Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

This article examines a specific kind of sacrifice to the pagan Lithuanian and Prussian gods recorded in the written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, sacrifices made in and by water. There is a total of just ten such records known. Both Lithuanian and Prussian tribes practiced this kind of sacrifice. It is noteworthy that sacrifices involving water were not made to a single deity, but rather to several different gods; that the kind of sacrifice varied and that the most diverse sorts of intentions were pursued in making the sacrifice.

This article presents burial rites of State of Lithuania in the 13th and 14th centuries, reveals its features and searches for the interaction between the burial rites and the development of the society. Burial rites are analyzed in a broad context of processes: the spreading of the cremation, the reformation of the religion, the unification of the material culture, the disappearance of regional differences and the establishment of the Lithuanian nation. Furthermore, the data of anthropology and genetics is examined. In the article, the burial rites of the 13th and 14th centuries are seen as an integral part of the evolution of State of Lithuania.

This article analyses relationship between theological since and psychology. Bible’s and Catholic Church teaching regarding person’s dignity, free will and equality are presented. From that perspective analysed methods used by representatives of cognitive and experience psychology schools in process of spiritual – psychological counselling. Spiritual counselling is understood as open to religious feeling (faith) relationship between too persons or between person and the group. Church, by proclaiming Gospel, brings hope to the people, gives meaning to the life and death, love and suffering, brings existential foundation to the daily life. Such spiritual counselling gives truthful assessment of the person’s situation and helps to see in the light of faith, meaning that the person is helped by the spiritual counsellor to go throe crisis situation getting strength from the faith. Article gives special notice to the personal faith of the counsellor and its importance in his service. Counsellor wile using different psychological methods should fill them with Christian approach to the human person, and by doing so help ones who find them selves in crisis or trying to find answers to the existential questions of life’s meaning. Every psychology school has it methods to understand and to help human persons. Article takes special notice of the cognitive and experience psychology schools and their methods and how they treat human person looking from the Christian perspective of human dignity, his freedom of will and unconditional worth in it self. It is noticed special need to see human as person created by God, seeking to see him more than a victim of circumstances or a person afflicted by different fears and complexes.

A short description of the relationship between Physics, Philosophy and Theology is: Physics neglects or passes by Natural Realism, which is the origin of Philosophy. In turn, Natural Realism is backed up by Judeo-Christian revelation. Therefore, Physics neglects or passes by Theology. That relationship between Physics and Theology is widely used as a background for exercising an intense pressure on Theology. The defence of Theology should begin by pointing out certain shortcomings of Physics and formulating a philosophical control of these shortcomings. This is tantamount to turning Physics instead of Theology into a “site under construction”. Only a “controlled” Physics and Theology are adequate discussion partners. The author of this article is a Catholic. However, the ideas expressed are, by and large, acceptable for Orthodox and Lutheran Christians as well, with possible differences only regarding natural theology.

In his famous Annals, the 15th-century chronicler Jan Długosz provided a wealth of information on the way of life of the Lithuanians in pagan times, as well as in the period immediately following their conversion in 1387. In drawing attention to the consumption of material goods such as food, clothing and shelter, Długosz portrayed the pagan Lithuanians as a people who could not satisfy even their most basic material needs. After their conversion to Christianity, their faith nevertheless wavered for a long time, and so their needs were only met thanks to the help of the Polish king, Władysław II Jogaila (Jagiełło), whom the chronicler held up as the ‘apostle’ of Lithuania. Długosz’s description of the way of life of the Lithuanians is rich in theological themes, based on the Gospels and the writings of the Prophets. The author examines the reliability of Długosz’s account on the way of life of both pagan and converted Lithuanians.