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In Memoriam Māris Ķirsons
On January 19, Pastor Emeritus Māris Ķirsons, pastor of Mērsrags Parish, passed away.
He was born in 1940 in Jaunauce, he fled Latvia with his family in 1944.
In 1963, he earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, subsequently serving in various Latvian congregations in the U.S. (Chicago and Philadelphia) and Canada (Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary). He was elected as the administrative Head of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (LELBA). In 2005, he was the conceptual author of the film "Our Father …", which depicted the fate of the Lutheran Church in occupied Latvia and in Latvian exile settlements after World War II.
Since 2015, he served in the Mērsrags Parish of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was well known as therapist for the U.S. Minnesota 12-step addiction treatment program. He was awarded the Latvian State Order of the Three Stars and was a member of the Ventonia fraternity.
He gained worldwide attention on 11 November 1980, in Madrid (Spain), where during a demonstration he let his blood flow from needles in his veins onto the flag of the USSR, while demanding freedom and independence for the Baltic States.
Funeral service, commemorating Pastor Māris Ķirsons, will be led by Archbishop Jānis Vanags of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia at the Riga Dome Cathedral on 1 February 2025.
We express our condolences to his loved ones.
Pastor Māris Ķirsons, demanding freedom and independence for the Baltic States, lets blood flow from his veins on the flag of the USSR. Madrid, Spain, 11 November 1980. Photo from the G. Zēgners’ private collection.
The exposition of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia displays information about the protest action of Pastor Māris Ķirsons.
Launch of the "Baltic Freedom and Peace Ship" campaign in Copenhagen. From the left – Gintaras Grušas (now head of the Consistory of the Catholic Church of Lithuania), Swedish journalist of Estonian origin Andres Küng, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the "Baltic Freedom and Peace Ship" Māris Graudiņš, Pastor Māris Ķirsons. Photo from the Collection of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia.
Pastor Māris Ķirsons on Christmas Day 2023. Photo from LELB Mērsrags Parish.
From pastor's private archive. 2024.
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