The Moravian Church have a valid claim to being the oldest Protestant denomination. They trace their formation to the year 1457, when followers of the martyred John Hus(s) organized. They had grown to a membership of 200,000 by the time of Martin Luther. By the end of the 1600s, they had almost been eliminated by the effects of the Counter-Reformation. Through the aid of Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760), they were revived and became a major force in the religious life of the middle Atlantic colonies in North America (including the missionaries they sent out from there). Though Zinzendorf was heavily influenced by the Lutheran Pietists, they introduced many new thoughts into religious life.
They regarded baptism as the initial entry into the church of God, but it alone did not guarantee entry into heaven. Unbaptized infants were not regarded as doomed in line with the idea that they had not committed any sin. Still, the Moravians often emphasized early baptism of infants. At Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, if a baby was born in the middle of the night, they would awaken the whole (communal) congregation for a baptism service. This view changed but baptism within a day or two was the norm.
Baptism was a very public activity and private baptisms were discouraged. Usually the baptism was incorporated into a worship service. Confirmation was a prerequisite for participation in a communion service. Again, as with the Lutherans, the confirmation process was seen as an educational process.
The Moravians did include an element that we have not yet discussed. This was the "lot". As pertains to confirmation, a "random" draw of "confirmed", "not confirmed", or "blank" determined whether the confirmation was allowed. If the blank response was drawn, the candidate could apply again at a later date.
The Moravians would baptize the children of non-Moravians. But they placed restrictions on this. If they had doubts about the child leading a Christian life, they would decline to baptize it.
The Moravians recorded the typical information pertaining to baptisms of other faiths but they did number the baptisms in the record book and they always entered the name of the minister performing the service. In the mid-eighteenth century, they commonly added a feature which could be of immense value to genealogists. They very often added the maiden names of the mother and of the married women sponsors. Some of the time they had up to five sponsors who were of the same sex as the child. Later, they reduced the number of sponsors and allowed opposite sex sponsors. Beware that the terms "Brother" and "Sister" do not mean a blood relationship; they indicate a spiritual relationship. In general, the Moravians wrote at least twice as much as any other denomination (on all subjects) including autobiographies.
(04 Jul 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.