Latvian Orthodox Church. Latvia Latvian Orthodox Church

This autonomy was abolished for a year, but after Latvia regained independence, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in August decided to grant self-government to the Latvian Church, which was approved by the Moscow Bishops' Council at the end of the year. In December, at the Riga All-Latvian Council of clergy and laity, Vladyka Alexander (Kudryashov) was confirmed as the Primate of the Church, and the Synod of the Latvian Orthodox Church was elected to help him. After the Council, at the end of December of the same year, the Church of Latvia was registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia as the legal successor of the autonomous Latvian Orthodox Church for up to a year. Church administration is carried out in accordance with the Statutes of the Church of Latvia, drawn up on the basis of the Statutes of the Year.

Dioceses

Historical sketch

After the war, there was a difficult life under the conditions of militant atheism. The surviving cathedral continued to be a spiritual support for many, many people who knew the horrors and misfortunes of the monstrous war and post-war persecution.

But what was not destroyed by the two world wars and the revolution was ruined in the 60s. So, by order of the Council of Ministers of Latvia. SSR from 05.10.63, the Christmas Cathedral was closed and turned into a commercial enterprise. In Dzintari bulldozers swept from the face of the earth the Church of the Kazan Mother of God, built in the 90s of the XIX century by the Peter-Pavlovsk brotherhood on donations.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Daugavpils was blown up, the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Rezekne was destroyed, the churches in Kraslava were closed, in the village. Engravers, in Kolka, in Ainaži, in Koknese, in Suntazi. Closed St. Church of the Assumption in Daugavpils, the Church of All Who Sorrow Joy in Riga. In total, about 40 churches were closed.

Latvia(Latvian. Latvija), the official name is Latvian republic(Latvian. Latvijas Republika) - a state in Northern Europe. The population, according to estimates as of May 1, 2015, is 1,980,700 people.

Largest cities

• Daugavpils
• Ventspils
• Liepaja
• Jelgava
• Jurmala

Orthodoxy in Latvia

Orthodoxy in Latvia- one of the three largest religious denominations in Latvia, along with Catholicism and Lutheranism, each of which counts itself about a third of the country's inhabitants.

In modern Latvia, Orthodoxy is mainly practiced by the Russian-speaking population of the country, although there are many Orthodox Latvians in the country.

History

Orthodoxy came to the lands of modern Latvia from the territory of Pskov and Novgorod Rus, penetrating into the country from the east and south in the 11th century. It is noteworthy that Orthodoxy was historically the first form of Christian faith in the lands of Latvia and in the Baltic States as a whole. After 1201, during the growing influence of the crusaders (sword-bearers) and German barons, most Latvians in the west and north of the country converted to Catholicism, then converted to Lutheranism (one of the branches of Protestantism). In the east of the country (Latgale region), which became part of the Commonwealth, Catholicism spread. It is practiced mainly by Latgalians and Latvian Poles. Orthodoxy was also preserved in some Latgalian communities.

The revival of the Orthodox tradition in the Latvian lands began after the annexation of the Baltic to the Russian Empire in the 18th century.

The middle of the 19th century was marked by the mass conversion of Latvians to Orthodoxy. The peasants - Latvians and Estonians, exploited by the German landowners, the descendants of the Livonian knights, were in poverty and humiliation. FM Dostoevsky characterized the position of the Latvian peasants as much worse than the position of Negro slaves on American plantations. The Lutheran ruling church was completely dependent on the landlords. In the lean, hungry year of 1841, on June 9, a group of peasants, seeking protection and justice, turned to Bishop Irinarkh (Popov), the first Riga vicar of the Pskov diocese, for help. The latter gave them alms and sympathized, expressing mercy. Bishop Irinarkh's sympathy for the troubles of the Latvian population led to the fact that in July peasants from all over Livonia submitted to Bishop Irinarch about 30 petitions for protection and transfer to Orthodoxy from several thousand peasants. Such actions caused extreme discontent among the German landowners and Lutheran pastors, who were trying to keep the Latvians. Governor General Matvey Palen, with the support of the chief of gendarmes of the Livonian German Benkendorf, is seeking from Emperor Nicholas I on October 12, 1841, the removal of Bishop Irinarch under secret arrest in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery, allegedly "to prevent peasant unrest."

