Lietuvos istorijos institutas

As part two of a series about the Basic Prayers (Hail Mary, Apostolic Creed and Lord’s Prayer) in Old Lithuanian, the aim of this article is to collect all attestations of the Apostolic Creed translated into Lithuanian prior to 1700. The Apostolic Creed has two forms, the “common” declaratory one and a shorter, interrogative one used during baptism. This interrogative creed is not a shortened form of the declaratory one, but rather the original urban Roman creed, which was expanded during the 3rd century C. E. A total of 46 versions of the Apostolic Creed are attested in the Old Lithuanian era (the 16th and 17th century). The lexical and syntactic structure of the prayers is analyzed and compared as outlined in the first part of the series, to show their dependences and connections (compare Falk, Thies 2023). Four traditions can be discerned: Firstly, an early Lutheran line in Lithuania Minor, beginning with the Forma krikštymo by Mažvydas and continued by Vilentas (as already described by Judžentis 2021), the first translation of Mažvydas in his Catechism is only weakly connected to the aforementioned. Bretkes translation is close to this line as well, but shows variation. Secondly, a later Lutheran line begins with the Königsberg Cathechism of 1670 and is continued e. g. in the scientific works of Nettelhorst and Hartknoch and in many reprints of the 18th century. Third, the Reformed tradition, consisting of the reprints of Knyga Nobažnystės and only loosely connected to the earlier Catechism by Petkevičius; and fourth, the Catholic tradition, which begins relatively late, in the second half of the 17th century, because all earlier Catholic translations e. g. by Daukša can be considered isolated attempts. The traditions of all three denominations can be considered as canonicalized with the third edition of the Königsberg Catechism from 1700, the second edition of Knyga Nobažnystės from 1684 resp. the catechism by Pranas Šrubauskis from 1725.

In September 2024, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (NLL ) procured a copy of the Postil (1591) by Jonas Bretkūnas (LNB NPDA F: D1406729/1591). It is the 11th copy kept on file at Lithuanian libraries and museums, and the third Postil outside of Bibliography of Lithuania Lietuvos bibliografija (LB I, 1969 and LBP, 1990) currently held at Lithuanian memory institutions. This copy of the Postil is the oldest Lithuanian book at the NLL . The goal of this article is to introduce the new copy to the academia and the culture society by describing its condition and binding, establishing its provenience, scrutinising the data attesting to the culture of reading and handwritten entries in particular. The copy is studied de visu according to the methodological analysis of the book, with a particular focus on dynamic factors: changes in the meaning of functions and the reciprocal relationship between the book and society. The proveniences testify that in the 19th century, this was a household book that had at least four owners: (1) the unnamed mother of Urtė Ostwald (until 1830); (2) Urtė Ostwald (as of 1830); (3) Friedrich Fritz Ostwald Jr.; (4) E. Skėrys (between 1860 and 1893, at the very least) of Senieji Vainočiai (Ger. Alt Weynothen in Prussian Lithuania, near to Tilžė [Ger. Tilsit]). The published testimony of the peers indicates that in the 20th century, (5) it belonged (until 1988) to Mina Bentkus (born in 1900) of Büsingen (German exclave in Switzerland), (6) and (as of 1988) to Fricas Skėrys (1919–1994) of Mannheim (Germany). In early 20th century, the book was transferred from its original location in Prussian Lithuania to Switzerland (to Feuerthalen near Schaffhausen), following the move of the home church community of Evangeliška liuteriška Betliejaus draugystė (The Evangelical Lutheran Fellowship of Bethlehem) under Rev. Endrikis Kalvaitis (Heinrich Kallweit, 1937– 1915) to the same country. In around mid-20th century, the religious books that Prussian Lithuanians had in their possession were collected by Mina Bentkus, who in 1988 handed them over to the German evangelical Lutheran priest Fricas Skėrys. The main hallmark which identifies the copy procured by the NLL as the one that Mina Bentkus had and passed on to Fricas Skėrys is the 1830 provenience by Urtė Ostwald, as recorded in Domas Kaunas’s 1991 de visu inventory of the Postil kept at Skėrys’s home.

