The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (Polish: Polski Autokefaliczny Kościół Prawosławny), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. The church was established in 1924, to accommodate Orthodox Christians of Polish descent in the eastern part of the country, when Poland regained its independence after the First World War.
The church was established in 1924 after Poland regained independence, as the Second Polish Republic, following World War I in 1918. After the Polish–Soviet War and the Treaty of Riga of 1921, Poland secured control of a sizeable portion of its former eastern territories previously lost in the late-18th-century Partitions of Poland to the Russian Empire. Eastern Orthodoxy was widespread in the eastern provinces of interwar Poland. The loss of an ecclesiastical link, due to the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union, left the regional clergy in a crisis, and in 1924 the Ecumenical Patriarchate took over, establishing several autonomous churches on territories of the new states that were formerly wholly or partially part of the Russian Empire: Finland, the Baltic states, and Poland.[3] Earlier, in January 1922, the Polish government had issued an order recognizing the Orthodox church and placing it under the authority of the state. At that time a Ukrainian, Yurii Yaroshevsky, was appointed Metropolitan and exarch by the patriarch of Moscow. When Yaroshevsky began to reject the authority of Moscow Patriarchate, he was assassinated by a Russian monk.[4] Nonetheless, his successor, Dionizy (Waledyński), continued to work for the autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox church, which was finally granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in his Tomos of 13 November 1924.[5] Most of the parishioners were Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the eastern areas of the newly independent Polish Second Republic. The Patriarch of Constantinople has the only canonical basis to grant the Tomos to new autocephalous churches. Moscow Patriarchate interpretes this otherwise though and considers itself being a successor of the Kyiv Metropolia, the former territory of Kyivan Rus' which Constantinople continued to see as its canonical territory (having agreed to allow Moscow to be its caretaker in 1686).[6] The Russian Orthodox Church at the time did not recognise Constantinople's granting of Polish autocephaly. See History of Christianity in Ukraine#Territories gained by Pereyaslav Rada.
During the interwar period, however, the Polish authorities imposed severe restrictions on the church and its clergy. In the most famous example, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw was destroyed in the mid-1920s. In Volhynia a total of 190 Eastern Orthodox churches were destroyed and a further 150 converted to Catholicism.[7] Several court hearings against the Pochaiv Lavra also took place.[8]
After the Second World War, the pre-war eastern territories of Poland were annexed by the Soviet Union and included within the Lithuanian, Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs. The annexed territories contained up to 80% of the PAOC's parishes and congregation, which were united with the recently re-instated Moscow Patriarchate. The remaining parishes that were now on the territory of the Polish People's Republic were kept by the PAOC, including most of the mixed easternmost territories such as around Chełm and Białystok. In 1948, after the Soviet Union established political control over Poland, the Russian Orthodox Church recognised the autocephalous status of the Polish Orthodox Church.[4][9]
Although most of the congregation is historically centered in the Eastern borderland regions with considerable Belarusian and Ukrainian minorities, there are now many parishes across the country, as a result of Operation Vistula and other diaspora movements. There are also some adherents in Brazil, resulting from the 1989 canonical union between the hierarchy headed by Metropolitan Gabriel of Lisbon, formerly under the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece, and the Polish Orthodox Church.[10] The European bishops, however, have left the jurisdiction in 2000, which eventually resulted in senior Bishop Chrysostom being raised to archepiscopal dignity. There are now parishes in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco and Paraíba, plus a mission in Ceará[11] and a monastery in João Pessoa.[10][12]
In 2003, following the decision of the Holy Sobor of Bishops of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the New Martyrs of Chelm and Podlasie suffering persecution during the 1940s were canonized.[13]
Primates of the ChurchEdit
The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church was established in 1924. Traditionally the primate of the church has the title Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland.