As of 1850, about one-eighth of the Latvians and Estonians in the Baltic region professed Orthodoxy. In addition, an Old Believer community of Russian settlers appeared in the east of the country.

Latvian Orthodox Church

Latvian Orthodox Church(Latvian. Latvijas Pareizticīgā Baznīca) is a self-governing Church within the Moscow Patriarchate in Latvia.

History

In 1836, the Riga Vicariate of the Pskov Diocese was established, which on March 1, 1850 was separated into an independent Riga Diocese, established on July 1 of the same year. The Diocesan Bishop was given the title "Riga and Mitava", which became Bishop Platon (Gorodetsky).

In connection with the collapse of the Russian Empire and the transfer of Archbishop John (Smirnov) to the Ryazan See, the Riga Diocese was left without a ruling bishop for four years. The Latvian authorities did not allow either Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) or Archbishop Gennady (Tuberozov) to enter Latvia, whom Patriarch Tikhon intended to appoint to the Riga See. In 1918 - early. 1919 The Riga diocese was temporarily ruled by the vicar bishop of Revel Platon (Kulbush). Only after it was proposed to transfer Archbishop John (Pommer), a Latvian by nationality, from the Penza diocese to the Riga See, the question of heading the Riga diocese was settled with the Latvian authorities. In search of a compromise with the government of Latvia, Archbishop John (Pommer) petitioned His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon to grant his diocese independence in internal affairs. On June 21, 1921, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council recognized the internal independence of the Latvian Orthodox Church. In 1925, Archbishop John (Pommer) was elected to the Republican Seim, where he defended the equality of the Latvian Orthodox Church with other religious denominations of Latvia. In 1926 the Riga Theological Seminary resumed its activity. On the night of October 11-12, 1934, Archbishop John was burnt alive in his suburban dacha. The investigation into the murder of Archbishop John did not yield results: both the special services of Latvia and agents from the Soviet Union were suspected of the murder.

Soon after the death of Archbishop John (Pommer) of Riga, in 1936 the leadership of the Latvian Church announced the transfer to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was opposed by some of the clergy and the majority of the laity; the transition was not recognized by the Moscow Patriarchate and most other Local Orthodox Churches. On March 29, 1936, Metropolitan Herman of Thyatira (Strinopoulos) led the consecration of the former garrison priest from Daugavpils Augustin (Peterson) as bishop with his elevation to the rank of Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia. In 1938 a new department was opened - Daugavpils. Archimandrite Alexander (Vitol) was consecrated on it.

In 1940, after the annexation of Latvia to the USSR, the previous decisions were canceled and the Latvian Church became part of the Russian Orthodox Church as a diocese. Metropolitan of Riga and All Latvia Augustin (Peterson) retired. Since 1947, the Latvian Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople has switched over to the emigre regime, calling itself the "Latvian Orthodox Church in exile".

In 1990, after the proclamation of the state independence of Latvia, the Holy Synod of the ROC of the Latvian Orthodox Church was granted self-government.

Three Councils were held in the Latvian Church: 1997, 2001 and 2003. Extraordinary Cathedral of 2009.

State of the art

The main (cathedral) cathedral of the Latvian Orthodox Church is the Nativity of Christ Cathedral in Riga.

Since 1993, the Riga Theological Seminary has resumed its activities.

Statistics: 118 parishes; 92 clergy (79 priests, 13 deacons).

Divine services in some parishes are conducted in Latvian.

Shrines

• wmch. John of Riga (XX century)

• "Tolgskaya" icon of the Mother of God

• "Iverskaya" icon of the Mother of God
• venerated grave of Archim. Tavrion (Batozsky)

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The Latvian Orthodox Church (LOC) has deleted from its official website Pravoslavie.lv the news that memorial services for Georgian soldiers were held in the churches of Riga and Daugavpils, as if there was no such news there. The Russian soldiers were forgotten in the LOC. However, the actions of the LPC turned out to be documented ...

