Etninių mažumų grupių religinės organizacijos Lietuvoje: etnino ir religinio identiteto aspektai ir jų sąsajos ; Religious Organizations of Ethnic Minority Groups in Lithuania: Some Aspects of Ethnic and Religious Identity and Their Interaction

This article aims to show the links between religious and ethnic identity in the activi-ties of Catholic and Orthodox religious organizations. It is based on 14 semi struc-tured interviews conducted within the research project on the ethno-confessional identity of Polish Catholics and russian Orthodox in lithuania from October 2019 till march 2020. this project has received funding from the research Council of lithuania (lmtlt), agreement No [S-lIP-19-60]. the analysis of the preliminary research data reveals that Polish Catholic and rus-sian Orthodox religious organizations in vilnius are oriented primarily to religious communities, but also to certain ethnic groups (Poles in the case of Catholics and russians, russian speakers of various nationalities or persons from ethnically diverse (mixed) families - in the case of Orthodox). analysed religious organizations in vil-nius inf luence the formation of the religious identity of Polish and russian ethnic groups, as they seek to maintain important elements of ethnicity, such as origin, lan-guage and ties with the kin-state. the activities of Polish and russian religious or-ganizations focus on religious education, pastoral and social care. analyzing the links between ethnic and religious identity and the role of organizations in strengthening these links, the analysis showed existing differences. representatives of the Polish or-ganization associate Catholic faith with their ethnicity, while Orthodox respondents do not associate religious identity with ethnic identity.