The Orthodox Church in Lithuania: Believers’ Identities and Changes in the Geopolitical Context

Abstract

The article analyses the ethnic and religious identities of believers in the Orthodox Archdiocese of Lithuania, which is under the Moscow Patriarchate. The historical factors that determine the nature and interaction of these identities, as well as contemporary demographic, social and geopolitical aspects, are also studied in the article. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews conducted between 2019 and 2021 with different age and gender Orthodox Russians or Russian-speakers of mixed identity and representatives of the Orthodox Church (clergy) and religious organisations, as well as texts from the official archdiocesan magazine Vestnik (2012–2022). It was revealed that the close historical ties with Russia, the Russian ethnic identity and the Russian Orthodox tradition were important for this Orthodox community members in Lithuania, but a significant part of them identified with the universal (Byzantine) and/or local (Grand Duchy of Lithuania) Orthodox traditions. The community faced the challenge of adapting to the contemporary Lithuanian society during the ongoing socio-demographic and political processes, such as assimilation, mixed families, use of the Lithuanian language and geopolitical changes.