International Orthodox Christian News

Poland's minority Orthodox Church is to build a cathedral near Warsaw's airport for Orthodox Christians serving in the nation's armed forces. The cathedral will be the first new Orthodox place of worship for a century in this predominantly Roman Catholic city. It will also be highly visible to all those arriving at the Polish capital's main airport. A church leader said the Greek-style cathedral, on Defense Ministry land adjoining Okecie Airport, would testify to the Orthodox presence and add a "prestigious feature" to the capital.

"We are already building many beautiful churches in Poland, so this is really nothing unusual," said Bishop Miron of Hajnowka, head of the Orthodox ministry to the nation's military forces. "Our church occupies a legal position in this country, and is noticed by everyone. The numerous Orthodox community shows no sign of declining, so the cathedral is clearly needed."

However, the chancellor of Warsaw's Roman Catholic curia has criticized the plan, saying Catholic Church leaders had not been notified and had heard about the project from the press. "The Orthodox already have a cathedral here, and [they] number just a few thousand out of a total city population of 1.5 million," the chancellor, Grzegorz Kalwarczyk, told ENI. "Looked at from outside, the Orthodox Church seems closest to the Catholic Church. But we have only official contacts—there are no neighborly gestures or courtesies."

The 570,000-member Orthodox Church, headed by Metropolitan Sawa, has seven eparchies (roughly equivalent to archdioceses) in Poland and a further six abroad, but is mainly concentrated in eastern parts of the country.The military pastorate was founded in 1994. Its clergy minister to an estimated 17 000 Orthodox soldiers and conscripts among Poland's 180,000 military personnel. The pastorate has 20 priests and seven parishes, but only one garrison church—at Ciechocinek—and is based at St Mary Magdalene Cathedral in Warsaw, one of two Orthodox places of worship in the capital.

Rzeczpospolita, a daily newspaper, said the prime site at the airport had been agreed on last March after the Defense Ministry had suggested several other locations. The newspaper added that the foundation stone for the cathedral and surrounding complex, including diocesan offices and a publishing center, would be laid this year.

Bishop Miron told ENI that his church had relinquished claims to two other early twentieth-century Orthodox churches, which were now in the hands of other denominations. He added that his diocese had "no special problems" cooperating with Poland's majority Roman Catholic Church, which has 180 priests in its ministry to the armed forces. The bishop added: "We haven't interfered with the building projects of other churches. They shouldn't interfere with ours."

Andrzej Debski, spokesman for the 90,000-member Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (Lutheran), told ENI that his church's leaders were pleased the Orthodox pastorate would be able to give witness to Orthodox presence by establishing the new cathedral, adding that its location as the first church visible to visitors at Warsaw airport was "not significant."

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