Anniversary of the services in Polish in Warsaw
Polish Orthodox Church
09.02.2010
By:
Anna Czerewacka
On the 5th of February we marked 5th anniversary of the first Orthodox Liturgy held in Polish language in Warsaw. This fact was reminded by father Henryk Paprocki, who is the parish priest of the Orthodox Pastoral Point of St Gregory Peradze in Warsaw. He also expressed gratefulness for the people preparing the services and those, who attend them.
During 5 years of the community, gathered around the idea of Orthodox services held in Polish, happened quite a lot. At the very beginning, Liturgies were held on Saturdays, once a month, in one of the chapels in Warsaw. In March 2006 metropolitan Sawa, the head of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, blessed to move to the Polish-Catholic chapel. Since that time Liturgies are held regularly every Sunday. Additionally other services started to be celebrated – first Great Lent services, then vespers, matins, vigils, services of 12 great feasts and sacraments. Nowadays in the chapel there is regular liturgical life. All services are celebrated fully in Polish language.
At the beginning of this school year, Sunday school has been organised for small children, meantime there are lectures for adults.
The patron saint of the community is St. Gregory Peradze – Polish-Georgian saint, who is especially close to parishioners – he lived in Warsaw, was a scientist, and walked the same paths. The patron attracts many Georgians – who live in Warsaw, or who come here on different purposes – many of them visit Poland in December to attend a conference about Caucasus, organized in the name of St Gregory by the University of Warsaw. The pastoral point was visited twice by the bishop of Gori Andria and once by bishop of Nikozi Isaia (both from Georgia).
Celebration of the Liturgies in Polish was the initiative of the Orthodox students living in Warsaw. After the blessing of the metropolitan, the first Liturgy was celebrated on the 5 February 2005.
The Orthodox Church in Poland counts about 500 thousand faithful. There are 250 parishes. Most of them use Slavonic in their services. Till 2005 there was only one Polish-speaking parish in Wrocław. Nowadays Liturgies in Polish are celebrated in 4 other points in the country.
