1. Rusia exporta ortodoxismul in Tarile Baltice 2.

religiile Tarilor Baltice

Traditionally, Lithuania has been a Roman Catholic country. Although severely affected by Soviet repression, the Roman Catholic Church remains the dominant and the most influential denomination. However, Lithuania in the past has had two small but active Protestant denominations, the Evangelical Reformed (Calvinist) and the Evangelical Lutheran. In addition, Orthodox Christianity as well as Judaism have roots at least as old as those of Roman Catholicism. In 1991 a Western poll found that 69 percent of respondents in Lithuania identified themselves as Roman Catholics (in 1939 the percentage was 85), 4 percent identified themselves as Orthodox, and 1 percent professed Evangelical Christian beliefs. New in this self-identification was a large category--25 percent--who did not profess any religion. Lithuanian journalists have also noted that twenty-one out of the 141 new members of parliament elected in 1992 left out "so help me God" from the oath when sworn in as deputies. In 1992 Lithuania's Roman Catholic Church consisted of two archdioceses (Vilnius and Kaunas) and four dioceses (Kaisiadorys, Panevezys, Vilkaviskis, and Telsiai). The church is presided over by Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevicius in Kaunas. For thirty years, Sladkevicius, then a bishop, was held by Soviet authorities in internal exile. The church has 688 parishes, two theological seminaries (one reestablished in 1990), and several con-vents and monasteries. There is also one Uniate, or Eastern-Rite Catholic, congregation. The archeparchy (archdiocese) of the Russian Orthodox Church has forty-five parishes and two monasteries. Archbishop Chrisostom and his archeparchy are under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow. The Old Believers (see Glossary) have fifty-one congregations. The Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church under Bishop Jonas Kalvanas has thirty-three congregations, and the Evangelical Reformed Church (Calvinist) has eight. Other Christian denominations include Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Pentecostals. The non-Christian religious groups include Jews (two communities), Muslims (four communities), Krishna followers (two communities), and one Karaite (see Glossary) group. Traditionally, most Roman Catholics in Lithuania were either Lithuanians or Poles, and the Orthodox and Old Believer adherents were predominantly

Russians. This division has not changed, although currently it is no longer possible to assume religious affiliation on the basis of ethnic identity. The Calvinist and Evangelical Lutheran groups are very small--an estimated 15,000 Calvinists and 35,000 Lutherans. The younger Protestant denominations are even smaller but are intensely active. Generally, Lithuanian society in the 1990s is secularized, although, as in many postcommunist countries, younger people are searching for some sort of spiritual fulfillment. The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest continuously surviving Lithuanian institution. As such, it has played a dominant role in the development of Lithuanian society, especially crucial during those long stretches of time when Lithuanians had no state of their own. At first highly influenced by the Polish community, the church under Bishop Motiejus Valancius in the nineteenth century promoted Lithuanian language and publications, which prepared the country for the national awakening of the 1880s. Because Russian imperial authorities had forbidden the publication of Lithuanian books in the Latin alphabet, Valancius had them printed in German-ruled, Protestant East Prussia and then smuggled into Lithuania. The bishop also organized a network of secret Lithuanian schools. In 1918 the church supported the establishment of Lithuania as an independent and democratic republic. Years later, it endorsed land reform, and in the 1930s the bishops opposed and restrained Smetona's authoritarian rule. Under Soviet rule, the church served as a focal point of resistance and dissident activities. Its theological outlook, however, has been conservative. Protestants also have contributed significantly to Lithuania's cultural development. The first book printed in Lithuanian was a Lutheran catechism, published by Martynas Mazvydas in East Prussia in 1547. Protestant Lithuanians from this region published the literature of national awakening. Later, Protestants--both Lutheran and Calvinist--supplied political leadership out of proportion to their numbers in the population. In Lithuania between the two world wars, the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations had a constitutionally guaranteed monopoly over registration of marriages, births, and deaths. Religious education in public schools was compulsory. Although there was no established religion, all denominations received some state support in rough proportion to their size. The Soviet authorities totally separated churches not only from the state but also from individual support. On June 12, 1990, Lithuania's newly elected independent parliament adopted an act of restitution of the Roman Catholic Church's condition status quo ante but promised compensation for the losses

suffered under Soviet rule and pledged cooperation on a parity basis. The constitution of 1992 guarantees "freedom of thought, religion, and conscience" to all and "recognizes traditional churches and religious organizations of Lithuania." Other religious organizations have to pass a test to ensure that their teachings do not "contradict the law and morality." All recognized churches are guaranteed the rights of legal persons and can govern themselves without state interference. Religious teaching in public schools is allowed if parents desire it. Religious marriage registration also is legally valid, as in the United States. The government maintains an office of counselor on religious affairs
In Lithuania, the Church is separated from the State, meaning that there is no official religion in Lithuania. Yet, religious communities are classified into traditional and non-traditional. Traditional religions are those which have existed in Lithuania for at least 300 years, while non-traditional are those which have been professed in the country for 25 or more years and are supported by the public and do not act against laws or the morale. The majority of Lithuanian population are Roman Catholics, the traditional religious community. Other confessions are Orthodox Believers, Evangelical Lutherans, Evangelical Reformists, Old Believers, Jews, Muslims and some other faiths. We respect the freedom of thought, faith and consciousness, enshrined in our principal law, the Constitution.
Absolute majority of Lithuanian population are Roman Catholics

