Tomas Šernas (born 28 April 1962 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

) is a former

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n customs officer and the only survivor of the Medininkai Massacre on 31 July 1991. He survived the point-blank shot to his head, but became disabled. After extensive medical treatment and rehabilitation, Šernas graduated from theological studies at

Klaipėda University Klaipėda University ( or KU) is a university in the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. Overview Klaipėda University was formally founded on 1 January 1991, by a decree of the Seimas (the Lithuanian parliament). The new university incorpora ...

and joined the

Reformed churches Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian ...

as a parson of the Vilnius parish. In 2010, he was elected for a three-year term as the General Superintendent of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania.Medininkų žudynes išgyvenęs T.Šernas tapo Lietuvos evangelikų reformatų bažnyčios vadovu

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Biography

Born to a family of music teachers, Šernas studied veterinary in

Buivydiškės Buivydiškės is a village in Vilnius district municipality, Lithuania. According to the 2011 census, it had 1,314 residents. Buivydiškės Manor was first mentioned in 1593. The village has a technical school for agronomy and zootechnics, establis ...

. After graduation in 1983, he was drafted to the

Soviet army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

and served two years in aviation security in

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

.Tomas Šernas. Biografijos faktai
. Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania. After the army he enrolled into the

Lithuanian Veterinary Academy Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (, LSMU) is a medical school in Kaunas, Lithuania. The present-day Lithuanian University of Health Sciences is a consolidation of two institutions of higher education, Kaunas University of Medicine and th ...

and worked at

Kaunas Zoo Lithuanian Zoological Garden () previously known as Kaunas' Zoological Garden () is the oldest scientific zoo in Lithuania. It is located in an Ąžuolynas oak grove park in the south-western Žaliakalnis elderate of Kaunas. The territory of the ...

. In 1990, he volunteered for pro-independence

Sąjūdis The Sąjūdis (, ), initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania (), is a political organisation which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on 3 June 1988 as the first oppositi ...

and joined newly established State Border Guard Service. After Lithuania declared independence from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in March 1990, newly built border posts became a symbol of independence. These posts were targeted by Soviet OMON forces – custom officers and policemen were harassed or beaten, cars were stolen or bombed, the posts were burned down or wrecked.History of the SBGS
State Border Guard Service (SBGS). On 31 July 1991

OMON OMON is a system of military special police units within the Armed Forces of Russia. It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and Russian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD). Originating as the special forces unit of the So ...

troops from

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

executed seven officers in

Medininkai Medininkai (; ; , old ) is a village in Lithuania. Administrationwise it is centre to the :lt:Medininkų seniūnija, Medininkai Eldership, which forms part of the Vilnius District Municipality; the district itself is in turn part of the Vilnius C ...

checkpoint on the Lithuanian–

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian border. Severely injured Šernas was the only survivor. He suffered brain damage and became disabled. After several years of intense therapy, he regained speech and body movement, even though he still uses a wheelchair. In 1997, he enrolled into

and received a bachelor's degree in evangelical theology. He continued the religious studies at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

, earning a master's degree in 2002. On 30 June 2002 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a priest in Vilnius and headed the Vilnius parish. Several times he was elected as vice-superintendent of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania. In June 2010 he was elected as General Superintendent for a three-year term.

Biography

References

Further reading