Parama protestantų misijoms Prūsijos Lietuvoje XIX a. 1-oje pusėje: privačios iniciatyvos ir spaudos vaidmuo

LTStraipsnyje analizuojamos finansinės paramos protestantų misijoms formos XIX a. 1-oje pusėje Prūsijos Lietuvoje. Čia tiriamas misijų šalininko Bachmano dvaro prie Klaipėdos inspektoriaus, Moravijos Bažnyčios sekėjo ('hernhuterio') Wilhelmo Andrėjaus Rheniaus vaidmuo renkant paramą misijoms pietryčių Indijoje. Aptariamas misijoms šelpti skirtas lietuviškas periodinis leidinys "Nuſidawimai apie Ewangelios Praſiplatinima tarp Ʒydu ir Pagonu" (redaktorius Ferdinandas Kelkis, nuo 1832). Straipsnyje kreipiamas dėmesys į evangelikų liuteronų kunigo, būsimo Karaliaučiaus universiteto profesoriaus ir lietuvių kalbos gramatikos autoriaus Frydricho Kuršaičio vertimą – Ernsto Friedricho Ballo pamokslą "Tēkel, tai yr: Swēre tawę Swàrcʒeis ir perlèngwą ißrądo" (Karaliaučius, 1843). Esminiai žodžiai: misijų literatūra lietuvių kalba, parama misijoms, surinkimininkai, Karlas Gottliebas Ewaldas Rhenius, Wilhelmas Andrėjus Rhenius, Frydrichas Kuršaitis, XIX a. Prūsijos Lietuva. [Iš leidinio]

ENThis article aims at revealing the experience of supporting protestant missions in Prussian Lithuania in the first half of the 19th century. The paper focuses on the forms of support that circulated on the private initiative of laypeople. Lithuanian periodical press and books published in Prussian Lithuania also served as a means of gathering funds. The article seeks to find out when the collection of financial support for missions began in the Lithuanian protestant community and what source this support came from. It has been determined that donations for missions had been collected in Prussian Lithuania before the Königsberg Missionary Society was established (1822). In 1820–1821, Halle Mission received substantial support from Lithuanian residents of Prussian Lithuania, participants of the religious awakening movement (Lith. 'surinkimai'), which grew in strength throughout the 3rd decade of the century, and teachers (Lith. 'šulmistrai'). Donations were collected by inspector of Bachmann Manor near Klaipėda (the former Memel), member of the Moravian Church Wilhelm Andreas Rhenius (1753–1833) who acted as an intermediary between Lithuanians and Halle Missions. The early donations made by Lithuanian residents were directed to southeast India, Madras (currently Chennai) to support the activity of German missionary Karl Gottlieb Ewald Rhenius (1790–1838). Another form of mission support was the sale of missionary press. Partly for this purpose, Lithuanian periodical publication "Nuſidawimai apie Ewangelios Praſiplatinima tarp Ʒydu ir Pagonu" was published (from 1832, editor Johann Ferdinand Kelch) in Prussian Lithuania.Local Evangelical Lutheran priests propagated the missions and participated in the collection of donations; among them was priest Friedrich Kurschat ('Frydrichas Kuršaitis', 1806–1884), the future professor of theology at the University of Königsberg and author of the Lithuanian grammar. Kurschat translated the sermon 'Tēkel, tai yr: Swēre tawę Swàrcʒeis ir perlèngwą ißrądo' by Lutheran priest Ernst Friedrich Ball (published in Königsberg in 1843), and the funds received from its sales were to be directed for missionary and temperance societies. On balance, it should be noted that the model of mission support was designed to reduce the state’s burden. The financial burden was shared between prosperous or well-off religious residents of the Kingdom of Prussia. On the other hand, the publications advocated that the duty of spreading Christianity in non-Christian countries, supporting the poor and their education had to be taken on not only by the king and priests but also by the common Lithuanian residents of the Prussian province. A person who donated for missions had to understand that the support for missions was not a local event but a phenomenon encompassing Europe and other countries of the world united by Christianity and Christian values. Each contributing person served a common cause of the world’s protestants. A contributing person could feel that he or she was not lonely but rather formed a part of a large communities of Christians who supported, contributed to, and approved the idea of Christianization. Keywords: mission literature in the Lithuanian language, support for missions, surinkimininkai, Karl Gottlieb Ewald Rhenius, Wilhelm Andreas Rhenius, Friedrich Kurschat, Prussian Lithuania in the 19th century. [From the publication]

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