Photo by A. Leksandraviius

Facts and figures:

717 this is the number of Roman Catholic churches in Lithuania Orthodox is the second largest religious community in Lithuania Karaites, concentrated in Trakai, is the smallest religious community in Lithuania

The Latvian Orthodox Church (Latvian: Latvijas Pareizticg Baznca, Russian: , tr. Latviyskaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov) is a self-governing Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow. The primate of the church carries the title ofMetropolitan of Riga and all Latvia (Latvian: Rgas un visas Latvijas metropolts; Russian: , Mitropolit Rizhskiy i vseya Latvii). This position has been occupied since October 27, 1990 by Metropolitan Alexander (Kudryashov) (Aleksandrs Kudrjaovs). Orthodoxy was planted in Latvia in the 11th century, when it became a mission field of the diocese of Polotsk. But the country remained mostly pagan until it was conquered in the 13th century by German crusaders - the Teutonic Order, who were elective of Catholicism. Orthodox presence continued in the form of churches for Russian merchants and others, but these were small communities among a majority of Catholics before 1525 and Lutherans afterward. After Latvia was

annexed to the Russian Empire in the 18th century (most of Latvia, a result of the Great Northern War by the Treaty of Nystad, the Latgaleregion after the First Partition of Poland in 1772), Russian and Orthodox presence increased substantially, but the Orthodox Church remained foreign to the Latvians. The Latvian Orthodox Church as a body including ethnic Latvians as well as Russians dates back to the 1840s, when native Latvians (who were at that time subjects of the Russian Empire) petitioned the Czar to be allowed to conduct services in their native tongue. The Orthodox Church enjoyed some success in its missions among the Latvians due to its use of the Latvian language. In the 1880s Orthodox Nativity Cathedral was built in Riga. However, it was always regarded suspiciously by the Lutheran Germanic nobles of the area; conversely the predominantly German character of the Lutheran Church in Latvia was a factor in the movement of some 40,000 Latvians from the Lutheran to the Orthodox Church. When religious freedom was proclaimed in 1905, about 12,000 Latvians moved in the opposite direction, from Orthodoxy to Lutheranism; in most cases this seems to have occurred because of mixed marriages and the difficulties of maintaining a religiously divided family.

The domes of Nativity Cathedral are a landmark of the Riga cityscape.

During World War I, the property of the Orthodox Church in Latvia was confiscated by occupying German forces, and in the early years of independent Latvia the government was not eager to recognize the church, suspecting it of being a hotbed of czarism. In this difficult one might say desperate situation, Jnis (Pommers), a native Latvian, was appointed Archbishop of Riga in 1921. He succeeded in winning recognition from the government by 1926 and, against much opposition from leftists and others, in stabilizing the situation of the church. While opposing the Bolsheviks, he maintained the Latvian Orthodox Church within the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1934, he was brutally assassinated by Soviet agents. In the following year, the Latvian Orthodox Church became autocephalous under the auspices of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The subsequent five years were good years for the Latvian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Augustin (Ptersons); they were ended abruptly by the Soviet annexation of Latvia in 1940, which was followed by German Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944, and a second Soviet annexation lasting from 1944 to 1991. The church suffered oppression during this period, as did organized religion throughout the Soviet Union, which was partly mitigated from 1943 to 1958 and in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. In 2001 a council of the Latvian Orthodox Church canonised Archbishop Jnis in recognition of his heroic martyrdom in 1934.[1] In 2006 the Order of the holy martyr Jnis was instituted to reward those who have served the Orthodox Church and its aims.[2]

In modern Latvia, there are 350,000 Orthodox Church members.[3] The vast majority of them are ethnic Russians and other immigrants living in Latvia.

