PENNSYLVANIA'S EPHRATA CLOISTER: ECHOES OF A SPARTAN LIFE.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

It is the tourists who tell the story of Ephrata Cloister.

Without the writings of visitors who stopped here for food and shelter on their 18th-century travels, we would know little about this religious community tucked amid the small villages and rolling farmlands of north central Pennsylvania near Lancaster.

At its height in 1750, this complex of oddly angled buildings spread over 25 acres of gentle hills housed 300 celibate brothers and sisters who adhered to a rigid code of behavior that forbade comfort, chatter and worldly pleasures.

``Life here was about self-discipline, self-denial, self-asacrifice,'' says Angela Shuck who, garbed in a white robe similar to that which the cloister members wore, is leading three of us around the grounds.

It's a lifestyle that still holds some fascination for tourists, 60,000 of whom annually detour off Pennsylvania's Route 222 near Lancaster and visit the complex at the edge of the bustling, attractive village of Ephrata. The 13 restored and reconstructed buildings, including residences, a bakery, print shop, barn, carpentry shop and stable, rest in a remarkably serene setting. There is only a slight breeze when I arrive, but other than the whistling of the trees, it's silent - so still, in fact, that when a bird sings, I am startled.

Situated on the banks of Cocalico Creek, the cloister, which was started in 1732, ranks as one of America's oldest communal societies. It was the brainchild of Conrad Beissel, a German Pietist who managed to woo away his followers from the Dunkards, a religious group that believed in triple baptism.

The group originally bought 250 acres here. The members built distinctive structures of logs and stone with steeply pitched roofs, tiered dormer windows, wooden chimneys and flared eaves. And they supported themselves by farming and publishing, producing numerous tracts, pamphlets and hand-illuminated books and inscriptions done in the Germanic tradition called fraktur.``There was a print shop here,'' says Shuck. ``They were printing the largest book in the world (the 1,200-page `Martyrs Mirror,' a 1748 book for another religious order, the Mennonites).''

They also took in travelers and it is the records of those people that painted the picture of life at the cloister reflected today, Shuck says.

She leads us into a large structure that once housed the sisters, and we get a glimpse - and a feel - of what life here must have been like. The three floors are identical, each with a central kitchen and workroom, as well as tiny sleeping cells. It is so cold in here, our teeth threaten to chatter - just about the way it was for cloister members, says Shuck. The houses were unheated except for the cooking ovens. Members wore homemade garments - habits of white linen in summer, white wool in winter.

We pass by some of the cells with the 15-inch-wide boards on which members slept. Their pillows were blocks of wood. It looks very uncomfortable.

``Life was about being worthy of meeting Jesus,'' Shuck explains.

So, days were rigorously scheduled: 5 a.m., prayer time; 6 to 9 a.m., work; 9 a.m., prayer; 10 a.m. to midday, work; midday, worship; 6 p.m., warm meal, followed by writing, singing hymns (the members sang hymns written by Beissel and sung a capella in high falsettos) or attending religious school. Bedtime was 9 p.m., followed by worship from midnight to 2 a.m., then back to bed until 5 a.m.

Members lived on one meal a day, although they were allowed nourishment in between meals (most declined it). The only day they did not work was on Saturday, the day they considered the sabbath.

Not everyone lived such a deprived life. There were members of the sect who were married and had families. Called ``householders,'' they lived separately from the others, but worshipped with them. Shuck leads us into a restored residence, which boasts most of the comforts of a typical Pennsylvania German home in the 18th century.

We wander through other structures on the property, noting the low, narrow passageways. The low doors made members ``bow for humility,'' says Shuck; the narrow openings represented the ideal narrow and straight life.

There is much symbolism here, says Shuck. ``The buildings with their odd angles are thought to have some religious significance,'' she says.

After Beissel died in 1768, interest in the sect gradually died out. The sect rallied during the Revolutionary War, taking in 500 or so wounded soldiers, many of whom also had typhus. Some of the members caught the disease and died caring for them; they're buried in one of the two cemeteries on the property.

The last celibate sister died in 1813, Shuck says. The householders who remained became the Seventh Day German Baptist Church and used the buildings until 1934. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission now runs the site.

There's an interesting small museum in the visitors center. It houses some fine artifacts from the days when the cloister flourished (examples of fraktur and publications abound). But there is still at least one mystery surrounding Ephrata.

I notice what looks to be an archeological dig on the grounds. ``We're looking for the first communal structure that the sisters lived in,'' says Shuck, who is participating in the dig. Travelers' writings from the 18th century indicate the structure was around the area where the dig is set up, she says.

The writings of tourists have once again illuminated another piece of the Pietist life.

On Location

The Ephrata Cloister is at 632 W. Main St., Ephrata, Pa. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors and $3 children. Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) A white-robed tour guide is outlined against one of the historic buildings at Ephrata.

(2) Guide Angela Shuck, wearing a cloister robe, shows visitors where members of the historic Pennsylvania religious community lived and worked.

Susanne Hopkins/Daily News

Box: On Location (See Text)