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131-630: Wilhelm Storost , artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas (22 March 1868 – 20 February 1953), mostly known as Vydūnas , was a Prussian-Lithuanian teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian writer, a leader of the Prussian Lithuanian national movement in Lithuania Minor , and one of leaders of the theosophical movement in East Prussia . The Storost family was a long-established family in East Prussia and Wilhelm

262-686: A Lithuanian press ban in the parts of Lithuania that had become part of the Russian Empire . The Prussian Lithuanians could publish their own newspapers and books, even helping Lithuanians in Russia to bypass their press ban by publishing their newspapers, such as Auszra and Varpas . The northern part of East Prussia beyond the Neman River was detached from East Prussia at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 , dividing

393-594: A " prisoner in the Vatican ". This stand-off, which was spoken of as the Roman Question , was resolved by the 1929 Lateran Treaties , whereby the Holy See acknowledged Italian sovereignty over the former Papal States in return for payment and Italy's recognition of papal sovereignty over Vatican City as a new sovereign and independent state. Catholic missionaries generally supported, and sought to facilitate,

524-708: A membership of 30,000 individuals. Two dozen pro-Lithuanian representatives of the Prussian Lithuanian National Council signed the Act of Tilsit , asking to unite the Klaipėda Region with Lithuania; the idea was not supported by the majority of Prussian Lithuanians. World War I was followed by severe economical hardships and inflation in Germany. In 1923, the Republic of Lithuania occupied

655-399: A neologism to distinguish themselves from Lithuanians. Inhabitants of the Klaipėda Region continuously voted for German or German-oriented parties. Nazi Germany invaded Klaipėda after the 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania . The inhabitants were allowed to choose Lithuanian citizenship. Only 500 asked for citizenship, and only 20 were awarded it. The reunification of Klaipėda with Germany

786-547: A prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization . The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches , including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches , which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world . The pope , who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome , known as the Holy See , is the central governing authority of

917-559: A separate ethnic group. The common state united some aspects of, traditions and folk culture. who viewed its rulers as their own rulers. Hanging portraits of the rulers of the House of Hohenzollern in the home was widespread. The Pietist congregational movement attracted large numbers of Prussian Lithuanians: evangelical fellowships ( German : Stundenhalter , Lithuanian : Surinkimininkai ) were very active in Prussia, as they were in

1048-795: A separate ethnic sub-group. For Prussian Lithuanians loyalty to the German state, strong religious beliefs, and the mother tongue were the three main criteria of self-identification. Due to differences in religion and loyalties to a different state, the Prussian Lithuanians did not consider Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy to be part of their community. They used the exonym Samogitians ( Lithuanian : Źemaicziai , German : Szameiten ) to denote Lithuanians of Lithuania Major. As with other closely related groups with differing religions (e.g. Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia), antagonism

1179-540: Is generally regarded as an institution that has its origin in the Medieval Christian setting. The massive Islamic invasions of the mid-7th century began a long struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. The Byzantine Empire soon lost the lands of the eastern patriarchates of Jerusalem , Alexandria and Antioch and was reduced to that of Constantinople,

1310-441: Is quite similar to standard Lithuanian except for the number of German loanwords . The Lithuanian language which was spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was influenced by Polish and Ruthenian , while in Prussia it was influenced more heavily by the German language. Thus, while Lithuanians used Slavic loanwords and translations, Prussian Lithuanians used German loanwords and translations, and some Slavic loanwords. Literature in

1441-630: Is the bishop of Rome , known as the pope ( Latin : papa , lit.   'father'), whose jurisdiction is called the Holy See ( Sancta Sedes in Latin). In parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both. Additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services. The Catholic Church has been described as

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1572-491: Is the universal [katholike] Church." In the Catechetical Lectures ( c.  350 ) of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem , the name "Catholic Church" was used to distinguish it from other groups that also called themselves "the church". The "Catholic" notion was further stressed in the edict De fide Catolica issued 380 by Theodosius I , the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of

1703-651: The Pax Romana made travelling safe. The empire encouraged the spread of a common culture with Greek roots, which allowed ideas to be more easily expressed and understood. Unlike most religions in the Roman Empire, however, Christianity required its adherents to renounce all other gods, a practice adopted from Judaism (see Idolatry ). The Christians' refusal to join pagan celebrations meant they were unable to participate in much of public life, which caused non-Christians—including government authorities—to fear that

1834-809: The Byzantine–Seljuk Wars , which caused Urban to launch the First Crusade aimed at aiding the Byzantine Empire and returning the Holy Land to Christian control. In the 11th century , strained relations between the primarily Greek church and the Latin Church separated them in the East–West Schism, partially due to conflicts over papal authority. The Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved

1965-775: The Code of Canon Law (1983). "Catholic Church" is also used in the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the First Vatican Council (1869–1870), the Council of Trent (1545–1563), and numerous other official documents. The New Testament , in particular the Gospels , records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the Twelve Apostles and his Great Commission of

2096-666: The Council of Nicaea declared heretical . The resulting religious discord between Germanic rulers and Catholic subjects was avoided when, in 497, Clovis I , the Frankish ruler, converted to orthodox Catholicism, allying himself with the papacy and the monasteries. The Visigoths in Spain followed his lead in 589, and the Lombards in Italy in the course of the 7th century. Western Christianity , particularly through its monasteries ,

2227-733: The Edict of Thessalonica made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire , a position that within the diminishing territory of the Byzantine Empire would persist until the empire itself ended in the fall of Constantinople in 1453, while elsewhere the church was independent of the empire, as became particularly clear with the East–West Schism . During the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils , five primary sees emerged, an arrangement formalized in

