Moravian Church, Renewed Church of the Brethren, or Unitas
Fratrum (yōnēˈtäs fräˈtrŏm) [key], an evangelical Christian
communion whose adherents are sometimes called United Brethren
or Herrnhuters. It originated (1457) near Kunwald, Bohemia,
among some of the followers of John Huss and was originally
known as the Church of the Brotherhood. A break between the new
brotherhood and the Roman Church occurred in 1467, and
persecution drove many of the Brethren out of Bohemia and
Moravia into Poland, Austria, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
The Moravians established excellent schools and printing
presses, but by the end of the Thirty Years War (1648), only a
remnant of the original movement remained. In 1722 a company of
those still faithful to the teachings of the Brethren took
refuge in Saxony, where they built a town, Herrnhut, reviving
the elements of the original church and founding the Renewed
Moravian Church (1727). The church's missionary endeavors soon
extended to the West Indies, North and South America,