Anna Irbe un misijas darbs Karunagarapuri

Abstract

This year, we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the birth of Latvian missionary Anna Irbe (1890–1973). She was an extraordinary woman and one of the first missionaries that went from Latvia into the mission field in Southern India. This paper examines her approach to missionary work, which was very innovative at the time and quite successful. It also discusses Irbe’s motives and philosophy of missionary service. Irbe very strongly stood against the theology of mission of the time, which held that Western missionaries were the ones bringing the culture to the poor heathens. She very acutely recognized that many of the Westerners, including some missionaries, held a supremacy attitude. She was willing to learn – she acquired the Tamil language, sought to understand the culture, differences in the caste system, and the attitudes of fellow missionaries. From her observations, she made a decision to do everything with an Indian style so that her work would not be considered foreign by local beneficiaries of the mission, which allowed her to be very successful in her ministry. Soon after the start of her ministry, Irbe developed a “Latvian village in India” called Karunagarapuri, which is located in the Coimbatore area, Tamil Nadu state. The name of the ­village means “The village of the most merciful God.” Irbe also recognized that the Gospel was always connected with culture, and therefore she was very open to discover and learn new things about Indian culture by visiting various temples and museums and meeting people of different castes. She was very open to ecumenism and was ready to use any opportunity to see where signs of God’s mercy could be noticed. During her ministry, she tried to fully identify with the local people, which was not the most common attitude among missionaries of that time. Overall, Irbe’s mission service and sacrifice brought plentiful fruit and it could be said that in her attitude and love towards the people of India, she was an extraordinary woman ahead of her time