2358-766: The English Reformation and the eventual development of Anglicanism . The Reformation contributed to clashes between the Protestant Schmalkaldic League and the Catholic Emperor Charles V and his allies. The first nine-year war ended in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg but continued tensions produced a far graver conflict—the Thirty Years' War —which broke out in 1618. In France, a series of conflicts termed

2489-607: The French Wars of Religion was fought from 1562 to 1598 between the Huguenots (French Calvinists ) and the forces of the French Catholic League , which were backed and funded by a series of popes. This ended under Pope Clement VIII , who hesitantly accepted King Henry IV's 1598 Edict of Nantes granting civil and religious toleration to French Protestants. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) became

2620-697: The Great Seimas of Vilnius , a conference held in 1905. The first Prussian Lithuanian elected to the Reichstag , Jonas Smalakys , was a fierce agitator for the integrity of the German Empire . In 1879, Georg Sauerwein published the poem Lietuwininkais esame mes gime in the newspaper Lietuwißka Ceitunga . The 7th stanza was dedicated to Wilhelm I, German Emperor . There was no national Germanization policy until 1873; Prussian Lithuanians voluntarily adopted German language and culture. After

2751-608: The Immaculate Conception as a dogma in the Catholic Church . In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements, striking a blow to the rival position of conciliarism . Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church , The Italian unification of

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2882-712: The Italian Peninsula , imprisoning Pope Pius VI , who died in captivity. Napoleon later re-established the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat of 1801 . The end of the Napoleonic Wars brought Catholic revival and the return of the Papal States . In 1854, Pope Pius IX , with the support of the overwhelming majority of Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed

3013-456: The Klaipėda Region (Memelland) during the interwar years – Memellanders (Lithuanian: Klaipėdiškiai , German: Memelländer ). Modern Lithuanian historiography uses the term Lietuvininkai or sometimes a neologism unknown to Lietuwininkai themselves, Mažlietuviai . The usage of Lietuvininkai is problematic as it is a synonym of the word Lietuviai ("Lithuanians"), and not the name of

3144-589: The Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology . The Eastern Catholic Churches, who have a combined membership of approximately 18 million, represent a body of Eastern Christians who returned or remained in communion with the pope during or following these schisms for a variety of historical circumstances. In

3275-552: The Polish People's Republic , became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. His 26 1/2-year pontificate was one of the longest in history, and was credited with hastening the fall of communism in Europe. John Paul II sought to evangelize an increasingly secular world . He travelled more than any other pope, visiting 129 countries, and used television and radio as means of spreading the church's teachings. He also emphasized

3406-875: The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, when those who ceased to be in communion became known as Protestants. While the Roman Church has been used to describe the pope's Diocese of Rome since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages (6th–10th century), Roman Catholic Church has been applied to the whole church in the English language since the Protestant Reformation in

3537-588: The Protestant Reformation , most Lietuvininkai became Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran) . There were 121,345 speakers of Lithuanian in the Prussian census of 1890. Almost all Prussian Lithuanians were murdered or expelled after World War II , when East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union . The northern part became the Kaliningrad Oblast , while the southern part

3668-674: The Roman Empire , when establishing the state church of the Roman Empire . Since the East–West Schism of 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church has taken the adjective Orthodox as its distinctive epithet; its official name continues to be the Orthodox Catholic Church. The Latin Church was described as Catholic , with that description also denominating those in communion with the Holy See after

3799-669: The Tridentine Mass as found in the Roman Missal of 1962, which he titled the "Extraordinary Form". Citing the frailties of advanced age, Benedict resigned in 2013, becoming the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years. Pope Francis, the current pope of the Catholic Church, became in 2013 the first pope from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere , and the first Pope from outside Europe since

3930-496: The Unification of Germany in 1871, when part of Lithuania became integrated with the new nation of Germany, learning the German language was made compulsory in state schools. Studying the German language provided the possibility for Prussian Lithuanians to become acquainted with Western European culture and values. However, Germanization also provoked a cultural movement among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1879 and 1896, petitions for

4061-476: The University of Oxford , University of Paris , and University of Bologna . Higher education before then had been the domain of Christian cathedral schools or monastic schools, led by monks and nuns . Evidence of such schools dates back to the 6th century CE. These new universities expanded the curriculum to include academic programs for clerics, lawyers, civil servants, and physicians. The university

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4192-577: The body and blood of Christ . The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Perpetual Virgin , Mother of God , and Queen of Heaven ; she is honoured in dogmas and devotions . Catholic social teaching emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy . The Catholic Church operates tens of thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges , hospitals , and orphanages around

4323-562: The dignity of work and natural rights of labourers to have fair wages and safe conditions in Laborem exercens . He emphasized several church teachings, including moral exhortations against abortion, euthanasia , and against widespread use of the death penalty, in Evangelium Vitae . Pope Benedict XVI , elected in 2005, was known for upholding traditional Christian values against secularization , and for increasing use of

4454-544: The monastic state of the Teutonic Knights over the centuries were influenced by German culture and the German language . They adopted the cultural values and social conventions of the German state, but preserved their Lithuanian language , traditions and folk culture. For centuries Prussian Lithuanians lived in a political and religious environment that was different from that of other Lithuanians and evolved into

4585-412: The successors of Christ's apostles , and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter , upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium of the church. The Roman Rite and others of

4716-525: The 13th-century Prussian Crusade and wars between the pagan Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Order . This uninhabited area was named the wilderness in chronicles. Local tribes were resettled, either voluntarily or by force, in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. After the 1422 Treaty of Melno , a stable border between the two states

4847-422: The 14th century. To escape instability in Rome, Clement V in 1309 became the first of seven popes to reside in the fortified city of Avignon in southern France during a period known as the Avignon Papacy . The Avignon Papacy ended in 1376 when the pope returned to Rome, but was followed in 1378 by the 38-year-long Western schism , with claimants to the papacy in Rome, Avignon and (after 1409) Pisa. The matter

