Viekšniai Russian orthodox parish

Straipsnyje apžvelgiama XIX a, antrosios pusės-XX a. Viekšnių stačiatikių parapijos istorija, analizuojami stačiatikių ir katalikų tarpusavio santykiai. Nauja mūrinė cerkvė miestelyje buvo pastatyta 1873-1875 m., jos statybą bei įrengimą finansavo Rusijos imperijos iždas. 1884 ir 1945 m. duomenimis, Viekšnių stačiatikių parapijai priklausė maždaug 870 tikinčiųjų. Tai buvo viena didžiausių ir turtingiausių stačiatikių parapijų Lietuvoje, joje nuolat dirbo klebonas, vyko gana intensyvus religinis bei kultūrinis gyvenimas. Sovietmečiu parapija visiškai sunyko. Nemažai XIX-XX a. istorijos Šaltinių liudija apie įtampą, tvyrojusią tarp katalikų ir stačiatikių bendruomenių nuo pat pastarosios atsiradimo Viekšniuose. Tačiau po 1918 m., išsprendus žemės nuosavybės klausimus, pamažu nusistovėjo gana draugiški bendruomenių santykiai.The author of the article reviews the history of the Viekšniai Russian Orthodox parish since its founding in 1867, and analyses the mutual rela tions of Russian Orthodox believers and Catholics. The new brick church of St. Sergius of Radonezh has built in Viekšniai in 1873-75; its construction and furnishing was funded by the treasury of the Russian empire. According to the data of 1884 and 1945, there were circa 870 Russian Orthodox believers in the Viekšniai parish, but in the Soviet period this number thinned down, and in the late 1980s the church became a chapel of ease of the Telšiai Russian Orthodox parish. The Viekšniai Russian Orthodox parish was one of the largest and richest in Lithuania (though after 1918 it lost the land and mills given to it by the tsarist administration). It had a dean, and was noted for quite an intensive religious and cultural scene: in the interwar period several fraternities and a parochial library operated at the church, and a church choir was active for a long time. Quite many historical sources from the 19th-20th centuries testify to the tension, which strained the relations of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox communities since the appearance of the latter in Viekšniai. However, as the issues of land property were solved after 1918, quite amicable relations between the communities were gradually established. A breakthrough took place in 1982, when a Russian Orthodox dean visited the Catholic church for the first time in more than 110 years of the existence of the Russian Orthodox church in the town to congratulate the Catholics on the Easter day, and a Catholic dean, in his turn, congratulated the Russian Orthodox believers on their Easter day. This nice practice, a reminder of peaceful coexistence of different confessions, will probably determine the future of the Viekšniai Russian Orthodox church, when for the absence of Russian Orthodox believers, the town's community will have to decide its further fate