Normierte Form:

1.The Oldest Sources for the Brethren 2.Nomenclature 3.Roots, Influences, Inspirations 4.Origin and Spread 5.Theory and Practice 6.Later Generations 7.Historiograohic Survey Bibliography

The Unity of Brethren is today closely connected with the history of several non-Catholic churches in the Czech Republic, and, on a global scale, with the missionary activity of the international Church of the Moravian Brethren. The most famous figure of the Unity, in the Czech Republic and beyond, is its last bishop, Jan Amos Komenský (Comenius, d. 1670). His work was used to found the new movement of the Lutheran pietist Nikolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (d. 1760), who helped to found the Moravian Church. Nevertheless, this com-munity of the Brethren was a significant product of Czech Hussitism, including the continuation of the Hussite movement in the post-revolutionary Utraquist Church of the Poděbrad age. The character of the early Unity of Brethren is therefore medieval; the community’s ideas, and the lifestyle of its members, are incomprehensible without reference to particular Hussite currents, while its contemporary international character was, to a certain extent, influenced by the idea of the “Hussite-Waldensian International.” Nevertheless, the Unity of Brethren is a unique phenomenon due to its alterity and sectarianism, which were conditioned by its social and historical context. The following pag-es describe the main characteristics of the early Brethren.