4978-412: The 16th century, the Reformation led to the formation of separate, Protestant groups. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its teachings on sexuality , its doctrine against ordaining women , and its handling of sexual abuse cases involving clergy. Catholic (from Greek : καθολικός , romanized :  katholikos , lit.   'universal')

5109-414: The 1860s incorporated the Papal States, including Rome itself from 1870, into the Kingdom of Italy , thus ending the papacy's temporal power . In response, Pope Pius IX excommunicated King Victor Emmanuel II , refused payment for the land, and rejected the Italian Law of Guarantees , which granted him special privileges. To avoid placing himself in visible subjection to the Italian authorities, he remained

5240-522: The 1960s, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council , which ushered in radical change to church ritual and practice, and in the later 20th century, the long reign of Pope John Paul II contributed to the fall of communism in Europe, and a new public and international role for the papacy. From the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its doctrines on sexuality , its inability to ordain women , and its handling of sexual abuse cases . Pope Pius X (1903–1914) renewed

5371-399: The 20th century, the majority have resided in the Global South , partially due to secularization in Europe and North America. The Catholic Church shared communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church until the East–West Schism in 1054, disputing particularly the authority of the pope . Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did

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5502-408: The 21st century. Pope Gregory VII further initiated the Gregorian Reforms regarding the independence of the clergy from secular authority. This led to the Investiture Controversy between the church and the Holy Roman Emperors , over which had the authority to appoint bishops and popes. In 1095, Byzantine emperor Alexius I appealed to Pope Urban II for help against renewed Muslim invasions in

5633-416: The Americas, Asia and Oceania by explorers, conquistadors, and missionaries, as well as by the transformation of societies through the socio-political mechanisms of colonial rule. Pope Alexander VI had awarded colonial rights over most of the newly discovered lands to Spain and Portugal and the ensuing patronato system allowed state authorities, not the Vatican, to control all clerical appointments in

5764-402: The Byzantine Empire lost to the Lombards the city of Ravenna from which it governed the small fragments of Italy, including Rome, that acknowledged its sovereignty. The fall of Ravenna meant that confirmation by a no longer existent exarch was not asked for during the election in 752 of Pope Stephen II and that the papacy was forced to look elsewhere for a civil power to protect it. In 754, at

5895-405: The Catholic and Orthodox churches. Several eastern churches reunited, forming the majority of the Eastern Catholic Churches . The Age of Discovery beginning in the 15th century saw the expansion of Western Europe's political and cultural influence worldwide. Because of the prominent role the strongly Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal played in Western colonialism, Catholicism was spread to

6026-422: The Christians were angering the gods and thereby threatening the peace and prosperity of the Empire. The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalized in the 4th century. In 313, Emperor Constantine I 's Edict of Milan legalized Christianity, and in 330 Constantine moved the imperial capital to Constantinople , modern Istanbul, Turkey . In 380

6157-457: The Edict of Nantes by King Louis XIV of France , which ended a century-long policy of religious toleration of Protestant Huguenots. As the papacy resisted pushes for Gallicanism , the French Revolution of 1789 shifted power to the state, caused the destruction of churches, the establishment of a Cult of Reason , and the martyrdom of nuns during the Reign of Terror . In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte 's General Louis-Alexandre Berthier invaded

6288-401: The European imperial powers' conquest of Africa during the late nineteenth century. According to the historian of religion Adrian Hastings , Catholic missionaries were generally unwilling to defend African rights or encourage Africans to see themselves as equals to Europeans, in contrast to Protestant missionaries, who were more willing to oppose colonial injustices. During the 20th century,

6419-422: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania it was primarily based on the Polish style. Prussian Lithuanians used Gothic script . Lithuanians did not read Prussian Lithuanian publications and vice versa; the cultural communication was very limited. Attempts to create a unified newspaper and common orthography for all Lithuanian speakers at the beginning of the 20th century were unsuccessful. After 1905, modern Lithuanian orthography

6550-447: The Holy See, or the Apostolic See (meaning the see of the apostle Peter). Directly serving the pope is the Roman Curia, the central governing body that administers the day-to-day business of the Catholic Church. The pope is also sovereign of Vatican City, a small city-state entirely enclaved within the city of Rome, which is an entity distinct from the Holy See. It is as head of the Holy See, not as head of Vatican City State, that

6681-505: The Klaipėda Region during the Klaipėda Revolt . A secret report of 1923 by Jonas Polovinskas-Budrys , a Lithuanian professional counterintelligence officer, shows around 60 percent of the local inhabitants supported the revolt, 30 percent were neutral and 10 percent were against, namely the supporters of a freistadt status or reunification with Germany. Soon Lithuanian policies alienated the Prussian Lithuanians. People from Greater Lithuania were sent to assume public administration posts in

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6812-432: The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies , and institutes such as mendicant orders , enclosed monastic orders and third orders reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church. Of its seven sacraments , the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass . The church teaches that through consecration by a priest , the sacrificial bread and wine become

6943-726: The Lithuanian language appeared earlier in the Duchy of Prussia than in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The first book in Lithuanian was published in Königsberg in 1547 by Martynas Mažvydas , an émigré from Grand Duchy of Lithuania , while the first Lithuanian book in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was printed in 1596 by Mikalojus Daukša . Many other authors who wrote in Lithuanian were not Prussian Lithuanians, but local Prussian Germans: Michael Märlin, Jakob Quandt, Wilhelm Martinius, Gottfried Ostermeyer, Sigfried Ostermeyer, Daniel Klein , Andrew Krause, Philipp Ruhig , Matttheus Praetorius, Christian Mielcke, Adam Schimmelpfennig, for example. The first major Lithuanian poet , Kristijonas Donelaitis ,

