Atgimę per knygą ir gyvą tikėjimą. Prūsijos lietuvių surinkimininkų kultūros tyrimai
ENAt the end of the 17th c., in Germany there was a spread of pietism - a spiritual movement that encouraged personal piety. In Prussia, through Halle University and schools, the ideas of August Hermann Francke’s pietism spread, as well as being circulated by the professors at Königsberg University. Pietists taught that those who are reborn have to ripen the fruits of the Spirit and “die for the world”. At the end of the 18th-early 19th c., an offshoot of pietism began to spread among Prussia’s Lithuanians - the susirinkimininkai movement. They practiced worship at home, and such worship was led by people, from the community of believers, who could explain the Scriptures. They read sermons that were simple, spiritual, encouraging repentance and conversion. Pietist movements encouraged the appearance of religious texts aimed for simple people: private funds financed the publishing of hymnals and other religious-content literature. In the 19th c., nearly universal literacy of Prussia's Lithuanians was achieved, thus for the first time in the history of Lithuania's writing, reading became part of the daily life of common folk.
