A Communion That Changed the World

In the summer of 1727, the small village of Herrnhut in Saxony was tearing itself apart. Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf had opened his estate to religious refugees from Moravia, but the community of three hundred had splintered into bitter factions — Lutherans, Reformed, Anabaptists, and Hussite descendants arguing over doctrine and worship. On August 13, during a communion service at the Berthelsdorf church, something broke open.…