Synod of the Przemysl-Warsaw Archdiocese of the UGCC begins in Poland

"Your Synod will be held at a time when the Mother Church in Ukraine is experiencing together with its people the brutal war that the Russian invaders brought us. Thank you for your constant prayer in this regard. I ask you to convey to the Synod participants my gratitude for all the efforts they make to help temporarily resettled citizens of Ukraine in Poland, as well as for various numerous humanitarian initiatives for war victims," the patriarch wrote in a letter to Bishop Yevhen.

His Beatitude Sviatoslav also noted that he had read the list of issues for consideration at the Synodal session and assured that he was begging the Lord for all the necessary God's caresses to hold fruitful synodal Sessions.

Background:

The history of the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Przemysl begins at the beginning of the last millennium, and the first historical figure mentioned in The Chronicles is Bishop Anthony Dobrynya, who received ordination from the hands of the Metropolitan of Kyiv. In the XV century, the Diocese of Sambor was added.

After the divisions of Poland, the Diocese of Przemysl was one of the three administrative divisions of the Galician-Lviv Metropolia of the UGCC, and parishes in Krakow and Warsaw, which were located outside the diocese, were subordinated to the bishop of Przemysl. In 1934, the Apostolic administration of Lemkivshchyna was separated from its territory.

As a result of territorial changes following the Second World War, the Apostolic administration of Lemkivschyna and the western part of the diocese of Przemysl remained on the territory of Poland. A significant part of Greek Catholics was resettled in the Soviet Union. The last bishops, blessed Iosafat Kotsilovsky, CHSVV, and his assistant, blessed Gregory Lakota, were arrested and died a martyr's death. Since then, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Warsaw has been responsible for the pastoral care of Eastern Rite believers, who appointed a special vicar among Greek Catholic priests. After the Vistula campaign, most of the faithful were resettled in the West and north of the country, and the Greek Catholic Pastoral Care was subjected to all sorts of obstacles from the communist authorities.

Only in 1989 did the Byzantine-Ukrainian Church in Poland receive its first bishop after the arrest of blessed Josaphat Kotsilovsky. He became bishop Ivan Martyniak, who was appointed assistant bishop of the Primate of Poland and vicar general for Greek Catholics. Two years later, Pope John Paul II appointed bishop Ivan as the Archiereus of the Przemysl Diocese, whose jurisdiction covered all parishes in the country.

Taking care to ensure the best possible pastoral care, the Apostolic Capital formed the Metropolia of Przemysl-Warsaw in Poland on May 31, 1996, which included the newly created Archdiocese of the same name and the Diocese of Wroclaw-Gdansk.

On November 7, 2015, the Pope accepted the abdication from the government submitted by Archbishop Ivan (Martynyak), Metropolitan of Przemysl-Warsaw of the UGCC in Poland, in connection with reaching retirement age. At the same time, the pope appointed bishop Yevhen Myroslav (Popovych), a former assistant bishop of this archdiocese, as Archbishop of Przemysl-Warsaw.