Klaipėdos universitetas

The story by the Teutonic Order chronicler Peter von Dusburg about the Prussian pagan priest Criwe and his sanctuary Romowe has for centuries provoked historiographical arguments about the nature of the Baltic pagan religion and the interpretation of Medieval chronicle sources relating to the Balts. This article focuses on an interpretation of Dusburg’s text, without attempting to decide on the reality of ancient pagan religious practice. Through a ‘close reading’ approach to actual words and the contexts of sentences that are often extracted and used out of context, the article argues against either dismissing the passage as an invented moral exemplum or accepting it literally. A speculative explanation for Dusburg’s portrayal of the pagan priest Criwe as a pope is presented for consideration. Moreover, through a reminder of the often-neglected context of the Criwe passage in book III of the chronicle, this article suggests an overarching aim for Dusburg’s portrayal of the Old Prussians, which is not as the ‘avatar of evil’ often proposed in historiography, but rather as simple peoples who should be left to the Teutonic Order and not to the Franciscans favoured at that time by Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania. To aid readers, the article contains the whole Latin passage (rather than the extracts often quoted), and an English translation by Rasa Mažeika.

With the Christianisation of the Lithuanians in the Middle Ages, fundamental changes brought new Christian images of the Otherworld and entry to it. The image of souls being raised to heaven by angels is one of the images that emerged in the wake of changes in burial rituals. Based on Medieval historical sources, the article examines the image of the angel ascending to heaven that emerged in Balt and Finno-Ugric countries during their Christianisation. It explains how it is related to the Christian image of the Otherworld, and how it changed the pre-Christian Balt and Finno-Ugric mythical perception of the world beyond. It also explores the question of whether, in the Balt and Finno-Ugric mythical world-view, there may have been companions that conducted the soul in the Otherworld (psychopomps), which are seen as angels in Christianity. The research shows that in the earliest written sources describing ancient Balt and Finno-Ugric burials, there is no mention of spirits or deities acting as psychopomps, or of deities in charge of the deceased. The article argues that converts may have learned about angels raising souls to heaven because burial rituals and the concept of life after death changed in the course of Christianisation in Livonia and Prussia.

This article returns to the question of whether Christianity in Europe in the High Middle Ages necessarily precluded the cremation of corpses. The question is addressed focusing on the Livs, a West Finno-Ugric society, who lived in the east Baltic region, before they adopted Christianity and during the early period of Christianisation. The authors combine archaeological expertise with interpretations of historical sources to explore the late cremations of the Livs and, in particular, to analyse two female cremations from the cemetery at Ogresgala Čabas, located near the mouth of the River Daugava. Cremations dominated in the initial phase of Daugava Liv culture in the lower reaches of the Daugava in the second half of the tenth century before they were replaced by inhumations by the middle of the 11th century, especially in female graves. The article deals with the late cremations of the Livs from the late 11th to the 13th century, when they became very rare and took on a different form. Taking into account references to the practice of cremation in exceptional cases of deaths in foreign lands in written sources about the Livs, the article agrees with researchers who believe that not all cremated corpses should be immediately and unconditionally associated with paganism.

The problem of leadership by progymnasium teachers in organising the educational process is analysed in this article. In Lithuania, a progymnasium is an educational institution providing a general education (forms 1 to 8) functioning as an intermediate link between an elementary school and a gymnasium. Quantitative research was conducted with the participation of 120 progymnasium teachers. The assessment of teacher leadership in organising the educational process was based on an SLII situational leadership model (Blanchard, 1985). The research revealed that in organising the educational process, teachers apply different leadership strategies: they provide gifted pupils with the possibility to take responsibility for carrying out a task; they praise and encourage pupils to express their opinions; they carry out tasks without direction; they allow pupils to make their own decisions on how a task will be carried out; they provide feedback, etc. In the organisation of the educational process, teachers tend to apply coaching, supporting and delegating styles of situational leadership. In order to organise the educational process more effectively, the examples of teachers-leaders in creating common educational scenarios and trying out innovative methods, mentoring couples, group supervision, and the creation of learning organisation at progymnasium, could be helpful.

Finansinė neištikimybė tapatinama su nuslėptu finansiniu elgesiu, kurį apima įvairaus pobūdžio veiksniai: nuslėptos išlaidos, melagingos jų sumos bei slepiami pinigai. Finansinės neištikimybės priežastys dažniausia siejamos su konfliktų vengimu, gėdos dėl finansinio poelgio ir asmens finansinės elgsenos įpročiais. Auganti finansinė neištikimybė ir skolinimosi tempai skatina atlikti šių reiškinių tarpusavio ryšio vertinimo tyrimus, tad šio tyrimo tikslas – įvertinti Klaipėdos miesto gyventojų finansinės neištikimybės ir skolinimosi įpročių tarpusavio ryšį. Nustatyta, kad finansinė neištikimybė labiausiai paplitusi tarp jaunesnio amžiaus Klaipėdos miesto gyventojų, nors jaunimo požiūris į finansų valdymą atsakingesnis. Dažniausia slepiama: asmeninės pramogos, avalynės ir aprangos įsigijimas, tabako ir alkoholinių gėrimų pirkimas. Nustatyta, kad klaipėdiečių finansinė neištikimybė priklauso nuo skolinimosi dažnumo: finansiškai neištikimi gyventojai skolinasi iki vieno karto per metus, tuo tarpu finansiškai ištikimi asmenys yra linkę skolintis rečiau. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad finansinė neištikimybė nepriklauso nuo pajamų ir gyventojų išsilavinimo, tad galima daryti prielaidą, jog finansiškai neištikimi klaipėdiečiai skolinasi, siekdami trumpalaikės naudos.