Literature Review

Lithuania from Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices

View article on Credo

POPULATION 3,043,429

ROMAN CATHOLIC 77.2 percent

ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN 4.1 percent

PROTESTANT (COMBINED) 1.1 percent

OLD BELIEVERS 0.8 percent

NEOPAGAN 0.2 percent

MUSLIM 0.1 percent

JEWISH < 0.1 percent

OTHER 0.2 percent

NOT REPORTED 10.1 percent

NOT AFFILIATED 6.1 percent

Country Overview Introduction

Lithuania is a small and predominantly Roman Catholic country located on the Baltic Sea. It shares a border with Latvia to the north, Belarus on the east, Poland to the south, and the Kaliningrad region of Russia to the southwest. Lithuania has a primarily flat terrain, and much of the territory is composed of workable land and forests. Its total land area is 24,200 square miles (62,680 square kilometers).

Lithuania was one of the last areas of Europe to be Christianized. In 1385 Jogaila (c. 1351–1434), grand duke of Lithuania, agreed to submit his nation to Catholic baptism when he accepted the crown of Poland. For several centuries, Lithuania and Poland were united as one kingdom, and the Catholic Church subsequently became by far the largest and most influential religious organization in Lithuania. The Polish-Lithuanian state was partitioned in 1795, and most of the territory of present-day Lithuania fell under Russian rule. Lithuania was again established as an independent country in 1918. It was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, and from 1940 to 1990 it was one of the Soviet Union’s 15 republics. Since the reestablishment of its independence in 1990, Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy. It became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union in 2004.

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

Lithuanians and Poles make up 84.1 and 6.6 percent, respectively, of the country’s population, and both mainly profess Catholicism. Russians comprise about 5.8 percent of the population, with the majority being Russian Orthodox and the historical minority Old Believers. Russian Orthodox believers are mainly concentrated in cities, while Old Believers have traditionally lived in both city and countryside communities primarily in the eastern part of the country. Lithuania also has Evangelical Reformed (in northern Lithuania) and Evangelical Lutheran (in southwestern Lithuania) minorities.

Religious Tolerance

Lithuania does not have a state religion. The constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religion, and there are amicable relations between the various faiths. The constitution and the Law on Religious Communities give special status, however, to nine religious groups: Latin Rite Catholic, Greek Rite Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Old Believers, Evangelical Lutheran, Evangelical Reformed, Jewish, Sunni Islam, and Karaite. These so-called traditional religions are eligible for governmental financial assistance and enjoy privileges such as enhanced tax exemptions, permission to teach religion in public schools, and time on national television. Other religious communities are able to freely operate in Lithuania, but their establishment is regulated more extensively and they have fewer rights.

Major Religion Roman Catholicism

DATE OF ORIGIN 1387 CE

NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS 2.3 million

History

Roman Catholicism in Lithuania began with the baptism in 1251 of Mindaugas (d. 1263), the first ruler of a united Lithuania. This was followed more than 100 years later by the legal acts of Grand Duke Jogaila, who ordered the baptism of the area’s inhabitants in 1387. During the Reformation—a religious and political movement in western Europe during the early 16th century whose aim was to reform certain practices of the Catholic Church and to make the church more accessible to all people— Protestantism was initially successful, especially among the nobility. However, because of the missionary and academic activities of Jesuits, it failed to put down lasting roots, and the Catholic Church had secured its prevailing position by the end of the 16th century. A series of laws adopted from 1632 to 1669 put various restrictions on non-Catholics. The constitution of 1791 declared Catholicism to be the dominant religion, and Catholics were prohibited from converting to another faith. After the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian state in 1795, the Russian Empire annexed most of Lithuania, effectively preferring the Orthodox faith over Catholicism. Until World War I (1914–18), the Catholic Church played a significant role in the Lithuanian independence movement, including unsuccessful uprisings in 1831 and 1863, and in preserving national identity.

Lithuania was an independent state from 1918 to 1940, a period when all existing faiths were recognized or at least tolerated. The Catholic Church held a dominant position in society, and a concordat (agreement between the pope and a sovereign state for the regulation of church affairs) was signed with the Vatican in 1927. The concordat recognized the freedom of the Catholic Church in Lithuania to conduct its matters according to Canon Law and also focused on military exemption for clergy, compulsory religious instruction in state-run schools, tax exemptions for houses of prayer, taxation of the church, and various property issues. The concordat was canceled, however, following

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

Soviet occupation in 1940. The rights of churches as legal entities were rescinded, religious education was banned in schools, property of religious communities was nationalized (permitting limited use of church buildings to the parishes), and pastoral care in hospitals and prisons was abolished. Catholic priests and bishops were routinely repressed, and the Catholic Church again became a symbol of underground resistance and fight for human rights.

