Moravians are Persecuted Paulus Finds Refuge

The first exiles from Suchdol came to Herrnhut in 1724 after 10 days of walking. They were the families of the three David Nitschmanns, Melchior Zeisberger and Jan Telcik. Church historians call the five men the “pillars of the church” because they came to Herrnhut with the plan to renew the Unitas Fratum there.

(NOTE: In the summer of 2000, two young Seventh Day Adventist from the Czech Republic walked the 210 miles from Suchdol to Hurrnhut to commemorate this big event in the history of the Moravian Church.)

But the families of these exiles suffered further difficulties after their members had emigrated. The Jesuit inquisitors questioned and condemned about 289 person from Suchdol and 167 from Kunim. The penalty for possession a non-Catholic book was ten thalers and six weeks of compulsory hard labor in fetters. It is no wonder that many more of the Brethren began to escape to Herrnhut. At home they left considerable property. For instance, in Suchdol the Zeisbergers owned a great estate, called the Upper Manor. They were freemen and according to the old custom the eldest son always succeeded to the family estate.

"Sometimes the houses and farmsteads were sold to other settlers,” said Drkal,Stanislav, about the emigration from Kumwald Dominium toSaxony in the First Half of the 18th Century. “The constant persecution urged some of the members of the “Hidden Seed” to seek new homes where they could worship without fear.

In 1722 the two Neisser brothers and their families from Zilina moved to the Bethelsdorf estate of Count Zinzendorf in Saxony. It was Christian David who took them there and the estate manager Heitz, welcomed them in the name of the Count and allowed them to live in a space in the middle of the forest off the road leading to Zittau. This was the beginning of the village of Herrnhut, so famous in the history of the Moravian Church.

After they left, Prince Liechtenstein appropriated their estate and gained a prospering farm. The Herrhut emigration lasted for about 20 years, from 1722 to 1742. We can say almost for certain that the number of those who fled to Herrnhut from Suchdol was 280, from Kunin 100, from Butovice, 9, from Senov 58, from Zilina 47 and from other communities of the region, 80 or about 550 all together settled in the new Brethren community in Herrnhut. (Ivacovsky, “Hidden Seed,” 51-52.)