Prawosławna diecezja litewska w 1914 roku

The Orthodox Lithuanian diocese came into existence as a result of the reform of the Greek-Catholic Church which bishop Joseph Siemaszko (Syemashko) took. Connecting it was a natural consequence of the reform of the Uniate rite last with an Orthodox Church and creating of the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese in 1840. The Lithuanian diocese spread through provinces of Vilnius and Hrodna, and from 1842 new founded province of Kowno. In 1900 a Hrodna diocese was singled out from the Lithuanian diocese, of which border became covered from border of Hrodna province. For the entire period from 1840 the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese aspired to 1914 for enhancing one’s position in the society mixt up religiously and partly dominated by the Latin Church. The Orthodox Lithuanian diocese put the reinstatement for itself behind the target former, from times before EU, of position of the Orthodox Church in the society. Creating culture role of an Orthodox Church, she had to a considerable degree, to shape the face of the society of the country of the north-western Russian Empire. Simultaneously the Lithuanian diocese struggled from rooted amongst faithful with Uniate piety. Moreover complex situation of the society mixt up religiously and ethnically in the country, which the majority of faithful members of the Orthodox Church was peasants, dependent on Catholic peasants, in required the unceasing pastoral and missionary care. In the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese in 1840-1914 years it is possible to describe the situation the fight for the Orthodox faith in the country and fight for the Orthodox face of the country. Simultaneously an Orthodox Church didn’t aspire for the proselytism, only to keeping its assets and restoring the social-cultural former item for oneself. It is possible to assess 1914 Orthodox bishops, clergy, brotherhoods as recapitulating activity and faithful in aspiring at this target. The outbreak of the First World War disrupted the development and further functioning of the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese. The revolution of 1917, the outbreak of the civil war and the collapse of the Russian Empire caused the subdivision of the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese, of structure for which they were not only in various countries, but also in different territories of jurisdiction of Sextons. Assessing the situation of the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese in 1914 it is possible to come to the conclusion to what extent a development of the Orthodox faith was effective on Lithuania, western Belarus and Podlasie after uniting the Uniate Church with the member of the Orthodox Church, what step the Orthodox faith shaped the cultural and religious face of the country in and what legacy the Orthodox Lithuanian diocese left by an ordeals and experience of the 20th century