7074-563: The Nazi era, was now completely wiped out by the Soviets, who made no distinction between Germans and Lithuanians. The situation was somewhat better in the former Memel Territory but even there churches and cemeteries were destroyed. Prussian Lithuanian surnames often consist of a patronymic with suffixes " -eit " and " -at ". It has the same role as the English suffix " -son " in the surnames Abrahamson and Johnson . Examples include: Abromeit, Grigoleit, Jakeit, Wowereit , Kukulat, Szameitat . Another type of Prussian Lithuanian surname use

7205-402: The Pope's insistence on public neutrality and diplomatic language has become a source of much criticism and debate. Nevertheless, in every country under German occupation, priests played a major part in rescuing Jews. Israeli historian Pinchas Lapide estimated that Catholic rescue of Jews amounted to somewhere between 700,000 and 860,000 people. The Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church

7336-410: The Reformation, which gave birth to the great majority of Protestant denominations and also crypto-Protestantism within the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Henry VIII petitioned Pope Clement VII for a declaration of nullity concerning his marriage to Catherine of Aragon . When this was denied, he had the Acts of Supremacy passed to make himself Supreme Head of the Church of England , spurring

7467-499: The Second World War, also because they had powerful supporters from the Vatican. The judgment of Pius XII is made more difficult by the sources, because the church archives for his tenure as nuncio, cardinal secretary of state and pope are in part closed or not yet processed. The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent, four centuries before. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, this ecumenical council modernized

7598-484: The War, and established aid networks to help victims, but he secretly assisted the anti-Hitler resistance and shared intelligence with the Allies. His first encyclical Summi Pontificatus (1939) expressed dismay at the 1939 Invasion of Poland and reiterated Catholic teaching against racism. He expressed concern against race killings on Vatican Radio , and intervened diplomatically to attempt to block Nazi deportations of Jews in various countries from 1942 to 1944. But

7729-458: The apostles, instructing them to continue his work. The book Acts of Apostles , tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. The Catholic Church teaches that its public ministry began on Pentecost , occurring fifty days following the date Christ is believed to have resurrected . At Pentecost, the apostles are believed to have received the Holy Spirit, preparing them for their mission in leading

7860-410: The areas under his control definitively established a form of caesaropapism , in which "he had the right and duty of regulating by his laws the minutest details of worship and discipline, and also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church", re-established imperial power over Rome and other parts of the West, initiating the period termed the Byzantine Papacy (537–752), during which

7991-451: The bishops of Rome, or popes, required approval from the emperor in Constantinople or from his representative in Ravenna for consecration, and most were selected by the emperor from his Greek-speaking subjects, resulting in a "melting pot" of Western and Eastern Christian traditions in art as well as liturgy. Most of the Germanic tribes who in the following centuries invaded the Roman Empire had adopted Christianity in its Arian form, which

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8122-496: The church's approach to ecumenism , and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document Nostra aetate . The council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms: proponents of the " Spirit of Vatican II " such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng said that Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies. Traditionalist Catholics , such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre , however, strongly criticized

8253-407: The church's global reach continued to grow, despite the rise of anti-Catholic authoritarian regimes and the collapse of European Empires, accompanied by a general decline in religious observance in the West. Under Popes Benedict XV , and Pius XII , the Holy See sought to maintain public neutrality through the World Wars, acting as peace broker and delivering aid to the victims of the conflicts. In

8384-426: The church. The Catholic Church teaches that the college of bishops , led by the bishop of Rome are the successors to the Apostles. In the account of the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew , Christ designates Peter as the "rock" upon which Christ's church will be built. The Catholic Church considers the bishop of Rome, the pope, to be the successor to Saint Peter . Some scholars state Peter

8515-422: The church. There are three levels of clergy: the episcopate, composed of bishops who hold jurisdiction over a geographic area called a diocese or eparchy ; the presbyterate, composed of priests ordained by bishops and who work in local dioceses or religious orders; and the diaconate, composed of deacons who assist bishops and priests in a variety of ministerial roles. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church

8646-472: The church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia , has its principal offices in Vatican City , which is a small, independent city-state and enclave within the city of Rome , of which the pope is head of state . The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed . The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission , that its bishops are

8777-512: The civilians columns, or the extreme cold. However, many managed to flee by land or sea into those parts of Germany captured by the British and Americans. Among the latter were the pastors A. Keleris, J. Pauperas, M. Preikšaitis, O. Stanaitis, A. Trakis, and J. Urdse, who gathered those from the Lithuanian parishes and reorganised the Lithuanian church in the western zones of Allied-occupied Germany . The Red Army made no distinction between Germans of Prussian Lithuanian or German ethnicity. During

8908-584: The conflict. Catholic clergy played a leading role in the government of the fascist Slovak State , which collaborated with the Nazis, copied their anti-Semitic policies, and helped them carry out the Holocaust in Slovakia. Jozef Tiso , the President of the Slovak State and a Catholic priest, supported his government's deportation of Slovakian Jews to extermination camps. The Vatican protested against these Jewish deportations in Slovakia and in other Nazi puppet regimes including Vichy France , Croatia, Bulgaria , Italy and Hungary. Around 1943, Adolf Hitler planned

9039-407: The council, arguing that its liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments", among other issues. The teaching on the morality of contraception also came under scrutiny; after a series of disagreements, Humanae vitae upheld the church's prohibition of all forms of contraception. In 1978, Pope John Paul II , formerly Archbishop of Kraków in

