Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

This article highlights the need to increase the variety of support available to health-care professionals to maintain their mental health and reduce stigma. The medical profession involves caring for the well-being of others. Resources of positive emotion are exhausted over time. The body becomes susceptible to stress. The extracts from interviews and case studies presented in this article illustrate well the quality of life of medical staff in the Covid-19 period. If this state persists for a long time, it can lead to the complete exhaustion of physical and mental health, which affects a person’s motivation, attitude and behaviour towards their health, work, relationships and life. Pre-existing negative attitudes towards the promotion and improvement of mental health have had a negative impact on health and have led to suicide. It should be noted that the suicide risk rate among doctors is twice as high as in the general population. The importance of maintaining the mental hygiene of medical staff during the Covid-19 period, as a prerequisite for a quality lifestyle, is emphasised.

Overcoming guilt and feeling spiritual peace is a fundamental human endeavour. The church calls for reconciliation with oneself, others and God and it calls to seek salvation – eternal happiness and peace. One of the most active preachers of the teaching of the Church was priest Jurgis Pabrėža (1771–1849), whose 250th birth anniversary has been commemorated in 2021. He was the man with an ambition to serve others wholeheartedly so that we “receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5: 9). Speaking of human guilt and liberation from the oppressive feeling of guilt in his sermons, Fr. J. Pabrėža provided the example of Cain’s story. J. Pabrėža mentions the biblical name of Cain in his sermon collection “Sermons on Various Matters” 22 times. Of 48 sermons in this collection Cain is mentioned in 5 of them. Examples of Cain’s experience of sin and guilt are provided when discussing the spiritual well-being of a person: who has no hope of being saved; who does not commit sin by killing another man; why is it bad to desire what belongs to another; what evil is there in a jealous sneer towards others; what is wrong with a blasphemous confession? In the biblical story of Cain and examples of this narrative in the sermons of Fr. J. Pabrėža we see that a person experiences a disturbing feeling of guilt as a subconscious state of insecurity, helplessness and spiritual suffering, and as a lack of meaning in life. This sense of guilt has its own cause – sin, i.e. acting in the world against the laws of nature.

Emotional vulnerability and how to respond to it during the Corona pandemic are the focus of this article from the field of (pastoral) psychology. It outlines strategies for the accompaniment of people in crises and ways in which they deal with crises from monitoring to blunting, from behavioural immune systems to conspiracy theories. Revisiting old patterns of behaviour combined with a narcissistic rejection of one’s own fragility, or closing oneself off in acceptance of the call of a strong leader, as well as influencing social change based on solidarity, three psychological approaches can be identified as a way out of the crisis. It becomes apparent that we are not all in the same boat; on the contrary, the inequality between an inflatable boat and a luxury yacht is becoming more distinct. However, the Christian message of the resurrection of the dead brings hope, with caution and humility. After all, even the Crucified and Resurrected One allowed himself to be identified by his wounds.

The article is devoted to the new research on the Lithuanian and Polish dramaturgy by Jozef Albin Herbaczewski (1876-1944). His works are the dramas of ideas which present the fight of the personifications of the evil and the good. The extremely moral protagonists listen to their hearts, and they fight for the freedom of their nation or wish to redeem the Satan. The antagonists are the destructive forces representing the logics and mind. In his dramas Herbaczewski presents some popular types of the decadent woman. The dramas of Herbaczewski are under the influence of romanticism and the movement of The Young Poland. We can also draw a parallel between dramaturgy by A. Herbaczewski and Vydūnas.