Pre-war attempts of the Lutheran Church to publish a hymnal in modern Lithuanian

Straipsnyje aptariamos prieškario Liuteronų bažnyčios pastangos išleisti pirmąjį giesmyną bendrine lietuvių kalba. Ši giesmių knyga turėjo tapti pirmuoju ekumeniniu giesmynu, vienijusiu Lietuvos evangelikus liuteronus ir reformatus. Skaitytojas supažindinamas su pagrindinėmis priežastimis, skatinusiomis tokio giesmyno poreikį, liuteronų konsistorijos derybomis su Reformatų bažnyčia bei Švietimo ministerija, projekto įgyvendinimo eiga. Nepaisant konsistorijos pastangų ir nuveikto darbo, po repatriacijos naujai suformuota konsistorija atmetė projektą kaip nepriimtiną, nes, jos manymu, giesmyno redaktoriai, ir ypač reformatų kunigas A. Šernas, giesmių tekstus redagavo per daug radikaliai.In 1937 the Lutheran consistory initiated a hymnal project which proposed the preparation of a hymnal in modern Lithuanian. The occasion was a response to the 1936 decision of the Klaipėda autonomous Lutheran consistory in to republish without any modernization whatever of the old Prussian Lithuanian hymnal „Pagérintos giesmjû-knygos" (Improved Hymnbook), which included in it prayers for the old Prussian king and his government and armies. Since Reformed minister Adomas Šernas was already at work revising Reformed and Lutheran hymns into modern Lithuanian, the consistory proposed to make use of his work. The unionistic spirit which prevailed at that time led to the hope that the new hymnal would be used in both Lutheran and Reformed congregations in Major Lithuania and the Klaipėda Region. The Klaipėda consistory expressed no interest in the project and enthusiasm for it soon waned. Technical and editorial commissions were named by the consistory to examine the revisions of Minister Šernas and compare them with texts in „Pagérintos giesmjû-knygos" and to examine other hymns not revised by Šernas as well. 500 hymns out of a total of some 959 were selected for inclusion