9170-436: The deceased were Prussian Lithuanians. To compensate for the loss, King Frederick II of Prussia invited settlers from Salzburg , the Palatinate , and Nassau to repopulate the area. Many of these Lutherans were members of the Pietism movement, which then spread among Prussian Lithuanians. In 1811 a teacher's seminary for Prussian Lithuanians was established in Karalene near Insterburg , which remained open until 1924. From

9301-435: The development of the role of the papacy in the subsequent church". These roles, Brown says, "contributed enormously to seeing the bishop of Rome, the bishop of the city where Peter died and where Paul witnessed the truth of Christ, as the successor of Peter in care for the church universal". Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's network of roads and waterways facilitated travel, and

9432-554: The driving force behind the Counter-Reformation in response to the Protestant movement. Doctrinally, it reaffirmed central Catholic teachings such as transubstantiation and the requirement for love and hope as well as faith to attain salvation. In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world, in part through missionaries and imperialism , although its hold on European populations declined due to

9563-735: The eighth-century Gregory III . Francis has made efforts to further close Catholicism's estrangement with the Eastern churches. His installation was attended by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the first time since the Great Schism of 1054 that the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has attended a papal installation, while he also met Patriarch Kirill of Moscow , head of

9694-800: The empire's capital. As a result of Islamic domination of the Mediterranean , the Frankish state, centred away from that sea, was able to evolve as the dominant power that shaped the Western Europe of the Middle Ages. The battles of Toulouse and Poitiers halted the Islamic advance in the West and the failed siege of Constantinople halted it in the East. Two or three decades later, in 751,

9825-513: The evacuation of East Prussia, Prussian Lithuanians, like other East Prussians, fled in an attempt to escape. Mass murder, rape, and looting were the common fate of those who did not succeed. After the end of war, some Prussian Lithuanians tried to return to their East Prussian homes, but they were discriminated against and denied food rations by the Soviets. All who remained at the war's end were expelled from Soviet's Kaliningrad Oblast and from

9956-512: The final breach. In this age great gothic cathedrals in France were an expression of popular pride in the Christian faith. In the early 13th century mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán . The studia conventualia and studia generalia of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of church-sponsored cathedral schools and palace schools, such as that of Charlemagne at Aachen , into

10087-565: The form of an unmarried woman was Kurßaitikê / Kurßaitukê. Since the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Prussian Lithuanians have typically been bilingual. The German language used by Prussian Lithuanians belongs to the Low Prussian dialect of Low German , Mundart des Ostgebietes subdialect. The Lithuanian language of Prussian Lithuanians could be divided into two main dialects: Samogitian dialect and Aukštaitian dialect . The standard Prussian Lithuanian language

10218-644: The former Klaipėda Region, which was transferred to the Lithuanian SSR in 1947. By 1945, there were only about 20,000 inhabitants left in the Klaipėda Region, compared to the 152,800 in 1939. The government of the Lithuanian SSR followed Soviet policy and viewed the Prussian Lithuanians as Germans. About 8,000 persons were repatriated from DP camps during 1945–50. However, their homes and farms were not returned as either Russians or Lithuanians had already occupied their property. Prussians who remained in

10349-540: The former Memel (Klaipėda) territory were fired from their jobs and otherwise discriminated against. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some Prussian Lithuanians and their descendants did not regain lost property in the Klaipėda region. In 1951 about 3,500 people from the former Memel Territory were expelled by the authority of the Lithuanian SSR to East Germany . After Konrad Adenauer 's visit to Moscow in 1958,

10480-586: The former citizens of Germany were allowed to emigrate, and the majority of Prussian Lithuanians in the Lithuanian SSR emigrated to West Germany . Only about 2,000 local Lithuanians chose to remain in the Klaipėda Region and virtually none in the Kaliningrad Oblast. The majority of Prussian Lithuanians today live in the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with 65,000 refugees from Lithuania proper, mostly Roman Catholic, who made their way to

10611-529: The growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment. From the 17th century onward, the Enlightenment questioned the power and influence of the Catholic Church over Western society. In the 18th century, writers such as Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes wrote biting critiques of both religion and the Catholic Church. One target of their criticism was the 1685 revocation of

10742-531: The independence of papal office by abolishing the veto of Catholic powers in papal elections, and his successors Benedict XV (1914–1922) and Pius XI (1922–1939) concluded the modern independence of the Vatican State within Italy. Benedict XV was elected at the outbreak of the First World War . He attempted to mediate between the powers and established a Vatican relief office, to assist victims of

10873-547: The kidnapping of the Pope and his internment in Germany. He gave SS General Wolff a corresponding order to prepare for the action. While Pope Pius XII has been credited with helping to save hundreds of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust , the church has also been accused of having encouraged centuries of antisemitism by its teachings and not doing enough to stop Nazi atrocities. Many Nazi criminals escaped overseas after

11004-591: The largest Eastern Orthodox church, in 2016; this was reported as the first such high-level meeting between the two churches since the Great Schism of 1054. In 2017 during a visit in Egypt , Pope Francis reestablished mutual recognition of baptism with the Coptic Orthodox Church . The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity , led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within

11135-550: The late 16th century. Further, some will refer to the Latin Church as Roman Catholic in distinction from the Eastern Catholic churches. "Roman Catholic" has occasionally appeared also in documents produced both by the Holy See, and notably used by certain national episcopal conferences and local dioceses. The name Catholic Church for the whole church is used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1990) and

11266-444: The mid-18th century, a majority of Prussian Lithuanians were literate; in comparison, the process was much slower in the Grand Duchy. The nationalistic Lithuanian national revival in the late 19th century was not popular with Prussian Lithuanians. To them integration with Lithuania was not understandable and not acceptable. The idea of Lithuanian–Latvian unity was more popular than idea of Lithuanian-Prussian Lithuanian unity during