Metropolitan George [pl] (Grzegorz Jaroszewski) – Archbishop of Warsaw (1921–1923) (Predecessor for establishment of the structure of Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church)
Metropolitan Dionysius (Konstanty Waledyński) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1923–1948)
Metropolitan Macarius [pl] (Michał Oksijuk) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1951–1959)
Metropolitan Timotheus [pl] (Jerzy Szretter) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1961–1962)
Metropolitan Stephen [pl] (Stepan Rudyk) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1965–1969)
Metropolitan Basil [pl] (Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1970–1998)
Metropolitan Sabbas (Michał Hrycuniak) – Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland (1998–present)
Titular Diocese of Supraśl: Gregory (Charkiewicz) (2008–), Vicar Bishop for Białystok and Gdańsk[15]
Titular Diocese of Siemiatycze: George (Mariusz) Pańkowski (2007–), Ordinary for the Polish Orthodox Military Ordinariate and Vicar Bishop for Warsaw and Bielsk
^ abGłówny Urząd Statystyczny, Mały Rocznik Statystyczny Polski 2016, Warszawa 2017, tab. 18(80), s. 115.
^Paweł Ciecieląg, Andrzej Datko, Bożena Łazowska, Piotr Łysoń, Paweł Milcarek, Wojciech Sadłoń: 1050 lat chrześcijaństwa w Polsce. Warszawa: GUS, 2016, s. 73. ISBN978-83-7027-606-5.
^M. Papierzyńska-Turek, Między tradycją a rzeczywistością. Państwo wobec prawosławia 1918–1939.
^ abInternet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Polish Autocephalous Orthodox church, accessed 2 June 2020.
^"Tomos". Orthodox Church of America - UAOC - Standing Episcopal Conference of Orthodox Bishops. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
^"Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: "As the Mother Church, it is reasonable to desire the restoration of unity for the divided ecclesiastical body in Ukraine" - News Releases - The Ecumenical Patriarchate". www.patriarchate.org. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
^Healy, R. and Dal Lago, E. The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe’s Modern Past.
^(in Ukrainian) ІСТОРИЧНА ВОЛИНЬ: Спроби ревіндикації луцького Свято-Троїцького собору
^Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations (14 September 2018). "Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the uncanonical intervention of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church". Retrieved 17 February 2021.
^(in Polish) Orthodox Diocese of Białystok and Gdańsk: Abp Jakub i Bp Grzegorz
External linksEdit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orthodox churches in Poland.
Polish Orthodox Church, official site
Polish Orthodox Church Unofficial Site (English)
Polish Orthodox Diocese of Przemyśl-Nowy Sącz (Polish)
Polish Orthodox Diocese of Lublin-Chełm (Polish)
Polish Orthodox Diocese of Białystok-Gdańsk (English)
Polish Orthodox Diocese of Wrocław-Szczecin (Polish)
(Polish)
(Portuguese)
Article by Ronald Roberson on the Polish Orthodox Church on CNEWA website
October 16, 2023
polish, orthodox, church, polish, autocephalous, orthodox, church, polish, polski, autokefaliczny, kościół, prawosławny, commonly, known, orthodox, church, poland, autocephalous, eastern, orthodox, churches, full, communion, church, established, 1924, accommod. The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church Polish Polski Autokefaliczny Kosciol Prawoslawny commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church or Orthodox Church of Poland is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion The church was established in 1924 to accommodate Orthodox Christians of Polish descent in the eastern part of the country when Poland regained its independence after the First World War Polish Autocephalous Orthodox ChurchPolski Autokefaliczny Kosciol PrawoslawnyCoat of armsClassificationEastern OrthodoxPrimateArchbishop of Warsaw and Metropolitan of All Poland Sawa Hrycuniak Bishops12Dioceses8Deaneries28Parishes278LanguagePolish Church SlavonicHeadquartersWarsaw PolandTerritoryPolandPossessionsBrazilFounderSs Cyril and MethodiusIndependence1924 1948RecognitionAutocephaly recognised in 1924 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and in 1948 by the Russian Orthodox Church Members504 400 2016 1 Official websitewww wbr orthodox wbr pl In total it has approximately 500 000 adherents 2016 1 In the Polish census of 2011 156 000 citizens declared themselves as members 2 Contents 1 History 1 1 Before 1945 1 2 Since 1945 2 Primates of the Church 3 Administration 3 1 Archdioceses and Archbishops 3 2 Titular Dioceses and Bishops 3 3 Other entities 