In 1987 the 600th anniversary of Lithuania’s baptism was observed in Rome simultaneously with celebrations in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, although the latter were strictly censored by Soviet authorities. Political reform movements in the late 1980s eased restrictions on religious practice, and the restoration of independence of Lithuania in 1990 abolished the restrictions altogether. The Catholic Church regained much of its property during the 1990s, except for the land, which was not returned. In 2000 three agreements were signed between the Holy See and the Lithuanian state, symbolizing the importance of the Catholic Church in independent Lithuania. One agreement was focused on the legal relations between the church and the state, recognizing the freedom of the church to operate according to Canon Law; another established the rules of operation and financing of chaplaincy in the military; and the third agreement regulated issues of education and culture, such as religious instruction in public schools and financing of the seminaries.

Early and Modern Leaders

Saint Kazimieras (1458–1484) is the only Lithuanian to have been canonized. He was the son of Kazimieras IV (1427–1492), the grand duke of Lithuania and king of Poland, during whose reign the Catholic Church flourished. Saint Kazimieras is considered the patron saint of Lithuania and is respected for his exemplary chastity and piety.

An outstanding 20th-century Catholic leader was Archbishop Jurgis Matulaitis (1871–1927). He is honored for his efforts in charity and social justice, for the reviving of the monastic Marian order in Marijampole, for the administration of the Vilnius diocese during the tumultuous period from 1918 to 1925, and for the preparation of the first Lithuanian concordat. Matulaitis was beatified by Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) in 1987.

A notable figure in the post-Soviet Catholic Church of Lithuania is Archbishop and Cardinal Audrys Juozas Bačkis (1937– ), who is known mainly because of his leadership in the church and because he has been a capable negotiator with the state authorities on church issues. The son of a Lithuanian diplomat, he was educated and became a priest and a bishop outside Lithuania, but returned after the end of the Soviet era. Untainted by collaboration with the Soviets and unharmed by their repressions, Bačkis proved to be an able leader in the church. During the period of 1992–2012, he served as the archbishop of Vilnius, where he was instrumental in establishing a seminary, and helped rebuild the organizational aspects of church life.

Major Theologians and Authors

The Jesuit order played a distinctive role in the development of academic and theological studies in Lithuania. In 1570 the Jesuits established a college in Vilnius that later became a university. It was influential throughout the Baltic region and beyond, as far east as Moscow.

The writings of Archbishop Jurgis Matulaitis are widely known. His book Užrašai consists of reflections and inspirations, reports on visits to Rome, and recollections of major events from his years as bishop of Vilnius. While not strictly theological in its content, Užrašai is honored as a source of spiritual

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

education.

A number of Roman Catholic priests and bishops have been influential writers in Lithuanian society. Bishop Motiejus Valančius (1801–1875) and priests Jonas Mačiulis (1862–1932) and Antanas Baranauskas (1835–1902) have been influential not as theological writers but as important figures in Lithuanian literature.

Houses of Worship and Holy Places

In Lithuania, as in other Catholic countries, the primary place of worship is the local parish church, which is often dedicated to a specific saint. The cult of the Virgin Mary is especially widespread among Lithuanians. One of the oldest shrines to Mary is the image of Our Lady of Trakai, which is venerated as a protector of Lithuania.

Motiejus Valančius

Motiejus Valančius (1801–1875), bishop of Samogitia from 1849 to 1875, was known in Lithuania not only as a religious figure but as an educator, a prose writer, and an organizer of the temperance movement. He was born to a family of rich peasants and had three siblings. Valančius studied in a Dominican school in Žemaičiu Kalvarija before entering the Varniai seminary in 1822. He later studied at the highest priest seminary in Vilnius and was ordained in Vilnius Cathedral in 1828. Valancius served as a school chaplain and then became a professor at the Spiritual Academy of Vilnius. After briefly moving to Saint Petersburg, he returned to Lithuania in 1845 due to poor health and became a rector at the seminary in Samogitia.