11397-577: The mid-6th century by Emperor Justinian I as the pentarchy of Rome, Constantinople , Antioch , Jerusalem and Alexandria . In 451 the Council of Chalcedon , in a canon of disputed validity, elevated the see of Constantinople to a position "second in eminence and power to the bishop of Rome". From c.  350  – c.  500 , the bishops, or popes, of Rome, steadily increased in authority through their consistent intervening in support of orthodox leaders in theological disputes, which encouraged appeals to them. Emperor Justinian , who in

11528-478: The music school. 1932 he published the book Sieben Hundert Jahren Deutsch-Litauischer Beziehung (Seven Hundred Years of German-Lithuanian relations) focusing on German trade, military and religious colonization and genocide of Old Prussians . The book did not please the Nazis and in 1933 was outlawed. 1938 he was shortly incarcerated, but because of protests released after two months. Together with nearly all of

11659-741: The new colonies. In 1521 the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan made the first Catholic converts in the Philippines . Elsewhere, Portuguese missionaries under the Spanish Jesuit Francis Xavier evangelized in India, China, and Japan. The French colonization of the Americas beginning in the 16th century established a Catholic francophone population and forbade non-Catholics to settle in Quebec . In 1415, Jan Hus

11790-458: The numerous visual artists sponsored by the church. Historian Paul Legutko of Stanford University said the Catholic Church is "at the center of the development of the values, ideas, science, laws, and institutions which constitute what we call Western civilization ". In Western Christendom , the first universities in Europe were established by monks. Beginning in the 11th century, several older cathedral schools became universities, such as

11921-406: The oldest multinational organization in the world. The hierarchy of the Catholic Church is headed by the pope, currently Pope Francis , who was elected on 13 March 2013 by a papal conclave . The office of the pope is known as the papacy . The Catholic Church holds that Christ instituted the papacy upon giving the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter . His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called

12052-565: The people of East Prussia he was expelled during the Soviet take-over and lived in a refugee camp for some time. He died in Detmold , West Germany . His grand nephew Jürgen Storost recently explained that Wilhelm Storost's answered his friend Viktor Falkenhahn , that "his use of the pen name Vydūnas was his chosen anthroposophic mission; that he did not want to be a "pavydūnas", but a "vydūnas" (one who wishes everyone everything good). Vydūnas

12183-683: The pope receives ambassadors of states and sends them his own diplomatic representatives. The Holy See also confers orders, decorations and medals , such as the orders of chivalry originating from the Middle Ages . While the famous Saint Peter's Basilica is located in Vatican City, above the traditional site of Saint Peter's tomb , the papal cathedral for the Diocese of Rome is the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran , located within

12314-463: The practices of the Catholic Church, allowing the Mass to be said in the vernacular (local language) and encouraging "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations". It intended to engage the church more closely with the present world ( aggiornamento ), which was described by its advocates as an "opening of the windows". In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to

12445-683: The preservation and transmission of ancient culture. During this period, monastic Ireland became a centre of learning and early Irish missionaries such as Columbanus and Columba spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe. The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilization from Late Antiquity to the dawn of the modern age. It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music. Renaissance figures such as Raphael , Michelangelo , Leonardo da Vinci , Botticelli , Fra Angelico , Tintoretto , Titian , Bernini and Caravaggio are examples of

12576-462: The prominent universities of Europe. Scholastic theologians and philosophers such as the Dominican priest Thomas Aquinas studied and taught at these studia. Aquinas' Summa Theologica was an intellectual milestone in its synthesis of the legacy of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation. A growing sense of church-state conflicts marked

12707-508: The region. According to the Lithuanian view, the Prussian Lithuanians were Germanized Lithuanians who should be re-Lithuanized. Prussian Lithuanians saw this Lithuanization policy as a threat to their own culture and began to support German political parties, and even started identifying themselves as Germans. During the 1925 census, 37,626 people declared themselves to be Lithuanians and 34,337 people identified themselves as Memellanders,

12838-565: The rest of the German Empire . About 40 percent of Lithuanians belonged to such fellowships, whose members lived by ascetic principles. Until the mid-19th century Prussian Lithuanians were mostly villagers. Their feudal mentality is reflected in the poem The Seasons by Kristijonas Donelaitis . The Seasons criticizes the tendency to adopt German ways, since this was often associated with decadent noblemen. Donelaitis called for Lithuanians to do their duty, to not envy those who went to town, to not complain or be lazy, and try to work as much as

12969-526: The return of the Lithuanian language to schools was signed by 12,330 and 23,058 Prussian Lithuanians from the districts of Memel , Heydekrug , Tilsit and Ragnit . In 1921, the French administration made a survey in the Klaipėda Region that showed that only 2.2 percent of Prussian Lithuanians would prefer purely Lithuanian schools. The Lithuanian language and culture were not persecuted in Prussia. By contrast, there were restrictive Russification policies and

13100-590: The schism was reconciled, unresolved issues would lead to further division. In the 11th century, the efforts of Hildebrand of Sovana led to the creation of the College of Cardinals to elect new popes, starting with Pope Alexander II in the papal election of 1061 . When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as Pope Gregory VII . The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into

13231-400: The suffixes " -ies" or " -us ": Kairies, Resgies, Baltßus, Karallus . A difference existed between female and male surnames in everyday speech. For example, while officially the wife of Kurschat (Prussian Lithuanian Kurßaitis or Kurßatis ) was also called Kurschat, in the Prussian Lithuanian language special forms were used in speech: the form of a wife's surname was Kurßaitê / Kurßatė and

