Vilnius – Capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the border of Eastern and Western Civilisations
Vilnius, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, formed on the border of two civilisations – Byzantine Eastern and Latin Western ones. In the 14th century, when Grand Dukes of Lithuania who worshipped pagan gods resided in Vilnius Castle, Orthodox believers and Catholic Germans were establishing themselves at its bottom and were building their houses of worship. The first cult building of the Christians was the Church of St. Parasceve. The Church of St. Nicholas built by the community of German merchants has survived up to the present day. After Lithuania was converted to Catholicism Vilnius became not only the most important political centre but also the bastion of Christianity – the most significant church in the country, Vilnius Cathedral, stood there. It was a place of residence of Vilnius Bishop and Vilnius Capitola. However, even after Lithuania’s Christianisation, the so-called Ruthenian town did not lose its significance. Kiev Metropolitan, like Vilnius Bishop, used to spend much time in Vilnius, he had his own jurisdiction. Cult buildings of Orthodox believers reflect the symbiosis of two cultures most clearly: gothic elements, renaissance and baroques forms. In its turn, traces of the tradition of the Byzantine architecture are discerned in the architecture of the Church of St. Anne. In the 17th century, the Catholic appearance of the city began to dominate – the number of churches of the Orthodox believers and the Uniates decreased. It was not only in the religious sphere that the Byzantine and Latin civilisations intertwined. After Vilnius was granted self-government under the rights of Magdeburg, the orthodox element of the townspeople was also integrated into the structures of the city’s self-government – half the seats there belonged to the Orthodox believers, later to the Uniates. Thus, the Town Hall became a symbol of not only the city’s self-government but also that of the unity of the Christian townspeople. In Vilnius the Orthodox believers had the right to become members of workshops too.
Church of St. Parasceve (Piatnickaya)
In the 14th century, orthodoxy began being established in the courtyard of the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Daughters of the rulers of the orthodox countries who were married to pagan Lithuanian knights took care for places to pray. The construction of the first Orthodox Church in 1345 is related to Maria, princess of Vitebsk, the first wife of Algirdas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Though he was a pagan, he built the wooden Church of St. Parasceve (Piatnickaya) in Vilnius for his Orthodox first wife.
Church of St. Nicholas
The church of St. Nicholas is one of the oldest Catholic churches, which was built prior to Lithuania’s baptism by the German merchants who resided in Vilnius. Saint Nicolas was worshipped as the patron saint of merchants, pharmacists, prisoners and various craftsmen. In the late 14th century, the German community settled around the current German Street. They constituted an influential part of the townspeople, and were mainly engaged in trade.
Ruthenian town
The Ruthenian town in Vilnius has been known since the 14th century. It settled the area of current Latako and Russian Streets. The main Orthodox churches were built there (their number fluctuated between 19 and 10). A part of lands in this territory belonged to the Orthodox churches. The scheme shows Vilnius in 1390, indicating red catholic churches on the left, and blue orthodox churches within a Ruthenian town on the right.
Kiev Metropolitan’s jurisdiction
Kiev Metropolitan’s jurisdiction, plan of 1672
Gothic Orthodox Churches in Vilnius
The architecture of the churches was the expression of theology of that time; therefore borrowing architectural styles to build houses of worship of other confessions was a rare phenomenon. Such a phenomenon as gothic Orthodox churches is found only in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and this testifies to an exclusively intensive interaction between culture of the Orthodox believers and that of the Catholics.
Church of the Holy Spirit
The Church of the Holy Spirit has been operating in Vilnius since 1597. In 1638 it developed into an entire ensemble of a Russian Orthodox church, monastery and a belfry. This church can be regarded as a symbol of the synthesis of the Byzantine and Latin cultures. Vilnius Baroque style is recognised in towers and the pediment, however, three apses in the presbytery show that this is a Orthodox church. In the 18th century, a famous architect of Vilnius Baroque Jan Krzysztof Glaubitz (1737-1767) designed a Baroque iconostasis, which reminds of a Catholic altar but is adapted to the Orthodox rites – the embellished gate is built in its centre.
Church of St. Anne
In the opinion of the Polish historian Józef Maroszek, the construction of the Church of St. Anne is related to Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas’ policy on the Church Union. The Grand Duke Alexander, pursuing this policy, married the Orthodox tsarevna Elena of Moscow and at the end of the 15th century built the Church of St Anne for her. A combination of the elements of the Gothic architecture and the Byzantine tradition had to reflect the idea of the Church Union and attract the Ruthenians to Catholicism in this way. This theory explains the location of the construction of the Church of St. Anne and its architectural exclusiveness.
Disappearing Orthodox churches
At the beginning of the 17th century there were 19 Orthodox churches in Vilnius. 12 of them belonged to the Uniates. In the middle of the 17th century, after the fire of 1610 and Moscow War in 1655, there were only ten Orthodox churches left; one of them belonged to the Orthodox believers and the remaining ones belonged to the Uniates (Church of the Blessed Mother of God; Spass Orthodox Church; Church of St. Parasceve (Piatnickaya); Church of St Michael; Resurrection Church; Church of St John; Church of the Holy Trinity; Church of St George; Church of St Peter; Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit). Saint Cosmas and Damian Orthodox Church still operated in 1636 but burned down in 1655 and was never rebuilt again. The Orthodox Church of St Nicholas stopped operating in the mid 17th century. The Resurrection Church was neglected as far back as the first part of the 18th century, and a three-storey building was constructed from it. The wall of the former Orthodox Church has been uncovered on the side of Stiklių Street. In the first half of the 17th century, more Orthodox churches disappeared: the Church of the Birth of Christ, the Orthodox Church of the Death of St Eli and St Michael, and the Church of St Catherine.
The Town Hall – symbol of self-government
The Town Hall of Vilnius was built between the Ruthenian and German towns – this institution united the townspeople of both confessions. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania granted the rights of self-government to the cities on the basis of the self-government model that was formed in German cities. The structure of Vilnius city self-government was different in that the Catholics and the Orthodox believers, and later the Uniates, shared power there. Representatives of both religions shared the most important positions in magistracy – the posts of 12 burgomasters and 24 counsellors, as well as 20 jurors of the townspeople court.