It was in Samogitia that Valančius started a temperance movement to stop peasants from drinking, established Lithuanian schools for children, and encouraged the spread of publications from the illegal press in Prussia. After the failed uprising against Russian rule in 1863, the government moved the bishopric to Kaunas, where Valančius had limited possibilities to communicate with believers. At this point, he began to write—about 70 books and stories in all. His writings were not theological but didactic in nature, all written in Samogitian, a dialect of Lithuanian language.

Although the temperance movement was banned in 1964 after another failed uprising against the government, it helped bring people together to cherish Lithuanian national consciousness. Valančius died in 1875 and was buried in Kaunas Cathedral.

The tomb in Marijampolé containing the relics of Jurgis Matulaitis is also venerated.

The 19 small chapels located on the hills surrounding the town of Žemaičiu Kalvarija (Samogitian Calvary) represent the Stations of the Cross. Believers go to Žemaičiu Kalvarija to retrace Jesus’s path to Calvary, climbing from one hill to another and singing the song “The Hills of Žemaičiu Kalvarija.” The location of the chapels and the number of steps to get to them correspond to the original path of Christ’s sufferings in Jerusalem.

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

Lithuania has various shrines to honor the Virgin Mary. At a chapel in Vilnius, this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is visited by many people every year.

©PARYS RYSZARD/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM.

A notable center of Marian piety is Šiluva, where an apparition of the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared during the 17th century. A painting of Mary—believed to be miraculous—is housed in the Basilica of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Šiluva draws pilgrims to the town each year for a feast.

What Is Sacred

In addition to those objects generally venerated by all Christians, there are sacred items particularly identified with Lithuania. These include wayside crosses, chapels, and religious statues known as Rūpintojèlis (depicting a folk version of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem), which are prevalent throughout the landscape. Lithuania has become known as the “Country of Crosses,” due in part to the Hill of Crosses, a unique site near the town of Šiauliai. The hill is covered with approximately 60,000 crosses that have been stuck into the ground by pilgrims as expressions of faith, love, gratitude, or hope for healing. Many more thousands of crosses are hung by tourists and pilgrims on the other crosses.

Holidays and Festivals

Of Lithuania’s 12 national holidays, four are explicitly religious festivals. These are Easter, Assumption Day (August 15), All Saints’ Day (November 1), and Christmas (December 24–25). Two more national holidays have religious connotations, but they are rarely recognized as religious holidays. They are Saint Mary’s Day (January 1) and summer solstice, called “Rasos” or Saint John’s Day (June 24).

Christmas Eve is the most popular festival in Lithuania and is considered even more important than Christmas Day itself. The Catholic Church has abolished the requirement of fasting, but Catholics still follow the custom, abstaining from meat at least on Christmas Eve, while some also fast during Advent. Before Christmas, the house is cleaned, bed linens are changed, and a handful of hay is spread on the table as a reminder that Jesus was born in a stable. On this day, all family members must be home for a special meatless supper called Kūčios. Afterward, the adults attend a midnight

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

Mass, which is called Berneliumišios (shepherd’s Mass).

Catholic traditions are still frequently fused with pre-Christian customs in Lithuania. The feast of Saint John in late June (also called Rasos), for example, is celebrated with bonfires, play on swings and seesaws, and dances—all manifestations of an ancient midsummer festival. Assumption Day is also known as the celebration of meadow grass. Even Easter, the most important annual church event, includes many elements of folk tradition that symbolize the rebirth of nature after winter. Easter customs include coloring eggs, playing various games with them (like rolling competitions), and eating them.

All Souls’ Day (November 2) is celebrated throughout Lithuania. Both believers and nonbelievers visit family grave sites to decorate them with flowers and candles, and requiem Masses are held in churches.

Mode of Dress

Catholics in Lithuania do not follow any special dress code, although historically most people would dress up for church. In contemporary Lithuania, people wear mainly Western-style clothing. Generally there is no special dress associated with church attendance or church festivals, and there are no differences between the clothing of the Catholic clergy in Lithuania and those in other countries.

Dietary Practices

Some Catholics in Lithuania fast or abstain from meat on Fridays during the seasons of Lent and Advent.

