Russian Orthodox Church, established in February. 1839 with the name Lithuanian, included the territories of the Vilna and Grodno provinces of the Russian Empire. From April 6 1840 Lithuanian and Vilna, from April 13 1945 Vilna and Lithuania. Modern territory - within the borders of the Republic of Lithuania. The cathedral city is Vilnius (until 1795 - Vilna, then - Vilna, since 1920 again Vilnius, since 1939 - Vilnius). Cathedral - in honor of the Assumption of the Most Holy. Mother of God (Prechistensky). The ruling bishop is the archbishop. Vilensky and Lithuanian Innokenty (Vasiliev; at the department since December 24, 2010). The diocese is divided into 4 deanery districts: Vilnius (the cities of Vilnius and Druskininkai, the districts of Vilnius, Trakai, Shalchininkai), Kaunas (the cities of Kaunas and Siauliai, the districts of Jonavsky, Kadainsky, Kalme, Raseinsky, Ukmergsky), Klaipeda (the cities of Klaipeda and Palanga, districts of Klaipėda, Akmena, Mazeiki, Taurage, Telšiai) and Visaginas (cities of Visaginas and Panevėžys, districts of Anykščiai, Biržai, Zarasai, Moletai, Panevėžys, Pasvalski, Rokiški, Utena, Švenčenski). By Jan. 1 In 2004, there were 50 parishes and 2 monasteries (men and women) operating in V.E. The clergy of the diocese consisted of 43 priests and 10 deacons.
Establishment of the diocese
After the conclusion of the Union of Brest in 1596, the majority of Orthodox Christians living in litas. lands and were Polish. subjects were converted to Uniatism. As a result of the 3rd partition of Poland (1795) lit. the lands, including Vilno, became part of the Russian state, and the Vilna and Slonim provinces were created on them, united in 1797 into one. Decrees of September 9 1801, January 1 and 28 Aug. In 1802, both of these provinces were restored with the names Lithuanian Vilna and Lithuanian Grodno, later renamed Vilna and Grodno. In 1793, a small Orthodox church. the community of Lithuania entered the Minsk, Izyaslav and Bratslav diocese, the region was formed in the territories annexed to Russia under the 2nd partition of Poland (1793); from 16 Oct. 1799 Minsk Archbishop. Job (Potemkin) began to be called Minsk and Lithuanian. In 1833 the Orthodox Church was re-established. Polotsk and Vitebsk diocese, which included the territory of the Vilna province.
To the beginning 30s XIX century the majority of the population of the Vilna province. were Greek Catholics. According to Polotsk Archbishop. Smaragd (Kryzhanovsky), residents of the Orthodox Church. religions in the province numbered approx. 1 thousand. There was not a single Orthodox church in Vilna. parish church, only the Holy Spirit Monastery Church was active; in 1838 the cemetery church attached to it was consecrated. in the name of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk.
12 Feb. In 1839, a council of bishops of the Uniate Polotsk and Vitebsk dioceses was held in Polotsk, which made a decision on reunification with the Orthodox Church. Church (see Polotsk Cathedral), in the same year the Orthodox Church was formed. Lithuanian diocese, headed by Archbishop. Joseph (Semashko; Metropolitan from 1852), accepted into communion with the Orthodox Church. The church together with the flock. In 1840 the building was Catholic. Church of St. Casimir was converted to Orthodoxy. church consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. On May 9, 1845, the department of the Lithuanian bishop, in 1839-1845. located in Zhirovitsky in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy. Mother of God mon-re, was moved to Vilna, the cathedral became the church. St. Nicholas. In 1840, the Brest Vicarage of the Lithuanian Diocese was created to manage parishes on the territory of the Grodno province. In 1843, the territory of the newly formed Kovno province became part of the Lithuanian diocese. and the Kovno Vicariate was established.
Lithuanian diocese in the 2nd half. XIX - early XX century
Until the beginning 60s XIX century The diocese received practically no funds from the Russian treasury for the construction of churches; local resources did not allow it to be carried out in the required volume. The situation changed radically after the suppression of the Polish. uprising of 1863-1864, when many churches and catholic mon-ri "for assisting the rebels" by the chief commander of the region M. N. Muravyov were transferred to the disposal of the Orthodox Church. dioceses or closed. In the 60s The Russian treasury allocated 500 thousand rubles. for the construction of 57 churches in the Lithuanian diocese, in addition, donations came to the region from all over Russia. In 1865-1869 Ancient temples of Vilna, built in the 14th century, were restored: Assumption Metropolitan Cathedral (Prechistensky), c. VMC. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, ts. St. Nicholas, to which a chapel was added in honor of the arch. Michael, in 1851 in the Holy Spiritual Monastery a c. was equipped in a previously existing cave. in the name of the Vilna martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius, where the relics of these saints, rediscovered in 1814, were placed. Towards the end. 60s XIX century More than 450 Orthodox churches operated on the territory of the diocese. temples.
Under the archbishop. Macarius (Bulgakov; 1868-1879), who replaced Metropolitan. Joseph, 293 parish churches were built and converted into Orthodox ones in the diocese. Archbishop Macarius introduced the election of deans; under him, diocesan, deanery and school congresses were regularly held. In 1898, the Lithuanian See was occupied by Archbishop. Juvenaly (Polovtsev), who attached great importance to the organization of monastic life. At his petition before the Synod in 1901, Berezvechsky was revived in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy One. Mother of God women monastery, the number of inhabitants of the Vilna Holy Spirit Monastery increased significantly, the sacred archimandrites of which were the Vilna bishops. In 1909, a church construction committee was established under the Vilna Orthodox Holy Spiritual Brotherhood, which took upon itself the responsibility for organizing the collection of funds for the construction of churches in the diocese. In 1899, in connection with the establishment of the Grodno department (see Grodno and Volkovysk diocese), the territory of the Grodno province. was expelled from the Lithuanian diocese, the Brest Victoria ceased to exist.
During the administration of the Lithuanian diocese, Archbishop. St. Tikhon (Belavin; Dec. 1913 - June 1917; subsequently Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia) opened a church at the headquarters of the military corps in Vilna, founded a church. in the name of ap. Andrew the First-Called in the village. Androny of Disnensky district, churches were built in Disna and in places. Ugorsko-Boginskoye (Bogino). Representatives of the imp. families visited Vilna several times over the years, participated in services in local churches, September 24-25. 1914, on the way to the front, Vilna was visited by the honorary chairman of the Vilna Brotherhood, Emperor. St. Nicholas II Alexandrovich.
Theological educational institutions
Vilna. Plan of part of the city showing the existing and currently located Orthodox churches, monasteries and chapels." Lithograph. 1874 (State Historical Museum)
Vilna. Plan of part of the city showing the existing and currently located Orthodox churches, monasteries and chapels." Lithograph. 1874 (State Historical Museum)
In 1839, the Uniate seminary in the Zhirovitsky Assumption Monastery was transformed into an Orthodox one, in August. 1845 transferred to the Vilna Holy Trinity Husband. monastery, the rector of which was the rector of the seminary. In 1839-1915. 170-195 people studied there annually. At first, teaching was conducted in Polish. language; after appearing in Russian DS. Russian teachers the language began to dominate the educational process, although certain theological disciplines were taught in Latin for a long time in order to prepare seminarians for debates with the Catholic Church. clergy. In the 40s XIX century An ethnographic committee worked under the DS, under whose supervision descriptions of the customs of the inhabitants of the Western Territory were compiled, published by the Russian Geographical Society. The DS library in 1885 consisted of 12,500 volumes, among them were rare publications of the 15th-17th centuries.
8 Sep. 1861 A diocesan 3-class women's school was opened in Vilna. school, to-rom imp. Maria Alexandrovna bequeathed capital. In 1867-1872. There were 5 DUs in the diocese: Berezvech, Vilna, Zhirovitsky, Kobrin and Suprasl, which were under the jurisdiction of the seminary board. In 1872, 3 schools were closed; the schools in Zhirovitsy and Vilna remained active; in 1895, 307 students studied there. Oct 25 In 1894, the Vilna St. Andrew's Trusteeship was established to provide benefits to poor students of the secondary school.
After the publication of the “Rules on Parish Schools” in 1884, this new type of educational institutions began to be created in the Lithuanian diocese (previously, public schools predominated in the diocese). In 1886, a model parish school was opened at the DS. In 1885, at the suggestion of the archbishop. Alexander (Dobrynin), the council of the Vilna Brotherhood assumed the responsibilities of the diocesan school council, its branches were organized in all districts of the Vilna, Grodno and Kovno provinces. In 1888, the council established 2-year teachers' schools in Vilna and Grodno province. for the training of teachers of parochial schools (2 graduations took place - in 1890 and 1892). In 1895, there were 148 parochial schools with 6,205 students, 693 public primary schools with 43,385 students, and 1,288 literacy schools with 24,445 students operating on the territory of the diocese. There were schools at the Vilna Holy Spiritual Monastery, Borunsky Monastery (attached to the Holy Spiritual Monastery), Pozhaysky Monastery, Surdegsky Monastery, Berezvechsky Monastery, and Antaleptsky Monastery.
Missionary, educational, publishing activities
Since Orthodox Christians in the Western Territory lived primarily in a heterodox environment, missionary work was one of the main activities of church and Russian churches. public structures in the Lithuanian diocese. Since 1880, non-liturgical religious and moral interviews began to be held in certain churches; since 1892, weekly religious and moral readings were held at the DS. In a house that belonged to the Vilna Brotherhood, interviews were held with Jews on Saturdays. In the diocese there was a position of anti-schism missionary to work with Old Believers. Since 1898, a missionary train - the “car-church of Polesie roads” - has been running around the Vilna region. Under the archbishop. sschmch. Agafangel (Preobrazhensky; 1910-1913) the diocesan missionary committee began its work, which in 1911 was headed by bishop. Eleutherius (Epiphany), Vic. Kovensky. Missionary courses were also organized, the main subject of which was “anti-Catholic polemics.” Under the archbishop. Agathangel on Spiritual Day, solemn processions of the cross were held annually from all Vilnius churches and mon-ray to the St. Nicholas Cathedral, then to the Holy Spiritual monastery.
Since 1863, a woman was published in the diocese. “Lithuanian Diocesan Gazette”, since 1907 - “Bulletin of the Vilna Holy Spiritual Brotherhood”. 20 Jan. In 1895, the printing house of the Holy Spiritual Brotherhood opened in Vilna; by 1909, more than 100 titles of books were printed there.
By 1895, there were 38 deaneries and 86 parish churches operating in the diocese. From January 1 In 1880, parish chronicles were kept at all churches. In Aug. 1886 Archbishop. Alexy (Lavrov-Platonov) approved a program for historical and statistical description of the parishes of the diocese, in accordance with which a multi-volume document was compiled in the consistory in 1888.
Brotherhoods, other church and public organizations
The Vilna Holy Spiritual Brotherhood was the oldest and largest church-social organization in Lithuania (it operated in the late 16th - late 18th centuries, was revived in 1865, ceased to exist in 1915). The brotherhood carried out active educational, publishing, and charitable activities, maintained an orphanage for 12 children, as well as a house in which 40 families lived on preferential terms. A shelter for 30 orphan girls from families of clergy existed under the Vilna Mary-Magdalene wife. mon-re. Of the other brotherhoods, the most famous is the Kovno St. Nicholas Peter and Paul brotherhood (1864-1915, renewed in 1926, existed until 1940). Most parishes of the diocese had guardianships; in 1895 there were 479 of them.
Lithuanian diocese in 1917-1945.
In June 1917, after the election of St. Tikhon (Belavin) to the Moscow See, the Bishop of Kovno was appointed administrator of the Lithuanian diocese. Eleutherius (Epiphany). In 1918, Lithuania declared independence; the new state included the former. Kovenskaya province and a small part of the former. Vilna province Orthodox the Lithuanian community remained canonically subordinate to the Russian Church, June 28, 1921 Patriarch Tikhon and Priest. The synod was appointed by the bishop. Eleutherius Archbishop of Lithuania and Vilna.
