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  • A novel European meeting at Riga in Latvia
  • Riga 2016: Film
  • A short history of Latvia (1)
  • A short history of Latvia (2)
  • Riga: Photos
  • Meditations by Brother Alois
  • Regular prayers in Australia
  • Canada: Prayers
  • NZ: Prayers in Aotearoa-New Zealand
  • UK: News from Britain
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  • USA: Prayer Contacts
  • Small Provisional Communities
    • Small Provisional Communities
    • Small Provisional Communities before 2018
    • News from the Small Provisional Communities
    • A Taizé Provisional Community on the Outskirts of Lyons
    • A Month in Morocco
  • Africa
    • South Africa: Regular prayers
    • Kenya 2019: Prison visits
    • Meeting in Cape Town
      • Cape Town 2019: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Cape Town 2019: Echoes of the meeting
      • Documents for registered participants
      • Music and Prayer resources
      • Next African stage of the Pilgrimage of Trust
      • What is at stake in the Cape Town meeting?
      • Background and reflection
        • Taizé and South Africa
        • Cape Town 2019: Some material for reading/watching about Cape Town and South Africa
        • Cape Town 2019: A reflection on silence
        • Archbishop Tutu and Taizé
        • Visiting the Eastern Cape province
        • “Giving birth to a new people” - Jaco Botha
        • “All began with a step of trust...” - John de Gruchy
        • Reflection: “Next year gathering can be a place of healing..." Ntombekhaya
    • Africa 2009 - 2017
      • Algeria: A meeting at Tlemcen: August 2011
      • Burundi May 2009: Building new relationships
      • Democratic Republic of Congo: A visit to Goma
      • Meetings and retreats in Nairobi : program for 2017
      • Mauritania: A journey from Dakar to Nouadhibou
      • Rwanda: Visits in November 2010
      • A Brother Visits South Sudan
      • Two Taizé brothers in South Africa
      • In South Sudan, summer 2013
      • Tanzania: Meetings in June 2010
      • Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso: Visits and meetings
      • Visits in Uganda
    • 2016: Meeting in Cotonou
      • Cotonou 2016: Photos
      • Benin: International young adult meeting in Cotonou
      • Cotonou 2016: Echoes of the Preparation in Bénin and Neighbouring Countries
      • Video clip: The preparation of the meeting in Cotonou
      • Spring 2016: The Preparation Continues in Cotonou and Elsewhere
      • Cotonou 2016: Looking for Paths of Hope Together
      • Cotonou 2016: Hope and joyful gratitude
    • 2012: Meeting in Kigali
      • Pilgrimage of Trust on Earth
      • How to prepare for the meeting
      • Kigali: Echoes from the Meeting
      • Preparation of the meeting
        • Practical information
        • Rwanda 2011: A new stage towards the meeting in Kigali in 2012
        • Kigali: The preparation in March
        • February-March 2012: Travel Log
        • June 2012: Travellog
        • Rwanda, September 2012 : News of the preparation
        • Kigali : Testimonies from Young People
        • Kigali Meeting: The last stage of the preparation...
      • Contacts
      • Photos
      • From Kigali to Rome
    • 2008: Meeting in Nairobi
      • With 7000 young Africans in Nairobi Taizé creates a sign of peace
      • The meeting in Nairobi: Day by day
      • Nairobi: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Photos: Meeting in Nairobi
    • Africa 2006 - 2008
      • February-March 2006 : In East Africa
      • February 2007 : In East Africa
      • November 2007: A visit to South Africa
      • April-May 2007: In West Africa
      • Malawi: "A house that’s complete"
  • Americas
    • Argentina: An important small step forward in reconciliation
    • Prayers with songs from Taizé in Panama
    • Bolivia October 2009: Meetings in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamaba and El Alto
    • Pilgrimage of Trust in the Caribbean
    • Chile: A new stage in the pilgrimage of trust
    • Haiti: Messages from young people
    • Spring 2014: Pilgrimage of Trust in America
    • Mexico: Faith is alive everywhere
    • Visits in Peru
    • USA: Pilgrimage of Trust in St. Louis
