In February 1387 the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Jogaila, returned to his capital city of Vilnius bearing a new name, Władysław, and sporting the white robe of the newly baptised. The last pagan ruler in Europe, who had accepted the crown of Poland at the price of becoming a Christian, was intent on bringing Europe’s last pagan state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, into the fold of Christendom. According to the chroniclers, King Władysław brought with him Polish priests and soldiers, who carried axes and set about publicly cutting down the sacred oaks that the Lithuanians worshipped. The pagan Lithuanians looked on, dumbfounded, as the Poles laid the axe to their sacred groves with apparent impunity. After the mass baptisms, when the priests sprinkled water over Lithuanians in groups of hundreds, those who wanted to show their loyalty to the new faith – and to the Grand Duke – took up the axe themselves to attack the trees. The creature was no longer to be worshipped, but the Creator; and the gods had been shown powerless against the servants of the new God of the Christians. Within a few decades, the formerly sacred forests set aside for the gods were re-purposed for timber, for charcoal-burning and for the extraction of bark, and the process of mass deforestation commenced. By the end of the 17th century many species that had once enjoyed protection as sacred animals in the Lithuanian forests, such as the aurochs and European bison, had either gone extinct or were on the verge of annihilation.
One thing - of the very many - I'd like to say is that I'm a bit surprised you don't talk about the place for fairies in Christianity. The idea that spirits had to be either angels or demons - and spirits of nature must be demons - where does that fit into the story?
As a former active Christian, this is really thought provoking. One of the many reasons I ventured into paganism was to heal the breach I felt Christianity had with the natural world. I didn't want to believe that Creation was made to serve us: I wanted to believe that we were all part of a greater creative purpose. The light of god is in all of us and every living thing. I still strive to exist in an enchanted world.
One thing - of the very many - I'd like to say is that I'm a bit surprised you don't talk about the place for fairies in Christianity. The idea that spirits had to be either angels or demons - and spirits of nature must be demons - where does that fit into the story?
As a former active Christian, this is really thought provoking. One of the many reasons I ventured into paganism was to heal the breach I felt Christianity had with the natural world. I didn't want to believe that Creation was made to serve us: I wanted to believe that we were all part of a greater creative purpose. The light of god is in all of us and every living thing. I still strive to exist in an enchanted world.