In 1920, most of the former. The Vilna province, including Vilna, went to Poland, and in 1922 the Vilna and Lida diocese of the Warsaw Autocephalous Metropolis was established on this territory. In February-March 1923, an unauthorized secession of the Polish Orthodox Church took place. Church from the Moscow Patriarchate and its transition to the jurisdiction of the K-Polish Patriarchate. Archbishop Eleutherius, who was then in Vilna, protested against these uncanonical actions. In the fall of 1922, by decision of the ecclesiastical court of the Warsaw Metropolitanate, the bishop was dismissed from the Vilna See, then he was arrested by civil authorities and sent to prison in a Catholic prison. monastery near Krakow. Archbishop was installed at the Vilna See of the Polish Autocephalous Church. Feodosius (Feodosiev). The Vilna and Lida diocese of the Polish Church existed until the outbreak of the Second World War.
After 3 months conclusions of the archbishop. Eleutherius was expelled from Poland and went to Berlin. In April In 1923, he received an offer to head that part of the Vilna diocese, the territory of which was located within the borders of the Lithuanian Republic. After the bishop’s arrival in Kaunas (Kovno) - the temporary capital of Lithuania - at a meeting of representatives of the Orthodox Church. parishes, a diocesan council of 3 priests and 2 laymen was elected. The Council was re-elected annually, its composition was approved by the Department of Religions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania. Relations between Orthodox The diocese and the authorities were regulated by the “Temporary Rules for Relations of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church with the Lithuanian Government.”
In 1926, the Minister of Internal Affairs V. Pozhela encouraged the archbishop. Eleutheria take action to acquire autocephaly for the Lithuanian diocese. The bishop refused, citing the fact that he governs part of the Lithuanian diocese and the question of its fate can only be resolved after the return of the Vilna region to Lithuania. Since the annexation of the territories occupied by Poland was the main political goal of the Lithuanian state, the government's plans for autocephaly were temporarily postponed. In the fall of 1928, at the invitation of the Deputy Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, Metropolitan. Sergius (Stragorodsky) Archbishop. Eleutherius arrived in Moscow. At the meeting of St. Synod, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan, at the same time receiving the right to “autonomously and independently resolve all issues relating to the church-administrative interests of the Lithuanian diocese.” In 1930, Metropolitan. Eleutherius was appointed to the position of temporary manager of Western Europe. parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church, April 30 confirmed in office.
The diocese within Lithuania was divided into 3 deaneries: Kaunas, Panavezhi and Siauliai. By the 20s. XX century number of Orthodox churches in the region sharply decreased: dozens of churches were destroyed or used for economic needs, Catholic. Churches, churches and mon-ri, taken from Catholics in the 2nd half. XIX century, were returned. In 1920, 10 Orthodox churches were registered in the Lithuanian Department of Religions. parishes After the return of the archbishop. Eleutheria to Lithuania, the number of parishes grew by the middle. 30s reached 31. In 1923, Archbishop. Eleutherius ordained 5 priests, and 5 more before 1930, but there were not enough clergymen. In 1923-1939. Gas was emitted in Kaunas. “Voice of the Lithuanian Orthodox Diocese”, which published articles in defense of Orthodoxy. Since 1937, in response to the creation of the mission of the Uniate Church in Kaunas, the newspaper published a special supplement about the union and its goals.
In 1926, the Kaunas Brotherhood of St. Nicholas resumed its activities (existed until 1940), the number of its members in the 30s. was 80-90 people. The Brotherhood gave lectures on religion. and moral and ethical issues, provided benefits to needy students of Kaunas Rus. gymnasiums, provided assistance to poor parishes, issued funds to Russian. scout troop to tidy up the graves of Russians. warriors
In Oct. 1939, after the defeat of Poland by Germany and the conclusion of the Soviet-German. agreements, Vilna and a small part of the Vilna region were annexed to Lithuania, 14 churches operated in this territory and 12 thousand Orthodox Christians lived. Most of the Vilna region (formerly Disnensky, Vileysky, Lida, Oshmyany districts) went to the Belarusian SSR. In Oct. 1939 Met. Eleutherius arrived in Vilnius, which again became a cathedral center; the bishop abolished the Vilna consistory of the Polish Church.
10 Jan 1940 Archbishop. Theodosius, former the head of the Vilna diocese of the Warsaw Metropolitanate, sent a letter to Met. Sergius (Stragorodsky), to whom he brought repentance for the sin of schism, renounced control of the Lithuanian diocese and asked to accept him and his flock into the jurisdiction of the Russian Church. Archbishop Theodosius was retired and lived in the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery. However, in the spring of the same year, Theodosius informed the Council of Ministers of Lithuania that his letter to Moscow was a mistake, that he was leaving the subordination of Metropolitan. Eleutheria and creates a temporary diocesan council. On May 22, 1940, he sent a letter to the K-Polish Patriarch, in which he wrote that he still considered himself the head of the Vilna diocese and asked to be accepted into the jurisdiction of the K-Pole. In the next letter addressed to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Lithuania, Theodosius noted that his appeal to K-pol is “the first step towards independence from the Moscow Patriarch Sergius not only of the Vilna region, but also of the entire historical Lithuanian Orthodox Church.” Theodosius was supported by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Lithuania K. Skuchas, who was directly responsible for religious issues. relationships. Further actions to declare autocephaly of the Lithuanian Church became impossible after Soviet troops entered Lithuania in June 1940.
In Aug. 1940 Lithuania became part of the USSR. Metropolitan Eleutherius ruled the Lithuanian and Vilna diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church until his death on December 31. 1940 Then the Dmitrov Archbishop became the plenipotentiary representative of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Baltic states. Sergius (Voskresensky), February 24. 1941 appointed Metropolitan of Lithuania and Vilnius, Exarch of Latvia and Estonia. During the German During the occupation of Lithuania during the Second World War, the exarch of the Baltic states did not interrupt contact with Moscow. In 1942, Metropolitan. Sergius (Voskresensky) ordained Archimandrite Bishop of Kovno. Daniil (Yuzviuk), former Secretary of the Metropolitan Eleutheria. After the murder of Metropolitan. Sergiya Apr 29 In 1944, Daniil (Yuzviuk) assumed the position of temporary administrator of the Lithuanian and Vilna diocese and deputy exarch of the Baltic states, who performed these duties until the entry of the Soviet Army into Lithuania in the summer of 1944.
Theological educational institutions
In 1915, the Lithuanian seminary was evacuated from Vilna to Ryazan, where the academic year 1916/17 was held; classes resumed in 1921 in Vilna. In 1923, the Lithuanian DS came under the jurisdiction of the Polish Autocephalous Church. In the end 1939 The DS returned to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church with the name “Vilnius”. Under Metropolitan Sergius (Voskresensky) in Vilnius, on the basis of the DS, there were pastoral and theological courses for the training of clergy, which were led by Protopr. Vasily Vinogradov; 27 people completed the courses, graduation took place on April 27. 1944 In 1944 the seminary was closed, in 1946 it was resumed, in Aug. In 1947, under pressure from the authorities, it was closed again, the students were transferred to the seminary in Zhirovitsy.
Orthodox The clergy of independent Lithuania in the 20s repeatedly appealed to the government with a request to open an Orthodox church in Kaunas. spiritual school. In the end 1929 The Ministry of Education allocated 30 thousand litas for the organization of 2-year theological courses. The classes were taught by the archbishop. Eleutherius, teachers of the Parisian St. Sergius Theological Institute and director of the choir of the Kaunas Cathedral of the Annunciation. There was 1 graduate of the course, 8 people graduated from it. In 1936, there were 2-week diocesan courses for psalm-readers.
V. e. in 1945-1989.
In the first years after the end of the Second World War, the position of the Orthodox Church. communities in the Lithuanian SSR were relatively prosperous. At a time when most of the churches in the republic were closed and all were Catholic. Mont-ri, Orthodox churches and mon-ri (Holy Spirits and Mary Magdalene in Vilnius) continued to operate. In Lithuanian the language was translated into Orthodox. liturgical texts. The most important event in the life of V. E. was the return to Vilnius on July 26, 1946 of the relics of the Vilna martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius, taken to Moscow in the summer of 1915. In 1946-1948. Orthodox parishes passed state 44 communities received registration and rights of legal entities. In 1946, the clergy of the diocese consisted of 76 clergy. Until 1949, more than 20 churches were repaired with funds received from the Patriarchate, including the monastery church of the Holy Spirit, which was damaged by bombing. The Patriarchate also allocated funds for salaries of clergy and pensions for orphans from the families of clergy; in particular, in 1955, 21 out of 41 parishes of the diocese received various types of assistance from Moscow.
General state policy of attack on the Orthodox Church. The Church began to particularly affect the Orthodox Church. communities of Lithuania in the beginning. 50s In 1953, the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR ordered not to release Orthodox Christians. communities receive building materials from the state. funds. In the 50s Lit. The government repeatedly appealed to Moscow with a petition to close the Holy Spirit Monastery. The diocesan clergy was not replenished - clergymen coming from Belarus and Ukraine faced insurmountable obstacles to registration in Lithuania. By 1961, the number of clergy in the diocese had decreased by more than half compared to the post-war period and amounted to 36 clergy (of which 6 were deacons). In 1965, 15 out of 44 parishes did not have their own priests. In the summer of 1962, an order was issued banning the diocese from receiving material assistance from the Patriarchate. In 1946-1965. the diocese closed approx. 30 churches, the Mary-Magdala Monastery was deregistered. Under an unspoken ban was the performance of the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage, and the fulfillment of other church requirements. In the 70s in V. e. there were approx. 30 clergy, the number of parishioners was just over 12 thousand people. Natural migration processes - the relocation of village residents to cities - have led to the fact that there are no parishioners left in most rural churches. In the 70-80s. Church life was relatively active only in large cities: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda, Siauliai, as well as in those bordering the Kaliningrad region. settlements of Kibartai and Telshiai, the churches of which were attended by believers from the neighboring region of the RSFSR, where at that time there was not a single Orthodox church. churches. In 1988, there were 41 churches in the diocese.
V. e. in 1989-2003.
On March 11, 1990, the independent Lithuanian state was restored. According to the new Constitution of Lithuania, Orthodoxy is one of the 9 traditions. for the region of confessions, the government of the Crimea annually allocates funds distributed in proportion to the number of believers; average annual aid to Orthodox Christians Churches from the Lithuanian budget is approx. 60 thousand dollars. According to the law on the return of property, the diocese was returned part of the real estate that it owned before 1940, in particular 5 residential multi-storey buildings in Vilnius, several. church buildings in the province, residential buildings that belonged to individual parishes. The Alexander Nevsky and Catherine churches in Vilnius, the Euphrosyne cemetery were transferred to the Orthodox, and the St. Tikhon's Chapel was restored; funds have been allocated for the restoration of the c. VMC. Paraskeva Fridays.
In the end 90s several were consecrated in the diocese. new churches: in the name of the martyrs Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov and their mother Sofia in Klaipeda secondary school, in the name of St. Tikhon in the regional center of Shalcininkai, Ioanno-Predtechensky in Visaginas. In 2002 in Palanga, according to the project of the Penza architect. D. Borunov erected a temple in honor of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, according to the design of the same architect, the Pokrovsko-Nikolskaya Church was erected in Klaipeda, the St. Nicholas chapel was consecrated on December. 2002 A two-story church is built in Visaginas in honor of the Entry into the Temple of St. Mother of God, in 2001 the Panteleimon chapel of this temple was consecrated.
The most important event in the life of the Orthodox Church. Lithuania was visited by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' on July 25-27, 1997, timed to coincide with the celebration of the 650th anniversary of the death of the Vilna martyrs and the 400th anniversary of the Holy Spirit Monastery. President of Lithuania A. Brazauskas presented Patriarch Alexy II with the highest award of the Republic of Lithuania - the Order of Lithuania. led book Gedimina 1st degree. During the visit, Patriarch Alexy II visited boarding school No. 3 in Vilnius and donated a donation for its improvement. From the balcony of the chapel, which houses the Vilna Ostrobram Icon of the Mother of God, revered by both Orthodox and Catholics, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the people of Lithuania.
