Warsaw, August 27, 2024
Photo: orthodox.pl
The Polish Orthodox Church is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its autocephaly throughout 2024.
During the annual pilgrimage to Grabarka, Poland’s holy mountain, for the feast of the Transfiguration, the Church marked the anniversary with the erection of 100 crosses, with the names of all the Orthodox parishes in Poland written on them.
The main celebrations for the anniversary will be held in November, and the Polish Orthodox Council of Bishops issued a statement to the fullness of its Local Church in honor of the upcoming celebrations.
The statement covers the history of Orthodoxy in Poland, especially emphasizing those who played a part in receiving autocephalous status, as well as the many martyrs who adorn the Polish land.
The message also especially encourages the youth to remain faithful to Orthodox tradition.
The Council of Bishops’ statement reads in full:
Dear in Christ priests, monks, nuns, youth, children,
and all faithful in the country and abroad
“Great art Thou, 0 Lord, and marvelous are Thy works,
and no words suffices to hymn Thy wonders”
(Great Blessing of Water)
With these words taken from the water blessing ceremony—the Great Agiasma—the Polish Orthodox Church thanks Almighty God, One in the Holy Trinity, for its more than thousand-year witness in the lands of the Republic of Poland, with special regard to the 100th anniversary of receiving independence on November 13, 1924, granted in Constantinople by Patriarch Gregory VII.
This fact is an occasion for retrospection on the difficult yet beautiful history of the Polish Church in the republic. This history confirms Christ’s words: I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt 16:18). The foundation of this building is our Savior Jesus Christ. We have always been, are, and will be faithful to Him, our Savior and head of the Orthodox Church.
The path to our administrative independence, against the backdrop of our entire history, began with the tragic death of Metropolitan George Jaroszewski, whom we commemorated in prayer on February 8, 2024. He was the initiator of granting autocephaly after the Republic of Poland regained Independence in 1918. Unfortunately, he did not live to enjoy his achievement. Eternal memory to him!
Today, we prayerfully remember with gratitude his successors: Metropolitan Dionysius Waledyński. It was to him that the document (tomos) granting independence to our Church was handed. Then Metropolitan Makary Oksijuk, Metropolitan Timothy Szretter, Metropolitan Stefan Rudyk, and Metropolitan Basil Doroszkiewicz, and Archbishop George Korenistow, who served multiple times as deputy metropolitan.
Metropolitan Dionysius of blessed memory, as the head of the Church, received the title, “His Beatitude Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland.” As a full-fledged leader, he visited all Local Orthodox Churches. The pastoral staff received from the Mother Church of the Jerusalem Patriarchate is preserved to this day and passed on to each newly elected metropolitan. It is a symbol of pan-Orthodox unity. Metropolitan Dionysius built the Church in spiritual, pastoral, social, educational, cultural, and interfaith areas. His successors Metropolitan Timothy, multiple-time deputy Archbishop George Korenistow, Metropolitan Stefan and Metropolitan Basil continued his great work, organizing the life of the Church organism, which is the Church, as the mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Theological schools were opened, as well as the Theological Seminary, the Department of Orthodox Theology at the University of Warsaw, followed by the Christian Theological Academy, Orthodox Theology Section, schools of icon writing and Church singing. In addition to the existing monastery in Jabłeczna, new monasteries were opened in Grabarka, Supraśl, Zwierki, Wojnowo, Turkowice, Saki, and Religious Houses in Zaleszany, Kostomłoty, Holeszów and Wysowa. All of these are the backbone and thermometer of Church and spiritual life for many seeking God. Two of them, the monastery in Jabłeczna and the monastery in Supraśl, have been inscribed on the list of National Heritage Monuments.
An important achievement of this period are legal regulations concerning Church life, the most important of which is the Act on the State’s Relationship to the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. Based on this act, the Regulatory Commission and the Military Ordinariate were established. Religious education was introduced in schools, as well as chaplaincy in hospitals, prisons, and other (uniformed) formations. The Orthodox Brotherhood of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the Orthodox Youth Brotherhood, sports organizations, etc. were established. We express our appreciation and gratitude to our youth organized in the Brotherhood, full of dedication to serving the good of the Church, for their witness of Orthodox faith in the modern world.
A historical and important spiritual event in the life of our Church was the proclamation of saints: Maxim Sandowicz, the apostle of the Lemkos, the Martyrs of Chełm and Podlasie, the Martyrs of Katyn and many others, who today intercede before God for each of us.
Speaking of positive achievements, today we draw attention to the multiple experiences that our Church has undergone in the period under discussion, to our martyrology. These include the destruction of the Slavic rite, the Union of Brest, the demolition of Orthodox churches and their recovery, mass resettlement to the East and West—the famous Operation Wisła, which resulted in the destruction of the life of Orthodox Lemkos and Podlasians. It is hard not to remember the murders of Orthodox residents of Zaleszany, Zanie, Puchały, Sahryń, Wierzchowiny... Today we pay them our respect and adoration in prayer for their perseverance and heroic, martyrdom death. Holy Martyrs, pray for us!
Today, as we draw special attention to the 100th anniversary of our Church’s ecclesiastical independence, we thank God for this gift and the heroic service to God, the Church, and the homeland—by bishops, clergy, and the faithful.
It is their painful experiences and faithfulness to their ancestors that have resulted in the spiritual enrichment of the faithful. That is why the Polish Church lives, celebrates its anniversary today, and bears witness in the country and abroad, occupying its rightful place in the diptychs of World Orthodoxy.
The Holy Council of Bishops expresses gratitude to all the faithful for their perseverance in faith and tradition. May the youth draw patterns of faithfulness to the Church from the Fathers, and may they support the young generation so that it remains faithful to Christ and His Church and endures unchangingly despite various circumstances, to the end. Let us pray for those who, through their work, prayer, often the shedding of their blood, built the foundations of the Orthodox faith in the lands of the republic, remaining devoted citizens and patriots of their homeland, the Republic of Poland.
Brothers and sisters! Let us have love and respect for all people, giving evangelical witness that we are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. May our love be based on the teaching of the holy Apostle Paul: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:35,39).
God protect our Church, the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, for future generations for the glory of God, Orthodoxy, and the good of our homeland, the Republic of Poland.
The statement is signed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa and all the Polish Orthodox hierarchs.
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