Martin Stephan

Martin Stephan (1777–1846) was pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Dresden, Germany during the early 19th century. He organized the Saxon emigration to the United States in the early 19th century.

Martin Stephan was born August 13, 1777 in Stramberg, Moravia, presently the Czech Republic, of Austrian, German, and Czech parents. Martin attended St. Elizabeth's Gymnasium in Breslau, sponsored by local pietist and pastor Johann Ephraim Scheibel, rector of the Gymnasium und father of Johann Gottfried Scheibel, a professor at the University of Breslau. He attended the University of Halle and the University of Leipzig from 1804-1809.

Stephan became pastor in Haber, Bohemia in 1809. In 1810, Martin became the pastor of St. John's in Dresden, a specially chartered church that had its origins in those who had fled from Moravia and Bohemia in 1650 and were befriended by Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf, a pietistic bishop and missionary. He preached in Czech and German. For the next 30 years Martin was known for his teaching, preaching, and compassionate counseling. He led the protest of oppressive practices by the Saxon State Consistory in the state-governed Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Saxony. He came under attack by the rationalist pastors for his confessional and orthodox stand. Pastor Stephan continued to uphold biblical and sacramental practices in his church.

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