Kūčios, the traditional meatless supper on Christmas Eve, is still observed in Lithuania. It begins with the passing of wafers and with wishes for each family member. To represent the 12 apostles, 12 different dishes are normally served. The principal dish is traditionally kūčia, a porridge made of wheat, barley, and oats and eaten with poppy seed milk. Other common dishes are fish (pike or herring), a compote of dried fruits, a salad of pickled vegetables, beet soup with dried mushrooms, oatmeal pudding with sweetened water, potato pancakes, kūčiukai (biscuits served with poppy seed milk), and thick, sour kisielius (cranberry jelly). It is essential for a person to taste everything since it is believed that whoever skips any dish will not survive until the next Christmas Eve.

Rituals

The tradition of pilgrimages to sacred places remains very much alive in Lithuania. In addition, many churches have special wall panels covered with silver or gold hearts on which names have been inscribed. People bring the hearts as an expression of thanks to Jesus or the Virgin Mary for healing, rescuing, and other blessings.

Death and burial are important in Lithuanian religious culture. Cemeteries are peaceful places situated on hills and covered with trees. In Lithuanian folklore the term “high hill” is synonymous with the word “cemetery.” The deceased are dressed in their best clothes, and religious articles such as rosaries and pictures of saints are placed inside the coffin. Three handfuls of earth are poured over the coffin as a reminder that people come from dust and return to dust. Inviting everyone from the cemetery to a funeral dinner is seen as a way of carrying out the last wishes of the deceased.

Rites of Passage

Children of Catholics in Lithuania are baptized soon after birth in the presence of godparents, usually

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

giving them holy names.

First Communion is an obligatory Catholic sacrament that is usually observed in Lithuania shortly after a child’s seventh birthday. It follows a preparatory period of learning the basic tenets of faith. The sacrament of confirmation represents the conveying of the Holy Spirit to those who have already undergone baptism and hence symbolizes the entering of a new stage of life.

Church marriage is obligatory for Catholics who wish to be married. Some couples opt for a civil marriage, which is later solemnized in a Catholic ceremony.

Membership

Most Lithuanians are Catholics by birth and by cultural identification. For a person to consider himself or herself Catholic it is generally enough to be baptized, to have received First Communion, and to attend Mass on Christmas and Easter.

At the Hill of Crosses near Siauliai, Lithuania, pilgrims have left thousands of crosses as a sign of dedication to the Christian faith.

© JASRIM/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM.

The Catholic Church encourages an affiliation with a particular parish, regular attendance at Mass, and certain financial contributions to the church. In Lithuania, however, 50 years of atheistic policy under the Soviet regime challenged this sense of belonging. According to European Values Survey data, 18 percent of Catholics attended services at least weekly in 1999; in 2008 only 14 percent attended services each week.

The Catholic Church generally does not proselytize in Lithuania, although campaigns of evangelization and catechesis, including the internationally popular Alpha Course, have recently been organized, directed primarily at nominal Catholics. Key Web sites for the church are Bernardinai.lt (www.bernardinai.lt) and Katalikai.lt (www.katalikai.lt). The daily radio program Mažoji Studija (Small Studio) also reaches a Catholic audience.

Social Justice

Generosity to people in need is a general teaching of the Catholic Church, a doctrine of social justice that has been a tradition since the early 20th century. Under the Soviet regime, however, the church in Lithuania was forced to refrain from charitable and other social activities. In the early 21st century, the

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

major Catholic charity organization is Caritas, which is subordinated to the Lithuanian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Its programs focus on such matters as the reduction of poverty, the strengthening of the family and community, and education. The Malta order and the Lithuanian Community of Samaritans, known for ecumenical cooperation in charitable activities, offer relief services, and monastic orders such as the Salesians, Congregation of Saint John, and Sisters of Mother Theresa work in various social justice areas.

Social Life

Before World War II, various Catholic lay organizations had about one million members, one-third of Lithuania’s population. From 1940 to 1990, however, the Communist authorities implemented policies that isolated the Catholic clergy from believers, resulting in the loss of a sense of social community within the church. The formation of lay movements, as well as the fostering of the Catholic Church’s role within society, has been among the highest priorities in independent Lithuania. Youth, catechesis, and family centers have been established in all Catholic dioceses, and organizations like Actio Catholica Patria aim to involve young people without an interest in religion itself in various church- sponsored educational and charity projects.