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory EditBefore 1945 Edit nbsp Cathedral of St Mary Magdalene Warsaw the main Polish Orthodox Church nbsp Suprasl Orthodox Monastery in Suprasl founded by Aleksander ChodkiewiczThe church was established in 1924 after Poland regained independence as the Second Polish Republic following World War I in 1918 After the Polish Soviet War and the Treaty of Riga of 1921 Poland secured control of a sizeable portion of its former eastern territories previously lost in the late 18th century Partitions of Poland to the Russian Empire Eastern Orthodoxy was widespread in the eastern provinces of interwar Poland The loss of an ecclesiastical link due to the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union left the regional clergy in a crisis and in 1924 the Ecumenical Patriarchate took over establishing several autonomous churches on territories of the new states that were formerly wholly or partially part of the Russian Empire Finland the Baltic states and Poland 3 Earlier in January 1922 the Polish government had issued an order recognizing the Orthodox church and placing it under the authority of the state At that time a Ukrainian Yurii Yaroshevsky was appointed Metropolitan and exarch by the patriarch of Moscow When Yaroshevsky began to reject the authority of Moscow Patriarchate he was assassinated by a Russian monk 4 Nonetheless his successor Dionizy Waledynski continued to work for the autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox church which was finally granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in his Tomos of 13 November 1924 5 Most of the parishioners were Ukrainians and Belarusians living in the eastern areas of the newly independent Polish Second Republic The Patriarch of Constantinople has the only canonical basis to grant the Tomos to new autocephalous churches Moscow Patriarchate interpretes this otherwise though and considers itself being a successor of the Kyiv Metropolia the former territory of Kyivan Rus which Constantinople continued to see as its canonical territory having agreed to allow Moscow to be its caretaker in 1686 6 The Russian Orthodox Church at the time did not recognise Constantinople s granting of Polish autocephaly See History of Christianity in Ukraine Territories gained by Pereyaslav Rada During the interwar period however the Polish authorities imposed severe restrictions on the church and its clergy In the most famous example the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw was destroyed in the mid 1920s In Volhynia a total of 190 Eastern Orthodox churches were destroyed and a further 150 converted to Catholicism 7 Several court hearings against the Pochaiv Lavra also took place 8 Since 1945 Edit Further information Polish anti religious campaign 1945 1990 After the Second World War the pre war eastern territories of Poland were annexed by the Soviet Union and included within the Lithuanian Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs The annexed territories contained up to 80 of the PAOC s parishes and congregation which were united with the recently re instated Moscow Patriarchate The remaining parishes that were now on the territory of the Polish People s Republic were kept by the PAOC including most of the mixed easternmost territories such as around Chelm and Bialystok In 1948 after the Soviet Union established political control over Poland the Russian Orthodox Church recognised the autocephalous status of the Polish Orthodox Church 4 9 Although most of the congregation is historically centered in the Eastern borderland regions with considerable Belarusian and Ukrainian minorities there are now many parishes across the country as a result of Operation Vistula and other diaspora movements There are also some adherents in Brazil resulting from the 1989 canonical union between the hierarchy headed by Metropolitan Gabriel of Lisbon formerly under the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece and the Polish Orthodox Church 10 The European bishops however have left the jurisdiction in 2000 which eventually resulted in senior Bishop Chrysostom being raised to archepiscopal dignity There are now parishes in the states of Rio de Janeiro Pernambuco and Paraiba plus a mission in Ceara 11 and a monastery in Joao Pessoa 10 12 In 2003 following the decision of the Holy Sobor of Bishops of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church the New Martyrs of Chelm and Podlasie suffering persecution during the 1940s were canonized 13 Primates of the Church EditThe Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church was established in 1924 Traditionally