Latvian Orthodox Church

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Not to be confused with Latvian Orthodox Autonomous Church.
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History
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The Latvian Orthodox Church (

Eastern Orthodox church in Latvia, part of the wider Eastern Orthodoxy community. The primate of the church carries the title of Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia (Latvian: Rīgas un visas Latvijas metropolīts). This position has been occupied since October 27, 1990, by metropolitan Aleksandrs Kudrjašovs
.

Until 2022, the Latvian Orthodox Church was universally recognized as a self-governing part of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine
. As of December 2022, none of the other Orthodox Churches have recognized the autocephaly of the Latvian Church.

History

Orthodoxy was planted in

Lutherans afterwards.[citation needed
]

After Latvia was annexed to the

Lutheran Germanic nobles of the area; conversely the predominantly German character of the Lutheran Church in Latvia was a factor in the movement of some 40,000 Latvians from the Lutheran to the Orthodox Church. When religious freedom was proclaimed in 1905, about 12,000 Latvians moved from Orthodoxy to Lutheranism; in most cases, this seems to have occurred because of mixed marriages and the difficulties of maintaining a religiously divided family.[citation needed
]

Nativity Cathedral
are a landmark of the Riga cityscape.

During World War I, the property of the Orthodox Church in Latvia was confiscated by occupying German forces, and in the early years of independent Latvia the government was not eager to recognize the church, suspecting it of being a hotbed of pro-Russian monarchism.[citation needed]

Autonomy

In this difficult situation,

Jānis (John) Pommers, a native Latvian, was appointed Archbishop of Riga in 1921.[citation needed
]

On July 6, 1921, the Russian Orthodox Church granted autonomy (limited self-governance) to the Orthodox Church in Latvia, thus creating the Latvian Orthodox Church (named "Archidiocese of Riga and all Latvia").[3]

Pommers succeeded in winning recognition from the government by 1926 and, against much opposition from leftists and others, in stabilizing the situation of the church. While opposing the Bolsheviks, he maintained the Latvian Orthodox Church within the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1934, he was assassinated by Soviet agents.

Joining the Ecumenical Patriarchate

After the murder of the church's primate

Metropolitanate; the LOC was then named "Metropolitanate of Riga and all Latvia".[3]

Soviet occupation period

The autonomy of the Latvian Orthodox Church was ended abruptly by the

German Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944, and a second Soviet annexation lasting from 1944 to 1991. The church suffered oppression during this period, as did organized religion throughout the Soviet Union, though this was partly mitigated from 1943 to 1948 (due to the support of the Church during World War II) and in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.[citation needed
]

On 24 February 1941, after the Soviet invasion of Latvia, the Russian Orthodox Church turned the territory of the Latvian Orthodox Church into an exarchate of the ROC which comprised the territories of Estonia and Latvia. Metropolitan Augustine of Riga and all Latvia, primate of the LOC, was summoned to Moscow where he was forced, on March 28, 1941, to sign a decree recognizing the situation. On 31 March 1941, the ROC officially abolished the autonomy of the Orthodox church of Latvia.[3]

German occupation period

During the occupation of Latvia by Germany, Metropolitan Augustine on 20 July 1941 declared the reestablishment of the LOC. However, many parishes did not join Augustine, and the Germans were supporting the Russian exarchate.[3]

Second Soviet occupation, exile and deactivation

In 1944, after the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia, Metropolitan Augustine and numerous members of the LOC were forced to go in exile in West Germany. There, a Synod in exile was created. The Ecumenical Patriarchate continued to recognize the LOC, even after Augustine's death.[3]

In April 1978, as result of pressures by the Russian Orthodox Church upon the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the latter declared the LOC of the Ecumenical Patriarchate inactive.[3]

1990s and after

The church also suffered oppression in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. In December 1992, the Latvian Orthodox Church was again proclaimed autonomous, preserving canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.[citation needed]

In 2001, a council of the Latvian Orthodox Church canonised Archbishop Jānis in recognition of his martyrdom in 1934.[4] In 2006, the "Order of the holy martyr Jānis" was instituted to reward those who have served the Eastern Orthodox Church and its aims.[5]

In modern Latvia, there are 350,000 Orthodox Church members.[6] The services are in Church Slavonic and the members are predominantly Russian speakers. Ethnic Latvians are a minority among church members; there are parishes with services in Latvian in Riga, Ainaži, Kolka, Veclaicene and in other places.[citation needed]

Declaration of autocephaly in 2022

On September 8, 2022, the Latvian parliament,

Jānis Pommers and the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of 8 October 1926 on the Status of the Orthodox Church”.[1]

The Latvian Orthodox Church, after the presidential and parliamentary announcements, clarified that:

The state established the status of our Church as autocephalous. The state has determined that the Latvian Orthodox Church is legally independent from any ecclesiastical center located outside of Latvia, maintaining spiritual, prayerful and liturgical communion with all canonical Orthodox churches of the world. The change of status does not change the Orthodox faith, the doctrines, the liturgical life of the Church, the calendar, the sacred liturgical language, the rituals, the traditions and the inner church life.[1]

Other Orthodox Christian groups in Latvia

Besides the Patriarchate-affiliated church, Latvia has a number of

True Orthodox),[8][9] is also present in Latvia.[10][11][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Orthodox Church of Latvia seceded from Moscow – It was a matter of national security, says the President orthodoxtimes.com September 10, 2022
  2. ^ (in Latvian) Homepage of Latvian Orthodox Church. History of Holy Orthodoxy in Latvia. http://pareizticiba.lv/index.php?newid=48&id=34
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781434458766
    .
  4. ^ "Канонизация святого священномученика Иоанна Архиепископа Рижскаго и Латвийскаго (Поммера) Собором ЛПЦ". www.pareizticiba.lv. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  5. ^ "Орден святого священномученика Иоанна архиепископа Рижского". www.pareizticiba.lv. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  6. ^ "Na Łotwie działa ponad 1,2 tys. wspólnot religijnych" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
  7. ISBN 9042912626
  8. ^ "Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church - Bishops | Archbishop Victor of Daugavpils and Latvia". www.roac-suzdal.narod.ru. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  9. ^ "Bishops | His Eminence, The Most Reverend Archbishop VICTOR of Daugavpils and Latvia". The ROAC of America: The Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church of America Official Web Site. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  10. doi:10.2143/JECS.58.1.2017737
    – via Foundation/Stichting Communicantes | Information Exchange Projects for the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe.
  11. ^ Stasulane, Anita (2017-05-15). "Quelques chiffres sur les appartenances religieuses". Eurel - Données Sociologiques et Juridiques Sur la Religion en Europe et Au-delà.
  12. ^ Stasulane, Anita (2 October 2017). "2017". Eurel - Données Sociologiques et Juridiques Sur la Religion en Europe et Au-delà.

External links

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