Vilnius as a City of Churches
Vilnius is rich in the religious history. Different faiths co-existed and still peacefully co-exist in Vilnius today. At the beginning of the 21st century the largest number (about two the thirds) of the residents of Vilnius were catholic. Traditionally several forms of Christianity meet in the city – Catholics, Orthodox Believers, Lutherans, Reformists, Baptists and other groups of the Protestants, the Uniates and Old Believers. Small but significant communities of Israelites, Muslims and Karaites are found there too. Furthermore, several dozens of other small religious communities also operate there.
Vilnius as a Centre of Tolerance of Christian Europe
In the second half of the 16th century Vilnius became a symbol of the co-existence of Christian churches of the East and the West. In 1563, the rights of all Christian confessions were made equal in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, though some of the confessions had been tolerated before. The religious variety is reflected in a famous panoramic view of the city of Vilnius made by the graphic artist Thomas Makowski of the Radziwiłł court in 1600. The facades and spires of Catholic (according to Makowski’s map - 3, 5, 9, 16, 19), Uniate (18), Orthodox Believers (12, 20) and Protestant (10, 11) churches rise in the panorama of the city. Moreover, there was a Muslim mosque in Lukiškes suburb in Vilnius (30). Since the end of the 16th century a synagogue operated in Vilnius (the approximate site - 31).
The Uniates in Vilnius
The Uniates, or Eastern Rite Catholics, are the former Orthodox Believers of the Lithuanian and Polish Commonwealth who concluded the Church Union of Brest with the Roman Catholics in 1596. According to it, the Orthodox Believers recognised the Pope’s power and adopted the Roman Catholic dogma but retained their liturgy and the Church Slavonic language. During the period between 1608 and 1827, the Church of the Holy Trinity belonged to the Uniates and the Basilian Monastery operated. In 1827–1839, on the order of Tsar Nikolai I, all monasteries of the Uniates were turned into Orthodox monasteries, they were deprived of the rights to patronage schools, and the church provinces were abolished. The Uniates were re-established in independent Lithuania in 1919-1940. In 1991 the Church of the Holy Trinity Trinity was returned to the Uniates. At the present time there are five communities of the Uniates, and about 150 active members of the Church in Lithuania.
Vilnius Cathedral
Vilnius Cathedral has been the religious centre of the country since olden times. It is assumed to have been the site of an altar for sacred fire and the worship in pagan times. Starting with the Baptism of Lithuania in 1387 to the present day, Vilnius Cathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus and St. Vladislaus is the major sanctuary of Christianity. St. Casimir’s Chapel, which holds the sarcophagus of the Lithuanian patron saint St. Casimir, is built in the Cathedral.
The Catholic Tradition in Vilnius
The painting of the Holy Virgin Mary is considered to be miraculous Pilgrims from all over the world come here to have a look at the face of Vilnius Madonna hoping for mercy and her protection. The Mother of Mercy of Aušros Gate is considered to be patroness of Lithuania, as well as a symbol of concord – four nations and three faiths: Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian and Russian, the Catholics, the Uniates and the Orthodox Believers meet in Vilnius when venerating the Mother of God. During his visit to Lithuania on 4 September 1993, Pope John Paul II led the rosary prayers in the Aušros Gate Chapel.
The Orthodox Tradition in Vilnius
The Russian Orthodox Church of the Blessed Mother of God is situated on the left bank of the Vilnia River. According to tradition, it was endowed by Juliana, a wife of the Great Duke Algirdas in the 14th century. In 1609 the cathedral was given to the Uniates. In 1865–1868, according to the design of Russian architects Alexander Riazanov and Nikolai Chagin, the church was enlarged and new facades were created. The Church of the Holy Spirit is the only Russian Orthodox church in Baroque style in Lithuania. In 1826-51, an underground crypt with the remains of the Orthodox saints John, Eustatius and Anthony was erected. In 1852 the remains of the three holy martyrs were moved to a new reliquary, where they rest now. Next to the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit there is the only Orthodox monastery operating in Lithuania at the present time.
Vilnius Celestial Guardians and Saints
Fifteen saints are related to Lithuania, and some of them are related to Vilnius. Catholics worship Prince Casimir (1458–1484), the patron saint of Lithuania, whose major site of veneration is Vilnius Cathedral. Saint Andrew Bobola (1591–1657), who was canonised in 1938, belonged to the Lithuanian Jesuit Province. The canonised Carmelite Rapolas Juozapas Kalinauskas (1835–1907) is also related to Vilnius. On 30 April 2000 Pope John Paul II canonised the catholic mystic Sister Maria Helena Kowalska (1905–1938), known as sister Faustina. During her residence in Vilnius, a picture of Merciful Jesus was painted according to her mystic visions. The life of the Uniate Archbishop Józef Kuncewicz (1580–1623) is related to Vilnius too. He was canonised in 1867. The Orthodox Believers and the Old Believers worship three holy martyrs of Vilnius – John, Anthony and Eustatius who were tortured to death in 1347. They are worshipped in the Russian Orthodox Church of the Blessed Mother of God. The Archbishop Tikhon (Belavin, 1865–1925) of the Russian Orthodox Church of Lithuania and Vilnius and later Patriarch of all Russia was canonised in 1989.
