While Moravian con-tributions to theology,missions, education, andmusic have received am-

ple attention, one aspectin the life of the eigh-

teenth-century MoravianChurch has gone almost

unnoticed, even among modernMoravians: the fact that womenshared many of the pastoralresponsibilities within the church,

wrote spiritual autobiographies, received ordination, andeven engaged in preaching.2 The example and role of theMoravian Sisters’ ministry deserves a wider audience, asdoes the way Zinzendorf and the Moravians dealt withbiblical passages prohibiting the preaching of women.

Moravian historyThe story of the eighteenth-century Moravian Churchbegins in 1722 when Protestant exiles came from Moraviato Zinzendorf’s estate in Saxony. These spiritual descen-dants of the persecuted Unity of Bohemian Brethren subse-quently established a small village called Herrnhut—“TheLord’s Watch.” Zinzendorf was a Lutheran pietist whoharbored high aspirations for a life fully devoted to Christ.He regarded the appearance of the Moravian settlers as anopportunity to organize a truly Christian community ofregenerate souls. In the following years, additional immi-grants and other spiritually minded people of varying con-fessional backgrounds from all over Germany were attract-ed to this germinating Pietist colony.

A spiritual revival in 1727 unified the residents ofHerrnhut as a Gemeine (“congregation” or “fellowship”)determined to pattern itself after the church of the apos-tolic age.3 Through a rapid internal and external develop-ment, the local community soon evolved into a largermovement, with contacts and establishments throughoutEurope and numerous mission stations overseas. A strongsense of the immediacy of Christ inspired the Moraviansto sanctify all aspects of life and to cherish their individual

and shared religious experiences.Although the Moravians reinstated parts of the church

discipline of the Bohemian Brethren, Zinzendorf did notintend to establish the Moravian Gemeine as a separatechurch, nor did he regard it as the only true Christian com-munity. Its external organization was merely to serve asthe roof under which regenerate Christians from all con-fessions could join in fellowship and work together for theexpansion of Christ’s kingdom. This fellowship, as it wasactualized in Herrnhut and then in other Moravian soci-eties and settlements, was seen as a reflection of the life ofthe true, invisible Church Universal—Christ's Bride—andas a preparation for her glorious restitution at the time ofChrist’s second coming. When Zinzendorf died in 1760,the Moravians counted about two dozen settlements inEurope and North America, centers of an intense religiouslife and numerous wide-ranging ministries and missions.

The fact that from its beginning the settlement at Herrn-hut and the movement that grew out of it strove to forman exemplary Christian community had a significant bear-ing on the role and status of women. Conventional “world-ly” norms and concepts about womanhood were ques-tioned and modified according to the community’s spiritualethos, which was to some degree egalitarian in character.

At the same time, the situation of Moravian women wasalso shaped by the steadily evolving needs and experi-ences within the movement, especially by the emphasis onspeaking about one’s spiritual life with others. The con-junction of both aspects—the egalitarian tendency and theimportance of communication—resulted in an involve-ment of women as leaders and speakers that was uniquelyMoravian and effectively turned the traditional interpre-tation of 1 Corinthians 14:34—“let the women keep silencein the churches”—on its head.

The equality and particularity of womenA good starting point for the presentation of the scope andform of the Moravian Sisters’ involvement in ministry areZinzendorf’s remarks about the spiritual status and char-acter of women. What is most significant is that Zin-zendorf affirms the equality of men and women with

Biblical Equality in the Moravian ChurchWomen shared pastoral responsibilities in the community founded by

Count Zinzendorf in the eighteenth-century.

