J.A. Freijs
Jānis Aleksandrs Freijs (29 December 1863 – 24 March 1950) was a Latvian Baptist pastor, publisher, editor and civic leader. For Latvian-speaking Protestants he was one of the central religious and cultural figures of the late 19th and early 20th century. He founded one of the most important Latvian Baptist publishing houses, edited widely read journals, helped organize the Latvian Baptist church and its theological seminary, and represented Latvian Baptists internationally.
Although he never emigrated to Brazil, his preaching and publishing in Riga and Dinaminde shaped the spiritual life of the first Latvian Baptist colonists in Rio Novo and other Brazilian settlements, who had been members of his congregations and readers of his literature.
Early Life and Education (1863–1880)
Jānis Aleksandrs Freijs was born on 29 December 1863 in Sudinči village, Šiauliai district (Šauļu apriņķis) in the Kaunas Governorate of the Russian Empire (today Lithuania), into the family of Kārlis and Šarlote Freijs as their first child.
In his childhood the family moved to Riga, where Freijs attended the elementary school of Riga’s St Martin’s Church (Rīgas Mārtiņa baznīcas elementārskola) from 1873 to 1877 and then the Riga city boys’ school in Āgenskalns. Alongside his schooling he worked as an apprentice in the mechanical workshops of V. Koch, and later obtained the right to work as a teacher largely through self-study.
Conversion and Early Ministry (1880–1893)
Freijs turned to the Baptist faith in 1880. In the late 1870s he taught at the Daugavgrīva Baptist congregation’s primary school, and from 1883 he served as preacher (sludinātājs) in the Daugavgrīva Baptist Church, one of the key early Latvian Baptist congregations.
In 1885 he also briefly pastored the Apšuciems congregation, and in 1890 became pastor of the Āgenskalns Baptist Church in Riga. Between 1893 and 1894 he simultaneously served several congregations (Ciāna, Seminārs, and others) and began to lead the Baptist theological training that would later crystalize into a formal seminary.
Freijs married Jūlija Kaldovska (1862–1902) in 1884; the couple had six sons and two daughters. After Jūlija’s death he married Ludmila Dinsberga (1883–1974) in 1903, who would later be remembered as his close co-worker and support in both ministry and exile.
Publisher, Bookseller and Author
Founding of the publishing house
In 1885 Freijs established his own publishing house (Jāņa Aleksandra Freija apgāds). By the late 1890s the press operated from Nometņu iela 20, and from 1899 from L. Ķēniņu iela 28 in Riga.
In 1906 the printing house and bindery were transferred to the ownership of the Latvian Baptist congregational society and reorganized as the firm “J. A. Freijs un biedri” (“J. A. Freijs and partners”), with Freijs remaining as director.
According to later bibliographic work, Freijs’s press produced over 850 different publications with total print runs exceeding three million copies—an enormous output for Latvian religious publishing of the period, with some individual editions reaching up to 40,000 copies and many being reprinted.
Technical innovation
Freijs was one of the earliest adopters of modern printing technology in the region. His press is credited as the first in the Russian Empire to install Linotype typesetting machines. Freijs personally learned to operate them in Germany and trained typesetters in their use, significantly increasing the efficiency of Latvian-language printing.
Bookshop and distribution network
Alongside publishing, Freijs built up a broad distribution system:
- From 1899 he operated a bookshop, initially at L. Ķēniņu iela 28.
- In 1910 he built a new building at Aleksandra iela 13 (today Brīvības iela) in central Riga, where he housed both the bookstore and the publishing house.
- He organized a colporteur network to distribute Baptist literature across Latvian-speaking areas and among emigrant communities, including those in Brazil and other countries, who maintained contact with his Riga press.
The bookshop and press functioned at Brīvības iela 13 until they were liquidated on 1 January 1914.
Religious Writings and Children’s Literature
From the 1880s onward, Freijs was prolific as an author and translator of religious texts. He wrote sermons, doctrinal works, devotional literature and books for children, often with strong didactic and biblical themes.
Key works include:
- “Spalvas bultām jeb arī: garīgas mācības dabīgās bildēs priekš sludinātājiem, reliģijas skolotājiem un famīlijas tēviem” (1885) – a collection of “feather arrows,” or illustrative spiritual lessons for preachers, religious teachers and family fathers.
- “Baltijas baptisti un Bunde jeb Baltijas baptistu tagadējs stāvoklis” (1887) – a survey of Baptist life and doctrine in the Baltic region.
- “Zeme, kur Jēzus staigāja” (1895) – a travelogue and devotional work about the Holy Land, written after his 1894 three-month journey through Palestine, Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. The book, together with its children’s version “Bērna ceļojums pa Svēto zemi”, achieved notable success: it was translated into Estonian, Lithuanian, Russian and German, with combined print runs of about 35,000 copies.
- “Svētdienas skolotāja padomnieks” (1906) – guidance for Sunday School teachers.
- Children’s books such as “Bērnu draugs” (1885), “Bērnu pajumta” (1896), “Bērnu atpūta” (1897) and “Bērnu pasaule” (1890), which presented biblical lessons through simple stories and poems for young readers.
Later scholarship on Latvian religious literature has singled out Freijs’s children’s writings as important for shaping the faith and imagination of Baptist children in the early 20th century.