13362-521: The term "bishop of Rome" to the most prominent members of the clergy in the earlier period and also to Peter himself. On this basis protestant scholars Oscar Cullmann , Henry Chadwick , and Bart D. Ehrman question whether there was a formal link between Peter and the modern papacy. Raymond E. Brown also says that it is anachronistic to speak of Peter in terms of local bishop of Rome, but that Christians of that period would have looked on Peter as having "roles that would contribute in an essential way to

13493-478: The territories inhabited by Prussian Lithuanians between Weimar Germany and the Klaipėda Region (Memelland) under the administration of the Council of Ambassadors , which was formed to enforce the agreements reached in the Treaty of Versailles . The organisation "Deutsch-Litauischer Heimatbund" ( Lithuanian : Namynês Bundas ) sought reunification with Germany or to create an independent state of Memelland and had

13624-613: The universities of Greifswald , Halle , Leipzig and Berlin . 1918/19 he taught Lithuanian at the Seminar for Oriental Languages in Berlin under the director Eduard Sachau . Back in Tilsit he dedicated himself to reestablishment of Lithuanian Culture, especially folks songs and rural traditions. He directed a choir and wrote songs as well as theater plays. From 1933 on he worked in Memel at

13755-649: The urgent request of Pope Stephen, the Frankish king Pepin the Short conquered the Lombards. He then gifted the lands of the former exarchate to the pope, thus initiating the Papal States . Rome and the Byzantine East would delve into further conflict during the Photian schism of the 860s, when Photius criticized the Latin west of adding of the filioque clause after being excommunicated by Nicholas I . Though

13886-620: The war and reunite families. The interwar Pope Pius XI modernized the papacy, appointing 40 indigenous bishops and concluding fifteen concordats, including the Lateran Treaty with Italy which founded the Vatican City State . His successor Pope Pius XII led the Catholic Church through the Second World War and early Cold War . Like his predecessors, Pius XII sought to publicly maintain Vatican neutrality in

14017-618: The western occupation zones of Germany, by 1948 they had founded 158 schools in the Lithuanian language. Due to the emigration of many Lithuanians overseas and the assimilation of the remaining Prussian Lithuanians in Germany, the number of Lithuanian schools has now dwindled to only one, Litauisches Gymnasium/Vasario 16-osios gimnazija (Lithuanian High School) (in German) in Lampertheim in Hesse . Until 1990, this secondary boarding school

14148-434: The will of Albert, church services for Prussian Lithuanians were held in the Lithuanian language. Although Lithuanians who settled in Prussia were mainly farmers, in the 16th century there was an influx of educated Protestant immigrants from Lithuania, such as Martynas Mažvydas , Abraomas Kulvietis and Stanislovas Rapolionis , who became among the first professors at Königsberg University , founded in 1544. Martynas Mažvydas

14279-428: The world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations. The Catholic Church has profoundly influenced Western philosophy , culture , art , literature , music , law , and science . Catholics live all over the world through missions , immigration , diaspora , and conversions . Since

14410-487: Was a major factor in preserving classical civilization , with its art (see Illuminated manuscript ) and literacy. Through his Rule , Benedict of Nursia ( c.  480 –543), one of the founders of Western monasticism , exerted an enormous influence on European culture through the appropriation of the monastic spiritual heritage of the early Catholic Church and, with the spread of the Benedictine tradition, through

14541-480: Was a zealous Protestant and urged citizens to stop all contact between Prussian Lithuanians and Lithuanians living in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in a bid to curtail Catholic influence in the country. The Lithuanian-speaking population was dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 53 percent of residents in Lithuania Minor and more than 90 percent of

14672-619: Was active in the old Lithuanian religion (see Romuva ). However, he did not declare the revival of the pagan religion as either his personal goal or a goal of Lithuanians, remaining a national leader but not a religious one. His moral influence transcended the confines of being a typical political leader or a writer at his time. He was compared by later biographers with national leaders in India of his time, such as Rabindranath Tagore or Mahatma Gandhi . Pantheistic universalism , not predefined with participating in any obligatory religious practice,

14803-530: Was at its most intense in Poland , and Catholic resistance to Nazism took various forms. Some 2,579 Catholic clergy were sent to the Priest Barracks of Dachau Concentration Camp , including 400 Germans. Thousands of priests, nuns and brothers were imprisoned, taken to a concentration camp, tortured and murdered, including Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein . Catholics fought on both sides in

14934-847: Was attached to Poland. Only the small Klaipėda Region ( German : Memelland ) was attached to Lithuania. The term Preußische Litauer ( Prussian Lithuanians in German) appeared in German texts of the 16th century. The term Kleinlitaw ( Lithuania Minor in German) was first used by Simon Grunau between 1517 and 1527. Prussian Lithuanians used various names for themselves: Prussians (Lithuanian: Prūsai , German: Preusch ), Prussian Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Pruſû Lietuwiai , Pruſû Lietuvininkai , Pruſißki Lietuvininkai , German: Preußische Litauer ), or simply Lithuanians (Lithuanian: Lietuw(i)ni(n)kai , German: Litauer ). Local self-designating terms found in literature, such as Sziszionißkiai ("people from here"), Burai (German: Bauern ), were neither politonyms nor ethnonyms . Another similar term appeared in

15065-479: Was born in the village of Jonaten ( Lithuanian : Jonaičiai ), near Heydekrug , in the Kingdom of Prussia . Wilhelm Storost was the name on his German passport, while Vilimas or Vilius Storostas was the literature Lithuanian form used by himself, his family, and other Lithuanians. "Vydūnas" was added to his surname as a pseudonym when he was about 40 years old. Storost was married to Klara Füllhase. Storost