PETER VOGT

Count Zinzendorf

PRISCILLA PAPERS/Summer 2001: 15:3 3

ALTHOUGH NUMERICALLY SMALL, THE MORAVIAN CHURCH IS RELATIVELY

well known for its influence on the conversion of John Wesley andfor its pioneering mission work. The Moravian vision of forming a

truly Christian community and the ingenious leadership of Count Niko-laus von Zinzendorf (1700–60) resulted in a communal life that washighly original and in many respects ahead of its time.1

respect to their relationship with Christ. There is certaintythat Christ’s love during his earthly sojourn was impartialbecause of his regard for women such as Mary and Mar-tha.4 Even now, this impartiality continues to be valid:“With Him, none comes up short, and He also does notprefer one person to another. He loves with an inexpress-ible and inimitable egality.”5

Although Zinzendorf shared the common opinion thatwomen had caused the Fall, he argued that their full worthand dignity within the church had been restored by thefact that Christ was born of a woman:

Because the old regulation (from the fall) that the femalesex can have nothing to do with priestly matters hadalready been ignored in case of one or another importantwoman (e.g., the old matron in the temple), but now, sincethe creator [i.e., Christ] is born by a woman, it is abolished,and [because] now the sisters belong to the class of thosewhom the Savior has declared to his heavenly father aspriests just as much as the men: therefore it isno question that the whole band, thewhole company, the whole choir ofhis maidens and brides, are priest-esses, and not only priestesses butalso priestly women.6

It should be clear that in this context theword priestess should not be understood as the femaleequivalent of priest (i.e., ordained clergy person), butrather that the word signifies a status of spiritual purityand qualification before God. Still, there can be no doubtthat the sisters’ practical involvement in ministry wasgreatly furthered by such an understanding.

At the same time, Zinzendorf recognizes that the sistersdiffer from the brothers in some important ways. The sis-ters are more tender and spiritually receptive than thebrothers: “The enjoyment, the feeling, the sense of tastingis a particular privilege of the sisters, that no one maydeny them.”7 They have their particular spiritual gifts andtheir particular spiritual needs. Accordingly, Zinzendorfargues that the ministry of spiritual care for the sistersshould be placed in their own hands. Men should ministerto men, and women should minister to women. The sameprinciple in a more sophisticated form applies also to theso-called choir system, which divided the Moravian com-munity into smaller groups, or “choirs,” according to sex,age, and marital status.

Forms of female ministry From very early on, and mostly for reasons of propriety, astrict separation of men and women was practiced atHerrnhut. In this situation, it was only natural that almostall positions of leadership and ministry that developedwithin the community were filled by both men and wom-en. So there were elders and eldresses, male teachers forboys and female teachers for girls, male and female over-seers, helpers, sick-nurses, caretakers of the poor, and soon.8 Although the names and forms of the various offices

changed over time, the underlying principle of a male-female symmetry was retained as the Moravian Churchgrew and even found its visible expression in the architec-ture of the settlement congregations, with the paralleldesign of a “brothers’ side” and a “sisters’ side.”9

As the Moravian community grew beyond Herrnhut,the sisters continued to take part in the leadership of themovement. The female choirs were largely administeredby the sisters themselves, women were represented on thegoverning boards of the individual congregations, andthey were also involved in the leadership of the wholechurch. Sisters participated in synods and carried out nu-merous administrative, diaconical, and even some pastoralresponsibilities. A catalogue of 1746 lists 479 sisters hold-ing positions in some kind of church office.

Around the same time, Zinzendorf restituted the an-cient Christian rite of ordaining sisters as deaconesses inorder to confirm and equip them for their ministry. About

200 women were ordained asdeaconesses between 1745

and 1760, and in 1758Zinzendorf arrangedthe consecration of

14 sisters as presbyter-ae or “priestesses.”10

These offices were not directlyequivalent to that of the (male) pastor of

the congregation, but they entailed a considerable degreeof autonomy and responsibility with regard to the min-istry among the sisters, especially in the sisters’ choirs.

In one memorable quote from 1756, Zinzendorf beauti-fully expresses his view of the sisters’ spiritual competen-cy: “We now do not want to hear anymore from our sis-ters: ‘You men, you talk with God, and we will do every-thing you tell us; just put yourselves between God and us,so that we won’t get to close to him.’ Rather they are allthere to hear him and his word themselves, and we [thebrothers] might well see to it that we so conduct ourselvesthat the word which he gives to them and our words andactions may always agree.”11 The sisters and the brothersshould be partners in the ministry of the church.

