INTER-CONFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN THE BALTIC REGION IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURIES

The article deals with international and inter-confessional relations in the Baltic provinces of the Russian empire. The most part of the population in that region confessed the Evangelic-Lutheran faith. Although Orthodoxy was official confession in the empire, the local Orthodox residents, who made up minority in the region and dwelt in alien confessional environment, experienced certain difficulties in their everyday and social life. Local civil and diocesan authorities had to make efforts in order to support the local Orthodox people and protect them against pressure exerted by the Lutheran nobility and clergy.