Educational and publishing activities
There are 10 parish Sunday schools in the diocese, the largest is at the Kaunas Annunciation Cathedral, attended by more than 200 people. of different ages. In 2001, a diocesan commission was created to oversee the work of Sunday schools. In 2001, 12 students from Lithuania graduated from the correspondence department of the Orthodox St. Tikhon's Theological Institute.
In 1997, a permanent diocesan commission began its work for the certification of teachers of the subject “Fundamentals of Religion,” studied in Lithuania. secondary schools (at the choice of students) since 1992. For Orthodox. The diocese annually holds republican seminars for catechist teachers. Currently time in schools with Russian. The language of instruction is 55 Orthodox. catechist teachers.
In the beginning 90s The diocese published 3 editions of the Orthodox Church. Sat. “Vine”, “Essays on the history of Russian holiness” by John Kologriv, prayer books, individual works in Russian. religious philosophers.
Church and public organizations
In 1995, the diocesan Orthodox Brotherhood of Lithuania was established (the chairman of the council is the rector of the Annunciation Cathedral in Kaunas, Archpriest Anatoly Stalbovsky), which included most of the parishes of the diocese. Largely thanks to the initiative of the brotherhood council, hundreds of young men and women became participants in summer Orthodox services. camps organized annually on the shores of the Baltic Sea and in places. Uzhusalyai near Kaunas. In addition, young people make pilgrimages to St. places in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine. On the holidays of Christmas and Easter, festivals of youth creative groups are held. Orthodox about St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk organizes summer Orthodox services. camps, the youth choir of the society participates in worship services. Orthodox Society education “Living Ear” takes care of orphans and children from disadvantaged families within the framework of the “Godparents and Godchildren” program, which has been in effect for 12 years. “The Living Ear” hosts a program on the Lithuanian National Radio, which covers religious and moral issues, historical and contemporary. aspects of Russian life in Lithuania.
The most revered shrine of the diocese are the relics of the martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius, resting in the cathedral church of the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery. In the refectory of the Vilnius Mary Magdalene women. The monastery contains a casket with particles of the relics of St. equal to Mary Magdalene, brought to Vilna from the Pochaev Lavra in 1937. In the cathedral in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy. The Mother of God in Kaunas is the Surdeg Icon of the Mother of God, which, according to legend, appeared in 1530 over a spring in the area. Surdegi, 38 km from Panevėžys; this source is still a place of pilgrimage for believers.
Monasteries
By Jan. 1 In 2004, two monasteries operated in the diocese: the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery (male, founded at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries) and the Vilnius monastery in the name of St. equal to Mary Magdalene (female, founded in 1864).
In the XIX - early XX century on the territory of the diocese there existed: Vilna in the name of the Holy Trinity (male, founded in the 2nd half of the 14th century, at the beginning of the 17th century transferred to the Uniates, renewed as Orthodox in 1845, abolished in 1915), Surdegsky in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (male, founded in 1550, abolished in 1915), Pozhaisky in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God (male, converted in 1839 to Orthodox from Catholic, abolished in 1915), Berezvechsky in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy. Mother of God (converted to Orthodox from Uniate in 1839, abolished in 1872, revived in 1901 as female, abolished in 1923), Antaleptsky in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy. Mother of God (female, founded in 1893, abolished in 1948).
Bishops
Metropolitan Joseph (Semashko; March 6, 1839 - November 23, 1868, from March 25, 1839 archbishop, from March 30, 1852 metropolitan); archbishop Macarius (Bulgakov; Dec. 10, 1868 - Apr. 8, 1879); archbishop Alexander (Dobrynin; May 22, 1879 - April 28, 1885); archbishop Alexy (Lavrov-Platonov; May 11, 1885 - November 9, 1890, from March 20, 1886 archbishop); archbishop Donat (Babinsky-Sokolov; December 13, 1890 - April 30, 1894); archbishop Jerome (Exemplar; April 30, 1894 - February 27, 1898, from May 6, 1895 archbishop); archbishop Yuvenaly (Polovtsev; March 7, 1898 - April 12, 1904); archbishop Nikandr (Molchanov; April 23, 1904 - June 5, 1910); archbishop Agafangel (Preobrazhensky; August 13, 1910 - December 22, 1913); archbishop Tikhon (Belavin; Dec. 1913 - June 23, 1917); Metropolitan Eleutherius (Epiphany; 13 Aug. 1917 - 31 Dec. 1940, from 13 Aug. 1917 temporary manager, from 28 June 1921 ruling bishop in the rank of archbishop, from Oct. 1928 metropolitan); Metropolitan Sergius (Voskresensky; March 1941 - April 28, 1944); archbishop Daniil (Yuzviuk; temporary manager April 29, 1944 - June 1944); archbishop Korniliy (Popov; April 13, 1945 - November 18, 1948); archbishop Photius (Topiro; 18 Nov. 1948 - 27 Dec. 1951); archbishop Filaret (Lebedev; temporary manager 1952-1955); archbishop Alexy (Dekhterev; November 22, 1955 - April 19, 1959, from July 25, 1957 archbishop); archbishop Novel (Tang; May 21, 1959 – July 18, 1963); archbishop Anthony (Varzhansky; August 25, 1963 - May 28, 1971); Ep. Ermogen (Orekhov; June 18, 1971 - Aug. 25, 1972); Ep. Anatoly (Kuznetsov; September 3, 1972 - September 3, 1974); Ep. German (Timofeev; September 3, 1974 - April 10, 1978); archbishop Victorin (Belyaev; April 19, 1978 - April 10, 1989, from September 9, 1982 archbishop); Ep. Anthony (Cheremisov; April 22, 1989 - January 25, 1990); Metropolitan Chrysostom (Martishkin; January 26, 1990 - December 24, 2010, from February 25, 2000 mit.); Innokenty (Vasiliev; since December 24, 2010).
Arch.: Lithuania. CGA. F. 377. Op. 4. D. 695, 697, 617; F. 377. Op. 4. D. 25, 87, 93; F. R-238, Op. 1. D. 37, 40, 59; F. R-238. Op. 3. D. 41, 50; Savitsky L., prot. Chronicle of the Church. life of the Lithuanian diocese. Vilnius, 1963. RKP.
Lit.: Izvekov N. D. East. essay on the state of the Orthodox Church. Churches in the Lithuanian diocese during the period 1839-1889. M., 1899; Dobryansky F. N. Old and new Vilna. Vilna, 1903; In memory of the Most Reverend. Juvenalia, Archbishop. Lithuanian and Vilensky. Vilna, 1904; Milovidov A. AND . Church construction in the North-West. edge at gr. M. N. Muravyov. Vilna, 1913; Bochkov D. On the centralization of the church. ist.-archaeol. institutions. Minsk, 1915; Sapoka D. A. Lietuvos istorija. Kaunas, 1936; Athanasius (Martos), archbishop. Belarus in history, state and church life. Minsk, 1990; Laukaityte R. Lietuvos staciatikiu baznycia 1918-1940, mm.: Kova del cerkviu // Lituanistika. Vilnius, 2001. Nr. 2.
G. P. Shlevis
Monuments of church art in Vilnius
Architecture
The peculiarities of church construction in Vilnius are determined by the history of the Middle Ages. Lithuanian state, which is characterized by multinationality and multiconfessionalism. The interaction of various artistic cultures is clearly visible: Byzantine, neighboring glories. peoples (Belarusian, Polish, Russian), a major role was played by the closest connection with the West. Europe, especially after the adoption of Catholicism as a state religion. religion. Confessions that existed for centuries (Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Uniateism) received priority in different historical periods, the shrines of Vilnius (temples, mon-ri, icons) were repeatedly transferred from one denomination to another. The city suffered from devastating fires, after which it was necessary to rebuild rebuild many buildings, including church ones. All these factors caused repeated changes in the appearance of both Orthodox and Catholic. churches of Vilnius.
According to legend, the first wooden Christ. buildings appeared in the 13th century. on the site of ancient pagan sanctuaries. Vel. book Lit. Olgerd, his first wife Maria Yaroslavna, prince. Vitebsk, and the second - Juliania Alexandrovna, prince. Tverskaya, founded the first Orthodox Christian churches in Vilna. temples, several more. churches were built after the establishment of a separate Orthodox Church. metropolis (1415). After the official adoption of Christianity (1387) the country was built mainly by Catholics. churches: Vladislav-Jagailo, having converted to Catholicism, founded the cathedral in the name of St. in 1387. Stanislav, established the bishopric and granted Magdeburg law to Vilna. Under Casimir IV Jagiellonczyk in 1469, there was a ban on building and renovating Orthodox churches. rus. temples. Ancient churches or their images, with rare exceptions, have not survived (in the 19th century, only fragments of walls remained from the oldest churches in Vilnius, the Assumption (Prechistenskaya) and Pyatnitskaya churches). After the conclusion of the state Lublin (1569) and religious. Union of Brest (1596) Catholicism and Uniatism began to be forcibly imposed, in 1609 Orthodox. churches and mon-ri (except for the Holy Spirit) were transferred to the Uniates. In the 17th century The absolute majority of the population of Vilna were Catholics and Greek Catholics. XVII-XVIII centuries - Italian period. influence in architecture, when invited Italian. architects and artists actively participated in the construction and decoration of churches; it was then that the modern era took shape. appearance of the city.
The Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilnius is one of the main centers of Orthodoxy in Lithuania and Belarus. The first church in honor of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (XIV century) was wooden; in 1638, a stone church in the Baroque style was erected in its place, rebuilt after a fire (1749). The cathedral lost its original appearance, but retained its previous plan in the form of a cross and its spatial design (3-apse, 3-nave building with a transept and 2 towers). In 1873, the cathedral was crowned with a massive dome, the bell tower, built back in 1638, was restored. The wooden baroque iconostasis was made according to the architect's design. I. K. Glaubitz in 1753-1756 In mid. XIX century 12 images for the iconostasis were painted by academician of painting I. P. Trutnev. Mn. monastery buildings dating back to the 16th century. (cell buildings, administrative buildings), later rebuilt several times; the gate was erected in 1845.
The Holy Trinity Monastery stands on the site of the martyrdom of the Vilna saints, who led. book Olgerd gave Christ. community, which was built with the assistance of the leader. Kng. Juliana in 1347-1350. a wooden church in the name of the Holy Trinity, where the relics of the martyrs were transferred. In 1514 Polish. cor. Sigismund I allowed the book. K.I. Ostrozhsky to build 2 stone churches in Vilno, including the Holy Trinity. In the 17th century already on the territory of the monastery captured by the Uniates (1609), chapels were added to the church building - from the south. sides in the name of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (1622), from the north - ap. Luke (1628) and the family tomb of Jan Tyszkiewicz. After devastating fires (1706, 1748, 1749), the church was rebuilt by the Uniates according to the architect's design. Glaubitz in the late Baroque style. This is a 3-apse, 3-nave, rectangular hall-type temple. In general, the architectural ensemble of the Holy Trinity Monastery took shape in the 17th-18th centuries, but construction work continued until the 20s. XIX century Entrance gate (1749, architect Glaubitz) from the street. Aušros-Vartu is an example of Lithuania. late Baroque: winding horizontals of cornices, walls, complex rhythms of pilasters and arches create a dynamic silhouette. In 1839-1915. The monastery belonged to the Orthodox.