The news on the website of the LOC Pravoslavie.lv titled: "A memorial service for the repose of the souls of all Orthodox Christians who were martyred and killed in battle and soldiers and civilians of Georgia in August 2008," was staged yesterday. Today, after the publication of this on the website Regnum.ru, the news from the Latvian Orthodox website has disappeared, writes Regnum.ru. Obviously, the LOC was imbued with the last paragraph of the Regnum.ru article, which stamped them: "There is no report on the commemoration by the Latvian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate of the victims of the August war of Saakashvili among civilians in South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers."

The press service of the Moscow Patriarchate told the Regnum.ru portal: "On the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate there are no memorial services for the victims of" Russia's aggression "against Georgia."

LOC itself does not comment on the incident. Colleagues, Orthodox journalists from the Pravoslavie.ru website commented collectively for the LOC website: "There is no news that a memorial service for the victims of Russian aggression was served on the LOC website, and it is unlikely that it was."

However, after this statement, a copy of the article was saved on Yandex for about an hour.

How could an article appear so unusual for the Church of the Moscow Patriarchate? The political intrigue was started, perhaps, by an active layman, a member of the advisory council at the LOC, Vasily Melnik. It is known that V. Melnik a month ago participated in negotiations with the Russian Minister of Transport Levitin, while actively lobbying for the official visit of the President of Latvia Zatlers to Moscow, despite the rather complicated statements of Valdis Zatlers on Russia. V. Melnik represents that wing of Latvian entrepreneurs who, in order to obtain momentary profits, blindly follow the channel of the official policy.

A few words about Metropolitan Alexander, who is still the head of the LOC. Next to the scandalous article on the LOC website, as a bitter irony, was the congratulation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia on the 20th anniversary of his episcopal consecration and on the upcoming 70th birthday.

The site also has evidence of the scandalous news in the form of a screenshot from the LPTs portal, when it had not yet been removed.

We repeat this news in the written version, so to speak, for history.

A memorial service for the repose of the souls of all Orthodox Christians who were martyred and killed in battle, soldiers and civilians of Georgia in August 2008.

August 8 e. At 18:30 in the Riga Church of the Ascension of the Lord (Menes street No. 2), a memorial service was held in memory of the dead civilians and the army of Georgia as a result of the aggression of the Russian Federation on August 7-12, 2008.

The service was attended by the Georgians of Riga, dip. the corps of the Georgian embassy in Latvia, headed by the ambassador Mr. Konstantin Korkelia and the flock of the aforementioned church. The funeral service was performed by the rector of this church, Archpriest Nil Druvaskalns, with the participation of the servants of the temple and the church choir.

On the same day, on the anniversary of the August events in Georgia, honor was paid to the memory of the victims in Daugavpils.

At 13:00 in the Daugavpils Borisoglebsk Cathedral, a divine service was held, during which the priest of the cathedral, Archpriest Geogriy Popov, held a memorial panikhida in front of the Georgian flock for the repose of the souls of martyred Orthodox Christians, soldiers and civilians of Georgia who fell in battle in August 2008.

After the memorial service, during a conversation between local Georgians, an opinion was expressed - to found an organization of Daugavpils Georgians as a branch of the Georgian society of Latvian Georgians, elect an initiative group and propose a candidate for the head of this cell in the person of Mr. Avtandil Janelidze.

The board of the society "Georgika" responds positively to this message, welcomes and in every possible way will help Daugavpils friends in this undertaking.

Daugavpils is already the second city in Latvia after Jelgava, where a regional initiative group of Latvian Georgians is being established under the auspices of Georgiki.

The misfortune - the shed blood and souls of the dead - in yet another city united Georgians who are far from their homeland.

Society of Georgians of Latvia "Georgika"