Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (26 May 1700 – 9 May 1760) was a German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church, founder of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, Christian mission pioneer and a major figure of 18th-century Protestantism. Born in Dresden, Zinzendorf was called Ludwig or Brother Ludwig by his intimates. He was notable for providing shelter for German-speaking Moravian exiles at Herrnhut, an effort that was influenced by Pietist ideas from the Lutheran faith he was brought up in.
Zinzendorf was critical of slavery, and played a role in starting the Protestant mission movement by supporting two determined Moravian missionaries Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann to go (via Copenhagen) to the Danish colony of Saint Thomas to minister to the enslaved population there (see Moravian slaves). In spite of having Danish royal support from Charlotte Amalie of Denmark, these missionaries faced discouragement in several forms, including by some Moravians at Herrnhut (including Christian David), by the Danish West India Company, by planters in Saint Thomas, by the risk of getting malaria, and by the slaves themselves.
His projects were often misunderstood. In 1736 he was banished from Saxony, but in 1749 the government rescinded its decree and begged him to establish within its jurisdiction more settlements like that at Herrnhut. Zinzendorf's effect on the Moravian Church was significant, and is still evident nearly three centuries later. He is commemorated as a hymnwriter and a renewer of the church by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on its Calendar of Saints on 9 May.
Born into one of the most prominent noble families of the region, House of Zinzendorf, Ludwig (sometimes Louis or Lewis) was the only son of Count Georg Ludwig von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf (1662–1700) by his second wife, Baroness Charlotte Justina von Gersdorff (1675–1763), daughter of Nicolaus, Baron von Gersdorff (1629–1702), Governor of the Saxon Upper Lusatia and Henrietta Catharina von Friesen-Roetha. From his father's first marriage to Baroness Maria Elisabeth Teuffel von Gundersdorf (1661–1698), Nicolaus had one half-sister, Countess Susanne Louise von Ortenburg (1690–1709), and one half-brother Count Friedrich Christian (1696–1756), who was the father of Count Karl von Zinzendorf, Governor of Trieste.
At age six, young Ludwig would often write love letters to Jesus. He would then climb to the castle tower and toss them out the window, where they scattered around the courtyard like innocent prayers. During the Great Northern War, Swedish soldiers overran Saxony in 1706. They entered the room where young Ludwig just happened to be conducting his customary devotions. The soldiers were incredibly moved by the boy's prayer.
His school days were spent at Franke Foundations 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 traveled 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. During a visit to an art museum, Zinzendorf was said to have experienced the Holy Spirit upon viewing Ecce Homo by Domencia Feti. Young Zinzendorf was converted, noting: "I have loved Him for a long time, but I have never actually done anything for Him. From now on I will do whatever He leads me to do."
In 1722, Zinzendorf offered asylum to a number of persecuted wanderers from Moravia and Bohemia (parts 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.
Zinzendorf 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.
Reconciliation and the Brotherly Agreement
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 12 May 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 creeds.
Continued study and prayer in small groups known as banden resulted in a sense of reconciliation in the community, leading to a powerful spiritual renewal on 13 August 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.
Reconnection with early Unitas Fratrum
As the renewed community of Herrnhut grew, Zinzendorf obtained a copy of Ratio Disciplinae, the church order of the early Bohemian Unity. As he began to study the history of the 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 identification 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.
In this renewed community, Zinzendorf was able to organize the people into something similar to 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.
Zinzendorf was consecrated a bishop at Berlin on 20 May 1737 by Bishops David Nitschmann der Bischof and Daniel Ernst Jablonski.
Missionaries and the Pilgrim Count
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.
In 1736, accusations from neighboring nobles and questions of theological unorthodoxy caused Zinzendorf to be exiled from his home in Saxony. He and a number of his followers moved to Marienborn (near Büdingen) and began a period of exile and travel, during which he became known as the "Pilgrim Count."