The implementation of decisions of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), which dealt with the modern policies of the Catholic Church on various social issues, was belated in Lithuania because of the Soviet occupation. Hence, Lithuanian Catholics demonstrate more conservative attitudes on questions such as marriage, family, and the role of women than do their counterparts in western Europe or in North America.

Political Impact

Under Communism, active participation in lay Catholic activities was seen as an expression of political dissent in Lithuania, and the movement Eucharistijos Bičiuliai (Friends of the Eucharistic) became a unique, underground Catholic association. In contemporary Lithuania, despite the constitutional separation of church and state, Roman Catholicism is a de facto part of politics and society. The Catholic Church is the only religious organization whose relations with the state are regulated by official agreements. The subjects of the agreements signed in 2000 are the juridical aspects of the relationship between the church and the state, of their cooperation in education and culture, and of the pastoral care of Catholics serving in the army (only the Catholic Church has clergy in the Lithuanian army). Further, a person designated by the Catholic Church occupies the position of government adviser for religious affairs.

While the Christian Democrat parties, which were active in the 1990s, have shrunk and merged with other political forces, the Catholic Church continues to support political parties, primarily the Conservative Party. The church has influenced political decisions in matters such as preventing the legalization of cohabitation, alcohol advertisements, and artificial insemination, along with decisions related to church activities, such as taxation of religious organizations and restitution of church property, adding exemptions to churches from equal opportunity legislation. There is an active bilateral commission of state and church officials that is discussing the remaining issues of the implementation of the agreements with the Holy See.

Controversial Issues

A controversial issue in Lithuania is the relationship between church and civil marriages. According to the constitution, both are valid, but there is no legal provision for divorce in the case of those church

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

marriages that have not been registered by the state. From the viewpoint of Catholic canon law, the state cannot terminate church marriages. The courts can declare that the civil consequences of a church marriage are no longer binding but will not officially rule on the termination of a church marriage. Thus, the consequences of divorce in church marriages remain purely in the religious sphere.

Another controversial issue is the relationship between church and state, particularly the question of whether the church should have a say in public about issues of politics. Recently the church has become less vocal about its political preferences, while still continuing to lobby for favorable legislation.

Cultural Impact

Catholicism has had a significant impact on Lithuanian sculpture and painting, which are closely connected with church architecture. The Cathedral in Vilnius is recognized as an outstanding example of the harmony of architecture with the arts of sculpture and painting. Of the country’s various folk arts, wooden sculpture, which often depicts biblical personalities and themes, has been particularly influenced by Catholicism. It also is common for orchestra performances and concerts to take place in churches.

Popular culture, on the other hand, has been developing largely without the influence of the Catholic Church. A Christian youth subculture—encompassing, for example, rock music festivals and pilgrimages to Taizé ecumenical community in France—does exist in Lithuania and is supported by the church.

Other Religions Historical Lithuanian religious groups are mainly ethnically based. Orthodox Christianity is represented by the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Old Believers. Members of the Old Believers, a dissident branch of Russian Orthodoxy that did not accept the church reforms introduced by the church patriarch Nikon (1605–1681) in 1666, fled Russia under persecution and are concentrated in the east, particularly along the border with Belarus. Although most Orthodox Christians in Lithuania are Russians and Belarusians, there also are some Orthodox Ukrainians.

Protestantism in Lithuania dates back to the Reformation, as Lithuanian nobles, returning from study in Germany, brought it to Lithuania in the 1520s. Both Lutheranism and Calvinism spread rapidly among the nobility. In 1564 Sigismund II Augustus (1520–1572), the king of Poland and Lithuania, began implementing the decisions of the Council of Trent (1545–63), which aimed to reform the Catholic Church and thereby stop the spread of Protestantism. His efforts were largely successful. In modern Lithuania, Protestantism is represented by various denominations. The largest are the Lutheran Church, with some 18,400 members, and the smaller Evangelical Reformed Church, claiming about 6,700 members.

The Jewish community was nearly destroyed during the Holocaust in World War II, when some 190,000 Lithuanian Jews were killed. Whereas 10 percent of the population was Jewish before the war, only about 3,600 Jews live in Lithuania today, of whom 34 percent profess Judaism.

The country’s small Islamic community, which had about 2,700 members in 2011, consists mainly of Tatars, who have had a presence in Lithuania since the 15th century. Other Muslims—Azerbaijanis and Uzbeks, for example—have been immigrating to Lithuania since the late 20th century.

