15 November 2021

The Unity of the Brethren and the Magisterial Reformation (Part 1)

A good resource regarding the formative years of the Moravian Church is The History of the Unity of Brethren (A Protestant Hussite Church in Bohemia and Moravia) by Rudolf Rican. First published in the 1950's, the available English translation (by C. Daniel Crews) came out in the 1990's. It's published by The Moravian Church in America.

The book begins with the martyr Jan Hus (1372-1415) and other dissident movements in Bohemia such as the Waldensians. Petr Chelčický (c.1380-1460) also receives significant treatment as he came to exert a great deal of influence on the early Brethren movement – itself a derivative of the larger Hussite wave.


The Unitas Fratrum or Unity of the Brethren arose in the aftermath of the Basel Compacts or Compactata of 1436. The more radical Taborites had been defeated two years earlier in 1434 at Lipany by a joint Catholic and Utraquist army. Though largely forgotten today the Utraquists or Calixtines were the moderate Hussite party that wanted reform but were content to find a modus vivendi with Rome.

With the hopes of both the zealot Taborites and Biblically-minded Christians shattered, by the 1450's various individuals and groups began to coalesce – elements of disenchanted Utraquists and Taborites and other dissidents formed into a group that would become known as the Jednota Bratrska or the Unity of the Brethren – sometimes known by the Latin moniker Unitas Fratrum and in other cases simply the Bohemian Brethren. The 'Moravian' appellation known today would come much later.

In many respects similar to the already extant Waldensians, the Unitas flourished in the latter half of the Fifteenth Century and this despite persecution from Czech Utraquists and the ever present danger faced when coming in contact with the agents of Rome.

Under the leadership of Lukas of Prague (1460-1528), the Unitas would move away from the hard-Biblicism and separatism of Petr Chelčický, and yet they found themselves somewhat at odds with the Magisterial Reformation which they would come into contact with throughout the 1520's. The Unitas leadership feared the latent antinomianism in Luther's doctrine of Sola Fide – further evidenced by their contact with Lutheran towns, and they were less than enthused about the magisterial aspect of the Reformation's programme to transform Christendom. This is even after Lukas had already mollified the non-resistance and non-participation doctrines of Chelčický. For Lukas, the Reformation seemed a step too far and one in an unbiblical direction at critical points.

And yet the reality is that over time the Unitas would be greatly affected by the Magisterial Reformation and pulled into its currents – as was the dominant Utraquist party. Over the next two centuries the Unitas would vacillate between various Lutheran factions and at times fall within the sphere of Calvinism.

One of the most striking elements of the book was the transformation that took place in the Sixteenth Century. Having eventually aligned with the dominant Protestant interests, the Brethren found themselves caught up in the political struggle and subsequently were shocked by the effects of the Schmalkaldic War (1546-1547).

The imperial Habsburg-led campaign against neighbouring Protestant Saxony alarmed the Lutherans and some of the Brethren in Bohemia, though their Hussite cousins, the Utraquists supported the imperial position. Revolting against the Habsburg ruler Charles V, the Lutheran princes began to organise military aid for the Protestant elector Johann Friedrich I and fellow Schmalkaldic League member Philip of Hesse. Though Czech support never really materialised and the effort fizzled, what was perceived as a 'Bohemian Revolt' resulted in severe reprisals. Not of few members of the Unitas under influence of the Magisterial Reformation had been caught up in the moment and were subsequently executed. Previous to this, Unitas members who had been imprisoned and killed had suffered for the testimony of the gospel. This activity represented something different. From the perspective of the crown it was treason and participation in an armed uprising. The warnings of Lukas about the new Protestant Reformation had not been heeded.

There were other issues that had upset Unitas members. The influence of the Magisterial Reformation led to significant changes in their attitude toward wealth and the ethics of interest or usury. This was not universal among early Protestants, but generally speaking a notable worldliness (associated with the movement) had crept in and this reality (along with the executions related to the Schmalkaldic War) proved shocking.

The popularity and growth of the Unitas had also led many from within the noble and knightly classes to join their movement, a reality that was on the one hand of practical advantage – as they would have financial sponsors and safe areas in which to live and worship, but on the other hand they were being pulled into politics, worldly conflict and risked confusing the Christian calling with a larger struggle for power and all that goes along with it.

The Unitas responded to the Schmalkaldic backlash and for a time reverted to the teachings of Lukas which while less sound than Chelčický, were nevertheless more Biblical than the worldly ethics of coin, politicking, and war promoted by the Magisterial Reformation's theologians and political leaders.

By 1548, the Unitas had once more been forced underground. Due to the political situation, Moravia became a haven and thus the group would in time become associated with that eastern region of old Bohemia. Others would find a refuge in Poland but in time they found there were difficulties even in Protestant lands and they suffered occasional persecution by Lutherans who had fallen into old sacral patterns and when in political favour would not tolerate any kind of social or religious pluralism. At times it's clear the Unitas intelligentsia became thoroughly disgusted with Lutheranism. This would result in a gradual turn toward Calvinism throughout the remainder of the Sixteenth and into the Seventeenth Centuries.

But this was no solution and it didn't take long for the lessons of the early Unitas and the Schmalkaldic War to be forgotten. Sponsored by nobility in parts of Poland, the Unitas even found itself at times in a sacral state-sponsored role. The Polish Brethren entered this arrangement half-heartedly and even with regret and the subsequent disorganised and poorly managed polity failed, leading to their displacement by the Lutherans and Reformed and a return once again to a more Biblical understanding of the Church vis-à-vis the world. The Polish Brethren would eventually break with the Magisterial Reformation in 1557 leading to harsh criticism from the pens of Bullinger and Calvin. The efforts of the Polish reformer John a' Lasco would also fail to win them over. Though generally still on the fringes of the Calvinist sphere and eventually preferring Heidelberg over Wittenberg for theological study, the Unitas would continue to pursue an independent course, never fully on board or of one mind with the Magisterial Reformation.

It's worth noting that in the coming years the Unitas and other Protestants would face great persecution at the hands of the Jesuit-led Counter-Reformation – a reality that would intensify in the latter part of the 1500's and culminate in a near genocidal campaign in the aftermath of the Thirty Years War.

The Magisterial Protestants relied on a sacral arrangement – their movement only able to flourish when under some kind of governmental sponsorship that would provide security and legislate the social and theological reforms advocated by the Lutheran and Calvinist reformers. Thus due to political failings and the machinations of the Jesuits, the Counter-Reformation virtually exterminated Protestant influence in many of the lands of Central Europe including Poland, Bohemia, Austria, and elsewhere.

In some of these places Protestants had actually become the majority and yet today their presence is almost non-existent. Once lands in which the Waldensians flourished, their descendants (as Magisterial Reformation Protestants) were swept away by the Counter-Reformation.

Hungary (which included Transylvania) was the almost lone exception. Magyar politics vis-à-vis the Habsburgs and the Turks were able to keep a Calvinist polity alive while it perished elsewhere.  

The Unitas was now on its own and while they were almost eradicated in the tumult and aftermath of the Thirty Years War they were able to survive it – eventually finding a haven in eastern Saxony at Count Zinzendorf's Herrnhut which he founded in 1722. Abandoning much of the Calvinist ideology they had come to embrace, the Moravians (as they became known) moved decidedly into the Lutheran-Pietist framework, and yet still retained some of their own distinctives. In the end, like the proto-protestant Petr Chelčický (who influenced them early on) they found themselves in a position that didn't quite fit into any of the mainstream Magisterial Protestant camps.

Continue reading Part 2