 A year later he transferred to Neuwied, Germany, where he also trained as a watchmaker.Antes was ordained as a Moravian Minister in January 1769, and he left for Egypt that same month to serve as a missionary to the Coptic Church of Grand Cairo.The first ten years of his mission were rather uneventful until 1779, when Antes was captured and tortured by some of Osman Bey's followers.