Lutherans and Reformists in Vilnius
The first Evangelical Lutheran church was built in Vilnius in 1555 on the initiative of the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Nicholas Radziwiłł the Black. It was substantially reconstructed in 1738–1744. In 1944 it was closed down but in 1993 it was returned to its parishioners and renovated. Its magnificent high altar was designed by the Baroque architect Jan Kryzysztof Glaubitz. The Church of Evangelical Reformers was designed in a Neo-Classical style by Karol Podczaszyński in 1830–1835. Its pediment is decorated by a high-relief work “Christ Speaking for the Crowds” (sculpture Kazimierz Jelski). In the Soviet period the building housed a cinema theatre. Recently it has been returned to its parishioners.
Judaism in Vilnius
The Jewish community formed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as far back as the end of the 14th century. This is testified to by the privilege granted to the Jews by Duke Vytautas in 1388. Due to its policy of tolerance the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became one of the major Jewish communities in the long run and Vilnius of the 18th-the 19th century is attributed to the major world Jewish centres. From the end of the 16th to the fifth decade of the 20th century Vilnius Great Synagogue was the most important spiritual and cultural centre of the Lithuanian Jews. Unfortunately, during the Second World War it was badly ruined, and in 1955–1957 the Soviet authorities finally destroyed it.
Tatar Muslims in Vilnius
At the end of the 14th century Grand Duke Vytautas settled Tatar Muslims in the environs of Vilnius. The community formed the so-called suburb of Vilnius Tatars in Lukiškės, where a famous mosque stood until the 19th century and where there was a Muslim cemetery destroyed during Soviet times. The view of the former mosque can be seen in Józef Oziębłowski’s lithograph and a later picture by Juozas Kamarauskas.
Karaites in Vilnius
In 1923, a Kenessa (Karaite sanctuary) built in the Moorish style in Žvėrynas was consecrated. The altar in the Kenessa is on the southern side (the Karaites are buried with their faces towards the south too). The Kenessa was begun to be built according to the design of architect Mikhail Prozorov in 1911. In 1949 the Kenessa was closed down by the Soviet authorities and in 1989 it was returned to the Karaite community and following its renovation it was consecrated anew in 1993.
Old Believers in Vilnius
The Old Believers’ faith was banned in the Russian Empire and the Old Believers were persecuted until 1905. In 1830, Vilnius Old Believers obtained the Tsar’s permission to build a wooden house in the cemetery and arrange a chapel in it to perform only funeral rites there. Later a brick building was built next to the cemetery in which the old people’s home was established and, despite prohibitions, the Orthodox Church was equipped. Following the manifest of religious tolerance issued by Tsar Nicholas II in 1905, Vilnius Orthodox Church acquired its present day appearance. At the beginning of the 20th century a large community of Vilnius Old Believers became and has remained up to the present day a significant spiritual centre of the Pomors in Lithuania and the whole of Eastern Europe.
Baptists and Adventists
Evangelists Baptists appeared in Lithuania in the middle of the 19th century. In the Soviet era the unification of the Baptist communities, which existed in Lithuania during the interwar period, was abolished, but the communities that formed it did not disappear; later they were joined into the Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists. In 1994, the independent Vilnius New Testament Baptists Community was formed (1249 members), which was based in the Baptist house of worship. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Lithuania in the then German Klaipėda Region began operating at the end of the 19th century. Only two communities, which functioned half-underground in Šiauliai and Kaunas survived. After the year 1990 the Adventists came to life again in Lithuania, and the Lithuanian, Polish and Russian Adventist communities were formed. In June 1994, the Constituent assembly of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Lithuania was held (with about 900 members and 28 ministers participating in it).
Religious Tensions in Vilnius
Between the 13th and the 19th century, in Vilnius, there occurred various religious disagreements; discrimination of the religions, and sometimes pogroms took place. However, the 20th century considerably outdid the previous ones. During the Nazi occupation almost all Jews Israelites in Vilnius and in Lithuania were exterminated, and the religious life of others was lived in the shadow of death. The Soviet regime strictly controlled all religious communities in Lithuania, especially between 1945 and 1953. They experienced brutal oppression, subjection to atheism, persecutions of the believers and even their annihilation. At that time there was no tolerance left in the state’s policy with respect to religions, and a small degree of religious tolerance was shown by the Communists merely for the purposes of propaganda.
Ideas of Religious Tolerance in Vilnius
On 26 July 1997, the highest hierarchs of the Lithuanian Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, Vilnius Archbishop Metropolitan Audrys Juozas Bačkis and Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia prayed together in the Aušros Gate Chapel. They urged the believers who flooded the street in front of the Chapel to live in the spirit of Christian love, peace and concord.
