Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Landmarks with Leon podcast series, celebrating 250 years of independence. I'm your host, Rachel Leon. Since being elected in 2022 and serving as Vice President of Bethlehem City Council, I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve the diverse communities that make up our great city. But to understand where we're going, we need to understand our past. Each week, I'll share a short feature with a big story about the 250 years that made the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known as the Christmas City, as we explore historic landmarks.
The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian reformation of the 15th Century, and the original unity of the Brethren. The church's heritage can be traced to 1457, and the lands of Bohemian crowns now known as the Czech Republic. These early Protestants rebelled against Rome some 50 years before Martin Luther's Reformation against several practices and doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Moravians were given the name because they were religious exiles who fled from Moravia to Saxony in 1722 to escape the Counter Reformation.
Born in Germany, Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf belongs to one of the most prominent noble families of the region. Ludwig was raised as a Pietistic Lutheran. He followed the religious beliefs that one must do more than just think the right things about God, but live in the ways that demonstrate one's commitment to God. It was Ludwig's dedication to this concept that in 1722 he offered asylum to a number of persecuted religious wanderers. Ludwig permitted the Moravians to build the village of Hernhut on a corner of his estate in Bethelsdorf.
A decade after the Moravian established themselves in Hernhut, they sought out to address social issues like poverty, education and the needs of the marginalized. Within 30 years, the church sent hundreds of Christian missionaries to many parts of the world, including North and South America, Africa, Australia and the Far East. But in 1736 accusations from neighboring nobles and questions of theological unorthodoxy caused Zinzendorf to be exiled, during which became known as the Pilgrim Count.
During the Pilgrim Count in 1741, Zinzendorf visited Pennsylvania to become one of the few 18th century European nobles to actually set foot in the Americas. The first Moravian worship service in Bethlehem was held in the Gemeinhaus in 1751. The chapel was built as the second place of worship for the Moravian community after the combined house became too small. The chapel was simple and could hold 180 people. In 1802, a conference of ministers and church officials met in Bethlehem to discuss important measures. The first was the erection of a new and imposing church edifice in Bethlehem.
In 1803, with a population of 580 people residing in Bethlehem, construction began on what would become the Central Moravian Church. It would take over three years to complete and hold 1500 people. Construction was completed by 1806.
Above the communion table hung Bethlehem's famous swallow's nest pulpit. Over it, a canopy arched out like a halo. In 1851, the swallow's nest pulpit was replaced with one on the ground floor. At the opposite end of the church sits the organ and choir loft. Among the significant church services included music from the Bethlehem Bach Choir. On March 27, 1900, the Mass in B minor, written by Johann Sebastian Bach, was rendered in its entirety for the first time in America.
If you're lucky enough to be in Bethlehem on the second Tuesday of the month, from September through April, but not in December, the Bach at Noon series performs in the central Moravian Church under the direction of Christopher Jackson.
