Visit of the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church

VISIT OF THE PRIMATE OF THE POLISH ORTHODOX CHURCH

His Beatitude Sawa, Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland visited the Russian Orthodox Church from August 26 to September 2, 1998. The Polish Orthodox Church maintains traditional fraternal relations with the Russian Orthodox Church which granted its legitimate autocephalous status 50 years ago. The new Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church was accompanied on his official visit by Archbishop Szymon of Lodz and Poznan, Archpriest Georgy Tofilyuk, rector of the Warsaw Theological Academy and Hierodeacon Andrzej Borkovsky.
On August 27, Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland met with His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia at the Patriarch’s residence in St.Daniel’s monastery. While wholeheartedly greeting the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy said: ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’ (Jn. 13:35). These words of the Saviour are revealed to us with a special force at the time of our fraternal meetings full of peace and love when God’s grace abundantly fills our hearts and gives us joy and like-mindedness… We are happy with your visit which will give you an opportunity to get acquainted with the life of our Church and its holy places, with the hierarchs and Orthodox people of Moscow and St. Petersburg. We hope that the visit of Your Beatitude to the Russian Orthodox Church will find its worthy place in the history of relations between our two Churches….. The Church of Christ is living in a difficult time now. Incited by Satan, ‘the sons of this age” are doing their utmost to shake the ship of the Church by bringing confusion and divisions to the faithful and tempting the weaker souls… In the person of Your Beatitude we wish the whole Polish Orthodox Church to be steadfast in the faith of our fathers, to multiply its flock saved-by-God and to witness the strength and unity of Holy Orthodoxy before the world. We are deeply convinced that Pan-Orthodox unity will not be conquered by the evil forces of this world, and that the present meeting is another testimony of the strength of our fraternal ties and of the inviolability of our faith’. Discussed during the talk were matters of church life and the extension of cooperation among fraternal Churches. His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa spoke about the solution of the problem of the Orthodox minority in Poland where the majority of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, and about the work with the servicemen and young people. Then the Primates of the Russian and Polish Orthodox Churches answered the journalists’ questions thus addressing the Russian people through mass media with a word of support during the time of trials.

In the evening of the same day, on the eve of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy and His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa officiated at the Vigil service in the Cathedral Church of the Epiphany, and on the day of the feast, 15/28 August, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin. After the Divine Liturgy and procession with the cross around the Cathedral Square, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia addressed his important guest and all those gathered. His Holiness said, in particular:

‘I wholeheartedly greet you on the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary which we mark today by prayer in concelebration with our dear brother, the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland and his respected companions.

The Holy Church sings: The Angels saw the Assumption and were astonished at the ascension of the Virgin from earth to heaven. People call the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos the ‘Pascha of the Mother of God”, as the Assumption of the Mother of God was at the same time Her glorious resurrection and the ascension to heaven to Her beloved Son. The ascension of the Most Holy Theotokos to heaven into the heavenly glory affirms the hearts of all Christians in a joyful hope for Her incessant prayerful intercession for the world and those who live in it. All of us know how the Russian people love and venerate the Mother of God. According to pious tradition our Fatherland is called ‘the House of the Most Holy Theotokos’, and it is not fortuitous that the main church of Russia is dedicated to Her glorious Assumption.

Today’s celebration in this ancient church was a special one, as we receive a delegation from the fraternal Polish Orthodox Church headed by its new Primate, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland who was elected to this noble and responsible ministry after the blessed demise of the ever memorable Metropolitan Basil.

…The history of the Polish Orthodox Church is an example of ardent confession and unshakable loyalty to Holy Orthodoxy, and firm opposition to the forces of evil which try to wipe out the Orthodox faith in the Polish land. A great role in the preservation of Orthodoxy was played by St. Onuphrius monastery in Jablochine and the Orthodox brotherhoods in Vilnius and Lvov.

The Polish Orthodox Church received its legitimate autocephalous status from its mother, the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1948, she treasures Holy Orthodoxy and bears witness to it in Poland, and the Lord by His special Providence mysteriously strengthens and visibly multiplies the Polish Orthodox flock.

Your Beatitude! We know about the work which you have done for the sake of Orthodox witness in the Army as a head of the Orthodox Chaplaincy of the Polish Armed Forces for several years, and also in spreading Holy Orthodoxy among young people in Poland. Your ardent sermons and zealous ministry have helped many seeking souls to make their spiritual choice, have opened the treasure of the Orthodox teaching to them and the grace of Orthodox shrines. In the contemporary world it is especially difficult to the young people to find concrete guiding lines among many false teachings which try to seduce weak souls and take them away from Christ.