The Assumption (Prechistensky) Cathedral, one of the oldest, was built in the 1st half. XIV century Kyiv architects based on the model of the St. Sophia Church in Kyiv. In 1348, Bishop of Vladimir. Alexy (future Metropolitan of All Rus') led by invitation. book Olgerda consecrated this temple. Based on the remains of the foundation and later descriptions, it can be judged that the plan of the church was close to a square, the building had a dome, the bell tower stood separately, and a garden was laid out on the sides of the cathedral. The height of the ancient temple is unknown, in the southeast. corner of modern The building has preserved a tower with an internal passage under the roof; fragments of the former architectural decor are visible on its outer side. From the 3 corner towers, only the foundations remained, on which later. new towers were erected, similar to those that had survived. The altars of the temple were dedicated to the feasts of the Mother of God: Christmas, Entry into the temple, Annunciation and Assumption (the main altar) and gave the name to the church - Prechistenskaya. With the election in 1415 of a metropolitan for the West. Rus led. book Vytautas proclaimed the cathedral a metropolitan cathedral. 15 Feb. In 1495, a meeting of the Russian daughter took place here. led book John III, ve. Kng. Elena Ioannovna, bud. wife led book Lithuanian Alexander Jagiellonczyk. The prayers were performed by Sschmch. archim. Macarius, who in the same year was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv. In 1513, Elena Ioannovna was buried here; the miraculous Vilna “Hodegetria” icon of the Mother of God, which she brought as a dowry, was installed above the tomb, which was later located in the Holy Trinity Monastery.
In 1609 the church passed to the Uniates. During the wars of the 17th century. was destroyed and fell into disrepair in the 19th century. it was rebuilt; at one time it housed an anatomical theater. In 1865, under the direction of prof. A.I. Rezanova and Acad. N. M. Chagin began the restoration of the Prechistensky Cathedral, consecrated on October 22. 1868; 12 Nov In 1868, the chapel was consecrated in the name of St. Alexia; in 1871 a chapel was built and consecrated in the name of Sschmch. Macarius of Kyiv.
Ts. in the name of the military military service. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa was built in 1345 by order of the first wife of the leader. book Olgerda Maria Yaroslavna, prince. Vitebsk, was buried here. The church burned down in a big fire in 1557, and 3 years later it was restored with the permission of the Polish. cor. Sigismund II Augustus and consecrated in honor of the Epiphany, but continued to be called Pyatnitskaya. In 1611, after another fire, it was transferred to the Holy Trinity Monastery, which at that time was under the rule of the Uniates. In 1655-1661, when the city temporarily came under the rule of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Pyatnitskaya Church. was restored and transferred to the Orthodox. In 1698, its internal appearance was arranged according to the ancient Russian model. temples. The Emperor prayed in it several times. Peter I, when he was in Vilna, baptized the Arab Ibrahim, the ancestor of A.S. Pushkin, here. After 1796, when the roof collapsed, the temple was in ruins until 1864. By order of the governor general of the region, gr. M. N. Muravyov, the restoration of the church building was carried out according to the project of the architect. A. Martsinovsky under the direction. Chagin, in 1865 the church was consecrated.
Among the most ancient Christians. shrines of Vilnius belongs to c. St. Nicholas (Perenesenskaya). The first mention of this church dates back to 1511, in 1514 with the permission of the cor. Sigismund I was rebuilt in stone by the book. K.I. Ostrozhsky along with the Holy Trinity. In 1609-1827. Among other churches in the city, it belonged to the Uniates. The original appearance of the church was close to Gothic churches, but the presence of 3 apses indicates its original construction in the Orthodox style. architecture; was rebuilt after the fire of 1748 according to the project of the architect. Glaubitz and in 1865 to Russian-Byzantine. style according to Rezanov's design. In 1866, the solemn consecration of the renewed temple took place (Lithuanian EV. 1866. No. 21. P. 92); in 1869, a chapel in honor of Archangel Michael, also built according to Rezanov’s design, was consecrated. This massive building of the quadrangle-on-octagon type, with a round dome, is adjacent closely to the south. façade of the church, to which is also attached a multi-tiered bell tower under a high tent, the lower tiers are quadrangular, the upper tiers are octagonal. The facades are decorated with ornamental belts made of colored bricks; the windows and portals are finished with platbands. Stained glass windows are used in the interior decoration. The mosaic “Archangel Michael” in the chapel was made in the workshops of the Emperor. OH. The temple contains particles of the relics of St. Nicholas, brought from Bari.
Church in the name of Equal Apostles. Constantine and etc. Mikhail Malein. 1913 Photograph. 2003
In mid. XIX century The Russian Orthodox Church was transferred to many. Catholic and Uniate churches and mon-ri, in which the necessary reconstructions were made in accordance with Orthodoxy. to the canons. In 1840 the former Church of the Jesuit Order in the name of St. Casimir was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas and became the Vilna Cathedral (until 1925), its facades were given Orthodox features. temple (based on Rezanov’s design, see: Lithuanian EV. 1867. No. 19. P. 793). In 1864, by imperial command, Catholic churches were closed. mon-ri. The Trinitarian Monastery with the Church of Jesus Christ (erected in 1696 by Hetman Jan Kazimierz Sapieha), consecrated in honor of Arch. Mikhail, operated until 1929; The monastery of the Order of Visiting Cards (visitants) was converted into Orthodox in 1865. Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene. Its main temple (formerly the Church of the Heart of Jesus) was Greek in plan. cross, in type it was a centric domed building in the Rococo style, in the West. the façade, which had a decoratively concave outline, lacked tradition. for Catholic temples 2 towers; the temple was built with the support of the cor. Augustus II the Strong according to the designs of the architects J. M. Fontana and Glaubitz, supervised the work by J. Paul.
In 1890-1910 Parish churches were built in new areas of the expanding Vilna, and schools for children were opened there. Were consecrated: September 3. 1895 c. arch. Mikhail, built in memory of gr. M. N. Muravyova; Oct 25 1898 c. in the name of the blessed book Alexander Nevsky in memory of the Emperor. Alexander III; June 1, 1903 Znamenskaya Ts. All these temples were built in Russian-Byzantine style. style using the Middle Ages. architectural traditions.
In commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the House of Romanov and in memory of Prince. Konstantin Ostrogsky built a monument church in the name of St. equal to imp. Constantine and etc. Mikhail Malein, designed by architect. A. Adamovich with the participation of the diocesan architect. A. A. Shpakovsky at the expense of the famous temple builder I. A. Kolesnikov (actual state councilor, director of the Nikolskaya manufactory Savva Morozov). In Moscow, memorial gifts were made intended for the archbishop who consecrated the temple. Lithuanian and Vilna Agafangel (Preobrazhensky), for example. panagia (1912-1913, collection of the State Repository of Valuables of the Russian Federation; see: Voldaeva V. Yu. Silver panagia from the collection of the Gokhran of the Russian Federation and new data about the company of N.V. Nemirov-Kolodkin // PKNO, 1997. M., 1998. pp. 455-458)). The temple was founded on May 14, 1911 and consecrated on May 9, 1913 in the presence of the leader. book prmts. Elisaveta Feodorovna. Five-domed, with a bell tower next to the church, it was designed in neorus, which was new to Vilna. style, decorated in the traditions of ancient Rostov-Suzdal architecture, pillarless inside. Vilna craftsmen carried out construction work and exterior decoration of the building; Moscow - interior decoration of the temple: iconostasis, icons, crosses, bells, utensils, etc.
Iconography and book miniatures
Surviving fragments of frescoes in the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Stanislava testify to the connections of the masters who worked in Vilna with the painting traditions of Serbia and Bulgaria. Since the 15th century Painting began to spread in Western Europe. Gothic style, paintings for altars and miniatures of handwritten books were created in the monastery workshops of Vilna. The first front manuscript - the so-called. Lavrushev Gospel (beginning of the 14th century, Krakow, Czartoryski Library) - with 18 miniatures, was created under the influence of the Byzantines. art. Bulgarian influence and Novgorod manuscripts can be traced in the Gospel of the 14th century. and the Gospel of Sapieha con. XV century (both in the library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences).
In the 19th century Artists of the academic school were invited for sculptural and painting works in the new and newly consecrated churches of Vilna. Thus, the icons of the 5-tier iconostasis of the Prechistensky Cathedral were painted by Trutnev, I. T. Khrutsky - for the Trinity Church, F. A. Bruni - a copy of the painting “Prayer for the Cup” for wives. Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene. The same artists in the 60s. XIX century worked on finishing the c. St. Nicholas and the decoration of the St. Nicholas Cathedral, for the local row of the iconostasis, the icons and image of Hosts were painted by Prof. K. B. Wenig, other icons - K. D. Flavitsky; images of St. Nicholas and St. Alexander Nevsky - acad. N. I. Tikhobrazov; an altarpiece of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as cardboard images of St. Nicholas, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Joseph the Betrothed for the pediment - V.V. Vasiliev (he also painted the icons for the Alexander Nevsky Chapel and the image of the Great Martyr George for the St. George Chapel). The icons by F.P. Bryullov and Trutnev located in the niches and on the walls of the St. Nicholas Cathedral were transferred from St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg with the assistance of Rezanov.
Lit.: Muravyov A. N. Rus. Vilna. St. Petersburg, 1864; Vilna // PRSZG. 1874. Issue. 5-6; Kirkor A. TO . Lithuanian Polesie // Picturesque Russia. St. Petersburg; M., 1882. T. 3. Part 1; Dobryansky F. N. Vilna and surroundings. Vilna, 1883; Sobolevsky I. IN . Prechistensky Cathedral in Vilna. Vilna, 1904; Vinogradov A. A . Guide to the city of Vilna and its surroundings. Vilna, 1904. Parts 1, 2; Milovidov A. AND . Celebration of the bookmark. temple-monument in Vilna and the significance of this monument. Vilna, 1911; Savitsky L. Orthodox cemetery in Vilna: To the 100th anniversary of the cemetery church. St. Euphrosyne 1838-1938 Vilno, 1938; Ozerov G. Church of the Sign // Vilnius. 1994. No. 8. P.177-180; aka. Prechistensky Cathedral // Ibid. 1996. No. 6. P. 151-159.
I. E. Saltykova
The Diocese of Vilna and Lithuania (lit. Vilniaus ir Lietuvos vyskupija) is a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, which includes the structures of the Moscow Patriarchate on the territory of the modern Republic of Lithuania with its center in Vilnius.
Background
A. A. Solovyov reports that back in 1317, Grand Duke Gediminas achieved a reduction in the metropolis of the Great Moscow Principality (Great Russia). At his request, under Patriarch John Glick (1315-1320), the Orthodox Metropolis of Lithuania was created with its capital in Maly Novgorod (Novogrudok). Apparently, those dioceses that depended on Lithuania submitted to this metropolis: Turov, Polotsk, and then, probably, Kyiv. - Solovyov A.V. Great, Little and White Rus' // Questions of History, No. 7, 1947
In the Russian Empire
The Lithuanian diocese of the Russian Church was established in 1839, when in Polotsk at a council of Uniate bishops of the Polotsk and Vitebsk dioceses a decision was made to reunite with the Orthodox Church. The borders of the diocese included the Vilna and Grodno provinces. The first bishop of Lithuania was the former Uniate bishop Joseph (Semashko). The department of the Lithuanian diocese was originally located in the Zhirovitsky Assumption Monastery (Grodno province). In 1845 the department was moved to Vilna. From March 7, 1898, it was headed by Archbishop Yuvenaly (Polovtsev) until his death in 1904. Before the First World War, the Lithuanian diocese consisted of the deaneries of the Vilna and Kovno provinces: Vilna city, Vilna district, Trokskoe, Shumskoe, Vilkomirskoe, Kovnoskoe, Vileyskoe, Glubokoe, Volozhinskoe, Disna, Druiskoe, Lida, Molodechenskoe, Myadelskoe, Novo-Alexandrovskoe, Shavelskoe, Oshmyanskoe , Radoshkovichskoye, Svyantsanskoye, Shchuchinskoye.