      • Spring 2017: Pilgrims of Trust in Saint Louis
    • USA: Meeting in Pine Ridge
      • Pilgrimage of trust in the USA: Taizé at Pine Ridge: “Our pot is empty - you have to fill it”
      • Photos: Meeting in Pine Ridge
    • 2007: Meeting in Cochabamba
      • Day by day during the meeting
      • Photos: Meeting in Cochabamba
      • Taizé and Bolivia
    • 2010: Meeting in Santiago
      • Taizé and Latin America
      • The evening before Palm Sunday
      • A welcome that is warm, close and simple
      • Celebrating life with the people of Chile
      • In Argentina: An un-hoped for joy
      • For a fraternal world: Meeting in Santiago, Chile
      • In Chile: the pilgrimage of trust continues…
      • Photos
    • 2012: Meeting in Chicago
      • Meeting in Chicago: An interview with two of the brothers
      • Meeting in Chicago: Taizé-Chicago: Three-minute version
      • May 2012 meeting: Taizé in Chicago
      • Photos of the meeting in Chicago
    • 2019: Two Taizé Brothers in the USA in September-October 2019
  • Asia Pacific
    • Video: An introduction to Taizé
    • Australia: News of prayers, meetings and gatherings
    • Cambodia: Visits of Brothers
    • Taizé and China
    • China: Regular prayers in Shanghai
    • Taiwan: Meetings with a brother from Taizé in April 2015
    • Hong Kong: Prayers and meetings to "uncover the wellspring of trust in God"
    • Hong Kong: Preparatory Prayers for International Meeting 2018
    • Visit by two brothers to Indonesia
    • Indonesia: October 2011: At the World Christian Forum in Manado
    • Visits of Brother Alois in Asia
    • Japan 2014: Meetings with a brother from Taize
    • Japan, spring 2016: "How to awaken in us the courage of mercy? "
    • Kazakhstan : A visit in August 2010
    • Laos: Young Laotians and the pilgrimage of trust
    • East Malaysia: Easter in Kuching
    • A visit in Mongolia
    • Myanmar: “What is the source from which we draw life?”
    • The Courage of Mercy in the Philippines
    • The Philippines, 2016: Living the Courage of Mercy
    • August 2018: Two brothers in the Philippines
    • India, February-March 2013: Visits to Vasai and Mumbai
    • India 2018: Visits and prayers
    • Several prayers in India on the pilgrimage of Trust 2019
    • Sri Lanka: Visits in 2012
    • Thailand: Next prayers in Bangkok
    • Timor Leste: Visits in 2012
    • In Vietnam
    • Aotearoa-New Zealand: 2019 Pilgrimage in Aotearoa
    • Regular prayers in Asia
      • Regular Prayer in the Philippines
      • Regular prayer in Macau
      • Regular prayers in Hong-Kong
      • Regular prayers in Indonesia
      • Regular prayers in Singapore
      • Regular prayer in Malaysia
      • Japan: Regular prayers in Japan
      • Regular prayers in India
      • Prayers in Vietnam
    • 2018 Meeting in Hong Kong
      • August 2018: Pilgrimage of Trust in Hong Kong
      • Meeting in Hong Kong, August 2018: Practical information
      • Hong-Kong 2018: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • 2010 Meeting in Manila, Philippines
      • Philippines: Meeting in Manila: "Most simply I am grateful for life"
      • Pilgrimage of trust meeting in the Philippines
      • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Photos
      • Brother Alois 2010: Liham mula sa Ttsina
      • Brother Alois 2010: Sulat gikan sa Ttsina
    • 2006 Meeting in Kolkata, India
      • Pilgrimage of Trust in Kolkata: On the Road of Trust, Towards a Future of Peace
      • Kolkata: Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Taizé and India
      • Photos: Meeting in Kolkata
    • September 2017: Visits and prayers in India
  • Europe
    • European Meeting in Wrocław
      • The Next Taizé European Meeting Will Be Held in Poland
      • Meeting in Wrocław: Provisional Programme
      • Practical information
    • At the end of every year
      • Madrid 2018
        • Registration
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Madrid 2018: Photos
        • Messages received for the meeting
        • Madrid 2018: Programme of Workshops
      • Basel 2017
        • Next European Meeting: At the end of 2018 in Madrid
        • Basel 2017: Next European Meeting of Young Adults in Basel
