Klaipėdos universitetas

125 years ago, the mission of the Lithuanian literary, political, and scientific newspaper Varpas (The Bell) published under the Czarist occupation was to interpret the issues of the national life, to raise the nation’s spirit, and to awaken and strengthen the national self-consciousness. Among other issues, the publishers devoted great attention to a fundamental human need, i.e. the maintenance of identity and its relationship to faith (Catholicism). Religion and language were interpreted as closely related phenomena and as the nation’s values of utmost significance for the maintenance of the national identity. Religion, language, and customs were so closely related that the destruction of one could undermine the fundaments of the other elements. People who had learnt their native language from their mothers, and later had disowned it, could have also questioned another legacy of the mother, i.e. faith. As demonstrated in the paper, the henchmen of the czarist government tended to simultaneously destroy both Catholicism and Lithuanianness in different ways, especially during the reign of Mikhail Muravjov. The authors of Varpas considered the Orthodox church to be the main factor of Lithuanians’ assimilation which tried to attract Lithuanians in different ways; another important factor of influence was school which taught children different subjects, even religious studies, in a non-native language. In the implementation of that kind of Muravjov’s strategy, some clergy collaborated with the invaders

The Orthodox community which settled in the Civitas Rutenica area in Vilnius started building their houses of worship (Orthodox churches) as early as the first half of the 14th century. At the beginning of the 15th century, there were 12 of them inside the quarter and two outside it. These churches, reflecting Orthodox culture and showing the usual features of their construction, predetermined the further development of this part of the city, and the development of whole areas of Vilnius. Locating them precisely enables us to better understand the urban development of Vilnius, and trends within this development.