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

The Karaites, a unique ethnoreligious group of only a few hundred members, have been in the country since 1397. They speak a Turkic-based language but use the Hebrew alphabet, and their religion, which is based on the Old Testament, is considered by some to be a branch of Judaism.

Lithuania also has a comparatively large community of Jehovah’s Witnesses (about 2,900 members), as well as various Protestant groups, including Baptists, established in the mid-19th century, and Pentecostals and Adventists, dating to the beginning of the 20th century, with 800 and 900 members, respectively. The most recent significant Protestant movement is the Word of Faith church, which started at the end of the Soviet era and has about 50 churches and 1,000 members.

Small Hare Krishna communities and various Buddhist groups also exist in Lithuania. A religious group unique to Lithuania is the Romuva. Neopagans, they are members of the Ancient Baltic faith. Romuva started during Soviet times as a folklore movement, celebrating Lithuanian national heritage and festivals (the most important one being Rasos), and it has acquired a more religious character since Lithuania reestablished its independence. During the 2011 census, more than 5,000 inhabitants said that they belonged to the Ancient Baltic faith, while only about 1,300 reported this during the 2001 census.

See Also Vol. 1: Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism

Bibliography

Books

Alisauskiene, Milda; Ingo W. Schroeder, eds. Religious Diversity in Post-Soviet Society: Ethnographies of Catholic Hegemony and the New Pluralism in Lithuania. Ashgate Pub. Burlington VT, 2012.

Balodis, Ringolds. State and Church in the Baltic States. Latvian Association for Freedom of Religion Riga, 2001.

Doe, Norman. Law and Religion in Europe: A Comparative Introduction. Oxford University Press New York, 2011.

Glodenis, Donatas. “Legislation on Religion and the Challenge of Pluralism in Lithuania.” Paper presented at Cesnur/INFORM conference, London, 2001. http://en.religija.lt/content/legislation-religion- and-challenge-pluralism-lithuania (accessed August 12, 2013).

Glodenis, Donatas; Lahayne, Holger, eds. Religijos Lietuvoje. Nova Vita Šiauliai Lithuania, 1999.

Katz, Dovid. Lithuanian Jewish Culture. Baltos Lankos Vilnius Lithuania, 2010. Rimaitis, J. Religion in Lithuania. Gintaras Vilnius Lithuania, 1971. Suziedelis, S. The Sword and the Cross: A History of the Church in Lithuania. Our Sunday Visitor

Huntington IN, 1988. Suziedelis, Saulius A. Historical Dictionary of Lithuania. Scarecrow Press Lanham MD, 2011. Tishkov, V. Narody i Religii Mira: Enzyclopedia. Bolshaja Rossijskaja Encyclopedia Moscow, 1998.

Web Sites

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

Catholic Church in Lithuania. http://www.lcn.lt/en/bl/ (accessed March 12, 2014). “Lithuania: History.” Lonely Planet. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/lithuania/history (accessed March 12,

2014). “Lithuania: International Religious Freedom Report for 2012.” U.S. Department of State.

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/208546.pdf (accessed March 12, 2014). “Lithuania Profile.” BBC News Europe. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17536867 (accessed

March 12, 2014).

Alexei Krindatch Donatas Glodenis

COPYRIGHT 2015 Gale, Cengage Learning

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0

APA Krindatch, A., & Glodenis, D. (2015). Lithuania. In Gale (Ed.), Worldmark encyclopedia of religious practices (2nd ed.). Gale. Credo Reference: https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0?institutionId=5092

Chicago Krindatch, Alexei, and Donatas Glodenis. "Lithuania." In Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, edited by Gale. 2nd ed. Gale, 2015. https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0?institutionId=5092

Harvard Krindatch, A. and Glodenis, D. (2015). Lithuania. In Gale (Ed.), Worldmark encyclopedia of religious practices. (2nd ed.). [Online]. Farmington: Gale. Available from: https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0?institutionId=5092 [Accessed 30 July 2022].

MLA Krindatch, Alexei, and Donatas Glodenis. "Lithuania." Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices, edited by Gale, 2nd edition, 2015. Credo Reference, https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0?institutionId=5092. Accessed 30 Jul. 2022.

https://mywcc.whatcom.edu/OnlineResources/LibraryDatabases.aspx? DirectURL=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galewrp/lithuania/0