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Basel 2017: Photos
      • Riga 2016
        • A novel European meeting at Riga in Latvia
        • Riga 2016: Film
        • A short history of Latvia (1)
        • A short history of Latvia (2)
        • Riga: Photos
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Valencia 2015
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Photos
      • Prague 2014
        • Prague: Some clips on the European Meeting
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • The meeting from day to day
        • Photos
      • Strasbourg 2013
        • Strasbourg: 30,000 young Europeans make “a large community of friendship” visible
        • Strasbourg meeting: Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Words of welcome from representatives of the Churches of Alsace and Ortenau
        • Strasbourg: Echoes from the Strasbourg Meeting
        • Photos
      • Rome 2012
        • Rome, January 2013: Some weeks after the European Meeting
        • The meeting from day to day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • 45 000 young people in Saint Peter’s Square to pray with Pope Benedict
        • Rome 2012: The faith of a scientist - one of the afternoon workshops
        • Photos
      • Berlin 2011
        • Meeting in Berlin: 30 000 young adults on the road towards a new solidarity
        • The Meeting Day by Day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Photos
      • Rotterdam 2010
        • 30 000 young people invited to reflect on joy and solidarity
        • The Meeting Day by Day
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
        • “The party is over but the legacy remains.”
        • Photos
      • Poznań 2009
        • Photos
        • “Poznań, capital of European Christian youth”
        • Meditations by Brother Alois
      • Brussels 2008
        • From the newspapers
        • Meeting in Brussels: Meditations by Brother Alois
        • Two addresses by Cardinal Danneels
        • Photos
      • Geneva 2007
        • Geneva elated to have welcomed the 40,000 young adults of Taizé
        • Photos
      • 2006: 40,000 young Europeans fill up with hope
      • 2005: Milan filled with the spirit of Brother Roger
      • 2004 Lisbon: The Urgency of Peace
      • 2003 Hamburg: The Face of the Church as Communion
      • 2002 Paris: A Larger Europe Breathes the Good News
      • 2001 Budapest: Hospitality, A Face of God
      • 2000 Barcelona: Sharing a Hope
    • Lviv 2018
      • Lviv 2018: Provisional programme
      • Lviv 2018: Practical information
      • Lviv 2018: Prayers with songs from Taizé
      • Meeting Booklet
      • Lviv 2018: End of April, First Taizé Meeting in Ukraine
      • Lviv 2018: A first meeting of Taizé in Ukraine in the spring sunshine
      • Lviv 2018: Pictures
      • Lviv 2018: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • Albania: “Visits from abroad”
    • Austria, March 2011: Meeting in Vienna
    • Austria: Meeting in Graz
      • Graz 2018: Graz 2018: Sharing the Future
      • Graz 2018: Practical Information
      • Graz 2018: program and songsheet
    • Belarus, September 2014: Discovering the Source of a Unity Beyond Borders
    • Autumn 2016: A Visit to Belarus
    • Bosnia-Herzegovina: After the meeting in Sarajevo
    • Bulgaria: 2010: Welcomed as long lost friends
    • Croatia: “Something that they want to share with others”
    • Czech Republic: Preparing “Vigils of Trust” in Prague, November 2012
    • Denmark: Visits in May 2010
    • Estonia 2012: Renewing trust
    • Hamina, City of Peace
    • Finland : A Chain of Friendship
    • Finland: Meeting in Helsinki
    • Germany, 2012: A visit to Cologne
    • France, All Saints 2016 : The testimony of refugees in Taizé
    • Present day Greece: a land of contrasts
    • Spring 2016: On the island of Lesbos with those who had to leave everything
    • April 2016: A Volunteer on a Boat Saving Refugees in the Mediterranean
    • Hungary: Accompanying the refugees
    • Hungary Octobre 2009: Meeting in Pécs, October 2009
    • Ireland: News from Ireland
    • Italy: March 2011: Prayers and visits
    • Mantova, September 2012: Brothers and volunteers visit a sorely tried region