Editor and Baptist Organizer
Periodicals
Freijs used periodicals to build a Latvian Baptist public sphere. He served as editor and publisher of:
- “Jaunības Draugs” (“Friend of Youth”, 1904–1914), a monthly for young readers;
- “Avots” (“The Source”, 1905–1914), a newspaper;
- “Svētdienas Skolnieks” (“Sunday School Student”, 1906–1913), a supplement to Avots aimed at Sunday School pupils.
These publications combined religious teaching, news from Baptist congregations, and broader social commentary, and they circulated both in Latvia and among Latvian Baptist diasporas abroad.
Baptist leadership and seminary
Freijs held leading positions in the Baptist movement:
- In 1893 he was elected chair of the Latvian Baptist Union (Latviešu baptistu draudžu savienība).
- He was one of the initiators of a Baptist theological school and, after Latvia’s independence, founded the Riga Baptist Theological Seminary (Rīgas baptistu draudžu garīgais seminārs) in 1922, serving as its director until 1930. Contemporary accounts by colleagues later recalled his warmth, humor and seriousness, describing him as an original personality and one of the best speakers among Latvian Baptist ministers.
Civic and Political Activity
Freijs was active in Riga’s broader civic life. He served as a member of the Riga City Council and participated in organizations such as the Riga Latvian Society (Rīgas Latviešu biedrība).
In 1914, as a city councillor, he successfully pushed for the city of Riga to donate a plot of land on Kurzemes iela (today Mārupes iela) 14 for the construction of a Baptist prayer house.
During the First World War, in 1915, he was deported to Siberia by the Russian authorities. After the February Revolution he returned, spending 1917 in Moscow and Petrograd, and then in December 1917, under German occupation, he was elected to the Vidzeme Land Council (Vidzemes Zemes padome).
International Engagement and Honors
From 1920 to 1921 Freijs travelled in the United States, where he both represented Latvian Baptist interests and promoted the cause of newly independent Latvia, seeking financial support for the theological seminary in Riga.
He held high offices in the Baptist World Alliance (Pasaules Baptistu savienība):
- Vice-president (1920–1923),
- Member of the Executive Committee (1923–1928), and took part in Alliance congresses in 1923 and 1928. In 1923 the University of Redlands in California awarded him an honorary doctorate in theology (Doctor of Theology honoris causa) and employed him as a visiting teacher.
For his contributions to religious life and society, the Latvian state decorated him with the Order of the Three Stars, 3rd Class, in 1932.
Links to Latvian Emigration and Brazil
Freijs played an indirect but important role in the spiritual life of Latvian emigrant communities in Brazil, particularly the Rio Novo Latvian Baptist colony in Santa Catarina.
Many of the families who founded the Rio Novo colony in the 1890s had previously belonged to Riga and Dinaminde Baptist churches, where Freijs served as pastor and whose members read literature from his publishing house in Riga.
Historical accounts from Rio Novo describe how the colonists, worried about the state of their church life, wrote to “brother Freijs” in Riga asking for his advice and mediation in finding a worker for their congregation. At that time Freijs was pastor of the Dinaminde church and director of a Christian publishing house; the emigrants still saw him as their spiritual shepherd.
In early 1897, Freijs informed them that his collaborator at the publishing house, now an evangelist, Jānis (Jahnis) Inkis, had departed for Brazil. Inkis arrived in Rio Novo on 24 June 1897 and became a key figure in reorganizing and revitalizing the Latvian Baptist church there.
Thus, while Freijs himself never travelled to Brazil, his pastoral care, correspondence and publishing work directly shaped the early decades of Latvian Baptist life in Rio Novo and other colonies such as Ijuí (Rio Grande do Sul), Mãe Luzia and Guarani, which maintained contact with his Riga press.
War, Exile and Final Years
During the First World War, as noted, Freijs was deported to Siberia from 1915 to 1917. After returning to Riga he resumed pastoral work in the Āgenskalns congregation (1917–1920) and later in the Seminary congregation (Semināra draudze) from 1922 to 1930, in parallel with directing the theological seminary.
Illness gradually forced him to withdraw from active leadership after 1930, although he remained a respected figure among Baptist pastors and laypeople. Colleagues later recalled that even during years of sickness he bore his suffering without complaint and retained a deep inner peace grounded in his faith.
During the Second World War he moved from Riga to Piltene (Kurzeme). He died there on 24 March 1950 at the age of 86 and was buried in Ventspils Meža Cemetery.
Selected Works
Doctrinal and historical works
- Spalvas bultām jeb arī: garīgas mācības dabīgās bildēs priekš sludinātājiem, reliģijas skolotājiem un famīlijas tēviem (1885)
- Baltijas baptisti un Bunde jeb Baltijas baptistu tagadējs stāvoklis (1887)
- Svētdienas skolotāja padomnieks (1906)
Devotional and travel writing
- Zeme, kur Jēzus staigāja (1895)
- Bērna ceļojums pa Svēto zemi (1895, children’s version)
Children’s books
- Bērnu draugs (1885)
- Bērnu pajumta (1896)
- Bērnu atpūta (1897)
- Bērnu pasaule (1890)
Sources and Links
[1]: https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%81nis_Aleksandrs_Freijs
[2]: https://www.23hq.com/rionovo/photo/5437501
[3]: https://www.literatura.lv/en/persons/janis-aleksandrs-freijs
[4]: https://www.lbds.lv/zinas/j-a-freijam--150-j-risam--130
[5]: https://rionovo.wordpress.com/tag/origens-da-colonia/