The Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church (), commonly known as the Polish Orthodox Church or the Orthodox Church of Poland, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox churches. 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.
In total, it has approximately 500,000 adherents (2021). In the Polish census of 2011, 156,000 citizens declared themselves as members.
History Early history The Christianization of the lands located in the region of the middle Bug River was carried out in the Byzantine tradition even before the Great Schism (1054). This process followed the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir the Great in 988 and subsequently by his state, Kievan Rus'. The formation of a parish network in this area continued throughout the 11th and 12th centuries and intensified after the establishment of an Orthodox diocese in Volodymyr-Volynskyi.
Further development of Eastern Christianity took place after the Bug region became part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. In the late 1230s, Prince Daniel of Galicia (Danylo Romanovych) transferred the Orthodox bishopric to Chełm. This diocese belonged to the Metropolis of Kiev and was subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
By 1370, three Orthodox metropolitan sees existed in Kiev, Novogrudok, and Halych, while episcopal sees were located in Turov, Chełm, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Lutsk, and Przemyśl.
The situation of the Orthodox Church changed after the Ruthenian lands came under the rule of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later the joint state of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Despite various legal restrictions, the Orthodox Church maintained a degree of institutional continuity. In the second half of the 16th century, the metropolis remained in Kiev, while episcopal sees existed in Polotsk, Smolensk, Turov, Chernihiv, Chełm, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Lutsk, Przemyśl, and Lviv.
On 25 February 1585, King Stephen Báthory confirmed privileges concerning the rights and freedoms of the Orthodox Church within the Metropolis of Kiev. In 1589, Moscow became the seat of a patriarchate, which sought to extend its authority over Orthodox bishops in the Orthodox Church within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The proposed church union was intended, in part, to counter these ambitions.
In 1596, at the synod in Brest, the majority of Orthodox hierarchs proclaimed the Union of Brest with the Latin Church. Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski supported the Nalyvaiko Uprising in an effort to prevent the implementation of the union. Although the majority of the faithful and clergy in Ruthenia remained Orthodox, the union gained significant support in the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and led to the effective delegalization of the Orthodox Church in the Commonwealth. The early 17th century was marked by persecution and continued struggle for legal recognition.
Although the Ruthenian nobility were formally granted equal rights within the Commonwealth by royal decrees, these provisions were often not enforced in practice. Both the nobility and urban populations experienced pressure to adopt Roman Catholicism and the Polish language, contributing to the gradual Polonization of elites. This process alienated them from the lower strata of Ruthenian society, particularly the Cossacks, who remained strongly attached to Orthodoxy and resistant to Catholic influence. Powerful magnate families of Ruthenian origin, including the Wiśniowiecki, Czartoryski, Ostrogski, Sanguszko, Zbaraski, Korecki, and Zasławski families, accumulated vast estates and played a significant role in the social and religious tensions of the period. These tensions were further exacerbated by economic practices such as estate leasing.
Local Orthodox traditions were also influenced by the growing authority of Moscow, especially after 1448, when the Grand Duchy of Moscow asserted de facto independence in ecclesiastical matters. Following the fall of Constantinople, Moscow increasingly claimed leadership within the Orthodox world, promoting the authority of the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus′.
Thanks to the military protection of the Zaporozhian Cossacks under Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny in 1620–1621, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophanes III of Jerusalem, restored the Orthodox hierarchy in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Ruthenian lands of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, consecrating a new Metropolitan of Kiev, Job Boretsky. This act, however, was not recognized by the Commonwealth authorities.
A turning point came on 14 November 1632, when in the pacta conventa of Władysław IV Vasa the Orthodox hierarchy was officially recognized as equal to the Uniate one.
In 1648, the Khmelnytsky Uprising broke out under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, becoming a major turning point in the history of the Orthodox Church in the Commonwealth. The conflict significantly altered the balance of power in the Ruthenian lands, weakening the position of the Uniate Church in several regions and temporarily strengthening Orthodox institutions under Cossack protection. At the same time, prolonged warfare led to widespread devastation, population displacement, and disruption of parish networks. In the longer term, the uprising contributed to political realignment, culminating in closer ties between the Cossack Hetmanate and the Tsardom of Russia, with lasting consequences for ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
In 1676, amid tensions during the Polish–Ottoman wars, the Sejm adopted legislation, at the initiative of John III Sobieski, prohibiting the Orthodox population of the Commonwealth from maintaining contact with the patriarchate in Constantinople. After the death of Metropolitan Joseph Tukalskyi-Nelyubovych, his successor travelled to Moscow in 1685 to receive confirmation, marking the transfer of jurisdiction to the Russian Orthodox Church. This arrangement was confirmed a year later by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Treaty of Perpetual Peace (1686) further placed Orthodox clergy under Moscow’s authority.
