Autocephaly “ready to move in”: some facts from the history of the Polish Church of 1924
Abstract
This study is devoted to the history of obtaining the autocephaly by the Orthodox Church in Poland from the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1924. The author leaves beyond the scope of the article the reasons why the Polish Church took this step, as well the factors that contributed to it and the position of the Russian Church. The article focuses on the negotiations of the Polish government and Fanar on the issue of church autocephaly that took place between 1921 and 1924 in Istanbul and ended with the publication of the Patriarchal and Synodal-Canonical Tomos about the recognition of the Orthodox Church in Poland as independent. The article scrutinises the course and outcome of these negotiations, reveals the reasons why the Polish government negotiated precisely with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and explains the interest of the Patriarchate in these negotiations. The article also describes the visit of the delegates of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to Warsaw in 1925, within the framework of which festivities celebrating the independence of the Polish Church were organised. Besides, drawing on archive documents, the article clarifi es the popular rumour about the sale by the Patriarchate of Constantinople of its blessing on the independence of the Church in Poland from Moscow Patriarchate. Some documents confi rming the fi nancial arrangements between the Polish government and Fanar are published in the appendix to the article. These documents have been made public in Russian historiography for the first time.
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