Lithuanian Orthodox Diocese
After the First World War and the inclusion of the Vilna region into Poland, the territory of the diocese was divided between two warring countries. The Orthodox Church of Poland left the subordination of the Moscow Patriarchate and received autocephaly from the Patriarch of Constantinople. The parishes of the former Vilna province became part of the Vilna and Lida diocese of the Orthodox Church of Poland, which was ruled by Archbishop Theodosius (Feodosiev). Vilna Archbishop Eleutherius (Epiphany) resisted secession and was expelled from Poland; at the beginning of 1923 he arrived in Kaunas to manage the Orthodox Christians of Lithuania, without giving up the rights to parishes that ended up in Poland. In the Republic of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Orthodox Diocese remained under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. According to the general population census of 1923, 22,925 Orthodox Christians lived in Lithuania, mainly Russians (78.6%), also Lithuanians (7.62%) and Belarusians (7.09%). According to the states approved by the Diet in 1925, monetary salaries from the treasury were assigned to the archbishop, his secretary, members of the Diocesan Council and priests of 10 parishes, despite the fact that there were 31 parishes. The loyalty of Archbishop Eleutherius to the Deputy Locum Tenens Metropolitan, controlled by the USSR authorities...
The churches of Lithuania are interesting because most of them were not closed during Soviet times, although not all of them have preserved their appearance from ancient times. Some churches were in the possession of the Uniates, some were in a dilapidated state, but were later revived. There are also several churches in Lithuania that were built in the 1930s, when our churches were being destroyed. There are also new temples built today.
Let's start the story with the cathedral Monastery of the Holy Spirit, which was never closed or refurbished.
The temple was founded in 1597 for Vilnius Brotherhood sisters Theodora and Anna Volovich. At this time, after the conclusion of the Union of Brest, all Orthodox churches in Lithuania came under the jurisdiction of the Uniates. And then the Vilnius Orthodox Brotherhood, which united people of different classes, decided to build a new temple. However, the construction of Orthodox churches was prohibited. The Volovich sisters were able to build the temple because they belonged to an influential family; construction was carried out on private land.
The gate of the monastery in the urban area.
For a long time, the Holy Spirit Church was the only Orthodox church in Vilnius. There was a monastic community at the temple, and there was a printing house. In 1686, the church in Lithuania came under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, and donations were received from the Moscow sovereigns. In 1749-51. the temple was built in stone.
In 1944, the temple was damaged by bombing and was repaired through the efforts of Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow. But already in 1948, the party leadership of Lithuania raised the issue of closing the monastery; in 1951, Hieromonk Eustathius, the future archimandrite of the Holy Spirit Monastery, was arrested. Released in 1955, Father Eustathius was engaged in the improvement of the monastery.
The shrine of the Holy Spiritual Cathedral is the relics of the Vilna martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius, executed under Prince Olgerd.
Temple St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Vilnius, Dijoy street.
The wooden church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was one of the first to emerge in Vilnius, at the beginning of the 14th century; in 1350, a stone church was built by Princess Ulyana Alexandrovna of Tverskaya. in the 15th century the temple became very dilapidated and in 1514 it was rebuilt by Prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky, hetman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1609, the church was captured by the Uniates, then gradually fell into disrepair. in 1839 it was returned to the Orthodox Church. In 1865-66. reconstruction was carried out, and since then the temple has been in operation.
Prechistensky Cathedral. Vilnius.
The temple was built at the expense of the second wife of Prince Olgerd of Lithuania, Princess Ulyana Alexandrovna Tverskaya. Since 1415 it was the cathedral church of the Lithuanian metropolitans. The temple was a princely tomb; Grand Duke Olgerd, his wife Ulyana, Queen Elena Ioannovna, daughter of Ivan III, were buried under the floor.
In 1596, the cathedral was taken over by the Uniates, there was a fire, the building fell into disrepair, and in the 19th century it was used for government needs. Restored under Alexander the Second on the initiative of Metropolitan Joseph (Semashko).
The temple was damaged during the war, but was not closed. In the 1980s, repairs were carried out and the surviving ancient part of the wall was installed.
Fragments of old masonry, the Gedemin Tower was built from the same stone.
Temple in the name Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva Pyatnitsa on Dijoi Street. Vilnius.
The first stone church in the Lithuanian land, erected by the first wife of Prince Olgerd, Princess Maria Yaroslavna of Vitebsk. All 12 sons of Grand Duke Olgerd (from two marriages) were baptized in this temple, including Jagiello (Jacob), who became the king of Poland and donated the Pyatnitsky temple.
In 1557 and 1610 the temple burned, the last time it was not restored, since a year later in 1611 it was captured by the Uniates, and a tavern soon appeared on the site of the burnt temple. In 1655, Vilnius was occupied by the troops of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and the church was returned to the Orthodox. The restoration of the temple began in 1698 at the expense of Peter I; there is a version that during the Russian-Swedish war, Tsar Peter baptized Ibrahim Hannibal here. In 1748 the temple burned again, in 1795 it was again captured by the Uniates, and in 1839 it was returned to the Orthodox, but in a ruined state. in 1842 the temple was restored.
Memorial plaque
in 1962, the Pyatnitskaya Church was closed, used as a museum, in 1990 it was returned to believers according to the law of the Republic of Lithuania, in 1991 the rite of consecration was performed by Metropolitan Chrysostom of Vilna and Lithuania. Since 2005, the Pyatnitskaya Church has celebrated the liturgy in Lithuanian.
Temple in honor Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary "The Sign", located at the end of Gedeminas Avenue. Vilnius.
Built in 1899-1903, it was closed during World War I, then services resumed and were not interrupted.
Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Trakai
In 1384, the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was founded in Trakai, the residence of the Lithuanian princes. The builder was Princess Ulyana Alexandrovna Tverskaya. Vytautas was baptized in this monastery. In 1596, the monastery was transferred to the Uniates, and in 1655 it burned down during the Russian-Polish War and the assault on Trakai.
In 1862-63. The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was built in Trakai, and the funds were donated by the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, who continued the ancient tradition of Lithuanian princesses building churches.
In 1915, the temple was damaged by shells and became unsuitable for worship. Major repairs took place only in 1938. Worship services have not stopped since then, but the temple was abandoned in the 1970s and 80s. Since 1988, the new rector, Father Alexander, began to actively preach in the city and surrounding villages, where Orthodox Christians traditionally lived. In the Republic of Lithuania, it is allowed to conduct religion lessons in schools.
Kaunas. The center of Orthodox life are two churches on the territory of the former Resurrection Cemetery.
Left Temple - Church of the Resurrection of Christ, was built in 1862. In 1915 the temple was closed during the war, but in 1918 worship resumed. In 1923-35. The temple became the cathedral of the Lithuanian diocese.
in 1924, a gymnasium was organized at the temple, the only school in Lithuania at that time with instruction in Russian. A charity circle was also organized, helping orphans and then the elderly. in 1940, the Mariinsky Charitable Society was liquidated, like all public organizations of bourgeois Lithuania, during the organization of the Lithuanian SSR.
In 1956, the Orthodox cemetery was liquidated, the graves of Russian people were razed to the ground, and now there is a park there. In 1962, the Church of the Resurrection was closed; it housed an archive. In the 1990s, the temple was returned to believers, and now services are performed there.
Right Temple - Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin. Built in 1932-35. on the initiative of Metropolitan Eleutherius, architects - Frick and Toporkov. This is an example of church architecture of the 1930s, practically absent in Russia. The temple was built with ancient Russian motifs, a continuation of the idea of architecture of Russian churches of the early twentieth century.
In 1937-38 At the church, conversations were held for the laity, since during these years a Catholic mission appeared in Kaunas and the Uniate bishop held weekly sermons in former Orthodox churches. However, the population preferred to attend the sermons of Archpriest Mikhail (Pavlovich) in the Annunciation Cathedral, and the Uniate mission was soon closed.
The Annunciation Cathedral was the center of Russian emigration, its parishioners included philosopher Lev Karsavin, architect Vladimir Dubensky, former Russian Finance Minister Nikolai Pokrovsky, professor and mechanic Platon Yankovsky, artist Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. In 1940-41. Many Russian emigrants left Lithuania for Europe, and the parish was empty.
During the war, services in the cathedral continued, but in 1944, Metropolitan Sergius of Vilna and Lithuania died, and Archbishop Daniel became the administrator of the diocese. after the war, persecution of parishioners began, the regent of the cathedral, S.A. Kornilov, was arrested (returned from prison in 1956). In the 1960s The Annunciation Cathedral was the only Orthodox church in Kaunas. Since 1969, priests had the right to perform divine services at home only with the written permission of the deputy chairman. district executive committee, for violation they could be removed from office by civil authorities.
In 1991, after the events at the Vilnius television center, the rector of the Annunciation Cathedral, Hieromonk Hilarion (Alfeev), issued an appeal calling on the Soviet army not to shoot at citizens. Soon the rector was transferred to another diocese, and now Metropolitan Hilarion is the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate
Since the fall of 1991, the parish has been headed by Archpriest Anatoly (Stalbovsky), pilgrimage trips, classes in schools are held, boarding houses are looked after, the cathedral has been restored.
Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, Kaunas.
This temple was Orthodox, but during the period of Lithuanian independence in 1918 it was transferred to Catholics.
in 1922-29 p According to the Law on Land Reform, 36 churches and 3 monasteries were confiscated from the Orthodox Church, some previously belonged to Catholics or Uniates (who, in turn, previously used Orthodox churches), and some recently built with private and public funds
On the walls, for example, on the right, hang modern religious paintings in the style of abstraction
The most unusual temple in Lithuania - Church of All Saints who shone in the Russian land, Klaipeda
in 1944-45 During the liberation of Memel, an Orthodox house of prayer was damaged. In 1947, the building of the former Lutheran church was transferred to the community of believers, which was used by the Soviet authorities as a hall for ritual services at the cemetery. However, after the first service, a denunciation was written against Father Theodore Raketzky (at the sermon he said that life is hard, and prayer is consolation). In 1949, Fr. Theodore was arrested and released only in 1956.
Nearby there is a park, on the site of which until recently there was a cemetery. The municipal authorities decided to carry out reconstruction, and relatives still come here for the funeral.
For some time, along with the Orthodox, Lutherans, whose community also gradually gathered after the war, also served in the church on schedule. The Orthodox dreamed of building a new church in the Russian style. In the 1950s, a cathedral was erected in Klaipeda through the efforts of the Catholic Lithuanian community, but the priests were accused of embezzlement and imprisoned, and the authorities transferred the church to the Philharmonic. Therefore, the construction of a new church for the Orthodox in Klaipeda has become possible only in our days.
Palanga. Church in honor of the Iverskaya Icon of the Mother of God. Built in 2000-2002. Architect - Dmitry Borunov from Penza. The benefactor is Lithuanian businessman A.P. Popov, the land was allocated by the city mayor’s office free of charge at the request of pensioner A.Ya. Leleikene, construction was carried out by Parama. The rector is Hegumen Alexy (Babich), the headman is V. Afanasyev.
The temple is located in the north-eastern part of Palanga, it can be seen on the road to Kretinga.
Lithuania is a predominantly Catholic country. Orthodoxy here is still a religion of national minorities. Orthodox believers living in this Baltic state are dominated by Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. There are very few Orthodox Lithuanians, but they still exist. Moreover, in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, there is the only Orthodox parish in the country, which serves in the Lithuanian language. The community of St. Paraskeva, on Dijoji Street in the central part of the capital, is cared for by Archpriest Vitaly Mockus, an ethnic Lithuanian. He also serves in the Holy Spirit Monastery of Vilnius and is the secretary of the diocesan administration.
Reference . Father Vitaly was born in 1974 in the village of Saleninkai in central Lithuania, into a Catholic family. He converted to Orthodoxy at the age of 15, in the winter of 1990. Two and a half years later he entered the Minsk Theological Seminary. He completed the full seminary course in three years and was ordained a priest in December 1995. Later he completed external training at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.
We talked with Father Vitaly in a small living room at the Church of St. Paraskeva. Father talked about his childhood, about his difficult fate, about his first encounters with Orthodoxy. In the Lithuanian outback, where he lived, Orthodoxy was practically unknown. The only Orthodox resident of Saleninkai, a Russian woman, came there only because she married a Lithuanian. Local children came to her house to look at a strange custom for those parts: how she “drinks tea from a plate” (she really drank tea from a saucer). The future priest remembered well that it was this woman who helped them when serious difficulties arose in the family. It did not escape his eyes that she led a worthy Christian life and testified to Orthodoxy with her deeds, which were stronger than words and convictions.
