Vytautas Magnus University

The Church’s Relations with the State and Society in Lithuania

Research overview

The aim of this cluster is to investigate the relations between the Christian Church, the state, and the community. It is being inquired into the implementation of the Council of Trent’s decrees in Lithuania and its local peculiarities; the relation of the clergymen with nobility, inhabitants of the cities, and the rural society in the GDL; the legal aspects of the relation between clergymen and laics, the spiritual and historical development of parishes, Lithuanian sacral art, the ethno-Christian culture in Lithuania and neighbouring countries; the influence of religion on the development of mankind, society, and state from the Middle Ages to nowadays. It is also investigated the relations of the Catholic Church with Lithuanian political parties and ethnical minorities in the Lithuanian Republic during the period 1918–1940, catholic political activities, the teaching of the Church in political matters, and the stream of catholic Lithuanian emigrants.

Main researchers

PhD candidates