Vilniaus vyskupai ir jų portretai

LTŠis leidinys skirtas pirmai skaitytojų pažinčiai su Vilniaus vyskupais ir jų portretais. Juo norima pristatyti tiek septintą šimtmetį skaičiuojančios vietinės Bažnyčios ganytojus, tiek vieną seniausių Lietuvoje paveikslų rinkinių - Vilniaus vyskupų portretų galeriją, kuri šiandien priklauso Vilniaus arkivyskupijai. Svarbiausia leidinio dalis - Vilniaus (arki)vyskupų ordinarų atvaizdai ir atitinkamus asmenis pristatančios biogramos. Norint supažindinti skaitytojus su Vilniaus (arki)vyskupijos ganytojais - nuo Andriejaus I iki Julijono Steponavičiaus imtinai (1388-1991), į leidinį įtrauktos ir biogramos tų (arki)vyskupų, kurių portretų šiame rinkinyje šiandien nėra išlikę. Tokiais atvejais trūkstamus atvaizdus atstoja šių hierarchų herbai, o arkivysk. Romualdą Jałbrzykowskj reprezentuoja jo nuotrauka. Vilniaus vyskupų portretų galerijoje esama ne vien visateisių ganytojų - ordinarų, bet ir kelių vyskupų pagalbininkų ar vyskupijos administratorių atvaizdų. Šios vyskupų kategorijos trumpai pristatytos knygelės priede; jame reprodukuojami ir penki į pagrindinę galeriją neįtraukti portretai su trumpomis žiniomis apie juose pavaizduotus asmenis. Įvado tekstas iliustruotas trimis antraisiais Vilniaus vyskupų ordinarų portretais ir į rinkinį patekusiais keturių su Vilniaus vyskupija nesusijusių ganytojų atvaizdais.Akistata su konkretaus vyskupo veidu ir jo gyvenimo istorija nesitenkinančiam skaitytojui gali būti pravartus knygos įvadas. Jame aptarta Vilniaus vyskupų istorijos etapų specifika, pateikta šios hierarchų grupės kolektyvinė charakteristika, Vilniaus vyskupų portretų rinkinys apibūdintas kaip visuma, punktyru nužymėta jo istorinė raida. Šiame leidinyje visų Vilniaus vyskupų iki XIX a. II pusės - lietuvių moderniojo nacionalizmo pradžios - pavardės rašomos lietuviškai, o nuo XIX a. II pusės - Įietuviškai, lenkiškai arba vokiškai, atsižvelgiant į asmenų geografinę kilmę ir modernią tautinę tapatybę. Jei pagrindine laikoma nelietuviška forma, vyskupo biogramoje ją minint pirmą kartą pateikiama lietuviška transkripcija. Visų vyskupų krikšto vardai pateikiami lietuviškomis formomis - tai leidžia išlaikyti tą patį vardą nešiojusių ganytojų numeracijos tąsą, o drauge yra skirtingų tautybių vyskupų, valdžiusių tą pačią vietinę Bažnyčią, bendrumo ženklas. [Pratarmė]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Katalikų Bažnyčia; Dvasininkija; Vyskupai; Portretinė tapyba; Kolekcijos; Catholic Church; Clergy; Bishops; Portraits; Collections.

ENEstablished in 1388, in the period of Conversion of Lithuania, the Vilnius (Arch)diocese is the longest surviving institution in Lithuania. In the 20th century it underwent two significant reorganizations. In 1925 the Vilnius Diocese became a metropolitan archdiocese in the territory of the Republic of Poland, and the suffragan dioceses of Łomża and Pinsk were added to it. In 1991 the borders of the Vilnius Archdiocese were made to overlap with the borders of the Republic of Lithuania, with the addition of the suffragan dioceses of Kaišiadorys and Panevėžys. Despite these restructurizations, the Vilnius Archdiocese continues to exist without interruption for more than six centuries - an extraordinary example of tenacity, bearing in mind the historical fragility of the Lithuanian state and its institutions. Thus, the Vilnius (Arch)diocese and its past is probably the only living embodiment of the history of Lithuania connecting the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of the Late Middle Ages with the modern Republic of the third millennium and building a bridge between different epochs, societies and state structures. The personalities representing and embodying the Vilnius (Arch)diocese are its pastors, (arch)bishops (presently the 43th bishop holds office). In the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (i4th-i8th century) this office was outstanding in many respects. At that time the Bishop of Vilnius was an official player on the political scene: before the Union of Lublin in 1569 he was a member of the Lithuanian Council of Lords, and afterwards - a member of the Senate of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. That is why, with several exceptions, citizens of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were elected as bishops of Vilnius. Provided with a large latifundium by the rulers of the state during Lithuania’s Conversion, the Bishop of Vilnius was also one of the biggest landowners in Lithuania.From the early 16th century the office of the richest and most influential Catholic hierarchs in Lithuania, an important political figure and a rich magnate was accessible only to noble representatives of secular clergy. Several important educational institutions and art monuments in Lithuania came into existence thanks to the education, artistic taste and economic potential of the bishops of Vilnius - Vilnius University, established on the initiative of Bishop Walerian Protasewicz (1579), Vilnius Cathedral with its rich treasury, where a heritage of long centuries of history and art was accumulated, and a complex of a suburban residence of bishops in Verkiai (a residential palace, the Stations of the Cross, and the churches of Jeruzalė and Trinapolis with convents). As a large part of the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was annexed to the Russian Empire (1795), the bishops of Vilnius first of all lost the status of participants in the political scene, and in the middle of the 19th century the state secularized their property; this created the conditions for the “democratization” of the institution of the Bishop of Vilnius, which made it accessible even to peasants in the 19th century. Bishops of the first half of the 19th century followed a loyal policy of cooperation with the secular government and actively worked in the field of education and social care. In the middle of the 19th century the situation changed due to the uprisings against the administration of the Russian Empire. From that time the bishops of Vilnius came to be regarded as serious supporters of the Catholic and Polish patriotic movement directed against the empire, their rights were strongly restricted, and each action was viewed with suspicion.As a result, four out of five bishops of Vilnius were deported in the period from 1858 to 1917; besides, during the entire time span of the tsarist occupation there were several very long intervals when the bishop’s throne was vacant (two thirds of the time from 1808 to 1918 there was no bishop residing in Vilnius and administrating the diocese by right of bishop ordinary). When the independent republics of Poland and Lithuania were restored in 1918, clashes between Polish and Lithuanian nationalisms became the main obstacle for the (arch)bishops of Vilnius to perform their duties adequately. However, from 1939 these clashes were overshadowed by the violence of the alternating Soviet and Nazi occupations that destroyed the Polish and Lithuanian states, and from 1944 - by the brutal totalitarian Soviet regime. All pastors who administrated the Vilnius Archdiocese from 1942 to 1989 were either deported or imprisoned, and it was not until 1989 - the eve of reestablishment of Lithuania’s independence, when Archbishop Julijonas Steponavičius returned to his capital and cathedral - that the life of the bishops of Vilnius resumed its normal course. [...]. [From the publication]