Klaipėdos universitetas

Fr Jurgis Pabrėža (1771-1849), who was born 250 years ago, gave suggestive and memorable, timely and modern, and professionally written and delivered sermons to believers. Pabrėža himself compiled collections of sermons (a total of ten sets of sermons), and divided them by topic. The subject of this article is one of the surviving collections of sermons, ‘Sermons on Various Matters’. In his sermons, Pabrėža adheres to the Church tradition by referring to the Bible, the documents of the Ecumenical Councils of the Church, and the teachings of the Church Fathers, popes and saints. While thinking and deliberating in his heart, taking up theological studies, reading and studying the Holy Scriptures, and practising spiritual exercises, the preacher examines the current affairs of the time, and applies traditional teaching to them. Pabrėža’s goal was to preach the Word of God, keeping science and faith in close unity, in order ‘to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Thessalonians 5:9), the Incarnate Word of God. The Word preached by the priest, i.e. Jesus Christ, is God Himself, and all words refer to the Word, which is never only the past, but always both the present and the future.

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.