    • Riga, September 2014: To the Baltic Countries as Pilgrims of Peace and Trust
    • Latvia 2012: Seeking signs of hope
    • Lithuania: Meeting in Vilnius in May 2009
    • Malta: “A silent cry that no one hears”
    • Moldova, February 2016: Come Back in the Spring!
    • Norway, Spring 2013: "We are truly one in Christ"
    • Pilgrimage of trust in Norway: Weekend meeting in Oslo and Trondheim
    • Sweden: Pilgrimage and apples
    • Taizé in Brussels: New paths of trust
    • Poland, October 2014: „Days of Communion” in Katowice
    • WYD 2016: Praying with the Songs of Taizé in Kraków
    • Portugal: Evening prayer in Porto
    • Romania, Easter 2016: Pilgrimage to Bucharest
      • Pilgrimage to Bucharest
      • Getting ready to take part
      • Celebrating Easter in Bucharest: Day by Day
      • Echoes from participants: To the Wellsprings of the Romanian Orthodox Tradition
      • Pictures from the Pilgrimage
    • Romania: Brother Alois’ visit in May 2008
    • Russia: Pilgrimage to a second springtime
    • Russia, Easter 2015: A Pilgrimage to Moscow, in the Light of the Resurrection
    • Russia: Easter 2011
      • Easter Celebrations in Taizé and Moscow
      • A Pilgrimage to Moscow
      • The pilgrimage to Moscow day by day
      • Pilgrimage to Moscow: Saturday 23 April
      • Pilgrimage to Moscow: Sunday 24 April
      • Message from Metropolitan Hilarion
      • Words of thanks of Brother Alois to Metropolitan Hilarion
      • Short film of the pilgrimage
      • Russia: Easter 2011: What did you experience in Moscow during the pilgrimage?
    • 2016: Continuing pilgrimage in Russia
    • Ljubljana, May 2012: A mosaic of encounters in the midst of the Slovenian springtime
    • Spain: Meeting in Seville: May 2009
    • Sweden 2016: Refugees, coffee and prayer
    • Sweden 2016: Prayer with Brother Alois in Lund
    • Istanbul, January 2013
      • Taizé and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
      • Pilgrimage, day by day
      • A word of welcome by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
      • Meditation by brother Alois
      • Photos of the pilgrimage
      • Young People’s Impressions
    • Turkey: Prayers in Istanbul
    • UK: Birmingham 2017
      • Echoes of Birmingham 2017
      • Workshops
      • Birmingham 2017: St. Chad’s Sanctuary
      • Birmingham 2017: Changing Tunes
      • Birmingham 2017: “Bringing Hope”
      • Birmingham 2017: Meeting Christ in the discarded
    • UK: Weekend in Edinburgh
      15-16 March 2014
    • Ukraine, October 2014: Faces of Hope
    • Ukraine, April 2015: An Eastertide Pilgrimage, between suffering and hope
    • Europe 2006 2007 2008
      • Austria: A journey through Austria
      • Bosnia-Herzegovina and Taizé
      • Denmark: “The great day of prayer"
      • Germany: In the North of Germany
      • In Greece and the Republic of Macedonia
      • Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina
      • In Latvia and Estonia: 2008
      • Russia: Brother Alois in Moscow in 2006
      • Russia: In Moscow in 2006: Taizé’s gratefulness for the Russian Orthodox Church
      • Russia: A visit in October 2006
      • Russia: A visit in November 2007
      • In Spain: 2008
      • Sweden: 2007 Meeting in Stockholm
      • Sweden: 2007 Stockholm meeting day by day
      • UK: 2006: Prayers in Bradford Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
      • Ukraine 2006: Just before the elections
  • Middle East
    • Visits to United Arab Emirates (UAE) 2019
    • Lebanon 2019: International Ecumenical Youth Meeting in Beirut
    • 2017: Pilgrimage of Trust in Egypt
    • Egypt 2017: Taizé on Pilgrimage to Egypt with Coptic Christians
    • Egypt 2017: Pictures of the pilgrimage
    • 2017: A Christian-Muslim initiative of hope in northern Lebanon
    • A Jew’s prayer for the children of Gaza
    • Prayers in Jerusalem
    • Israël, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon: Journal of a pilgrim of trust
    • Lebanon 2013: Visit of a brother
    • Autumn 2015: Two Brothers in the Middle East
    • International ecumenical meeting of young adults in Lebanon (22-26 March, 2019)
    • Beirut 2019: Testimonies from young people
    • Beirut 2019: Meditations by Brother Alois
    • Beirut 2019: Photos
 

