Lithuania Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in Lithuania, go to the Religious Records page.

Ancestry.com

 * Lithuania: Birth Records from Various Towns, 1822-1940 (not all years). Index. Incomplete. ($)
 * Lithuania: Death Records from Various Towns, 1845-1940 (not all years). Index. Incomplete. ($)
 * Lithuania: Marriage and Divorce Records from Various Towns, 1855-1940 (not all years). Index. Incomplete.($)

ePaveldas: Online Catholic Church Records

 * ePaveldas Lithuanian Cultural Heritage Collection is a digital repository and collection of items of Lithuanian heritage and culture, includes almost 4,000 Roman Catholic Church register books. Images, no index. Incomplete.
 * To learn how to use the Online Catholic Church Records available at ePaveldas, check out the "How to" Guide.
 * First, read through the [[Media:1-Lithuania_Online_Records-Instruction.pdf|Instructions]].
 * Then test your knowledge with the short [[Media:2-Lithuania-Online_Records-Assignment.pdf|Assignment]].
 * The [[Media:3-Lithuania-Online_Records-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]] is provided to check your answers.

Map of Links to Church Records
This map shows which churches have online records.
 * Click on Skaitmeninis bažnyčių žemėlapis (Digital map of churches)
 * Click on the third tab, Search by sources of church metrics (Paieška pagal bažnytininų metrikų šaltinius)]
 * On the map, places with the red church symbol have known sources online. Places with the gray church symbols do not have records online.
 * Click on the red church icon for a town, and it will link to a list of available online records and where they are found. The list can be two pages with the first page quite blank, and the info you need on the second page. An arrow ">" on the far right takes you to the second page.
 * On the second page is a list of "Related records". To the far right, the arrow ">" leads to a description page of the record.
 * On the description page "More info" takes you to images of the actual records.

Other Online Church Records

 * GenMetrika, Catholic Church birth and baptism register books.


 * Litwa-metryki cz. Lithuania vital records with online images. Map pins indicate villages from which records are available. Includes some records from Belarus.
 * Click the down arrow to the left of "Cz. I i II" to open the full list, which gives all these links.
 * Cz. I i II
 * Cz. III
 * Cz. IV
 * Cz. V
 * Cz. VI
 * Cz. VII
 * A list of records and links to descriptions and images will appear. Example:
 * KOMAJE
 * first book of deaths from 1894 to 1895 year. Description | see
 * 2nd book of deaths of the 19th century. Description | see
 * third book of births of the 20th century. And half Description | See
 * the 4th book of births from 1860 to 1866 year. Description | See
 * 5. book of births from 1866 to 1873 year. Description | See
 * Description and See are clickable links. See takes you to the images.


 * Pasvalia Includes Roman Catholic Church records for various years and places.
 * Click on tab "See All".
 * Click on tab "Metrikų knyga" (Metrical books).


 * Polish Archival resources online.
 * [[Media:1-Polish_State_Archives-Instruction.pdf|Instructions]]. Includes records for Polish regions now in Lithuania.

FindMyPast.com

 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages,, index and images, ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, index and images, ($)

Historical Background
According to the 2011 census, the predominant religion in Lithuania is Christianity, with the largest confession being that of the Catholic Church (about 77% of the population).[2] There are smaller groups of Orthodox Christians, Evangelical Lutherans, members of Reformed churches, other Protestants, Jews and Muslims as well as people of other religions. The first census in independent Lithuania, in 1923, established the fallowing religious distribution: Catholic — 85.7 per cent; Jews — 7.7 per cent; Protestant — 3.8 per cent; Greek Orthodox — 2.7 per cent.

The Catholic Church has claimed the adherence of the majority of Lithuanians since the Christianization of Lithuania in the 14th and 15th centuries. Lithuania kept its Catholic identity under the Russian Empire and later under the Soviet Union when some Catholic priests led the resistance against the Communist regime, which is commemorated in the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, a shrine to the anti-communist resistance.

The center of Greek Catholic life in Lithuania is the Basilian Monastery and Church of the Holy Trinity in Vilnius. In the past, the monastery was multiethnic but now serves a mostly Ukrainian community.

Protestants are 0.8%, of which 0.6% are Lutheran and 0.2% are Reformed. According to Losch (1932), the Lutherans were 3.3% of the total population; they were mainly Germans in the Memel territory (now Klaipėda). There was also a tiny Reformed community (0.5%) which still persists. Protestantism has declined with the removal of the German population, and today it is mainly represented by ethnic Lithuanians throughout the northern and western parts of the country, as well as large urban areas. Believers and clergy suffered greatly during the Soviet occupation, with many killed, tortured or deported to Siberia. Newly arriving evangelical churches have established missions in Lithuania since 1990.

General: 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 Lithuania is Roman Catholic. There are small groups of Evangelical and Reformed Protestants, Russian Orthodox, Jews, and Old Believer Orthodox. The priests made a transcript of their records for the ecclesiastical court (dukhovnaia konsistoriia) having jurisdiction. Jewish transcripts were filed with the local town council (gorodskaia duma). 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 Lithuanian record keepers.

Time period: Roman Catholic, 1613 (transcripts begin in 1826); Orthodox, 1722; Greek Catholic, 1796; Evangelical/other Protestant, 1641(transcripts begin in 1833); Jews, 1835; Old Believers, 1874; Baptists, 1879–all to 1949.

Location: State Historical Archive in Vilnius, Civil Registration Archive, Vilnius (records after 1915).

Population coverage: 70% coverage for early periods, 90% from about 1830 through the 1940s when civil registration began, 50% among minority religions and dissident groups such as Old Believers and Baptists.

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:

How to Find Records
Start with Online Resources and Websites above.

Digital Copies of Church Records in the FamilySearch Catalog
Watch for digitized copies of church records to be added to the collection of the FamilySearch Library. Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations. To find records:
 * a. Click on the records of Lithuania.
 * b. Click on Places within Lithuania 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.

Writing for Records
You will probably need to write to or email the diocese, or local parish priests to find more recent records not deposited in the National Archives. Use Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters. Then use a Lithuanian translation service.
 * Maps.me Church Listings for Lithuania
 * Google Maps search results for churches in Lithuania Be sure to scroll through all the pages.  There will be several pages with 20 entries each.

Writing to a Local Parish
To locate the mailing address or e-mail address for a local parish, consult:
 * The Catholic Directory: Lithuania
 * Google Maps search results for Catholic churches in Lithuania Be sure to scroll through all the pages.  There will be several pages with 20 entries each.