These developments—particularly the subordination of the Kiev Metropolis to Moscow and the resulting association of Orthodoxy with a foreign political power—led the authorities of the Commonwealth to support the Uniate Church as a more loyal alternative. As a result, the Union was imposed on a number of Orthodox dioceses, including Przemyśl (1692), Lviv (1700), and Lutsk (1707). By the late Commonwealth period, only one Orthodox diocese was officially recognized (Mogilev).
The issue of protecting non-Catholics appeared in Russo-Prussian treaties from 1732.
In 1771, Catherine the Great ordered the Imperial Russian Army to intervene in the Commonwealth. Following the First Partition of Poland, a large portion of the Orthodox population came under Russian rule.
At the end of the 18th century, attempts were made to establish an independent Orthodox Church. A congress in Pinsk (1791) proposed a structure independent of foreign ecclesiastical authority. The proposal was approved by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1792 as a constitutional act; however, the Polish–Russian War of 1792 and the subsequent partitions prevented its implementation.
Early period of Russian Orthodoxy: 1793–1905
Following the partitions of Poland and the annexation of Polish territory by the Russian Empire, the administration of Eastern Orthodox communities was carried out by the vicar bishop of Pereyaslav and Boryspil of the Kyiv Eparchy with residence in Slutsk. The Eastern Orthodox population on the territory of modern Poland was very scarce at that time. In 1825 the administration was transferred to the bishop of Minsk and in 1827 – the bishop of Volhynia.
In 1834 the post of vicar bishop of Warsaw of the Volhynian eparchy was established.ВАРШАВСКОЕ ВИКАРИАТСТВО. www.pravenc.ru (Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia) Establishment of the post was partially due to the 1830–31 Polish uprising (so called November Uprising). The idea to create the post came from the Namiestnik of Poland and Serence Prince of Warsaw Ivan Paskevich. By 1834 in Vistula Land, there were at least 6 parochial Orthodox temples and the Saint Onuphrius Monastery in Jabłeczna. The first bishop was Antoni (Rafalski) who was an archimandrite of the Pochaiv Lavra. The new vicar bishop was not only subordinated to the Volhynian eparchy, but also directly to the ober-procurator of the Holy Synod.
Starting since 1783, on territories that were annexed in 1793, there were established Minsk Eparchy, Bratslav Eparchy, and Izyaslav Eparchy.МИНСКАЯ И ЗАСЛАВСКАЯ ЕПАРХИЯ. www.pravenc.ru (Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia) In 1839 there was established the eparchy of Wilno and Lithuania following the 1839 Synod of Polotsk which liquidated Uniate Church on territory of the Imperial Russia.ВИЛЕНСКАЯ И ЛИТОВСКАЯ ЕПАРХИЯ . www.pravenc.ru (Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia) In 1840, the former Warsaw vicariate was transformed into a separate eparchy of Warsaw covering the whole Congress of Poland.ВАРШАВСКАЯ ЕПАРХИЯ . www.pravenc.ru (Russian Orthodox Encyclopedia)
Following the 1875 conversion of Chełm Eparchy (Eparchy of Chełm–Belz) of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, the Eparchy of Warsaw was renamed as Eparchy of Warsaw and Chełm, while Marcel Popiel who played a key role in the process was ordained as a vicar bishop of the merged diocese.
Transitional period: 1905–1924
Following the 1905 revolution in the Imperial Russia, Tsar issued the manifest "On strengthening the principles of religious tolerance" which gave start to revival of Catholicism. Several parishes en masse were switching back to the Uniate Church.
With start of the World War I, in 1915 the Russian Church in Poland was evacuated along with the Russian administration. On territory of what it was "Warsaw Eparchy" remained about 10 priests. The last archbishop of Warsaw Nicholas (Ziorov) died soon after evacuation and during the remaining time of World War I, the diocese was vacant.
Following the 1917–18 Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow finally appointed a new bishop to the eparchy of Warsaw who was Seraphim (Chichagov). Seraphim (Chichagov) was never able to actually arrive to his appointed diocese due to unstable situation. To fix that in September 1921, the Archbishop of Minsk George (Yaroshevsky) was appointed as Patriarchal Exarch in Poland.
First period of the autocephalous church: 1924–1939