Latvia Church Records

For information regarding Jewish research, please see Latvia Jewish Records.

Historical Background
The Latvian polling agency SKDS has gathered information regarding the religious affiliation of Latvia over the years. In 2018, 26% of the population was Orthodox, 20% identified as Catholic while 17% was Lutheran, and 3% were Old Believers. 14% believed in God without being affiliated to any religion, while 15% declared himself as atheist. A further 3% belonged to other Christian sects or religions.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia currently has 708,773 members while the Catholic Church in Latvia has 430,000 members. Historically, the west and central parts of the country have been predominantly Protestant, while the east – particularly the Latgale region – has been predominantly Catholic, although Catholics are now common in Riga and other cities due to migration from Latgale.

Historically, Lutherans were the majority, but Communist rule weakened Lutheranism much more than Catholicism, with the result that there are now only slightly more Lutherans than Catholics. The Latvian Orthodox Church is semi-autonomous and has 370,000 members. Orthodoxy predominates among the Latvian Russian population.

The Church acted as both a religious and civil agent in recording vital events and church sacraments such as baptism and burial. The traditional Christian faith of Latvia is Lutheran. There were also substantial groups of Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox; and smaller groups of Old Believers, Baptists, Greek Catholic and Reformed. There was also a Jewish population. For information regarding Jewish research, please see Latvia Jewish Records.

The priest made a transcript for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. In 1832, the Lutheran Church required that duplicate records be kept for the Vidzeme, Kurzeme (Courland) and Zemgale (Semingallia)territories. Old Believer and Baptist transcripts were sent to the provincial administration (gubernskoe upravlenie). The distinction between the original and the transcript is often ignored by Latvian record keepers. Church records cover about 70% of the population for early periods and about 1830 through the 1920s when civil registration began. Coverage drops to 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.

Accessing Records
Most records prior to 1910 are available through the Latvian State Historical Archive's digital reading room, Raduraksti, however records may also be available through FamilySearch, indexed on Ciltskoki, or need to be obtained from a parish office in Latvia. For information specific to each religion, please see the headings below.

Evangelical Lutheran/Protestant (also includes Reformed)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia sees itself as being in a continuous tradition of Christian life since the earliest recorded Christian missionary work in the area, in the 12th century. Latvia was highly influenced by the Reformation and the style of Lutheran church which emerged followed the more Protestant German-type Lutheranism, rather than the episcopal or Nordic-type Lutheranism that emerged in Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Finland.

Since the fall of communism, the church has experienced massive growth and expansion. A special Synod in April 1989, following the return to post-communist independence, established a network of revived congregations, and put in place an almost entirely new leadership.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia reports that there are 136 pastors and 86 evangelists serving its 300 congregations. In 2013, the estimated baptized membership was 250,000. In comparison, the independent Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad has 25,020 baptized members.

Digital Images
Raduraksti


 * Digital images of Lutheran records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. For help using this website, check out the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

FamilySearch Catalog


 * There may also be records available through the FamilySearch Catalog.


 * a. Click here to access catalog entries for Latvia.
 * b. Click on Places within Latvia and a list of towns will appear.
 * c. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.
 * d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records. A camera with a key on top means the record is viewable but with certain restrictions that may mean the record can only be viewed at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, a Family History Center, or FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Take a look at the Family History Center Finder to discover a location near you.

Be aware that Lutheran records filmed in the 1940s from the Zentralstelle für Genealogie in Leipzig may be difficult to use. Catalog entries note: “l.s.-r.s.” in the description. This is shorthand for “left side – right side”, meaning that the left-hand pages were filmed separately from the right-hand pages. This can be tricky if the entries go across both pages. Often the year will be written only on one side, while the parents’ names are written on the other side of the page. In this case, you will need to begin you research on the side that has the names. Good note keeping is imperative! Each frame has a frame number stamped above the image. Note this number, left side or right side of the page, and which entry on the page is of interest. Then find the matching frame on the opposite side and match up your information. The frame numbers may be off by one, depending on which side of the page received the first number.

Indexed Records

 * Records for your parish might be indexed on the Latvian site Ciltskoki. To learn how to use this resource, use the Ciltskoki: Indexed Records from Raduraksti "How to" Guide.

Reading Records
Lutheran records were primarily recorded in German, although you may find records in the late 1800s to early 1900s recorded in Russian.

For help reading German language records, please see the following resources:


 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Germany Handwriting
 * Old German Script Learning Center Class
 * German Paleography Seminar Learning Center Class

For help reading records written in Russian, please see the following resources:


 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Russia Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Alphabet Learning Center Class
 * Deciphering the Handwriting and Understanding the Grammar Learning Center Class

Writing for Records

 * Directory of Lutheran Parishes
 * Google Maps search results for Lutheran churches in Latvia

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Address: M.Pils iela 4 Riga, LV-1050, Latvia

Phone: +011 (371) 722-5406 Fax: +011 (371) 722-5436 E-mail: archbishop@lelb.lv


 * Website

Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church has been present in the area that now constitutes the Republic of Latvia since Saint Canute IV in the mid-11th century brought Christianity to Courland and Livonia and the first Christian church was built 1048 in Courland. Bishop Albert of Riga and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were the first to initiate organized Christianization of all the indigenous people in the early 13th century - at the time tribal cultures like the Curonians, the Latgallians, the Livs, the Selonians and the Semigallians.

