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Leaves of a Lithuanian lady at the Church of God’s Providence in Scranton
The influence of Calvinism and the “American dream”
However, there is little evidence of what the theory looked like in practice. According to the historian, sources attest that, although they preached the use of the Lithuanian language in the liturgy, the LTKB could not always do so.
“Until 1931. The National Church of Lithuania did not have a Missal in Lithuanian, so some priests did not celebrate Mass in Lithuanian but in Latin. In this place, attention should be paid to the Missal of the National Catholic Church of Lithuania, drawn up by the priest Mykolas Valadka and published in 1931. One of its most important characteristics is the Lithuanian liturgical language, as all Roman Catholics still used Latin for the liturgy at that time, ”said I. Strumickienė.
The functioning of the national church, organized by the priest Stasys Geniotis in the 20th century, was closely related to the nationality and the romanticized past of Lithuania. In the early 1930s in Chicago. It was not the “church” that operated here Popular messageled not by priests but by Croissants. However, such a change in terminology was a rare case for the LTKB, and the usual terms were retained in many places.
Also in practice, the Lithuanian National Church was influenced by Protestantism, especially Calvinism.
“The texts that testify to the religious content of the LTKB show that St. The cult of the Virgin Mary, the saints, was not abandoned, but the influence of the dogma of predestination was inevitable. 1931 in the LTKB printed “Confession of Faith” we read: “4. I believe that the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God, governs the world, both in nature and in morals, that all the rights of the world, which affect the soul of the individual and of the whole, are influenced by will, goodness and the justice of God, ”explained I. Strumickienė.
Furthermore, while they emphasized Lithuanism, apologists for the national church also emphasized dependence on the American nation.
1931 The paragraph on human equality appeared in the LTKB confession of faith, and its content is very close to that of 1776. To the United States Declaration of Independence: “8. I believe that all human beings, as children of the only Father of God, are equal to each other, that the privileges that emanate from the class position, from the management and wealth of great wealth, from the gender difference are a great violation of nature and the grace of God and constitute an obstacle to the precise progress and development of man. “
“LTKB leaders encouraged Lithuanians to use the good American experience and wished Lithuania, which had regained its independence, values rooted in American society: freedom, equality, brotherly love, tolerance and democracy,” said I. Strumickienė.
