Memorial
for Erdmuthe Dorothea von Zinzendorf
November
7, 1700 – June 19, 1756
Today
is a memorial day here at the Hermitage for a most remarkable eighteen-century century woman about whom most people have never heard. She was
Erdmuthe Dorothea, wife of Moravian leader Nicholas von Zinzendorf,
and mother of Christian Renatus, the leader of our brotherhood. What
made her remarkable, however, were her other achievements.
The
wedding of two fiercely-independent, strong-willed, aristocrats who
burned with Pietistic fervor was cast in terms of a warrior alliance
as Erdmuthe and Nicholas saw themselves as evangelical equals,
committed to spreading an increasingly unique and non-conforming
version of Protestant Christianity.
Missionary
work was the crux of their vision, and Nicholas took lengthy trips
across Europe and even came to Pennsylvania, leaving Erdmuthe (whose
name can be translated as Earth Mother) in charge both of the
family's vast estates and of the rapidly growing number of
congregational towns that grew like seedlings in the wake of her
husband's extensive travels, as well as his sermons, writings, and
conferences with religious and governmental officials.
The
budding sect, called the Unitas Fratrum or United Brethren, was
basically a family concern, and Erdmuthe grew into the job of being
both an effective financial manager as well as a capable church
administrator.
The
church, despite its gendered name, was a place where women, either as
Single or Married Sisters, found, for the times, a liberating sense
of equality in keeping with Nicholas' idea that the spirit spoke
directly to each person regardless of race or gender. In keeping with
what Nicholas thought was the communal emphasis of early
Christianity, women were in charge of their own residential system of
living and working according to age, gender and marital status.
One
of Nicholas' most striking and original contributions to Christian
theology was his concept of the Holy Spirit as a mother. Since the
brethren already believed that Christ lived among them, most
obviously in the form of Christian Renatus (Christ Returned), there
was no need for a ghost of someone who wasn't dead, and Nicholas
realized, on some level, as the psychologist Carl Jung would
recognize two centuries later, that incorporating the divine feminine
into the godhead provided a much-needed gender and psychological
balance.
Nicholas instituted Holy Spirit as Mother festivals (which
we will celebrate today ourselves here at the Hermitage, with a
second one on her birthday in November). Many church members at the
time saw the Zinzendorf family as earthly representatives of their
new conception of the Trinity, with a holy family of father, mother
and son.
Another
aspect of Erdmuthe's legacy are the hundreds of hymns she wrote, most
of which have never been translated from their original German, a
work we have started ourselves in versions adapted to our own
Harmonist spirituality. The hymn below is an example.
So
today is a day to recognize and to celebrate Countess Erdmuthe
Dorothea, with descendants still living from her daughters. Hymn
writer, administrator, mother, wife, and spiritual mentor to her son,
which is another story for another day.
