Born on May 26, 1700, Nikolaus Ludwig, Count of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, was raised by his religious maternal grandmother, who hosted many Pietist leaders at her estate. Being surrounded by these individuals influenced the Count, who decided to give up a government position in Saxony, one he had studied for, to fulfill a life of divine work for the Lord. Zinzendorf would soon be approached by a man telling him of the oppression of a small religious group in Moravia. Offering them shelter, the Moravians emigrated to land in Upper Lusatia. This land was owned by Zinzendorf and would become known as Herrnhut. The Count helped proved vital in shaping the Moravian Church. He wrote church doctrine, became superintendent of the Church, and led the Moravian Church in establishing and expanding the Moravian Church throughout the Western world.

Bibliography & Further Reading:

Fries, Adelaide, Records of the Moravians in North Carolina. Volume I. Edwards & Broughton Print Company. Raleigh, 1922.

Hutton, J.E., and M.A. Hutton,  A History of the Moravian Church. Moravian Publication Office, United States of America, 1909.

Podmore, Colin, “Zinzendorf and the English Moravians.” Journal of Moravian History. No. 3. Penn State University Press, 2007.

Shantz, Douglas H, An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of Modern Europe. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2013.

Spangenberg, August Gottlieb, The Life of Nicholas Lewis Count Zinzendorf, Bishop and Ordinary of the United (or Moravian) Brethren. London, 1838.

Music (Freemusicarchive.org):

Allegretto (green pastures) by Dee Yan-Key (Attribution-NonCommerical-ShareAlike: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)

Grand Piano Theme – Loopable by Lobo Loco (Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

On my Way to Work by Lobo Loco (Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivatives: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)