Popular Movement in the Baltic States for Conversion to the “Tsar Faith”

Abstract

The article aims to analyze pursuit and struggle for conversion to the “Tsar Faith” in the territory of the Baltic states. In the Russian Empire the Baltic area constituted a separate Governorate General that included three provinces – Estland, Courland and Livland. According to the German name of the Baltic sea, - Ostsee, - that area even in Russian was termed Ostsee Governorate (the present-day territories of Estonia and Latvia). The Orthodox religion was the first Christian faith that appeared in the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia already in the 11th century and was brought from neighboring Russian areas. Still this Russian faith was subjected to oppression in various historical periods. For example, in the period of 1918 – 1926 twenty eight temples were taken away from the Orthodox Church in Latvia, but still the people in those territories were driven to Russian culture and Russian church. Today the Baltic area is defined as boundary area in the public conscience due to the collisions of various religions, languages and cultures. This fact is related to the people’s self-identification, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that the Baltic native inhabitants were only loyal subjects of Russian emperors and loyal citizens in the USSR. And the issues of confession play the crucial role in the identification and fate of the peoples being the major issues in the border and developing areas.