Orthodox population in Vilnius - at home

ENOrthodox residents of Vilnius have probably been appearing since the Baptism of Rus’ (988), because then the process of spreading Christianity among the north of Kievan Rus began. Much greater contact with Orthodoxy started to develop in the twelfth century, when Lithuanians got involved in war expeditions to the Ruthenian lands. In the mid-thirteenth century' they joined some of the Russian lands with its Orthodox community'. To some extent, the Lithuanians, under the influence of Ruthenia, were partly christened by the Eastern Church.The Ruthenians became citizens of the Lithuanian state, and in some regions they constituted the vast majority. As a result, the Old Belarussian language became the official language in Lithuania, and the Ruthenian culture was readily received by the Lithuanian princes. In Vilnius in the sixteenth century, there were 32 temples of various denominations, among which, the biggest amount belonged to the Orthodox Church: 15 Orthodox churches, 13 Catholic churches, 1 Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1 Evangelical Reformed Church, 1 sy nagogue, and 1 Islamist mosque. Keywords: Orthodox church, Vilnius, multiculturalism, multi-denominationalism, multinationals.