Zbigņevs Stankevičs

Zbigņevs Stankevičs (* February 15, 1955 in the town of Gulbene, Latvia) is Archbishop of Riga.

Life

After graduation in 1973 Zbigņevs Stankevičs took on an engineering degree at the Polytechnic Institute in Riga. As a specialist in automatic control systems, he completed this in 1978 and worked until 1990 in a shipyard.

In the same year he began the study of theology at the Theological Faculty of the Catholic University of Lublin. On 16 June 1996 he was Jānis Pujats, archbishop of Riga, ordained a priest. From 1996 to 2001 he worked as an assistant priest in the pastoral care and spiritual director of the seminary of the Archdiocese of Riga. He was appointed Vicar at St. Jacob's Cathedral in Riga 2001. Posted by his archbishop to Rome, he studied fundamental theology at the Pontifical Lateran University, where he first earned a licentiate and was awarded his doctorate in 2008 with a dissertation on Bernhard Welte. Back in Latvia, he was rector of the seminary of the Archdiocese of Riga, where he taught as a professor at the same time. In 2009 he also took over the management of the Religious Studies Institute in Riga.

On June 19, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI appointed. Zbigņevs Stankevičs Archbishop of Riga. On August 8, 2010, he was consecrated by his predecessor Jānis Pujats in the St. Jacob's Cathedral in Riga bishop.

Zbigņevs Stankevičs is as Archbishop of Riga and Metropolitan of the other three dioceses Latvian Liepaja, Rezekne - Aglona and Jelgava.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows on a red background, a golden dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, through the " Terra Mariana " ( " Mary's Land " - a frequently used term in the Middle Ages of the Baltic States) descends. Under the wavy line on a sand-colored background in the red letters T and M = Terra Mariana, and in the golden circle, the monogram of Christ XP - Chi -Rho.

Meaning of the colors: Gold = the divine, divinity; Red = fire of the Holy Spirit, martyrdom, cleaning; Sand = Latvian soil, sea and sand.

Standing behind the sign, the patriarchal cross, above the green Galero ( bishop's miter ) with the ten green tassels hanging down ( fiocchi ). Under the sign of the pallium metropolitans.

His motto is: Fortitude et laus mea Dominus - ( My strength and my courage is the Lord ) (Ex 15.2 EU).

Writings

  • Transizione epocale e rivelazione. La modernità come questione Teológica nel pensiero di B. Welte. Lateran Pontifical University, Rome 2008 ( dissertation).
  • Dove va l' Occidente? La profezia di Bernhard Welte. Citta Nuova, Rome, 2009. ISBN 978-88-311-3299-2.
745472
de