Varniai – Medininkų vyskupijos centras

ENOnce the pre-Christian locality of Medininkai has been localised in the vicinity of the contemporary Pavandenė / Miestalis, there is a scope for offering a new look at the location and the history of founding the Diocese of Medininkai, as well as its first Cathedral in Varniai. It provides new answers to a range of questions: why Varniai was chosen as the centre of diocese; why the Samogitian diocese and its centre in Varniai were called by the name of Medininkai; and why as the new churches were built in the Samogitian administrative centres following the 1413-1417 baptism, the old Medininkai (Miestalis / Pavandenė) was apparently forgotten. In the search for answers, historical sources were used, such as the documents related to the founding of the Samogitian (Medininkai) Diocese in 1416-1417 and the description of the Diocese of Samogitia by the bishop A. Tiškevičius, as well as the voluminous material from J. Genys archaeological explorations, research by G. B3aszczyk etc. Thus Varniai in the 13th - early 15,h century was one settlement on the right bank of the river Varnė, rather than two on its both banks, as it had been maintained. It is more compact than the contemporaiy (pre-Christian) settlement of Medininkai (Pavandenė / Miestalis). Varniai was chosen as the centre of the new institution of the Catholic Church: the Diocese of Medininkai. On the 24,h October, 1417 this locality itself was also renamed as Medininkai through the act of founding the Diocese of Medininkai and through appointment of the first bishop. The paper agrees with the authors who maintain that this choice had a ‘political ecclesiastical’ motivation. The name, however, did not stick either to the locality or to the diocese; it was finally abandoned in the 17th century.The first cathedral was consecrated in 1417 under the title of ‘The Holy and Indivisible Trinity and the Glorious Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, as well as the Righteous Apostles Peter and Paul, and also the Pope Alexander and the Glorious Martyrs’. The paper discusses the changes that the use of this title underwent as the later Cathedrals were built in Varniai (2nd Cathedral in 1464, 3rd in 1519-1555, and the 4th in 1691). The paper comes to the fundamental conclusion that if the Diocese of Medininkai had not been created through the urgent efforts of Vytautas and Jogaila, the decisions in the Conference of Mein could have been different or even contrary to the ones which were actually taken, and Samogitia could have become (de jure) territory of the German Order, and eventually perhaps even a new source and object of military conflicts. Before the coming of Vytautas and Jogaila, the land was submerged into permanent threat and paganism. With the baptism, the war against the Crusaders which had lasted for centuries ended, and Samogitia along with Lithuania joined the realm of European civilisation and its processes.