Ikikrikščioniškoji lietuvių ir prūsų religija: vertybinis matmuo

LTXX-XXI a. vis dar pasitaiko istorikų, teologų, tekstologų, kurie ikikrikščioniškąją lietuvių ir prūsų religiją vadina "nebuvėle"; jiems to laikotarpio lietuviai - dvasių ir rupūžių garbintojai, nepakilę iki politeizmo, ar teturintys vieną antropomorfinį dievą "gamtos reiškinių garbintojai", necivilizuoti barbarai, neturėję jokios religinės sistemos, blogio jėgų apsėstieji ir panašiai. Pastaraisiais dešimtmečiais paskelbtas baltų religijos ir mitologijos šaltinių sąvadas, publikuota monografijų, kalbotyros, folkloristikos, etnologijos, archeologijos ir kitų mokslų atlikti tyrimai pagrindžia ikikrikščioniškosios religijos sistemiškumą. Jos pagrindiniais segmentais, sykiu ir hierofanijomis laikytini: hierarchiškai ir funkciškai skirtingų dievų panteonas (politeizmas); pagrindinių ir lokalių šventviečių tinklas; kulto tarnai ir atliekami bendruomeniniai ritualai, kuriais užtikrinama kosminė tvarka ir bendruomenės narių gerovė. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Pagonybė; Panteonas; Dievai; Šventvietės; Žyniai; Ritualai; Paganism; Pantheon; Gods; Sacred places; Priests; Rituals.

ENThe first authors to have written about paganism, which was still thriving in the Baltic lands, were Christians, and thus looked upon it poorly, trying to marginalise it and reveal it as a barbarian "doing of the Devil", while pagans themselves were portrayed as backward, who "attributed the respect that should have been directed at God to idiotic animals, leafy trees, clear waters, green grasses and other unclean spirits...", and who had to be converted to the Christian faith at any cost. It is not difficult to explain this position held by the promoters of Christianity at the time. Under the cover of being the "only correct religion", neighbouring European countries tried to conquer the rich Baltic lands, annexing them both politically and economically. As the battle against last pagans in Europe was taking place under the veil of spreading Christianity, everyone had to see just how terrible those pagan barbarians were, disclose the inhuman gods they worshipped and made sacrifices to, what insane, terrifying customs they upheld, and what bloody rituals they conducted. This image of the pagans was meant to convince Christian Europe that all those "good-for-nothing" gods and customs had to be abolished. At the same time, this kind of depiction of pagans had to justify the enduring and ruthless war taking place in the Baltic lands, backed by the ideology of the Roman Church and commanded by the Livonian (Brothers of the Sword) and Teutonic (Crusader) orders.It is strange, but even in the 20th-21st centuries, there are still some historians, theologists and textologists who call the pre-Christian religion of Lithuanians and Prussians as "absent"; they view the Lithuanians of this period as "spirit and toad worshippers, not having risen above polytheism, or as having only one anthropomorphic god, worshippers of natural phenomena", uncivilised barbarians lacking any historical system, possessed by evil spirits and alike. The digest of Baltic religion and mythology sources released in the last decades, the published monographs, as well as linguistic, folklore, ethnology, archaeological and other disciplinary research prove the systemic nature of pre-Christian religion. A pantheon of hierarchically and functionally different gods (polytheism) are considered as its main segments, and thus hierophanies; there was a network of main and local sacred places; there were servants of the cult activity and community rituals which ensured cosmic order and the welfare of the community’s members. [From the publication]