Lietuvos Stačiatikių Bažnyčios raidos 1918–1939 m. apžvalga

LTLietuvos stačiatikių vyskupija įkurta 1839 m. Po Pirmojo pasaulinio karo ji nustojo funkcionuoti, nes jos pagrindinis centras liko Vilniuje, kuris buvo lenkų okupuotas. 1923 m. Lietuvos stačiatikių vyskupijos tarybą ir Visuotinį Lietuvos stačiatikių vyskupijos susirinkimą Lietuvos valstybė pripažino Lietuvos Stačiatikių Bažnyčios organais. Straipsnyje apžvelgiamas stačiatikių parapijų tinklo reorganizavimo procesas, Stačiatikių Bažnyčios veiklos principai, jos administracinių organų kompetencijos ribos. Lietuvos Stačiatikių Bažnyčia 3-iajame–4-ajame dešimtmetyje ieškojo būdų, kaip pritapti tautinėje lietuvių valstybėje ir kartu kaip išsaugoti savo etninę ir konfesinę tapatybę.

ENAfter World War I one of the principal tasks of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania was the re-establishment of its administration. The administrative bodies, including 31 parishes, were re-established in 1918–1939. In the census the Orthodox community in Lithuania had 22,926 members, comprising 1.13% of the state’s population. Most of them were Russians (83.7%). Another important task for the Orthodox Church in Lithuania was the esta blishment of its legal position and of formal relations with the Lithuanian Government. These relations were determined by special temporary rules, which the Lithuanian Government approved by a resolution on 20 May 1923. The Government by this document recognized the organizational structure of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania, set the limits of competence of its administrative bodies, and assigned salaries for Orthodox priests from the State budget. The Orthodox Church in Lithuania acquired the right to settle its affairs according to its own canons and to represent its interests in the political structures of the Lithuanian Republic. Another noticeable problem which hindered the image of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania for the Lithuanian authorities and public was its canonical subordination to the Moscow Patriarchate, which quite often also involved political subordination to Moscow.The economic decline of the Lithuanian Orthodox Church also started in the period between the two world wars and was determined by the changes in the political system and economic structure of the country. The state appropriated a large share of the real estate owned by the Orthodox Church in Lithuania and distributed some of it to public and private institutions in Lithuania. Orthodox church buildings taken from the Orthodox believers were transferred to Catholic parishes, turned into civil use buildings, or ruined. The land tenure of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania was canceled by the Land Reform Law in 1922. The State took over at least 1,500 ha of land from Orthodox parishes, forcing the Ort hodox clergy to search for additional financial resources such as religious teaching in schools. Relations between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church in Lithuania remained complicated due to the mutual opposition that was inspired by the government policy of the Russian Empire in the 19th century and matters dealing with real estate. The Catholic Church regained a greater part of the land that it had lost in the times of the Russian Empire. The efforts of the Orthodox Church to keep the property which had been confiscated from the Catholics by any means was another reason making the relations between the churches more complicated.