15196-645: Was burned at the stake for heresy, but his reform efforts encouraged Martin Luther , an Augustinian friar in modern-day Germany, who sent his Ninety-five Theses to several bishops in 1517. His theses protested key points of Catholic doctrine as well as the sale of indulgences , and along with the Leipzig Debate this led to his excommunication in 1521. In Switzerland , Huldrych Zwingli , John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers further criticized Catholic teachings. These challenges developed into

15327-513: Was condemned by relatives, friends and neighbours. Only one Prussian Lithuanian, Dovas Zaunius , worked in the government of Lithuania between World War I and World War II . The antagonism persisted until the end of World War II. The territory where Prussian Lithuanians lived in ancient times was inhabited by the Old Prussian , Skalvian and Curonian tribes. The area between the rivers Alle and Neman became almost uninhabited during

15458-732: Was educated as teacher at the Präparandenanstalt in Pillkallen (lit. Pilkalnis) (1883–85) and at teacher seminar in Ragnit (lit. Ragainė) (1885–88). From 1888 to 1892 he was a teacher in Kinten (lit. Kintai ), when he went to teach at a boys school in Tilsit (lit. Tilžė) until 1912 and taught German, French, English, Lithuanian and sports. In 1912 he left his teaching position in order to take up philosophical studies, which he took at

15589-539: Was established. Better living conditions in the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights attracted many Lithuanians and Samogitians to settle there. Masurians and Curonians began moving into Prussia around the same time. After 1525, the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albert became duke of Prussia and converted to Protestantism . Many Prussian Lithuanians also became Protestants. By

15720-464: Was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century. The first known use of the phrase "the catholic church" ( Greek : καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία , romanized :  katholikḕ ekklēsía ) occurred in the letter written about 110 AD from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans , which read: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there

15851-639: Was frequent between the Lutheran Prussian Lithuanians and the Catholic Lithuanians of the Grand Duchy, despite the common language. For example, inhabitants of Lithuania did not trust Prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region and tended to eliminate them from posts in government institutions. When Prussian Lithuanian writer Ieva Simonaitytė (Ewa Simoneit) chose the side of the Lithuanian Republic, she

15982-417: Was from East Prussia and reflected the Prussian Lithuanian lifestyle in his works. The first newspaper in the Lithuanian language, Nuſidawimai apie Ewangēliôs Praſiplatinima tarp Źydû ir Pagonû , was published by Prussian Lithuanians. Prior to World War I , the government and political parties financed the Prussian Lithuanian press. The Prussian Lithuanian orthography was based on the German style, while in

16113-461: Was largely resolved in 1415–17 at the Council of Constance , with the claimants in Rome and Pisa agreeing to resign and the third claimant excommunicated by the cardinals, who held a new election naming Martin V pope. In 1438, the Council of Florence convened, which featured a strong dialogue focussed on understanding the theological differences between the East and West, with the hope of reuniting

16244-651: Was met with joy by a majority of inhabitants. About 10,000 refugees, mostly Jews, fled the region. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Prussian Lithuanian activists living in Germany were persecuted. In 1938, Prussian and Lithuanian place names in East Prussia were translated into German or replaced by German names often unrelated to the Lithuanian toponym. For example, Lasdehnen (Lazdynai) became Haselberg , Jodlauken (Juodlaukiai) became Schwalbental, and so on. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis

16375-505: Was needed to be a good peasant: Towns were not large. People who emigrated to the major towns, Königsberg and Memel , usually became bilingual and eventually became Germanized. After World War II, virtually no Prussian Lithuanians remained in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and only a small number survived in the Lithuanian SSR. Their peasant culture, first threatened by Germanization in the German Empire and politically oppressed in

16506-483: Was not closed down until 1940, during World War II. Church services in Tilsit and Ragnit were held in the Lithuanian language until the evacuation of East Prussia in late 1944. The evacuation started late; the Red Army approached much faster than expected and cut off the territorial connection with other German-held territories by January 26, 1945. Many refugees perished due to Soviet low-flying strafing attacks on

16637-605: Was one of the leading ideas of his philosophy, and gained him later fame as a pioneer of both pagan revival and theosophy in Lithuania . Vydūnas was an ethical vegetarian and wrote several essays about his ethical choices. Vydūnas was nominated for the Nobel Prize by the Lithuanian Writers Association. Prussian-Lithuanian Unlike most Lithuanians, who remained Roman Catholic after

16768-542: Was published in Tilsit in Gothic style until 1940, when it was closed by the Nazis. Roman Catholic God Schools Relations with: The Catholic Church , also known as the Roman Catholic Church , is the largest Christian church , with 1.28 to 1.39 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played

16899-717: Was standardized while Prussian Lithuanian orthography remained the same – German Gothic script, a noun was begun with a capital letter, the letters ſ , ß , ʒ were used, and the construction of sentences was different from Lithuanian. Books and newspapers that were published in Lithuania in Roman type were reprinted in Gothic script in Memel Territory in 1923–39. The Prussian Lithuanian newspaper [Naujaſis Tilźes Keleiwis] Error: {{Lang}}: Latn text/non-Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) ( German : Neues Tilsiter Wanderer )

17030-416: Was the first bishop of Rome. Others say that the institution of the papacy is not dependent on the idea that Peter was bishop of Rome or even on his ever having been in Rome. Many scholars hold that a church structure of plural presbyters/bishops persisted in Rome until the mid-2nd century, when the structure of a single bishop and plural presbyters was adopted, and that later writers retrospectively applied

17161-599: Was the only Lithuanian school outside areas controlled by the Soviet Union. It was attended by several well-known exiled Lithuanians, such as the singer Lena Valaitis . Communities of Prussian Lithuanians have developed in Canada , the United States , Sweden and Australia . However, a separate ethnic and cultural identity for Prussian Lithuanians is not as strong as it once was, and cultural differences are gradually vanishing. The Prussian Lithuanians that settled in

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