Probably, the example of the Christian faith and life of this Russian woman was one of the reasons that pushed Vitaly to learn more about Orthodoxy. An inquisitive young man went to Vilnius, to the Holy Spirit Monastery. True, the appearance of the monastery caused genuine surprise: instead of the expected white-stone church with narrow windows and golden domes, Vitaly saw churches built in the classical style and outwardly little distinguishable from Catholic ones. A natural question arose: how then does Orthodoxy in Lithuania differ from Catholicism? The interior of the temple? Yes, there was much less in common here than in architecture. Even less commonality was found in: Orthodox services were more prayerful, beautiful and long. The idea that Orthodoxy and Catholicism are identical or very similar has gone away by itself.
“I started going to the monastery on weekends: I arrived on Friday and stayed until Sunday,” recalls Father Vitaly. “I was received with love and understanding. It’s good that among the clergy there was a Lithuanian, Father Pavel, - I could talk with him on spiritual topics, and it was to him that I confessed for the first time. I didn’t know enough Russian at that time, mainly at the everyday level... Then I decided to stop studying at the school (I entered there after nine years of school) and at the age of 16 I arrived at the monastery for permanent residence. This happened in March 1991. I dreamed of becoming a monk, but things turned out differently. I entered the seminary in Belarus, met a girl there and got married - immediately after graduating from the seminary, in 1995.
By the way, Vitaly’s father’s mother and his brother and sister also accepted Orthodoxy. But among the priest’s acquaintances and friends, the attitude towards his transition to the true faith was ambiguous. It just so happened that Lithuanians associated Orthodoxy with Russians, Russians with everything Soviet, and the USSR was perceived as an occupying state. Therefore, some Lithuanians did not have the kindest opinions about those who became Orthodox.
“I had to experience all this for myself, especially in the first time after the country gained independence,” recalls Father Vitaly. – Sometimes they directly told me that I was going to the occupiers, to the Russians. People didn’t really distinguish between Russian and Soviet, because Soviet was offered in Russian. Although, to be objective, we can remember that the Lithuanians who implanted communist ideology in Lithuania were also Soviet. But I responded to all the accusations that I clearly separate religion from politics, spiritual life from social life. I explained that I was not going to the Soviets or the Russians, but to the Orthodox Church. And the fact that the church mostly speaks Russian does not make it Soviet.
– But in any case, in Lithuania at that time there was a clearly visible attitude towards Orthodoxy as a “Russian faith”? - I ask.
- Yes. And now it exists. If you are Orthodox, then you must be Russian. Not a Belarusian, not a Ukrainian, not someone else, but a Russian. Here they talk about the “Russian faith”, “Russian Christmas” and so on. True, the name itself - the Russian Orthodox Church - contributes to this. But we, for our part, strive in every possible way for non-Orthodox people to talk not about “Russian”, but about Orthodox, because among the Orthodox in Lithuania are not only Russians, but also Greeks, Georgians, Belarusians, Ukrainians and, of course, Lithuanians themselves. Agree, it is illogical to say “Lithuanian Christmas” when we are talking about Catholic Christmas. On the other hand, at the St. Petersburg Academy I heard the phrase “Polish Christmas.” You could say it was a mirror situation, a look from the other side. Of course, these terms are incorrect; they more reflect the popular, national understanding of Christianity.
“Unfortunately, this understanding is sometimes so ingrained that it is difficult to change,” I thought. We can also talk about the language of worship and some other points. In this context, Father Vitaly noted that even the choice of a church in which they could serve in Lithuanian had to be approached with a certain degree of caution. The choice, in the end, fell on the church, where, before the formation of a full-fledged community and the appointment of a Lithuanian priest there, services were performed only twice a year - on Christmas and the patronal feast (November 10). Moreover, from 1960 to 1990, the Church of St. Paraskeva was generally closed: at various times it housed museums, storage facilities and art galleries.
“There was a delicate ethnic aspect in our choice,” explains Father Vitaly. – Still, the Russian-speaking population of Lithuania feels a little abandoned, not entirely needed - especially people who do not know the state language well. They do not have the opportunity to integrate normally into modern Lithuanian society. For such people, an Orthodox church is a kind of “outlet,” a place where they can hear services in the familiar Church Slavonic language and speak with each other in Russian. If we organized services in Lithuanian in a church where there is a permanent community and where they serve in Church Slavonic, we might not be understood. People might have the following thoughts: now, even here we are becoming unnecessary, and we will have to relearn Lithuanian. We still wanted to avoid these difficulties, not to offend or infringe upon Russian-speaking parishioners.
– So, now the main part of the parishioners of the Church of St. Paraskeva are Lithuanians? – I ask a clarifying question.
– We have different people in our church. There are purely Lithuanian families in which they do not speak Russian. But mostly mixed families. Although there is another interesting category of parishioners: non-Lithuanians (Russians, Belarusians, etc.) who are fluent in Lithuanian. It is easier for them to understand the service in Lithuanian than in Church Slavonic. True, over time, when they get to know the service well, they usually move to churches, where they serve in Church Slavonic. To some extent, our church becomes for them the first step on the path to becoming a church member.
“Well, in principle, it is quite understandable when Russian speakers strive for Orthodoxy. But what leads to the true faith of native Lithuanians? What are the reasons for this? I couldn’t help but ask Father Vitaly this question.
“I think there are many reasons for this, and each person, perhaps, would focus on some particular point,” answered the priest. – If we try to generalize, we can note such factors as the beauty of Orthodoxy, spirituality, prayer, and worship. For example, we see (with some surprise) that many Catholics come to Lithuanian and even Church Slavonic services, and they order memorial services and prayer services from us. It happens that after a service in a Catholic church they come to us at the Holy Spirit Monastery or other churches and pray at our services. They say that we pray beautifully, that our prayers are long, so you can have time to pray well yourself. For Catholics this turns out to be very important. In general, many people are now getting acquainted with Orthodox theology, traditions and saints (especially since until the 11th century Orthodox and Catholics had common saints). Books about Orthodoxy are published in Lithuanian and works by Orthodox authors are published, and the initiators of the publications are often Catholics themselves. Thus, the works of Alexander Men and Sergius Bulgakov were translated into Lithuanian, and “Notes of Silouan of Athos” were published. Translations are also often done by Catholics, although they approach us with requests to review and edit the translated material.
– What about the translation of liturgical texts? Still, you can’t do without them during services in the Lithuanian language.
– You know, I remember that when I became Orthodox, I was a little offended if they told me that I had become Russian. And I wanted to perform the service in my native language. After all, we, having become Orthodox, continue to love our country, our homeland, just like the apostles who loved their countries in which they were born. To be honest, I had no idea how the process of establishing a service in Lithuanian could take place, but the Lord performed a miracle: the Liturgy in Lithuanian fell into my hands. The most interesting thing is that the translation was made in the second half of the 19th century and published with the blessing of the Holy Synod in the 1880s. True, the text is written in Cyrillic - it’s more than strange to read. At the end of the text there is even a short course on the phonetics of the Lithuanian language. Perhaps the translation was intended for priests who did not know Lithuanian. I have not yet been able to figure out the history of this translation, but the find pushed me to take specific actions. I began to re-translate the Liturgy - after all, the translation of the 19th century was to a large extent Russified and was not entirely suitable for current realities. But I didn’t know how to use the translation, I was afraid that some believers might perceive it as a manifestation of nationalism. Fortunately, the ruling bishop - at that time he was Metropolitan Chrysostom - himself asked me about the prospects of serving in Lithuanian. I replied that such services can be performed... After that, I began to translate even more decisively, involving other people. On January 23, 2005, we celebrated the first Liturgy in Lithuanian. We are gradually translating other liturgical services into Lithuanian.
However, Father Vitaly makes it clear that so far the Lithuanian language is in rather weak demand in Orthodox worship in Lithuania. The majority of parishioners are Russian-speaking; they are accustomed to Church Slavonic and do not see much need for language changes. Moreover, about half of the clergy (including the current ruling bishop, Archbishop Innocent) do not speak Lithuanian adequately. Hence the difficulties - for example, the inability of priests to speak at an official event or the obstacles to teaching the Law of God in schools. Of course, younger priests already know Lithuanian quite well, but still, Lithuania clearly lacks Orthodox clergy who speak the state language.
“This is not the only problem for us,” notes Father Vitaly. – It is quite difficult financially for those priests who serve in small parishes. For example, in northeastern Lithuania there are four temples located relatively close to each other. The priest could live there, in the parish house. But the parishes themselves are so poor and small in number that they cannot support even one priest, without a family. Some of our priests are forced to work in secular jobs, although such a situation for a priest to work from Monday to Friday is rare. There is, for example, a priest - a school director, and his temple is located in the school itself. There is a priest who owns his own clinic. This is an Orthodox clinic, although it is woven into the structure of the state medical system. Our parishioners go there for treatment; among the doctors and staff there there are many of our believers, Orthodox... Priests in rural areas engage in agriculture to support themselves.
– Are there any specific difficulties that may be characteristic of a country dominated by Catholics? – I cannot ignore a difficult issue in the sphere of interfaith relations.
– In principle, relations with the Catholic Church are good; no one creates obstacles for us, including the state. We have the opportunity to teach in schools, build our own churches, and preach. Of course, some situations require delicacy. For example, if we want to visit a nursing home, hospital or school, it is advisable to ask in advance whether there are Orthodox Christians there. Otherwise, misunderstandings may arise: why are we going to Catholics?
“It is clear that the Roman Church will treat the Orthodox word on its territory without any cordiality,” I thought. On the other hand, in Lithuania, despite the obvious dominance of Catholics, there are not so few people to whom, in principle, one can turn Orthodox preaching without regard to the reaction of the Catholic Church. Indeed, during the Soviet era, Russian-speaking specialists were sent to Lithuania, who, as a rule, were “proven” communists, but then, after the collapse of the USSR, they moved away from the dominant ideology. Now they, as well as their children and grandchildren, are beginning to come to the Orthodox Church. According to Father Vitaly, out of 140 thousand Orthodox residents of Lithuania, no more than 5 thousand regularly attend church (they come to services at least once a month, in one of 57 parishes). This means that in Lithuania itself there is ample opportunity for mission among those who are Orthodox by baptism or origin. It is all the more important because this mission is being intercepted by various neo-Protestant groups, which are very active, sometimes even intrusive.
In the current situation, the future of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania largely depends on the success of the mission among non-church people. Of course, native Lithuanians will also come to the Church, including those who left Catholicism, but it is unlikely that their influx will become massive. Services in Lithuanian, preaching in Lithuanian are, of course, important missionary steps that should not be abandoned. However, judging by the fact that over the past ten years there has been no mass conversion of Lithuanians to Orthodoxy, one can hardly expect serious changes in the ethnic composition of the parishioners of the Orthodox Church of Lithuania. Although for God, of course, every person is valuable and important, regardless of his nationality, language and political beliefs.
From the establishment of the metropolitanate to 1375
Under the Lithuanian Metropolitan Theophilus, in 1328, at a council in which bishops Mark of Przemysl, Theodosius of Lutsk, Gregory of Kholmsky and Stefan of Turov participated, Athanasius was installed as bishop of Vladimir, and Theodore as bishop of Galicia.
