The Hill of Crosses

This hill of crosses in Lithuania is apparently well known. It has often been used as an illustration of how Christianity could not be conquered by communism. The tradition began in 1831 when several oppressed Christians in Lithuania planted wooden hand made crosses on the hill. The communists tried time and time again to destroy these symbols of faith and would guard the hill, they’d even put people in jail if they were caught trying to plant a cross there. Those determined Lithuanians still managed to secretly plant them there without the communists catching them. After communism fell and Lithuania gained its independence the crosses kept coming. There are supposedly over 50 thousand crosses there right now and the hill has become a tourist attraction.

I remember my grandfather telling me about the hill several times. He was a true Lithuanian patriot, very proud of his people and anything that they accomplished as a culture. At the local Lithuanian Cemetery in Mississauga there's a replica Hill of Crosses. Any time we'd go to the Lithuanian church, Tutty would ask if we wanted to go visit the hill. As a child, walking through the cemetery wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend my Sunday afternoon; thankfully my grandma knew how to directly tell him “no". We never went to see the hill.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the cemetery, and decided to go check out this replica Hill of Crosses that Tutty had talked about so many times. It was a bit of a hike away from where Tutty's grave is located, but I really wanted to see this sight. So I trudged through the snow. I must say it was pretty cool. There are over 100 crosses on this mini hill. There were some plain, some intricately designed in wood, some made of iron or copper, some gold, one was even encased in glass and had a little scene of the crucifixion in the centre.

I got to thinking about what the Hill of Crosses represents. Ever since I became a "Christian" in the evangelical sense of the word, I thought that the Hill of Crosses was indeed an awesome symbol of faith. A couple of years ago the Hill even came up in a Lenten devotional book that I was reading. (I've been trained to get excited whenever Lithuania is mentioned because really no one knows where it is or even that it exists as a country. So when it's mentioned it's a big deal.) I believe the tradition of the Hill of Crosses started as a message of persevering faith, but somehow it's become more of a shrine to freedom. I wonder how many people really put those crosses there as an act of genuine faith. Are the crosses more of a statement of freedom? Do those crosses really represent true faith in Christ or were they put there as a symbolic act of religious freedom?

Today at Church a man from Poland spoke about his ministry. Poland is very similar to Lithuania in that both countries are strongly routed in Roman Catholicism. There are a lot of people in Eastern Europe including Lithuanians who are "religious"; a lot of what they would call "faith" is based on symbolic religious acts - acts like publicly placing a cross on a hill.

At first glance the Hill is beautiful because it represents hope and the fact that the cross of Christ can never be conquered, but knowing a bit about the culture that it stems from, the Hill of Crosses may be more of an indication of the many lost “religious” people in countries like Lithuania. Do those 50 000 crosses in Lithuania and the 100 or so here in Mississauga represent the Christ I know and love? Or do they really represent the many Lithuanian people who lack a real understanding of salvation and what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Sadly I think it's the latter. Now the big question - what am I going to do about that?