The Autocephalous Church of Poland during World War II: An Anecdotal Memorandum-Report of the Archbishop Grodno Savva (Sowietow) to the Ecumenical Patriarch Benjamin

Abstract

This article presents and analyses an unpublished Report by Bishop Grodno Savva to the Ecumenical Patriarch Benjamin on the situation in which the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Poland found itself after the occupation of Poland by Nazi and Soviet troops (1939-1940). The aim of the Report was, on the one hand, to raise the awareness of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in favor of the Polish Orthodox Church, in support of its autocephalous status and, on the other hand, to condemn Seraphim Lade’s anticanonical actions in Poland. The presentation includes various archival documents and a contemporary bibliography. The original French text of Bishop Savva’s letter and eport is found at the end of the article.