Neighboring Russian lands, down the rivers of the Western Divina and Neman rivers, near the shore of the Baltic Sea, lived the tribe of Lithuanians, related to the Slavs by religion, language and customs. The Lithuanians were a poor {16} people. In olden times, they were peaceful neighbors. These people were our closest neighbors and paid dues to our royals. The Lithuanian land did not possess gold or silver. Their tribute came in the form of animal furs, linens, and even brooms.

Lithuanians were pagans in ancient times. Therefore, their faith and customs, at that time, were similar to ours. Lithuanians had their own royalty, which treated them similar to the way Russian royals did. In that time, the supreme power in Russia was split into separate principalities. There came a time when Lithuanians stopped paying tributes to the Russian royals. And later, the Lithuanians began to gradually seize Russian cities. For example: Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk and even Smolensk and Chernigov.

In 1320, one wonderful person named Gediminas became the Supreme Duke and Ruler of Lithuania.

Russia at that time was held in Tatar captivity and could not do anything to protect its people. Gediminas extended his conquests into Russia. He captured several principalities. Within his power were the following principalities: Pinsk, Vladimir, Lutsk, Ovruch. With great difficulty, after a month of fighting, Kiev was taken. Gediminas placed his Dukes and authorities in all of the conquered lands. However, he promised to allow the people to keep their faith and customs. He promised to protect the people from the Tatars. He kept all of his promises. Through this way, the Western half of Russia was separated from the other, Eastern, half. Part of Russia, located west of the cities of Vitebsk, Smolensk, Bryansk, and Putyvl had to obey Lithuania. The other half of Russia paid dues to the Tatars.

It was easier to be dependent on Lithuania than on the Tatars.

Gediminas was a man of great wisdom. He was strict, but fair. He did not commit needless harassment. He demanded only obedience and order throughout. He did not disrupt the rule as it was before him. He did not change the customs and order that came before him. What was very important was that he did not oppress the Orthodox faith; he treated it with respect. He did not interfere with any of his subjects baptisms. He even married off his sons to Russian princesses. The princes of Gediminas were rulers of the Russian lands. Soon they began to speak in Russian. Often they accepted an Orthodox baptism, gave their children Russian names and became fully Russian. Some of the formerly well-known families, which were considered Russian for more than 600 years, were in fact of the lineage of Lithuanian princes. For instance, well-known in Russia are the Golitshins, Khovanskis, Kurakins – these were descendants of Lithuanian princes. Many Lithuanian princes married Russian women and vice versa, Russian men married Lithuanian women. Therefore the people became accustomed to thinking, that both the Vladimirov and Gediminov clans come from the same root. Often Lithuanian princes did not separate themselves from Russia, considering it their homeland. Two Lithuanian princes bravely fought against the Tatars alongside Dmitry Donskoy in the historically famous Battle of Kulikovo. One of them, “Dovmont” heroically defended Pskov against the Germans.

In those times, in the capital of Lithuania – the city Vilnius – and other cities, Orthodox churches and monasteries were built. Many famous Lithuanians began to convert to Orthodoxy in those days. Orthodoxy, in contrast to Catholicism, spread without intimidation and violence. The Russian language came to Lithuania along with the faith. This language was spoken everywhere: in high society and among the common people. This was the language of business correspondence {17} documents. Worship in the Orthodox churches was conducted in Church-Slavic.

Our people, having much in common and similar to the Russian people, had to join Russia, but this did not happen. The treatment towards everything Russian drastically changed under the grandson of Gediminas – Jagiello. His mother was Princess Julia of Tver. She was the final wife Gediminas’ son, Algirdas. She was respected by her husband and she dearly loved Jagiello. Algirdas was baptized and died Orthodox. All of his children were also Orthodox.

Jagiello was also Orthodox and had the Russian name Jacob. Princess Julia made it such that all of her husband Algirdas’ inheritance was left to Jagiello, depriving his other, older sons.

Besides this, Jagiello became the sovereign of the Polish Kingdom.