Digital Images

 * Digital images of Catholic records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. To learn about this resource, please see the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

Indexed Records

 * Records for your parish might be indexed on the Latvian site Ciltskoki. For additional information, take a look at the Ciltskoki: Indexed Records from Raduraksti "How to" Guide.

Reading Records
Roman Catholic records were often written in Latin or Polish, although you may find records in the late 1800s to early 1900s recorded in Russian.

For help with records recorded in Polish, please see the following resource:


 * Polish Genealogical Word List

For help with Latin records, please see the following resources:


 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * Key Words and Phrases in Latin Records Learning Center Class
 * Latin for Genealogists Learning Center Class

For help reading records written in Russian, please see the following resources:


 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Russia Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Alphabet Learning Center Class
 * Deciphering the Handwriting and Understanding the Grammar Learning Center Class

Writing to a Local Parish

 * Earlier records can be held at the diocese and more recent records might still kept in the local parish (particularly records post 1910). To locate the mailing address or e-mail address for a diocese or local parish, consult: The Catholic Directory: Latvia

Orthodox
Orthodoxy was planted in Latvia in the 11th century, when it became a mission field of the diocese of Polotsk. The country remained mostly pagan until it was conquered in the 13th century by the Catholic Teutonic Order. Prior to this, however, part of prominent Latgalian noblemen and a large part of Latgalian people, in general, had converted to Orthodoxy voluntarily. There were Orthodox churches in Jersika from the evidence of the Livonian Chronicle; many church-related words came into pre-Latvian languages in that time. An Orthodox presence continued after the Teutonic Order conquest at least officially, in the form of churches for Russian merchants and others, but these were small communities among a majority of Catholics before 1525 and Lutherans afterwards.

After Latvia was annexed to the Russian Empire in the 18th century (most of Latvia, a result of the Great Northern War by the Treaty of Nystad, the Latgale region after the First Partition of Poland in 1772), Russian and Orthodox presence increased substantially, but the Orthodox Church remained foreign to the Latvians. The Latvian Orthodox Church, as a body including ethnic Latvians as well as Russians, dates back to the 1840s, when native Latvians petitioned Nicholas I of Russia to be allowed to conduct services in their native tongue. The Orthodox Church enjoyed some success in its missions among the Latvians due to its use of the Latvian language and by personal appeal of local Orthodox bishops, who sought to support native Latvian inhabitants, whose rights were limited by Baltic Germans. The predominantly German character of the Lutheran Church in Latvia was a factor in the movement of some 40,000 Latvians from the Lutheran to the Orthodox Church. When religious freedom was proclaimed in 1905, about 12,000 Latvians moved from Orthodoxy to Lutheranism; in most cases, this seems to have occurred because of mixed marriages and the difficulties of maintaining a religiously divided family.

On July 6, 1921, the Russian Orthodox Church granted autonomy (limited self-governance) to the Orthodox Church in Latvia, thus creating the Latvian Orthodox Church (named "Archidiocese of Riga and all Latvia").

The autonomy of the Latvian Orthodox Church was ended abruptly by the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, which was followed by the German Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1944, and a second Soviet annexation lasting from 1944 to 1991. The church suffered oppression during this period, as did organized religion throughout the Soviet Union, though this was partly mitigated from 1943 to 1948 (due to the support of the Church during World War II) and in the last years of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. In December 1992, the Latvian Orthodox Church was again proclaimed autonomous, preserving canonical ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Digital Images

 * Digital images of Orthodox records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. Please see the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

Indexed Records

 * Records for your parish might be indexed on the Latvian site Ciltskoki. For details on using this website, check out the Ciltskoki: Indexed Records from Raduraksti "How to" Guide.

Writing for Records

 * Google Maps search results for Latvian Orthodox churches in Latvia
 * Churches in the Diocese of Riga, select a deanery. Parish churches are translated as temples by Google Translate.
 * Churches in the Diocese of Daugavpils, select a deanery.

Digital Images

 * Digital images of Old Believers records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. Please see the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

Digital Images

 * Digital images of Baptist records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. To learn how to use this website, view the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

Digital Images

 * Digital images of Greek Catholic records prior to 1910 are available through Raduraksti. To learn how to use this website, view the Raduraksti: Online Latvian Church Records "How to" Guide.

Information Recorded in the Records
Different denominations, different time periods, and practices of different record keepers will effect how much information can be found in the records. This outline will show the types of details which might be found (best case scenario):

Baptisms
In Catholic and Anglican records, children were usually baptized a few days after birth, and therefore, the baptism record proves date of birth. Other religions, such as Baptists, baptized at other points in the member's life. Baptism registers might give:

Marriages
Marriage registers can give:

Burials
Burial registers may give:

Writing for Records
You will probably need to write to or email the national archives, the diocese, or local parish priests to find records. Use Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters. Then, use a Latvian translation service.


 * Maps.me Church Listings for Latvia
 * Google Maps search results for churches in Latvia Be sure to scroll through all the pages.  There will be several pages with 20 entries each.