Many sects and occult trends which enthrall spiritual space of the world at present often use very aggressive methods, and even more often resort to lies and hypocrisy to seduce human souls. It is especially important under the circumstances that the Word of Christ’s Truth comes from a burning heart and a firm Christian consciousness. Thus the unity of the fraternal Local Orthodox Churches and their mutual support and love show the world the bright face of the Church of Christ, which is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, and which sanctifies and saves all who come to it. Our joyous meeting and concelebration today visibly confirm it.

The Orthodox Russia meets Your beloved Beatitude with love and offers up prayers for you and your flock which is being saved by God. Please be assured of our most warm and sincere fraternal love to you and our prayerful wishes to all faithful children of the Polish Orthodox Church to live in peace and prosperity so that, according to St. Paul, ‘… the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 4:7).

In his word in response His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland praised God for the opportunity to visit Holy Russia and to venerate its great shrines and places adorned with the blood of the martyrs who had suffered for the holy Orthodox faith and for the opportunity to meet personally the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, its hierarchs, clergy and believers. While expressing gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy he underlined: ‘The concelebration of the Divine Liturgy and direct contacts are very important for the life of the Orthodox Church. This meeting which is the first after my election the Primate of our Church confirms good centuries-long contacts in the history of our Churches. By celebrating the Divine Liturgy we testified that we are ‘one body and one spirit, one Church… and that one God is above all and through all and in all” (cf. Eph. 4:4).

‘During our stay in the Russian land, – said His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa, – we wish to testify to the firm spiritual bond between our Churches, the Mother and the Daughter, and between our nations who had a lot in common on their historical paths. The Orthodox Church in Poland is quite well aware of the spiritual and blood ties with the Russian Orthodox Church’.

Orthodoxy was brought to the lands of the Polyans and Vislyans by two ways: from Great Moravia by the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, and also from Kievan Rus’. Historical sources witness that in spite of all kinds of difficulties these ties have been developing and strengthening throughout our history and exist at present.

In the difficult moments for Orthodoxy the Holy Russia together with its pillars of the faith, used to help our forefathers and confirm them in their faith. During the time of pressure on the part of the Uniates, Russia was a stronghold and bulwark for those who suffered for Holy Orthodoxy. In the particular difficult years of the 1920s to the 1950s, Orthodox believers of Poland together with their Russian brothers shared grief and sufferings inflicted upon them by the totalitarian regimes,

along with the horrors of persecutions on the Solovki islands, in Siberia and elsewhere. Today they remain the living witnesses of that time. One cannot but recall the Second World War when our soldiers struggled together for the freedom of their Fatherlands. All this has linked us, and we are close to each other in all aspects. We wish to remain close in the future, and we say it on this day of our spiritual unity blessed by God ‘.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy awarded His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa with the Order of St. Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, 1st degree.

In the evening, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa visited the Embassy of the Republic of Poland where he met the Ambassador, His Excellency A. Zalucki.

On August 29, the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church and the delegation visited the Donskoy, Sretensky and Novospassky monasteries. In the evening the guests visited the Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for the Links with the Army and Law Enforcement Agencies. Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland, Archbishop Simon and Lodz and Poznan and Bishop Sabbas of Krasnogorsk, chairman of the said department, celebrated the Vigil service in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord.

On August 30, His Beatitude celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Laura. After the Liturgy he visited the Church-Archaeological museum and met with the faculty and students of the Moscow theological academy and seminary. Bishop Eugene of Vereya, rector and chairman of the Education Committee at the Holy Synod, presented His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa with a diploma of an honorary member of the Moscow Theological academy.

On August 31, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa met Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and the staff members at the premises of the Department. Metropolitan Kirill told the guests about the structure and main directions of the DECR’s activities. His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa spoke about the ministry and witness of the Polish Orthodox Church at present. In particular, he noted the inflow of the young to the Church and dwelled on the task of spiritual care for the Orthodox servicemen which the Church is successfully solving. His Beatitude spoke with deep appreciation about the growth of the authority of the Polish Orthodox Church in the state and society. His Beatitude characterized the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church in Poland and the Polish Orthodox Church as difficult. Metropolitan Sawa underlined that his minority church needs the support of other Local Orthodox Churches and expressed his gratitude to the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate for the work it undertakes for the sake of Pan-Orthodox unity. His Beatitude appreciated the support which he receives from many non-Orthodox Churches.

On September 1-2, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and all Poland stayed in St. Peterburg where he visited the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Theotokos, the Alexander Nevsky Laura, the Church of the Resurrection called ‘the Saviour on the Blood’, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, a chapel of St. Xenia of Petesburg, and St. John’s monastery on Karpovka. On September 1, after the prayer service for the beginning of a new academic year in the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa blessed the worshippers. He addressed the faculty and students at the ceremonial act dedicated to the beginning of an academic year.

The official visit of the Primate of the Polish Orthodox Church was concluded by the meeting with Metropolitan Vladimir of Ladoga and St. Petersburg.