The ''Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania'' ( lt, Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika or ''LKB kronika'') was the longest-running and best-known
samizdat periodical in the
Lithuanian SSR, one of the republics of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. Following the example of the Russian ''
Chronicle of Current Events'',
[ the Lithuanian ''Chronicle'' was published from 19 March 1972 to 19 March 1989 by Catholic priests and nuns.][ In total, 81 issues appeared.][ It focused on repressions against Catholics in Lithuania, but also included reports of other violations of human rights in the Soviet Union. Selections from its reports regularly appeared in the Moscow-based ''Chronicle of Current Events''; in turn items from Russia and Ukraine were translated into Lithuanian.][
The ''Chronicle'' inspired the ''Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Ukraine'', issued from 1984 to 1987 by the ]Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
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.[
]
Contributors and editors
The writers and the publishers were routinely interrogated, arrested, and imprisoned by the KGB, including its founder and first editor Sigitas Tamkevičius. Between 1973 and 1983, a total of 17 people were arrested (2 priests, 4 nuns, and 11 secular persons).[
After Tamkevičius' arrest in 1983, the ''Chronicle'' was edited by Jonas Boruta. Other writers and collaborators included Petras Plumpa, Nijolė Sadūnaitė, Gerarda Elena Šuliauskaitė, Bernadeta Mališkaitė, Kazimieras Ambrasas.][ The texts were usually pessimistic and reflecting siege mentality.][
]
Circulation at home and abroad
The ''Chronicle'' was reproduced using a typewriter and copied with primitive self-made machines. Therefore, the initial circulation was only about 100–300 copies.[
With the help of Russian dissidents ( Sergei Kovalev, Gleb Yakunin, and others) and Western visitors (who agreed to take souvenirs with ]photographic film
Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the crystals determine ...
s of the ''Chronicle'' hidden inside), copies of the ''Chronicle'' were smuggled across the Iron Curtain.[ In the United States, the ''Chronicle'' was translated and published by various Lithuanian American organizations. The text was also read on Vatican Radio, ]Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International broadcasting, international radio broadcaster of the United States, United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international br ...
, Radio Liberty.[
]
References
{{reflist, 2, refs=
[{{cite web , url=http://www.lkbkronika.lt/index.php/en/lord-what-a-blessing-that-you-allowed.html , first=Jonas , last=Boruta , title=Lord, what a blessing that you allowed , accessdate=2016-01-02 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075146/http://www.lkbkronika.lt/index.php/en/lord-what-a-blessing-that-you-allowed.html , archive-date=2016-03-04 , url-status=dead ]
[{{cite book , first=Kęstutis , last=Girnius , chapter=Catholicism and Nationalism in Lithuania , title=Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50GTIhntKvYC&pg=PA118 , editor-first=Sabrina P. , editor-last=Ramet , publisher=Duke University Press , year=1989 , isbn=9780822308911 , page=118]
[{{cite web, first= Vilma , last=Juozevičiūtė , title=Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika , url=http://genocid.lt/UserFiles/File/Atmintinos_datos/2012/201203_LBK.pdf , year=2012 , accessdate=2014-12-27 , publisher=]Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania
The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centras or ''LGGRTC'') is a state-funded research institute in Lithuania dedicated to "the study of genocide, crimes against hum ...
, language=lt
[{{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hoxSAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 , title=Lithuania: Stepping Westward , first=Thomas , last=Lane , publisher=Routledge , year=2001 , isbn=0415267315 , page=89 an]
''A Chronicle of Current Events'', issue nos 1-64 (April 1968 to July 1982), translated into English.
/ref>
[{{cite book, first=Saulius A. , last=Suziedelis , title=Historical Dictionary of Lithuania , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VkGB1CSfIlEC&pg=PA80 , page=80 , publisher=Scarecrow Press , year=2011 , isbn=9780810875364]
[{{cite journal , first=Sigitas , last=Tamkevičius , title=LKB Kronika , journal=Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika , url=http://lkbkronika.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=180&Itemid=128 , isbn=9986-556-56-2 , issn=1052-1771 , year=1997 , volume=11 , publisher=LKB Tarpdiecezinė Katechetikos komisija , language=lt , access-date=2014-12-28 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228075627/http://lkbkronika.lt/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=180&Itemid=128 , archive-date=2014-12-28 , url-status=dead ]
[{{cite encyclopedia, encyclopedia=Žurnalistikos enciklopedija , url=http://www.kf.vu.lt/dokumentai/publikacijos/Zurnalistikos-enciklopedija.pdf , editor-first=Laimonas , editor-last=Tapinas , title=Lietuvos katalikų bažnyčios kronika , location=Vilnius , publisher=Pradai , year=1997 , isbn=9986-776-62-7 , page=284 , language=lt, display-editors=etal]
[{{cite book , first=Myroslaw , last=Tataryn , chapter=The re-emergence of the Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church in the USSR , title=Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50GTIhntKvYC&pg=PA295 , editor-first=Sabrina P. , editor-last=Ramet , publisher=Duke University Press , year=1989 , isbn=9780822308911 , page=295]
External links
Full-text archives of the ''Chronicle'' in English
Human rights in the Soviet Union
Christianity in the Soviet Union
Underground press
Catholic newspapers
Lithuanian-language newspapers
Persecution by the Soviet Union
Publications established in 1972
Publications disestablished in 1989
Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
Samizdat publications
1972 establishments in Lithuania
1989 disestablishments in Lithuania