From Pentecost to 'inner healing': religious change and Pentecostal developments in the post-socialist Lithuanian Catholic milieu

Authors

• Saulius Matulevicius Vytautas Magnus University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30664/ar.67564

Keywords:

Pentecostalism, Christianity, Baltic States, Revivals, Religious change, Catholic Charismatic Renewal, Lithuania, Healing, Soviet Union, Piety

Abstract

In this article the author describes the religious change that took place in the Catholic milieu of post-Soviet Lithuania. Following the arrival of global Pentecostal trends to the country a Catholic form of Pentecostalism, known as Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) also arrived. The author describes what changes the CCR brought and how the Pentecostal developments paved the way for this other movement to emerge. Dynamic developments of the CCR unexpectedly took a turn towards the discourse and practice of healing, which triggered the emergence of another movement, known as the Inner Healing Movement (IHM). Being inseparable from its Pentecostal roots the movement, nevertheless, has become a vernacular, specifically Catholic, practice which no longer seeks for the signs of Pentecostal authenticity but redefines the Pentecostal message, directing it towards healing discourses and practices.