen (‘little side-hole’). This was tied to his wish to overcome the traditional shame which was attached to sexual organs and acts:
What in the Bible is mentioned an hundred, and more than an hundred Times, but on Account of the Fall, by Reason of Deprivation, is call'd by the hideous name Pudendum; this he (the Saviour) has changed into Verendum, in the proper and strictest sense of that Word: And what was chastised by Circumcision, in the Time of the Law, is restored again to its first Essence and flourishing State; 'tis made equal to the most respectable Parts of the Body, yea 'tis on account of its Dignity and Distinction, become superior to all the rest; especially as the Lamb would choose to endure in that Part his first Wound, his first Pain...[6]
Some modern writers have seen something pathological in Zinzendorf's intense psychoerotic meditation on the wounds and the body of Christ, while others have pointed out that such practice ‘allowed the members of the society to sublimate a variety of personal drives and fears to the mystical realm for the good of the Gemeine [community] and its mission’.[7] At any rate it is clear that for Zinzendorf the fact of intercourse, properly entered into between husband and wife, was a transcendent act and an important religious symbol which prefigured the union of a sinner with the Saviour. Zinzendorf's emphasis on the "blood and wounds" is not that different from hymns that are sung today without second thought: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee."
It was his son, Christian Renatus von Zinzendorf who took his father's teachings on the relationship between sexuality and spirituality to an extreme. Christian Renatus lived at a special community built by Ludwig east of Frankfurt/Main, Germany, called Herrnhaag, The Lord's Grove, where he led the Single Brethren's Choir composed of the unmarried men in the Congregation. Excessive use of sexual imagery, combined with questionable theology of "playing in the Lord," came to mean that the young men did little work and came to look down on those who were in the mission field laboring for the Kingdom instead of spending every moment adoring the Savior. Ensuing scandal and near-financial ruin forced Ludwig to chastise his son, bringing him to England. Casimir Count of Isenburg-Buedingen demanded the submission of the Moravians of Herrnhaag to himself, and that they reject their allegiance to the elder Zinzendorf. The entire community rejected this demand, leading to the closure of Herrnhaag beginning in 1750-53.
The community in Herrnhut, from which almost all these colonies had been sent out, had no money of its own, and Zinzendorf had almost exclusively furnished its expenses. His frequent journeys from home made it almost impossible for him to look after his private affairs; he was compelled from time to time to raise money by loans, and about 1750 was almost reduced to bankruptcy. This led to the establishment of a financial board among the Brethren, on a plan furnished by a lawyer, John Frederick Köber, which worked well. Christian Renatus, whom Nicholas had hoped to make his successor, died in 1752 and the loss devastated him. Four years later, on 17 June 1756 he lost his wife Erdmuthe Dorothea, who had been his counselor and confidante in all his work. Zinzendorf remained a widower for one year, and then (27 June 1757) contracted a second marriage with Anna Caritas Nitschmann (24 November 1715 – 21 May 1760), with whom he had been very close for many years. Anna had for years been spiritual leader of the women of the movement. The marriage was not publicized broadly since Anna was a commoner, and would have been extremely controversial. Three years later, overcome with his labours, he fell ill and died (on 9 May 1760), leaving Bishop Johannes von Watteville, who had married his eldest daughter Benigna, to take his place at the head of the community. Anna died only a few days later.
He wrote a large number of hymns, of which the best-known are "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness" and "Jesus, still lead on". A selection of his Sermons was published by Gottfried Clemens in 10 vols., his Diary (1716–1719) by Gerhard Reichel and Josef Theodor Müller (Herrnhut, 1907), and his Hymns, etc., by H. Bauer and G. Burkhardt (Leipzig, 1900). The German version of this article says that perhaps his best known work is the "Common Table Prayer," "Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest and let Thy gifts to us be blessed." In another translation this is called the "Moravian Blessing," "Come Lord Jesus, our Guest to be, and bless these gifts bestowed by Thee."
A four-part documentary series, Count Zinzendorf was produced in 2000 by Comenius Foundation with the assistance of the Christian History Institute.[8] Directed by John Jackman, the series was broadcast on The Hallmark Channel, and is distributed in the US and Canada by Vision Video. A German version of the series, Der Graf Ohne Grenzen ("The Count Without Borders") was released by Haenssler Verlag.
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