Mokslo ir tikėjimo dialogai

The article describes the pastoral duties of Pastor Kristijonas Donelaitis, and aspects in the life of the Tolminkiemis parish during his ministry. It examines Donelaitis’ path to the priesthood, the ethnic composition of his parish and the reasons for the decline in the number of Lithuanians, the construction projects initiated by the pastor, difficulties encountered during the Seven Years’ War, the entries made by the pastor in the church records, the liturgical life of the congregation, the pastor’s attitude towards Pietism, the case of land separation that was disadvantageous to the Church, and the opinions of later parish clergy about their predecessor. The author suggests that the village of Metai is a Lithuanian village in the parish of Tolminkiemis, as the pastor saw it in his interactions with his Lithuanian parishioners.

The article examines the Lutheran liturgy in a theological and historical context. It analyzes its structure, surveys the criteria for liturgical reforms in the sixteenth century, considers the possible classification of a wide variety of Lutheran agendas as well as the influence of pietism and the Enlightenment on the liturgical life of the church. Particular attention is given to the Prussian Union and its agenda which has awakened a new liturgical sensibility among the Lutheran Churches and prompted them to re-appreciate their confessional and liturgical heritage, leading to the preparation of new agendas that more clearly reflected their confessional identity. The influence of liturgical movements on the sacramental life of the church and the results of the liturgical reforms carried out by the Lutheran churches of the United States, Germany, and Scandinavia in the twentieth century are also considered.

In 1942 the Lithuanian Reformed Collegium resurrected the Lutheran ecumenical hymnal project which the Lutherans had dropped after the repatriation of 1941. The Lithuanian book appeared in an abridged version entitled: Evangelikų Giesmynas su Maldomis (Evangelical Hymnal with Prayers) later that year. By special permission of the Lutheran consistory, only the Kaunas Lutheran congregation used this hymnal. In 1943 the Lutheran pastors established their own hymnal commission to produce a suitable Lutheran hymnal, based on the Pagerintos giesmių knygos (Improved Books of Hymns), the official Lithuanian Lutheran hymnal at that time. The soviet occupation made it impossible to continue the project. The book was not popular in the Reformed Church, especially after the apostasy of Adomas Šernas. It was only in 1986 that it was made the official hymnal of the Lithuanian Reformed Church because copies of the old official hymnal were no longer available.