Next on the itinery was the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which has been recently restored in an ugly duckling style transformation from a dirty grimy grey (which was of course the shade of paint that the communists used to paint everything) to a resplendent sandstone yellow under black domes with gleaming crosses. The renovated building is clean and sharp with painted red brick stripes and elaborate white columns soaring into the sky above. Although most of Riga old town is restoring its vibrant colours to the buildings there are still examples of the communist absence of finesse or style. Just across the road from the cathedral for example is a splendid old building that still retains its dreary grey exterior and is awaiting its own overdue transformation. The Soviet Union must have had the biggest grey paint factory in the world and it was used indiscriminately everywhere. I imagine that the paint shop colour chart probably had restricted options like, overcoat grey, battleship grey, storm grey, grease grey and so on. The Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Riga is a magnificent and impressive building that sits between the old town and the new and was built in a Neo-Byzantine style between 1876 and 1883 at a time when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire. It is the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Baltic provinces and was built with the approval and a blessing of the Russian Tsar Alexander II on the initiative of local governor-general Pyotr Bagration and bishop Veniamin Karelin. Russian Orthodox Church buildings differ dramatically in design from most western type churches. Their interiors are enriched with many sacramental objects including holy icons that are hung on the walls and murals often cover most of the interior walls with images that represent the Theotokos (the Mother of God) and scenes from their lives of the Saints. The cathedral in Riga is especially renowned for its icons some of which were painted by the famous Russian war artist Vasili Vereshchagin. During the First World War German troops occupied Riga and turned its largest cathedral into a Lutheran church but after the war the Nativity of Christ Cathedral once again became an Orthodox cathedral in 1921. There was more unhappiness for the building under the communist regime because the Soviet Union was the first modern state to have the elimination of religion as an ideological objective and to achieve that objective the communists confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. The main target of the

anti-religious campaign was the Russian Orthodox Church, which had the largest number of worshippers in Russia and its subjugated territories. Nearly all of its clergy, and many of its believers, were shot or sent to labour camps, theological schools were closed, and church publications were prohibited. After the Second-World-War things relaxed a little for a while and the number of open churches increased and by 1957 about twenty-two thousand Russian Orthodox churches had become active again but in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev initiated a new campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and forced the closure of about twelve thousand, including the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Riga. Members of the church hierarchy were jailed or just simply removed and their places were taken by state conforming clergy many of whom had links with the KGB. The Cathedral in Riga was converted into a planetarium and it became neglected and was allowed to lose its magnificent faade. Now that it has been restored the place is surely more heavenly than ever having been returned to its intended purpose. We have visited the Cathedral before of course but because it is so fascinating we just had to do so again. In a side chapel there was some activity and because on a previous visit here there had been a corpse laid out in a casket we suspected that this might be a funeral service but I wasnt tall enough to see over the shoulders of the congregation and I though it rude to intrude to close to the front because of a macabre interest. The service was attended by nuns in black robes and pointy hats who looked like extras from a Lord of the Rings movie and was led by a priest in a lavish scarlet and gold robe. The interior of the cathedral is bright and cheerful, adorned with shining icons and smelling of sweet incense and today there was a lot of frantic activity because inside there were cameras and a film crew and I can only imagine that the were preparing for a broadcast on Latvia Songs of Praise or whatever its equivalent is. There were a lot of people inside all bowing, crossing their chests, kissing the holy icons and doing their best to look solemn. I suppose we must have looked a bit conspicuous. Kim felt obliged to leave after she was rebuked for taking photographs. I was a little more discreet and didnt get caught but a little later on was chastised by a priest with a wild wiry beard for having my hands in my pockets. Little did he know that I was looking for loose change to put in the offertory box but now that I had been told that hands in pockets was disallowed I decided not to bother. We left the cathedral and retired as usual to the Skyline bar and from our window seats we watched the people flocking into the church and wondered just how it was managing to

accommodate them all. At the front door were some clergy in yellow cassocks who were obviously waiting for someone important to arrive and just before, what we guessed was, the scheduled five oclock start a black limousine pulled up outside and the occupant was greeted with exaggerated reverence and hurried inside, presumably to get on with the service. I wished that we had stayed a while longer to see exactly what was happening but I will never know if we would have been welcome to stay for the proceedings.
The Nativity of Christ Cathedral (Latvian: Kristus Piedzimanas pareizticgo katedrle) , Riga, Latvia was built to a design by Nikolai Chagin in aNeo-Byzantine style between 1876 and 1883, during the period when the country was part of the Russian Empire. It is the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Baltic provinces built with the blessing of the Russian Tsar Alexander II on the initiative of local governor-general Pyotr Bagration and bishopVeniamin Karelin. The Nativity of Christ Cathedral is renowned for its icons, some of which were painted by Vasili Vereshchagin. During the First World War German troops occupied Riga and turned its largest Russian Orthodox cathedral into a Lutheran church. In independent Latvia the Nativity of Christ Cathedral once again became an Orthodox cathedral in 1921, although the new government tried to force the change of the liturgy language into Latvian. Archbishop Jnis Pommers, a native Latvian, played a key part in the defence of the cathedral. In the early 1960s Soviet authorities closed down the cathedral and converted its building into a planetarium. The cathedral has been restored since Latvia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.