Zinzendorf on women’s preaching Much of the sisters’ ministry consisted apparently ofadministrative work, spiritual care, and charitable aid inthe female choirs. But it also included the leading of devo-tions in their particular choirs. Accordingly, one of theissues during Zinzendorf’s lifetime was the question ofwhether and in what way the sisters should be allowed topreach. Mindful of Paul’s command that women should besilent in the congregation (1 Cor. 14: 34), Zinzendorf gave agreat deal of attention to this matter, and he arrived atsome surprising conclusions. A commentary on 1 Corinthi-ans from 1734 explains, with regard to Paul’s injunction:“From this it cannot be inferred that women could not beused in the congregation, for previously that has beenexplicitly stated in ch. 11, v. 5. The passage here deals only

“The sisters belong to the class of those whom the Savior

has declared to his heavenly father as priests

just as much as the men.”

4 PRISCILLA PAPERS/Summer 2001: 15:3

with the regular and general teaching when the whole con-gregation is together. And yet there might occur circum-stances in which even in this setting a woman could andhad to serve the congregation with her gifts.”12

A few years later, at the Moravian Synod at Gotha in1740, Zinzendorf commented positively on the practice offemale preaching among the Quakers. When someonepointed out that the Quakers believe “that women maypreach, if the Saviour directs them to,” Zinzendorf re-sponded:

Oh Yes! If the Saviour commands them, I have nothingagainst it. The Bible only says that the matrons should notteach, thus the maidens may well do it. To the matrons theteaching is forbidden for the very reason that the men donot become jealous if they are ignorant. The Apostle alsoadds a reason, namely that the women have naturally notthe soundness of the men, even if it would appear so, andthat it therefore would be good if they kept silence in thecongregation. Yet, he would be in the wrong, ifhe had forbidden it to all. Peter says: Iwill pour out my Spirit over all flesh,sons and daughters, manservantsand maidservants, and the maid-ens shall have visions. If thewomen should not teach, this surelywould not have come true.13

Similarly, the Manual of Doctrine of 1742 offers the ex-ample of Peter’s reference to Joel’s prophecy in Acts 2:17–18as an instance of “Women’s speaking in publick.”14

While it is unlikely that the sisters would have spokenor even preached in the assembly of the whole congrega-tion, there is clear evidence for the fact that some sisterssometimes delivered the so-called choir homilies withintheir own choirs. These homilies were short addresses,usually based on the Moravian watchword of the day, thatwere directed at the particular circumstances of the choir.Their goal, as characterized by Zinzendorf, was “that therebe a communication of the spirits, that one may under-stand one another and affect one another, that a personmay enter into the other’s soul and thus into the view andthe emotion of the one who speaks.”15 Accordingly,Zinzendorf pointed out that it is best when a choir isaddressed by one of its own members:

In a living congregation it is required for a sound dis-course, which one could call a choir homily, that foremostone would hear some brethren speaking to their choir whospeak out of their own experience. This is the reason why Ipersistently advocated, as long as it was even possible, thatin all choirs members of the same kind should hold thechoir addresses. This [rule] I have extended so far that insome congregations I have let no one other deliver address-es to the single sisters than some of them themselves. Notso much that this [practice] was proper, but also that theaim was reached and not merely pious talks were given butconversations to the heart and soul of the members whichwere coming out of an inner experience.16

That these words were more than mere theory is attest-ed by the survival of several homilies from Anna Nitsch-mann and other sisters in the Unity Archives at Herrnhut.

It appears that in the last decade of his life Zinzendorfmade his most radical statements in favor of the sisters’equal participation in ministry. In a speech in 1756 heargues that the Savior’s own practice of equality betweenmen and women rather than the subordination of womenby the apostles forms the model for the Moravians: “They[the apostles] knew what reasons they had for their con-duct: they were called out of the Jews. We poor gentileshave the basic plan, that we act precisely like the Saviour,who chose us. After him, we work toward the equality ofbrothers and sisters.” Zinzendorf notes that Jesus did notcontinue in the tradition of the Old Testament, wherewomen played only a minor role: “The dear Saviour hasintervened in this rule [and] has disclosed himself to agood number of sisters, even more than before to the

brothers; yes, he has used themas evangelists to the broth-

ers, particularly afterhis resurrection.”17

Another speech,from 1754, emphasiz-

es the equality of the sis-ters with reference to Gala-

tians 3:28:

The proof is clear enough in Paul’s words: in Christ there is nei-ther male nor female. There, the difference of the sexes asregards the privilege to spiritual things is completely abol-ished; before him they appear as the same. Because of thisprinciple, the sisters can also teach in the congregation, andit is quite probable that they have taught in the earliestchurch, since Paul made an order for it and said how theyshould be dressed in doing so. What Paul said contrariwiseto the Corinthians is a special case. He disciplined the Corin-thian women because they have been chattering too muchand said: Your women shall not teach.18

Finally, in 1757, Zinzendorf expressed regret that, forreasons of caution, the gift of the sisters’ preaching had notbeen fully espoused:

It is known that in most of the Christian denominations thephrase mulier tacit in ecclesia [a woman should keep silentin the church] has been applied in the general sense, al-though it is not even certain that the Apostle has directed itat the female gender. Rather he has said it to one nation: letyour women be silent in the congregation. This case maystill occur today but cannot bear a consequence on anothernation, particularly where they [the women] are much toosilent to begin with. . . . In order to avoid strife with others,we have followed the other denominations and havethrown out the baby with the bath-water. The phrase, how-ever, is wrong and against the Holy Scriptures. It has beena disorder that the Motherly Office of the Holy Spirit hasbeen disclosed to the sisters not through a Sister butthrough me. . . . Since the sisters ceased to speak in the

“What Paul said contrariwise to the Corinthians is a special case.

He disciplined the Corinthian women . . . and said: Yourwomen shall not teach.”

PRISCILLA PAPERS/Summer 2001: 15:3 5

place where they are supposed to, a jewel has been lost andthe female affairs among us do not stand anymore underthe blessing as before. It is odd, when the Holy Spirit says:your daughters shall prophesy, that we say: they shall notprophesy.19

This quotation is perhaps Zinzendorf’s most radicalstatement on the subject of female preaching, and it illu-mines how far Zinzendorf and the Moravians were able togo in their attempt to restore the biblical equality of wom-en within the church. Not Enlightenment theories but acareful listening to the voice of Scripture and to the needsof the church led Zinzendorf and the Moravians to theimplementation of women’s ministry to a degree unknownin Protestant Germany at that time. One wonders how thispractice might have evolved if Zinzendorf had lived long-er. As it was, his death in 1760 cut short any tendenciestoward a fully egalitarian structure. While the sisters con-tinued to carry out important ministerial functions in theirchoirs, the emphasis shifted to the subordi-nation of their work under the lead-ership and authority of thebrothers. Still, the sistersretained a considerable degreeof autonomy, and their continu-ing involvement in schools, in thefemale choirs, and on the mission fieldstestifies to the Moravians’ enduring appreciation ofthe biblical equality of women and men in Christ. �

Born in Germany, Peter Vogt studied at MoravianCollege and Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA,Harvard Divinity School, and Boston UniversitySchool of Theology, where he recently completed hisTh.D. in Systematic Theology and Church History.Peter has published essays and articles on ecclesiologyand Moravian history. He is a member of the Mora-

vian Church in Germany and is currently pursuing further pastoraltraining toward ordination. He lives in Kittery Point, Maine.

Endnotes1. For the history of the Moravian Church, see Kenneth G. Hamil-ton and J. Taylor Hamilton, History of the Moravian Church: TheRenewed Unitas Fratrum 1722-1957 (Bethlehem, PA: MoravianChurch in America, 1967), and Hans-Christoph Hahn and Hell-mut Reichel, eds., Zinzendorf und die Herrnhuter Brüder: Quellenzur Geschichte der Brüder-Unität von 1722 bis 1760 (Hamburg: Wit-tig, 1977). On Zinzendorf, see John R. Weinlick, Count Zinzendorf(Nashville: Abingdon, 1956), Arthur J. Lewis, Zinzendorf, the Ecu-menical Pioneer: A Study in the Moravian Contribution to ChristianMission and Unity (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1962), andArthur J. Freeman, An Ecumenical Theology of the Heart: The Theolo-gy of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (Bethlehem, PA: TheMoravian Church in America, 1998). The standard bibliographi-cal aid for Zinzendorf and the Moravians is Dietrich Meyer, ed.,Bibliographisches Handbuch zur Zinzendorf-Forschung (Düsseldorf:Blech, 1987). Many of Zinzendorf's writings are available in a re-print edition: Erich Beyreuther and Gerhard Meyer, eds., NikolausLudwig von Zinzendorf: Hauptschriften in sechs Bänden, 6 vols. (Hil-

