SOTER: Journal of Religious Science / SOTER: religijos mokslo žurnalas

Report from Curate Justinas Bonaventura Pranaitis on the State of the Turkestan Parish as of November 1915

Dmitriy Panto — 2024-11-27

The handwritten original of the published letter from priest I. B. Pranaitis to Bishop Jan Tseplyak is kept in the personal file of the former, in fund No. 826 of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA). This message stands out among other documents of the case in that it contains information not about a private single issue (moving, appointment, complaint, construction, etc.), but is an overview of the situation in the entire vast Turkestan parish as of November 1915.

The letter informs about the arrival in Turkestan in 1915 of a significant number of immigrants due to military operations in the west of the empire, about the high mortality rate among them and the lack of chaplains, about priests-prisoners of war in the parish, about the activities of the Committees for Relief of War Victims, about the construction of a temple and about plans for the establishment of a Siberian diocese.

The Concept of the Son of God in Paul’s Authentic Letters

Egidijus Kumža — 2024-11-27

This article examines the Apostle Paul’s concept of the Son of God, which is attributed to Jesus Christ. In today’s society, when we are looking for a variety of spiritual experiences, it is important to turn to God Himself, who can be found in the person of Jesus Christ. Drawing on the exegesis of Scripture, theological dictionaries and the writings of theological authors, the aim is to introduce the reader to the Apostle Paulʼs concept of Jesus as the Son of God. It is shown that Jesus Christ is not only a man, but a mediator between men and God, a redeemer who has a unique closeness and affinity with God. It is his relationship with God that is kinship, not adoption. With the concept of the Son, Paul refers not only to the pre-existent Redeemer of the world who became man and is the object of his proclamation, but also to the one who completes the work of creation history.

Existential-Eschatological Questions about Eternity, Hell and the Final Judgment

Bronė Gudaitytė — 2024-11-27

This text analyzes three fundamental existential-eschatological questions of everyday man about eternity, hell and the last judgment. First of all, eternity is defined in the context of thought time and timeliness. It is impossible for the logical mind to fully understand the existence and essence of eternal life. Difficulties arise when we understand eternity after death as an unlimited duration of time or as a sequence of ever-new segments of passing time. That which is eternal does not obey any measure. Although when we think about time, we are in the reality of time, but time is given meaning by what happens in it – an event. Eternity in time is most clearly expressed when a spiritual entity makes a free decision and takes responsibility for it. What is important is that our eternal life, filled with God himself, will become the finality of freely chosen life activities. The history of human freedom can also turn into the final, temporary destruction of man – what we call hell. However, Christianity proclaims not two equally likely possibilities when it comes to eternity after death, but the victory of God’s love. It is the basis and guarantee that our short and fleeting time gives birth to an eternity that is not made up of time.

The text reveals the theological concept of hell as a person’s freely chosen opportunity to finally lose God. As a spiritual being, man freely decides and becomes what he wants to be. The essence of hell is the “No” spoken to God as the final decision of man against God. Man has the absolute possibility of losing God, even though God is the goal of manʼs life and the fulfillment of his essence. The hope is that the power of God’s love and mercy will make it so that a person will not realize this most terrible negative possibility in the depth of his free personality.

The text discusses the statement of the confession of faith: “he will come to judge the living and the dead” is revealed as the process of coming to the Truth. The goal is to highlight the liberating dimension of the Christian knowledge of judgment and to explain judgment as a process through which a person comes to the truth about himself and others in the presence of God. After all, we will all have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us will take back what he has done while living in the body – good or bad (2 Cor 5:10). Inseparable from the Christian faith is the hope that the judgment will not be an act of condemnation, but an act of victory for truth and justice. After all, the judge is none other than Jesus Christ himself, the resurrected Crucified One, who sacrificed his life and death for everyone.

A Pastoral Journey Towards Peace: The Work of the German Christian Help Centre in the Context of Non-Formal Education

Povilas Dievaitis — 2024-11-27

This work presents the Christian Help Centre (Help Center e. V. Christliches Lebenszentrum, hereafter referred to as PC) of the German Evangelical Christian Life Aid Community (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Lebenshilfen, hereafter referred to as the ACL), the story of its foundation, the concept, and the stages of pastoral care in the context of non-formal education. A group of PC guests (young people aged 18–26) find themselves in a critical situation in their lives, where their value system has been eroded and they cannot cope with life's challenges alone. The pastoral journey aims to help the young people to understand their problems, to know themselves and to discover the meaning of life. It is a process of inner development that changes the way we look at the values of life. A Christian worldview, through this unique prism of experience, not only influences personal growth and individual change, but also leads to a transformation of relationships with oneself and others. Young people who choose this path often face the confrontation between science and faith. The dialogue between science and faith in pastoral care is an opportunity to see these two fields as complementary rather than competing. This path offered by the PC encourages people to combine critical thinking with spiritual growth and helps them to deal with lifeʼs difficulties in various aspects. The aim is to show that it is possible to create the conditions for constructive and open dialogue, and that pastoral care, as an inner journey and a process of search, is one of the means of encouraging people to seek peace. PC helps young people to discover themselves as valuable members of a community.