A short history of Latvia (1)

A brother writes:

"When I was young, one of my friends at school was called Ēriks. It wasn’t a typical Yorkshire name. His family was Latvian. The parents had left Latvia in 1940 and there was quite a large Latvian community in our town. Every weekend, he went to the Latvian school to learn the language and the traditions of his country. So since my childhood, Latvia was always present through Ēriks, at a time when many people in the West were unaware of the existence of this country, which had been absorbed into the Soviet Union.

Latvia is bordered by Estonia to the north, Russia to the east, Belarus in the south-east and Lithuania in the south. But these borders are quite recent and Latvia is made up of four provinces – Vidzeme, Latgale, Zemgale and Kurzeme – each of which has their own history.


© Latvian Institute 2004

The long river Daugava, with its source in the Russian marshes near to Smolensk, flows into the sea at what is now Riga. From the earliest times, it became a communication route for commerce. The tribes which came to make up the Latvians arrived in the area around 3,000 years BCE.

Only towards the end of the 12th century were the first Christian missionaries sent to these regions. In 1184, St Meinhard went on the Daugava as far as Iksile. He lived there and learned the language but his mission didn’t take root. So, in 1193, Pope Celestine III launched a crusade in Northern Europe to convert the pagan tribes living there. This was the time of the Order of Livonian Knights. Christianity came from outside in the form of conquest.

The lands colonised by the Knights was inhabited by the Livs and called Livonia, but its first title was Terra Mariana – a land dedicated to Mary. It comprised what is today Latvia and Estonia.

The city of Riga was founded in 1201 and Bishop Albert laid the foundation stone of the Cathedral 10 years later. Riga became a great port of the Hanseatic League. Through this and the Livonian Order a German presence and influence began.

The major regional power at this time was Poland-Lithuania, two countries bound in alliance together. In the middle of the 16th century, the Livonian War broke out pitting the Tsardom of Russia against a coalition including Poland-Lithuania, the latter taking control of Latgale, the eastern part of today’s Latvia.

The Lutheran Reformation arrived in Riga at the end of the 16th century, above all in the German communities.

During the 17th century, there was war between Poland-Lithuania and Sweden. Sweden rose in power and at the beginning of the 17th century, most of today’s Latvia fell under the Swedish crown. Riga became the biggest city of the Swedish Empire.

Thus, from 1629, the Reformation was consolidated in Vidzeme, Zemgale and Kurzeme. Latgale remained under Polish control and evolved differently. Latgalian, a cousin of Latvian, is still spoken in the region today, which remains strongly Catholic. The Marian pilgrimage on August 15 to the little town of Aglona in Latgale draws people from all over Latvia, but also from Lithuania and Poland.

A century later, Russia began to rise in power under Peter the Great. He vanquished the king of Sweden, Charles XII, at Poltava and Vidzeme was integrated into the Russian Empire. Latgale remained a further 80 years under Polish domination before too being absorbed into the Russian Empire.

Kurzeme and Zemgale became an autonomous duchy within the Poland-Lithuania until 1795 when they were integrated into the Russian Empire, even having colonies in the Caribbean in Tobago and in Gambia, where there was a commercial trading point.

In the middle of the 19th century, the national awakenings in Europe had begun. From the time of the occupation by the Order of Livonian Knights, and even under Swedish and Russian rule, the big landowners in the Latvian lands were of German stock. The Latvian nationalist movement in the 19th century linked together with the slavophiles, of Russian stock, against the German landowners. In 1905, the first Russian revolution took place and the nationalist movement, socialist in nature, grew in strength. But this revolution faltered and the Russian Empire survived."

Last updated: 16 November 2016

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Wed, 11 December
Large crowds gathered to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses. But he often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 5:12-16
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