In 1329, a new metropolitan, Theognostus, came to Rus' and did not recognize Gabriel, who had been installed that year with the participation of Theodore of Galicia, as Bishop of Rostov. While in Novgorod, Theognost, on the initiative of Ivan Kalita, excommunicated Alexander Mikhailovich Tverskoy and the Pskovites who resisted the Horde power. Alexander Mikhailovich left for Lithuania and, having received there the support of the episcopate of the Lithuanian Metropolis and Prince Gediminas, returned to Pskov. In 1331, in Vladimir-Volynsky, Theognost refused to consecrate Arseny (elected by a council of bishops: Theodore of Galitsky, Mark of Przemysl, Gregory of Kholmsky and Athanasius of Vladimir) as bishop of Novgorod and Pskov. Theognostus installed his candidate Vasily in Novgorod. On the way to Novgorod, Vasily in Chernigov concluded an agreement with the Kyiv prince Fedor to accept Fedor’s nephew, Narimunt (Gleb) Gediminovich, into the service in Novgorod. Theognostus in 1331 went to the Horde and Constantinople with complaints against the Russian-Lithuanian bishops and princes, but Patriarch Isaiah elevated the Galician bishop Theodore to the rank of metropolitan. The Lithuanian metropolitan see in the 1330s - 1352 was “unreplaced” and not “abolished”.
At the councils of Galician-Lithuanian bishops in 1332, Pavel was installed as Bishop of Chernigov, in 1335 John was installed as Bishop of Bryansk, and in 1346 Evfimy was installed as Bishop of Smolensk. Bishop Kirill of Belgorod participated in the production of Euthymius. In 1340, Lubart (Dmitry) Gediminovich became Prince of Galicia. By 1345, Polotsk, Turovo-Pinsk, Galician, Vladimir, Przemysl, Lutsk, Kholm, Chernigov, Smolensk, Bryansk and Belgorod dioceses were part of the Galician metropolis. There was a struggle for the Tver diocese and the Pskov Republic between Lithuania and the coalition of the Moscow Principality with the Novgorod Republic. For the Przemysl, Galician, Vladimir and Kholm dioceses there was a war for the Galician-Volyn inheritance (before), as a result of which the southwestern lands of Rus' became part of Poland. The Byzantine historian Nikephoros Grigora wrote in the 1350s that the people of "Rus" are divided into four Rus (Little Rus', Lithuania, Novgorod and Greater Rus'), of which one is almost invincible and does not pay tribute to the Horde; This Russia he called Olgerd's Lithuania. .
In 1354, a year after the death of Theognostus, the Patriarchate of Constantinople elevated the Moscow student of Theognostos, Bishop Alexy of Vladimir, to the rank of metropolitan. In 1355, the Patriarch of Tarnovo elevated Roman to the Lithuanian metropolitan see, whom the Rogozh chronicler called the son of a Tver boyar, and historians attributed to the relatives of Juliania, the second wife of Olgerd. A dispute arose between Roman and Alexy over Kyiv, and in 1356 they both came to Constantinople. Patriarch Callistus assigned Lithuania and Little Rus' to Roman, but Roman also established himself in Kyiv. Russian chronicles report that Metropolitan Alexy came to Kyiv in 1358, was arrested here, but was able to escape to Moscow. In 1360 Roman came to Tver. By this time, the Lithuanian-Russian metropolitanate included the Polotsk, Turov, Vladimir, Przemysl, Galician, Lutsk, Kholm, Chernigov, Smolensk, Bryansk and Belgorod dioceses. The claims of Metropolitan Alexy of Kyiv and All Rus' to Metropolitan Roman of Lithuania were sorted out at the Synod of Constantinople in July 1361, which assigned to Roman the western bishoprics of Lithuania (Polotsk, Turov and Novgorod bishoprics) and the dioceses of Little Rus'. Roman's dispute with Alexy over Kyiv ended with Roman's death in 1362. In 1362, the Lithuanian princes liberated the areas south of the Kyiv region and Galician lands from Tatar rule, thus annexing the ancient Belgorod (Ackerman) diocese and part of the Moldovan-Vlash lands, the Orthodox population of which was cared for by Galician bishops.
Under Metropolitan Cyprian (1375-1406)
Shortly before his death (November 5, 1370), the Polish king Casimir III wrote a letter to Patriarch Philotheus in which he asked to appoint Galician Bishop Anthony as metropolitan of the Polish possessions. In May 1371, a conciliar decree signed by Patriarch Filofey was issued, which entrusted the Metropolitan of Galicia with the Kholm, Turov, Przemysl and Vladimir dioceses to Bishop Anthony. Anthony was to install bishops in Kholm, Turov, Przemysl and Vladimir with the assistance of Metropolitan Ugrovlahia. Expressing the will of the Orthodox people, Grand Duke Olgerd wrote messages to Constantinople asking for the installation of a metropolitan in Lithuania independent of Poland and Moscow, and in 1373 Patriarch Philotheus sent his ecclesiarch Cyprian to the Kyiv Metropolis, who was supposed to reconcile the Lithuanian and Tver princes with Alexy. Cyprian managed to reconcile the warring parties. But in the summer of 1375, Alexy blessed the troops of his diocese to march on Tver, and on December 2, 1375, Patriarch Philotheus ordained Cyprian as metropolitan Kyiv, Russian and Lithuanian, and the Patriarchal Council decided that after the death of Metropolitan Alexy Cyprian should be “one metropolitan of all Rus'.” For this, Emperor John V Palaiologos and Patriarch Philotheus were called “Litvins” in Moscow. On June 9, 1376, Cyprian arrived in Kyiv, ruled by the Lithuanian prince Vladimir Olgerdovich. In 1376-1377 and from the summer of 1380, Cyprian dealt with church and church-economic issues in Lithuania. After the death of Alexy in 1378, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich refused to accept Cyprian (his people robbed the metropolitan and did not let him into Moscow), for which the prince and his people were excommunicated and cursed according to the rite of the Psalmocatharians by a special message from Cyprian. In 1380, Cyprian blessed the Orthodox of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for victory in the Battle of Kulikovo. In the office of Metropolitan Cyprian, a list was compiled “of all Russian cities far and near,” which lists the cities of Orthodox dioceses (except Lithuanian proper, many cities from the Danube in the south, Przemysl and Brynesk in the west to Ladoga and Bela Ozero in the north).
In the summer of 1387, Cyprian convinced Vytautas to lead the resistance to the Polish-Latin expansion into Lithuania and laid the foundation for the future union of the great duchies of Lithuania and Moscow: he betrothed Vytautas' daughter Sophia to the Moscow prince Vasily. After the February 1389 Council of Constantinople under Patriarch Anthony, the northeastern Russian dioceses submitted to Metropolitan Cyprian. In 1396-1397, he negotiated the union of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in the fight against Muslim aggression. After 1394, the ecclesiastical authority of the Metropolitan of All Rus' extended to Galicia and Moldo-Vlahia.
Period 1406-1441
In 1409, the new Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus', Photius, arrived in Kyiv from Constantinople. The final liquidation of the Galician Metropolis dates back to the same time. In the first half of the 1410s, Photius was accused of a grave sin, for which the hierarch was worthy of being ejected from the Church and cursed. The Lithuanian-Kyiv bishops wrote a letter to Photius, in which they substantiated their refusal to submit to a non-canonical hierarch. Grand Duke Vytautas expelled Photius from Kyiv and turned to Emperor Manuel with a request to give Lithuanian Rus' a worthy metropolitan. The emperor “for the profits of the unrighteous” did not satisfy Vytautas’ request. . Having not received satisfaction of his request, Grand Duke Vitovt gathered the Lithuanian-Russian princes, boyars, nobles, archimandrites, abbots, monks and priests for a council. On November 15, 1415, in Novogorod of Lithuania, Archbishop Theodosius of Polotsk and bishops Isaac of Chernigov, Dionysius of Lutsk, Gerasim of Vladimir, Galasiy of Przemysl, Savastyan of Smolensk, Khariton of Kholm and Evfimy of Turov signed a conciliar letter on the election of the Moldovan-Vlachian bishop Gregory and his consecration as metropolitan of Kyiv sky and all Rus' according to the rules of the Holy Apostles and according to the examples recognized by the Ecumenical Orthodox Church that formerly existed in Rus', in Bulgaria and Serbia. Photius sent out letters cursing Lithuanian Christians and calling not to recognize Gregory as a canonical metropolitan. At the Council of Constance in 1418, Gregory Tsamblak refused to transfer the Lithuanian metropolitanate to the Roman throne. Based on the false report of the Russian chronicler about the death of Gregory in 1420 and information about Photius’s trips to Lithuania for negotiations with Vytautas, the opinion was established in historiography that the Lithuanian dioceses recognized the ecclesiastical authority of Metropolitan Photius from 1420. It is now known that Gregory moved to Moldo-Vlachia around 1431-1432, where he worked in the book field for about 20 years, accepting the schema with the name Gabriel at the Nyametsky monastery). At the end of 1432 or the beginning of 1433, Patriarch Joseph II elevated Smolensk Bishop Gerasim to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'. On May 26, 1434, Gerasim consecrated Euthymius II (Vyazhitsky) Bishop of Novgorod. Moscow did not want to recognize Gerasim, and suspicions of Gerasim’s alliance with Catholics were fabricated against him in the Horde-Moscow-Polish ambassadorial circle. Based on this suspicion, Prince Svidrigailo, during the civil war between adherents of the “old faith” and supporters of Polish-Catholic hegemony in 1435, ordered the burning of Gerasim in Vitebsk (as a result of this crime, Svidrigailo was defeated by the pro-Polish party).
In 1436, Patriarch Joseph II elevated the most educated representative of the Constantinople clergy, Isidore, to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'. Thanks to the authority of Metropolitan Isidore, the alliance of Orthodox and Catholics against the coalition of the Ottoman Empire and the Horde on July 5, 1439 was formalized at the Ferraro-Florence Ecumenical Council, where the canonicity of both the Catholic and Orthodox church organizations of believers was recognized. Pope Eugene IV on December 18, 1439 added to the Orthodox title of Isidore, equal to the metropolitan, the title of cardinal of the Roman Church and appointed him legate of the Catholic provinces of Poland (Galicia), Rus', Lithuania and Livonia. Returning from Florence, Isidore at the beginning of 1440 sent a district message from Buda-Pest, in which he announced the recognition by the Roman Church of the canonicity of the Orthodox and called on Christians of different faiths to peaceful coexistence, which helped the Lithuanians install 13-year-old Casimir (son Sofia Andreevna, former Orthodox, fourth wife of Jagiello-Vladislav), who then built several Orthodox churches of John the Baptist in Lithuania. In 1440 - early 1441, Isidore traveled around the dioceses of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (he was in Przemysl, Lvov, Galich, Kholm, Vilna, Kyiv and other cities). But when Metropolitan Isidore arrived in Moscow in March 1441, he was taken into custody and, under threat of death, they demanded that he renounce the anti-Muslim alliance, but he managed to escape from captivity. In 1448, Saint Jonah was elected metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' by a council of Russian bishops. The installation of Jonah is considered the beginning of the actual independence (autocephaly) of the northeastern Russian dioceses. The successors of Jonah (c) were already only Moscow metropolitans.
Period 1441-1686
In the 1450s, Metropolitan Isidore was in Rome and Constantinople. In 1451, Casimir IV called on his subjects to “honor Jonah as the metropolitan’s father and obey him in spiritual matters,” but the orders of the Catholic layman did not have canonical force. Isidore in 1453 participated in the defense of Constantinople, was captured by the Turks, sold into slavery, escaped, and only in 1458, having become Patriarch of Constantinople, he installed his former protodeacon Gregory (Bulgarin) as Metropolitan of Kyiv, Galicia and All Rus'. Isidore administered the Orthodox dioceses of the Patriarchate of Constantinople not from Constantinople captured by the Turks, but from Rome, where he died on April 27, 1463. Gregory the Bulgarian was not allowed to govern the bishoprics subject to Moscow and for 15 years he ruled only the dioceses of Lithuania. In 1470, Gregory's status was confirmed by the new Patriarch of Constantinople, Dionysius I. (Greek) Russian . In the same year, the Novgorodians considered it necessary to send a candidate to replace the deceased Archbishop Jonah for ordination not to the Moscow Metropolitan, but to the Kyiv Metropolitan, which was one of the reasons for Ivan III’s first campaign against Novgorod ().
