Polish Orthodox Church
The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church , commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Poland, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches in full communion. The church was established in 1924, to accommodate Orthodox Christians of Polish descent in the eastern part of the country, when Poland regained its independence after the First World War.
| Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church | |
|---|---|
| Polski Autokefaliczny Kościół Prawosławny | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Classification | Eastern Orthodox |
| Primate | Archbishop of Warsaw and Metropolitan of All Poland, Sawa Hrycuniak. |
| Bishops | 12 |
| Dioceses | 8 |
| Deaneries | 28 |
| Parishes | 278 |
| Language | Polish Church Slavonic |
| Headquarters | Warsaw, Poland |
| Founder | Ss. Cyril and Methodius |
| Members | 504,400 (2016)[1] |
| Official website | www |
Autocephaly was finally granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in November 1924.[2]
During the interwar period, however, the Polish authorities imposed severe restrictions on the church and its clergy. In the most famous example, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw was destroyed in the mid-1920s. In Volhynia a total of 190 Eastern Orthodox churches were destroyed and a further 150 converted to Catholicism.[3] Several court hearings against the Pochaiv Lavra also took place.[4]
In total, it has approximately 500,000 adherents (2016).[1] In the Polish census of 2011, 156,000 citizens declared themselves as members.[5]
