Etninių mažumų grupių religinės organizacijos Lietuvoje: etninio ir religinio identiteto aspektai ir jų sąsajos
Religious Organizations of Ethnic Minority Groups in Lithuania: Some Aspects of Ethnic and Religious Identity and Their Interaction

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to show the links between religious and ethnic identity in the activities of Catholic and Orthodox religious organizations. It is based on 14 semi structured interviews conducted within the research project on the ethno-confessional identity of Polish Catholics and Russian Orthodox in Lithuania from October 2019 till March 2020. This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No [S-LIP-19-60]. The analysis of the preliminary research data reveals that Polish Catholic and Russian Orthodox religious organizations in Vilnius are oriented primarily to religious communities, but also to certain ethnic groups (Poles in the case of Catholics and Russians, Russian speakers of various nationalities or persons from ethnically diverse (mixed) families - in the case of Orthodox). Analysed religious organizations in Vilnius influence the formation of the religious identity of Polish and Russian ethnic groups, as they seek to maintain important elements of ethnicity, such as origin, language and ties with the kin-state. The activities of Polish and Russian religious organizations focus on religious education, pastoral and social care. Analyzing the links between ethnic and religious identity and the role of organizations in strengthening these links, the analysis showed existing differences. Representatives of the Polish organization associate Catholic faith with their ethnicity, while Orthodox respondents do not associate religious identity with ethnic identity.

• Details
• Contents