desheim: Olms, 1962–63) and Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf: Er-gânzungsbânde zu den Hauptschriften, 16 vols. (Hildesheim: Olms,1966–78). A modern English translation of some of his sermonswith a good introduction can be found in Nicholaus Ludwig Countvon Zinzendorf, Nine Public Lectures on Important Subjects in Reli-gion Preached in Fetter Lane Chapel in London in the Year 1746, trans-lated and edited by George W. Forell (Iowa City: Univ. of IowaPress, 1973), and A Collection of Sermons from Zinzendorf’s Pennsyl-vania Journey, trans. Julie T. Weber; ed. Craig D. Atwood (Bethle-hem, PA: The Moravian Church in America, 2001).2. On the history of women in the eighteenth-century MoravianChurch see Otto Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen: KirchlicheFrauenrechte vor 200 Jahren (Herrnhut: Missionsbuchhandlung,1919), Beverly Smaby, “Female Piety Among Eighteenth CenturyMoravians,” Pennsylvania History 64 (1997), 151–67, Katherine M.Faull, ed., Moravian Women’s Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820 (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997); and my owntwo essays “A Voice for Themselves: Women as Participants inCongregational Discourse in the Eighteenth Century MoravianMovement,” in Beverly M. Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker, eds.,

Women Preachers and Prophets ThroughTwo Millennia of Christianity

(Berkeley, CA: University ofCalifornia Press, 1998),227–47, and “HerrnhuterSchwestern der Zinzen-

dorfzeit als Predigerinnen,”Unitas Fratrum 45/46 (1999),

28–60.3. See Hanns-Joachim Wollstadt, Geordnetes Dienen in der Christ-lichen Gemeinde, dargestellt an den Lebensformen der HerrnhuterBrüdergemeine in ihren Anfängen (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht, 1966), 41–47.4. Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen, 1–8.5. Zinzendorf, Gemeinreden (1747, reprint in Zinzendorf, Haupt-schriften, vol. 4), part 2, 311. All translations from the Germansources are my own.6. Ibid, part I, 88–89.7. Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen, 18.8. See Wollstadt, Geordnetes Dienen, esp. 209–22, and BeverlySmaby, “Forming the Single Sisters’ Choir in Bethlehem,” Trans-actions of the Moravian Historical Society 28 (1994), 1–14.9. See my essay “The Shakers and the Moravians: A Comparisonof the Structure and the Architecture of Their Settlements,” TheShaker Quarterly 21 (1993), 79–97.10. Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen, 28–29.11. Ibid., 46–47.12. Büdingische Sammlung, vol. 1 (1740, reprint in Zinzendorf,Ergänzungsbände, vol. 7), 550.13. Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen, 49.14. A Manual of Doctrine (London: Jame Hutton, 1742), 194–95.15. Otto Uttendörfer, Zinzendorfs Gedanken über den Gottesdienst(Herrnhut: Winter, 1931), 25.16. Uttendörfer, Zinzendorf und die Frauen, 55.17. Ibid., 44–45.18. Ibid., 56–57.19. Ibid., 58–59. On Zinzendorf’s understanding of the “MotherlyOffice” of the Holy Spirit, see Gary Kinkel, Our Dear Mother the Spi-rit: An Investigation of Count Zinzendorf’s Theology and Praxis (Lan-ham, MD: University Press of America, 1990), and Craig Atwood, “TheMother of God’s People: The Adoration of the Holy Spirit in theEighteenth Century Brüdergemeine,” Church History 68 (1999),886–909.

6 PRISCILLA PAPERS/Summer 2001: 15:3

“It is odd, when the Holy Spirit says: your daughters

shall prophesy, that we say:they shall not prophesy.”