In this time, the Royal Court of Poland changed considerably. The heirs had died. Only the juvenile Queen Jadwiga remained as the successor of the court. Jadwiga was, of course, Catholic. Notable Polish gentry began to search for a worthy groom for their young Queen. The main task was for this groom to be beneficial to them. They turned their attention to the Lithuanian prince Jagiello; he was also happy with such a marriage. He promised those nobles that helped him tall and handsome rewards. Jagiello was Orthodox, but he promised to accept the Catholic faith and turn all of his people to this faith. Similarly, he promised to combine the Lithuanian Commonwealth with Poland. The Catholic clergy were very pleased with this decision. It was an old dream to unite Poland with Lithuania. Millions of Orthodox people did not recognize the Pope and Catholicism, and now an opportunity to turn these people to the Catholic faith had arisen.

Jagiello arrived in Poland and was baptized in the Catholic rite. He changed his Orthodox name Jacob to the Catholic – Vladislav. After this he eloped with Jadwiga and was recognized as the King of Poland. This all happened in 1386. Polish noblemen and Jagiello rejoiced. He was married and declared King in the ancient Polish city of Krakow. In honor of this occasion, he hosted a dinner which was attended by over a thousand guests. Dinner was accompanied by singing, dancing, different entertainment and horse races.

This is how Jagiello celebrated his shameful betrayal of his homeland, faith and people. But this feast and merriment were overshadowed by one incident. Jagiello made some new friends among the Lithuanian Catholics. These people were with him in Krakow. However, his previous friends were also present; two Russian people. During the festivities, Jagiello and his Lithuanian friends demanded that the Russians immediately accept the Catholic faith. These people refused to do so; and, on the orders of Jagiello, they were decapitated. Soon, word came that there was some restlessness in Belarus, which displeased Jagiello. One of his brothers, Andrew, an Orthodox Christian, declared that he would never accept another faith. Andrew ruled over the Polotsk and Smolensk lands. There too, popular agitation against Catholicism had begun. This bothered Jagiello, but he was surrounded by Polish nobility. They began to argue that he should pay this no mind; he promised to turn the people of his kingdom to the Roman order. This should be conducted without any consideration of the Orthodox resistance.

{18} In 1387, Jagiello arrived from Krakow to the city of Vilnius, stopping at the palace of his ancestors. He issued a decree in which he declared that he came in order to turn the Lithuanian people to the Roman Catholic faith. Declared was the following: All of the people that receive the baptism voluntarily will have the right to own land, and be endowed with other rights equal to those of the Polish gentry. Those people that dare to resist the will of the Grand Duke would face corporal punishment. On the orders of the Duke, the people began to get baptized; as payment for baptisms, wealthy people were promised the rights and benefits of the nobles, and the poor – pieces of white cloth, beads, and hats.

Poor Lithuanians, not realizing the importance and value of this process, ran in droves towards the offered bait. Crowds of people would get into the river; they were doused with water while holding a cross. After that, people changed their names to Catholic ones. They started calling themselves Jan and other [Polish] names. Then, they received some thread and copper icons, and went home. Many came to get baptized several times, hoping to receive several gifts. The rite of baptism was carried out by Latin monks. Jagiello was not content with the fact that he baptized Lithuanian pagans to the Roman faith. He set another task for himself: to baptize the Orthodox. Vilnius, at the time, was dominated by an Orthodox population; the city already had eight Orthodox churches. The first Catholics had begun to appear in the city. They called the Orthodox people outcasts or renegades, that is, traitors to the faith. But among the citizens of the Duke were many Orthodox people. There were a lot more of them then the gentiles. Jagiello’s siblings and other dukes were already Christians of the Eastern Orthodox religion. They resolutely declared that they had already been baptized once and will not be re-baptized.

After that, the oppression of the Polish-Lithuanian feudal lords further intensified in Belarusian and Ukrainian lands.

Polish-Lithuanian feudal lords captured peasant lands for themselves, increased serfdom and other taxes. As a result, many peasant farms faced ruin. The feudal lords tried them in their own courts. Peasants had no right to complain about their master to anyone; not the Duke, nor the King.

The Lithuanian Duchy existed at times apart from Poland, and at times in conjunction with her until the second half of the 16^th century.

In 1534, the Spaniard Ignatius of Loyola established the Catholic Order of the Jesuits. The Holy See blessed the creation of this order, since its purpose was with fire and sword to destroy all living things that oppose Catholicism. Their motto, in three words, read: The end justifies the means.