Prague, Herrnhut and Suchdol were three places I had the pleasure of visiting last year to attend two Moravian conferences. Building on those experiences, I will share with you the history of the earliest protestant church … it tells the story of how Moravian refugees formed the Moravian Church. I am focusing the story around one girl, Anna, whose life spanned the move from Moravia to Herrnhut and the creation of a worldwide vibrant Church.

The photograph above is the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague … read on to find out why it is so simple compared with the photograph of St Nicholas’s Church below.

 Anna’s story: where it all started

Strong women with the courage to follow their beliefs have always been important in politics, medicine, education and much more. Hopefully, in your life you have come across such women and many of you will be such people.

Anna Nitschmann was one such person and over the coming months I will tell the story of the significant role she played in the early Moravian Church. In 1715 Anna was born in a rural area of Moravia, today in the south-east of Czechia: it is about 50 miles from the Polish border and about 250 miles from Prague. Like so many stories, major influences on her life can be traced back to earlier times and other places.

Prague in early 1400s

Let us start in Prague 300 years before Anna’s birth. The Catholic Church was the major religion and a source of power exercised by the Holy Roman Empire. Across Europe people were starting to question the Catholic Church – the use of Latin, only priests able to take wine during Holy Communion, and much more. In Prague the Bethlehem Chapel was built by a courtier of King Wenceslaus IV – yes, him of Christmas carol fame. The chapel was deliberately simple in contrast to the richly decorated Catholic churches. The charter stated that all preaching in the chapel had to be in Czech … what, not in Latin?

St Nicholas Church, Prague. Typical of highly decorated Catholic churches.

Between 1402 and 1415 Jan Hus preached his popular sermons in the chapel. However, he was highly controversial and this led to him being burned at the stake in July 1415.

He was burned but his beliefs lived on. Brother Gregory and many others continued to follow his beliefs and so the oldest protestant church in the world came into existence. It was known as the Church of the United Brethren, also called the Unitas Fratrum. Living away from Prague made sense and so Gregory set up a small community in Kunwald, a small village on the north-east border of Bohemia.

Moravia in early 1700s

By the early 1700s a stronghold of United Brethren lived in villages on the Fulnek estate in Moravia. It was here that Anna Nitschmann was born in 1715 in Kunewald (today called Kunin), just a few miles from Suchdol nad Ordrou. Her family were dedicated members of the Brethren. By 1715 those unwilling to commit to the Catholic Church were facing increasing persecution, torture and even death.

And that is the context for Anna’s story. Next time we will look at her young life.

    Comenius Museum, Fulnek. This is where Jan Comenius taught and preached. For more about his significant influence on education look out for future posts.

At the two conferences I learned a great deal and was taken to many fascinating places. Everyone I met was warm, friendly and welcoming; each person helped to make the visits truly memorable. I wish to offer them all a huge thank you, especially the organisers of the International Moravian History Conference in Suchdol and the Reconciliation Conference in Herrnhut, both in 2024.

You are very welcome to send me comments and I enjoy reading peoples thoughts on what I write. My talk about Elizabeth the feisty feminist is still proving popular and now I am also offering a talk on this topic; all money raised goes to charity. My email is mary@woodhall28.co.uk