the primate of the church has the title Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland Metropolitan George pl Grzegorz Jaroszewski Archbishop of Warsaw 1921 1923 Predecessor for establishment of the structure of Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church Metropolitan Dionysius Konstanty Waledynski Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1923 1948 Metropolitan Macarius pl Michal Oksijuk Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1951 1959 Metropolitan Timotheus pl Jerzy Szretter Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1961 1962 Metropolitan Stephen pl Stepan Rudyk Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1965 1969 Metropolitan Basil pl Wlodzimierz Doroszkiewicz Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1970 1998 Metropolitan Sabbas Michal Hrycuniak Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1998 present Administration EditPolish Orthodox Cathedrals examples nbsp Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Lodz nbsp Saint Nicholas Cathedral Bialystok nbsp Transfiguration Cathedral Lublin nbsp Nativity of Mary Cathedral Wroclaw The church is headed by the Archbishop of Warsaw and Metropolitan of All Poland Sawa Michal Hrycuniak 1998 It is divided into the following dioceses 14 Archdioceses and Archbishops Edit Archdiocese of Warsaw and Bielsk Sawa Hrycuniak Archdiocese of Bialystok and Gdansk Jakub Kostiuczuk 2008 Archdiocese of Lodz and Poznan Atanazy Nos 2017 Archdiocese of Wroclaw and Szczecin George Pankowski 2017 Archdiocese of Lublin and Chelm Abel Poplawski 2001 Archdiocese of Przemysl and Gorlice Paisius Martyniuk 2016 Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro and Olinda Recife Chrysostom Freire 1992 Diocese of Recife Ambrose Cubas 1996 Titular Dioceses and Bishops Edit Titular Diocese of Suprasl Gregory Charkiewicz 2008 Vicar Bishop for Bialystok and Gdansk 15 Titular Diocese of Siemiatycze George Mariusz Pankowski 2007 Ordinary for the Polish Orthodox Military Ordinariate and Vicar Bishop for Warsaw and BielskOther entities Edit Polish Orthodox Military OrdinariateSee also EditReligion in Poland Catholic Church in Poland Protestantism in Poland Eastern Orthodox Communion Suprasl Lavra Union of Brest Reformation in Poland Warsaw Icon MuseumReferences Edit a b Glowny Urzad Statystyczny Maly Rocznik Statystyczny Polski 2016 Warszawa 2017 tab 18 80 s 115 Pawel Ciecielag Andrzej Datko Bozena Lazowska Piotr Lyson Pawel Milcarek Wojciech Sadlon 1050 lat chrzescijanstwa w Polsce Warszawa GUS 2016 s 73 ISBN 978 83 7027 606 5 M Papierzynska Turek Miedzy tradycja a rzeczywistoscia Panstwo wobec prawoslawia 1918 1939 a b Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine Polish Autocephalous Orthodox church accessed 2 June 2020 Tomos Orthodox Church of America UAOC Standing Episcopal Conference of Orthodox Bishops Retrieved 2018 12 22 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew As the Mother Church it is reasonable to desire the restoration of unity for the divided ecclesiastical body in Ukraine News Releases The Ecumenical Patriarchate www patriarchate org Retrieved 2018 10 28 Healy R and Dal Lago E The Shadow of Colonialism on Europe s Modern Past in Ukrainian ISTORIChNA VOLIN Sprobi revindikaciyi luckogo Svyato Troyickogo soboru Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations 14 September 2018 Statement of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the uncanonical intervention of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church Retrieved 17 February 2021 a b in Portuguese Eparquia Ortodoxa do Brasil Saint John the Precursor Orthodox Church CE 040 39 Patacas Aquiraz CE 61700 000 Brazil in Portuguese Mosteiro Ortodoxo da Dormicao da Santa Mae de Deus J Charkiewicz Meczennicy XX wieku Martyrologia Prawoslawia w Polsce w biografiach swietych in Polish Polish Orthodox Church Adminstracja in Polish Orthodox Diocese of Bialystok and Gdansk Abp Jakub i Bp GrzegorzExternal links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orthodox churches in Poland Polish Orthodox Church official site Polish Orthodox Church Unofficial Site English Polish Orthodox Diocese of Przemysl Nowy Sacz Polish Polish Orthodox Diocese of Lublin Chelm Polish Polish Orthodox Diocese of Bialystok Gdansk English Polish Orthodox Diocese of Wroclaw Szczecin Polish Polish Orthodox Military Ordinariat Polish Polish Orthodox Diocese of Brazil Portuguese Article by Ronald Roberson on the Polish Orthodox Church on CNEWA website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Polish Orthodox Church amp oldid 1177415201, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
