From the Holy Synod of Bishops

On the 10 March the meeting of the holy synod of bishops was held. The meeting was presided by the metropolitan Sawa, the head of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Bishops discussed life and problems of each of the diocese in Poland. Monastic life was also discussed. There are more than a 100 monks in Polish monasteries now.

Bishop of Piotrków, Paisjusz, who has been an auxiliary bishop in Łódź and Poznań diocese was appointed a bishop of Gorlice – an auxiliary bishop in Przemyśl and Nowy Sącz diocese.

There are 6 dioceses in Poland now – Warsaw-Bielsk, with metropolitan Sawa, the head of the church, and bishop auxiliary Miron of Hajnówka, a head of Orthodox Chaplainship, and auxiliary bishop Jerzy of Siemiatycze; Białystok and Gdańsk diocese with archbishop Jakub and bishop auxiliary Grzegorz, Lublin and Chełm diocese with archbishop Abel, Wrocław and Szczecin diocese with archbishop Jeremiasz, Łódź and Poznań diocese with archbishop Szymon and Przemyśl and Nowy Sącz diocese with archbishop Adam and bishop auxiliary Paisjusz of Gorlice.

The holy synod answered a request of Polish Central Bank to delegate priests and other employees of the church, who care for a church property, for a training organised by the bank on important financial and economical issues. Such a training has been already organized by the bank for a Roman-Catholic church priests and employees.

According to an invitation from the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew the Orthodox church in Poland delegated archbishop Jeremiasz and dr. Andrzej Kuźma for a meeting on “Pan-Orthodox Synod preparation”. To the international bioethics committee archbishop Jakub and father Artur Aleksiejuk were nominated.

The synod has also given awards on the occasion of Pascha 2009. These were among others mitras for 24 priests. Other reward was an order of st. Mary Magdalene, which was given for lay people, who occurred to be especially helpful for the Orthodox Church last year.

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