The article narrows down the specification of the Lithuanian entries published by Sigitas Narbutas and Zigmas Zinkevičius in 1989 that had been found in the Latin Missale ad usum romane ecclesie (1501) and introduces a number of newly discovered glosses that make an addition to the compilation. The study found the Missal to contain a total of 95 glosses (158 words and 176 forms) that are used to translate certain parts in the Bible. Five cases that Narbutas and Zinkevičius considered dubious have been revised and updated with new knowledge: three of them are Lithuanian words or phrases – kunſcʒiais, niemielaſsirdingai; o beda; Kaip waikvi numirvſiá iß ʒivato matijnaσ gimvſiam; two instances constitute text written in foreign languages – Lat. uiuere; Pol. dʒiedʒijnij. Two entries now come with an indication of a conjecture: the participial ending dijncivs; the prepositional compound or loanword precʒa. The five glosses that have been newly observed are these: ape piktadeias ~ apie piktadėjas, pakolai, ivadijmo ~ įvedimo (įvadymo, įvadijimo), zemie₉₉ ~ žemėjejus (žemėjijus), ßakiełaes ~ šakelės. The entry ivadijmo represents a special term referring to a holiday of Virgin Mary. The grapheme <ae> in the entry ßakiełaes, just like the <æ> that occurs in some of the other glosses, is not typical of the eastern variant of the written language; these characters – as probably does the definite locative adjective zemie₉₉ (and some forms of the glosses that do not carry the typical eastern characteristics) – testify that at least one of the authors of the entries had been closely connected with the Kėdainiai region and its written texts, and perhaps the tradition of Lithuania Minor. The links that the glosses have with the tradition of Polish biblical texts made it possible to narrow down their dating. Most of the glosses ante quem date back to around 1580s, predating Jakub Wujek’s texts.

The article introduces the letter from six Prussian Lithuanian priests dated 26 February 1660 regarding the manuscript of the new Lithuanian hymnal Naujos Giesmju Knygos (Königsberg, 1666) by Daniel Klein (1609–1666), a priest of Tilžė (Ger. Tilsit), sent to the local

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama viena svarbiausių ir sudėtingiausių problemų išeivijos istorijoje, kai Antrojo pasaulinio karo, Šaltojo karo pradžios ir okupuotos Lietuvos laikotarpiu (1941–1948) buvo suskilusi JAV lietuvių politinė veikla: Lietuvos laisvinimo darbą atskirai vykdė Amerikos lietuvių taryba (toliau – ALT) ir JAV lietuvių tautininkų organizacijos. 1947 m. pabaigoje šioms konkuruojančioms organizacijoms pavyko susitarti – gautas pritarimas JAV lietuvių tautininkų sugrįžimui į ALT kaip ketvirtai ideologinei srovei. Straipsnyje aptariama tautininkų pozicijų kaita, darant esmines nuolaidas, analizuojamas tautininkų organizacijų pasiruošimas įsilieti į ALT sudėtį, ALT vadovų požiūris ir Vyriausiojo Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komiteto (toliau – VLIK) vaidmuo šiuo klausimu. Deja, ALT priklausę įtakingi JAV lietuviai socialistai, kitaip nei katalikai ar santariečiai, nepritarė tautininkų sugrįžimui į bendrą organizaciją. Tai buvo pagrindinis stabdys. Be to, dėl tautininkų iniciatyva iškeltų antraeilių dalykų derinimo jų pačių priėmimas užsitęsė dar metus. Analizuojamas 1948 m. lapkričio 21–22 d. Niujorke įvykęs ALT suvažiavimas, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kokiomis sąlygomis JAV lietuvių tautininkai kaip ketvirta grupė (šalia katalikų, socialistų ir sandariečių) galutinai įsiliejo į bendrą organizaciją.