12.2 C
London
Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Białystok. Centenary of autocephaly. They created a film about the thousand-year history of Orthodoxy on Polish lands

Must read

- Advertisement -


“100 years of autocephaly. 1000 years of history” – this is the title of the animated film, a fragment of which was provided to us by the creators. Everything will be available online soon. The idea was to present a thousand years of history of the Orthodox Church in Poland in an accessible way. The creation of the film is part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of autocephaly, i.e. the independence of the Polish Orthodox Church obtained in 1925 at the hands of the Patriarchate in Constantinople, despite the Patriarchate in Moscow.

“At the outbreak of World War II, a significant part of the soldiers in the armed forces of the Republic of Poland were of the Orthodox faith. They wrote a glorious record of patriotism in the September campaign, on the insurgent barricades and on all fronts of World War II. Many of them rest in the Katyn and Kozielsk forests like the Chief Chaplain of the Polish Army, priest Szymon Fedorońko,” says the narrator.

The words are accompanied by animations. This is a fragment of the film “100 Years of Autocephaly. 1000 Years of History”, which at the end of September could be seen during a screening in the auditorium of the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Białystok. The project was financed by the local government of the Podlaskie Voivodeship.

The Polish Orthodox Church celebrates 100 years of independence. An exhibition was presented at the cathedral in Białystok Paweł Turczyński/ Marshal's Office of the Podlaskie Voivodeship

- Advertisement -

Jakub Oniszczuk: so that even a layman would be able to gain something

– At the beginning, we thought about supplementing and improving the film created in 2017, but after thinking about it, we decided that it would be even easier, with a new approach, to do it from the beginning – says Jakub Oniszczuk from the Orthnet association, which is, among others, administrator of the Orthodox website cerkiew.pl.

The script was created over several months. He was consulted, among others: with prof. Aleksander Naumow, an expert on the history of Orthodoxy and the head of the Orthodox Church in Poland, Metropolitan Sawa.

SEE ALSO: GPR readings showed anomalies. They found crypts under the floor of an 18th-century church

– The final text was created, on which the animation is based. It is a cross-sectional presentation of the thousand years of history of the Orthodox Church in Poland – adds Oniszczuk.

He emphasizes that from the very beginning, an important assumption was that the production would be accessible to the average viewer and that – as he put it – “any layman would be able to gain something from watching this material.”

Orthodoxy has been present on Polish lands basically since the beginning of statehood

– We also wanted – and we included it in the title of the entire project – to make it clear that although we are celebrating the centenary of autocephaly, Orthodoxy has been functioning on Polish lands basically since the beginning of Polish statehood – added Oniszczuk.

The entire nearly 20-minute film will soon be available on the Internet. As part of the project, a photographic exhibition was also created, which could be viewed on the fence of the Orthodox cathedral. Saint Nicholas in Białystok.

The granting of autocephaly was solemnly announced on September 17, 1925Paweł Turczyński/ Marshal's Office of the Podlaskie Voivodeship

The Moscow Patriarchate claimed that canonical principles had been violated

The Polish Orthodox Church obtained autocephaly, i.e. independence (self-reliance), on November 13, 1924. It was granted by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which the Moscow Patriarchate did not recognize, claiming that it was in violation of canonical principles. The Moscow Patriarchate recognized autocephaly only after World War II.

The hierarchs remind us that Orthodoxy on Polish lands has a centuries-old tradition, and Poland regaining independence became an opportunity to start efforts to obtain church independence. The result was the granting of autocephaly to the Polish Church and its solemn announcement in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Warsaw on September 17, 1925.

Currently, the legal situation of the Polish Orthodox Church is regulated by the Act of July 1991 on the relationship between the state and the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which includes, among others, a provision that PAKP is independent of any foreign clerical and secular authority, is governed in its internal affairs by its own law, freely exercises clerical and jurisdictional authority and manages its own affairs.

The Avenue of the 100th Anniversary of Autocephaly was created

At the end of September, Białystok councilors decided to name a street in the city center “Avenue of the 100th anniversary of the autocephaly of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church”. The street is located next to the hill on which the Orthodox church is located. Mary Magdalene, next to the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic.

– We would like to commemorate this special date, which is to show not only to us residents, but also to all those who will visit our place as tourists, but also to educate children that Orthodoxy is an integral part of Poland – said a councilor from the club, presenting the draft resolution. Civic Platform Ewa Tokajuk.

Main photo source: Paweł Turczyński/ Marshal's Office of the Podlaskie Voivodeship



Source link

More articles

- Advertisement -

Latest article