The proposed unification of Christians at the Council in Florence to fight Muslim aggression turned out to be ineffective (Catholics did not save Constantinople from being captured by the Ottomans). After the fall of the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the replacement of the power of the Christian Emperor of Constantinople with the power of the Muslim Sultan in the metropolises of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the importance of secular rulers increased significantly, whose power became stronger than the power of spiritual rulers. On September 15, 1475, at the consecrated Council in Constantinople, the monk of the Athos Monastery, Spyridon, was elected and ordained Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'. However, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV, apparently at the request of his son Casimir, did not allow the new hierarch of the Russian Church to manage his dioceses and exiled Spiridon to Punia, and on the metropolitan throne he confirmed the Smolensk archbishop from the family of Russian princes Pestruch - Misail, who On March 12, 1476, he signed a letter to Pope Sixtus IV (the pope responded to this letter with a bull, in which he recognized the Eastern rite as equal to the Latin). While in exile, Spyridon continued to communicate with his flock (the “Exposition on the True Orthodox Faith” and “The Word on the Descent of the Holy Spirit”, written by him in Lithuania, have been preserved). The installation of Spiridon as Metropolitan of All Rus' caused concern among Moscow rulers, who called the Metropolitan Satan. In the “approved” letter of Bishop Vassian, who received the Tver See from the Moscow Metropolitan in 1477, it is specifically stated: “And to Metropolitan Spiridon, called Satan, who sought an appointment in Constantinople, in the region of the godless Turks, from the filthy king, or whoever another metropolitan will be appointed from Latin or from the Tours region, do not approach me with him, nor have any connection with him, nor have any connection with him.” From Lithuania, Spiridon moved to the territory of the Novgorod Republic (conquered by Ivan III in 1478) or the Principality of Tver, which was captured by Ivan III in 1485. The arrested Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All Rus' was exiled to the Ferapontov Monastery, where he managed to exert a significant influence on the development of the non-acquisitive monastic movement in the northern lands of the Moscow Metropolis, led the development of the Belozersk icon-painting school, and in 1503 wrote the Life of the Solovetsky wonderworkers Zosima and Savvaty. In the last years of his life, Spiridon, fulfilling the order of Vasily III, composed the legendary “Epistle on the Crown of Monomakh,” in which he described the origin of the Moscow princes from the Roman emperor Augustus.
After Serapion's departure from Lithuania, the Orthodox bishops of the Kyiv Metropolis chose Archbishop Simeon of Polotsk as their metropolitan. King Casimir IV allowed him to gain approval in Constantinople. Patriarch Maximus of Constantinople approved Simeon and sent him a “Blessed Letter”, in which he addressed not only him, but also all bishops, priests and faithful of the Holy Church. The patriarchal message was brought by two exarchs: Metropolitan Niphon of Aeneas and Bishop Theodoret of Ipanea, who in 1481 enthroned the new metropolitan together with the bishops of the metropolis of Kyiv, Galicia and All Rus' in Novgorod of Lithuania. The election of Simeon put an end to the misunderstandings associated with the arrest of Spiridon and the activities of the uncanonically named Metropolitan Misail. After Simeon's approval, the Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey in 1482 took and burned Kyiv and the Pechersky Monastery, and robbed the St. Sophia Cathedral. Metropolitan Simeon appointed Macarius (the future Metropolitan of Kyiv) as archimandrite of the Vilna Trinity Monastery and ordained Archimandrite Vassian to the rank of Bishop of Vladimir and Brest.
After the death of Metropolitan Simeon (1488), the Orthodox elected to the throne of the Kyiv Metropolis “a holy man, especially punished in the scriptures, who was able to use others and who opposed our law, a strong vigilante,” Archbishop Jonah (Glezna) of Polotsk. The chosen one did not agree for a long time, called himself unworthy, but was “entreated by the requests of the princes, all the clergy and people, and moved by the command of the ruler.” Before receiving patriarchal approval (in 1492), Jonah ruled the Kyiv Metropolis with the title of “elect” (designated metropolitan). During the reign of Metropolitan Jonah, the Kiev metropolis was in relative peace and freedom from oppression. According to the testimony of Uniate writers, the Church owed this peace to the affection that Metropolitan Jonah enjoyed from King Casimir Jagiellon. Metropolitan Jonah died in October 1494.
In 1495, the Council of Bishops elected Archimandrite Macarius of the Vilna Trinity Monastery and decided urgently, by the conciliar forces of the local episcopate, to first consecrate Macarius as a bishop and metropolitan, and then to send a post factum embassy to the Patriarch for a blessing. “Then the bishops of Vladimir Vassian, Luka of Polotsk, Vassian of Turov, and Jonah of Lutsk gathered and appointed Archimandrite Macarius, nicknamed the Devil, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus'. And Elder Dionysius and German the deacon-monk were sent to the patriarch for a blessing.” Soon the embassy returned with an affirmative answer, but the patriarch's envoy reprimanded him for violating normal order. The reasons for the haste were explained to the ambassador, and he found them convincing. Metropolitan Macarius lived in Vilna, persuaded the Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander to become Orthodox, and in 1497 he went to Kyiv to begin restoring the destroyed St. Sophia Cathedral. On the way to Kyiv, when the Metropolitan was conducting the Divine Liturgy in a church on the banks of the Pripyat River, the Tatars attacked the church. The saint called on those present to save themselves, but he himself remained at the altar, where he accepted martyrdom. Contemporaries warmly mourned the death of Macarius. His body was brought to Kyiv and laid in the Church of Hagia Sophia. In the same years, Moscow troops, in alliance with the Kasimov and Kazan Tatars, captured Vyazemsky, part of the Verkhovsky lands of the Kyiv Metropolis, and from 1497 Ivan III began to pretentiously be called the Grand Duke of Moscow and All Rus', although Rus' itself was located outside the Moscow Principality. In 1503, Ivan III captured the Toropetsky povet of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, transferring it to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Metropolitan. Ivan's son Vasily III captured Pskov in 1510. In 1514, Muscovite troops captured Smolensk and moved deeper into Lithuania, but on September 8, the 80,000-strong Muscovite army was defeated near Orsha by a 30,000-strong army under the command of Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky. In honor of the Orsha victory, a triumphal arch was built in Vilna, called by the people the Ostrog Gate (later called the Ostrog Gate), known as the seat of the Ostro Bram Icon of the Mother of God. With the money of Konstantin Ivanovich Ostrozhsky, the Prechistensky Cathedral, Trinity and St. Nicholas churches were rebuilt in Vilna.
After the conquest of Montenegro by the Turks (1499), the Kiev Metropolis for almost a century remained the only metropolis of the Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople free from non-Christian rulers. But from the end of the 15th century, the metropolitans of Kyiv, Galicia and all Rus' became gentry, family-owned, rich people who were more concerned not with the Christian education of their flock, but with the economic state of their possessions, which contradicted the 82nd rule of the Council of Carthage, which prohibited the bishop from “more appropriately exercising his own business and take care and diligence about your throne.” It was not Christian values that played a decisive role in the election of candidates to the metropolitan see in Lithuania. Already in the 15th century, some representatives of the Lithuanian aristocracy, focusing on the Catholic kings, moved from the Orthodox Church to the Catholic Church, but this transition, due to the influence of the Hussite movement in the Czech Republic, was not widespread. Great support for the Orthodox Litvinians was provided by Polotsk resident Francis Skorina, who began printing Orthodox books in Prague in 1517, and in 1520 founded a printing house in Vilna. In the middle of the 16th century, many aristocrats were carried away by the ideology of Luther and Calvin and converted to Protestantism, but, after the success of the Counter-Reformation, they joined the Catholic Church. Ivan the Terrible took advantage of the split of the Lithuanian community into several religious groups, whose troops captured Polotsk during the Livonian War in 1563. The threat of the conquest of Lithuania by the troops of the eastern tyrant forced the Litvinians to seek religious and political harmony. It was announced that the rights of Orthodox, Protestants and Catholics were equal. The Poles took advantage of the situation and captured the Lithuanian lands of modern Ukraine and eastern Poland. In 1569, the Lithuanians were forced to sign the Lublin Act, which established the confederation of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Rzeczpospolita).
According to contemporaries, back in the middle of the 16th century there were twice as many Orthodox churches in Vilna as Catholic ones. The position of the Orthodox Christians worsened after the Union of Brest in 1596. After five bishops and Metropolitan Mikhail Rogoza converted to Uniateism, the struggle with the Uniates for churches and monasteries began. In 1620, Patriarch Theophan III of Jerusalem restored the hierarchy to part of the Lithuanian metropolitanate, consecrating a new Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus' with residence in Kyiv. In 1632, the Orsha, Mstislav and Mogilev bishoprics, located on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were established as part of the Kyiv Metropolis. Since May 1686, when the Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius IV agreed to the subordination of the Kyiv Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate, the church organization of the Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the territory of central Europe ceased to exist.
List of hierarchs of the Lithuanian Metropolis
The titles of the metropolitans of Rus' changed to “Metropolitan of Lithuania”, “Metropolitan of Lithuania and Little Rus'”, “Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'”, “Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All Rus'”.
- Theophilus - Metropolitan of Lithuania (before August 1317 - after April 1329);
- Theodoret – title unknown (1352-1354);
- Roman - Metropolitan of Lithuania (1355-1362);
- Cyprian - Metropolitan of Lithuania and Little Rus' (1375-1378);
- Cyprian (1378-1406);
- Gregory (1415-after 1420)
- Gerasim (1433-1435;
- Isidore (1436 - 1458)
- Gregory (Bulgarian) (1458-1473);
- Spyridon (1475-1481);
- Simeon (1481-1488);
- Jonah I (Glezna) (1492-1494);
- Macarius I (1495-1497);
- Joseph I (Bulgarinovich) (1497-1501);
- Jonah II (1503-1507);
- Joseph II (Soltan) (1507-1521);
- Joseph III (1522-1534);
- Macarius II (1534-1556);
- Sylvester (Belkevich) (1556-1567);
- Jonah III (Protasevich) (1568-1576);
- Elijah (Heap) (1577-1579);
- Onesiphorus (Girl) (1579-1589);
- Michael (Rogoza) (1589-1596); accepted the Brest Union.
From 1596 to 1620, the Orthodox of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who did not accept the Union of Brest were left without a metropolitan.
- Job (Boretsky) (1620-1631);
- Peter (Tomb) (1632-1647);
- Sylvester (Kossov) (1648-1657);
- Dionysius (Balaban) (1658-1663);
- Joseph (Nelyubovich-Tukalsky) (1663-1675);
- Gideon (Chetvertinsky) (1685-1686).
See also
Notes
- The metropolitans who ruled the dioceses of northeastern Europe, Theognostus, Alexius, Photius, and Jonah, who was not subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, were also called “Kievan and All Rus'”.
- Golubovich V., Golubovich E. Crooked city - Vilna // KSIIMK, 1945, issue. XI. pp. 114-125; Lukhtan A., Ushinskas V. On the problem of the formation of the Lithuanian land in the light of archaeological data // Antiquities of Lithuania and Belarus. Vilnius, 1988. pp. 89–104; Kernave - litewska Troja. Katalog wystawy ze zbiorow Panstwowego Muzeum – Rezerwatu Archeologii i Historii w Kernawe, Lithuania. Warsaw, 2002.
- Rule 82 of the Council of Carthage prohibits the bishop from “leaving the main place of his see and going to any church in his diocese, or more appropriately practicing his own business and taking care and diligence about his throne.”
- Darrouzes J. Notitae episcopatuum ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae. Paris, 1981; Miklosich F., Muller J. Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi sacra et profana. Vindobonnae, 1860-1890. Vol. 1-6. ; Das Register des Patriarchat von Konstantinopel / Hrsg. v. H. Hunger, O. Kresten, E. Kislinger, C. Cupane. Wien, 1981-1995. T. 1-2.
- Gelzer H. Ungedruckte und ungenugend veroffentlichte Texte der Notitiae Episcopatuum, ein Beitrag zur byzantinischen Kirchen - und Verwaltungsgeschichte. // Munchen, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Hist., l, Abhandlungen, XXI, 1900, Bd. III, ABTH
