View source for Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland

{{short description|Lutheran denomination}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
| name = Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Republic of Poland
| native_name= Kościół Ewangelicko-Augsburski w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
| native_name_lang    = pl
| image = Evangelical_Church_of_the_Augsburg_Confession_in_Poland.png
| imagewidth = 150px
| icon_width          =
| icon                =
| caption =
| main_classification = [[Protestant]]
| orientation = [[Lutheranism]]
| polity = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]]
| leader_title        = Bishop of the Church
| leader_name         = Jerzy Samiec
| founder =
| founded_date = 16th century
| founded_place =
| separated_from = [[Catholic Church]]
| parent =
| merger =
| separations =
| associations = [[Conference of European Churches]],<br>[[Lutheran World Federation]],<br>[[Polish Ecumenical Council]],<br>[[World Council of Churches]]
| area = [[Poland]]
| congregations =
| members = 61,217<ref name="MRS">{{cite book|url=https://stat.gov.pl/download/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5515/1/21/1/maly_rocznik_statystyczny_polski_2019.pdf|title=Mały Rocznik Statystyczny Polski 2019 (Concise Statistical Yearbook of Poland 2019)|chapter=Niektóre wyznania religijne w Polsce w 2018 r. (Selected religious denominations in Poland in 2018)|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=114|year=2019|issn=1640-3630|location=Warszawa|language=Polish, English|access-date=2019-07-22|archive-date=2019-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722151431/https://stat.gov.pl/download/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5515/1/21/1/maly_rocznik_statystyczny_polski_2019.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| footnotes =
| website = [http://www.luteranie.pl Official website]
}}
[[Image:021212 Altar of Holy Trinity Church in Warsaw (Lutheran) - 01.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Holy Trinity Church, Warsaw]], of  Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Poland.]]
[[Image:Swiątynia Pokoju w Jaworze - 191.jpg|thumb|right|200px| Lutheran [[Churches of Peace|Church of Peace]] in [[Jawor]]- [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]]]
The '''Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Republic of Poland''' ({{langx|pl|Kościół Ewangelicko-Augsburski w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej}}) is a [[Lutheran]] denomination and the largest [[Protestant]] body in [[Poland]] with about 61,000 members and 133 parishes.<ref name="MRS" />
== History ==
The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession stems from the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] which began in October 1517. The first [[Lutheran]] sermons took place in 1518, and in 1523 the first [[Lutheran]] dean, [[Johann Heß]], was called to the city of [[Wrocław|Breslau]], whence Lutheranism spread through the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish lands]].
In [[Second Polish Republic|interwar Poland]] the Evangelical-Augsburg church was the largest Protestant denomination, with about half a million followers, but unlike in post-WWII Poland it was not the only Lutheran church in the country.<ref name="Ciecieląg p. 54">[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 54.</ref> It competed for the hearts of Lutherans living in the territory of the revived Polish state with the {{interlanguage link|Evangelical Union Church|pl|Ewangelicki Kościół Unijny w Polsce}} in [[Greater Poland]] (part of the former Prussian territory), with the {{interlanguage link|Augsburg and Helvetic Evangelical Church|de|Evangelische Kirche Augsburgischen und Helvetischen Bekenntnisses in Kleinpolen}} in the areas of the [[Austrian partition]], and with other churches.<ref name="Szczucki1798">[[#Szczucki|Szczucki]], p. 1798.</ref> Its adherents dominated in the Protestant circles in central Poland, which had formed part of Russia prior to 1918, while the other churches were based in the south and west of the newly established country.<ref>[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 55.</ref> In 1918 the Lutheran parishes of [[Cieszyn Silesia]] were incorporated into the structures of the Evangelical-Augsburg church, raising the overall number of its followers by about 100,000, although about half of these parishes left the church in 1920 when a significant section of the area became part of [[Czechoslovakia]] following the [[Polish-Czechoslovak War]] of January 1919. They were later reincorporated in 1938 when Poland annexed [[Trans-Olza]] following the Munich Agreement.<ref name="Ciecieląg p. 54"/>
The greatest challenge for the church before the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939 was the problem of nationalism, as about three quarters of all adherents in 1939 were German, and the remaining quarter Polish.<ref name="Szczucki1798" /><ref name="Ciecieląg p. 65">[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 65.</ref> In the diocese of [[Łódź]], largest in terms of the Lutheran population, more than 98% Lutherans were German, while in Silesia, comparable in terms of the number of adherents, more than 80% were Polish.<ref name="Ciecieląg p. 65"/>  German believers accused bishop [[Juliusz Bursche]] (bishop from 1936) of [[Polonization|Polonizing]] the church,<ref name="Szczucki1798" /> which faced the danger of a split along national lines.<ref name="Szczucki1799">[[#Szczucki|Szczucki]], p. 1799.</ref>
An important moment for the Evangelical-Augsburg church was the issuing of a presidential decree in 1936 which established the nature of the relationship between the church and the state and the former's internal structure.<ref name="Szczucki1799" /> The decree affirmed the territorial division of the church into ten dioceses (Warsaw, Płock, Kalisz, Piotrków, Lublin, Łódź, Volhynia, Vilnius, Silesia and Greater Poland) with a total of 117 parishes.<ref>{{Cite act |title= Dekret Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 25 listopada 1936 r. o stosunku Państwa do Kościoła Ewangelicko-Augsburskiego w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej |number= 88/613 |date= 25 November 1936 |language= Polish |url= http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU19360880613/O/D19360613.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
The church in Poland suffered during and after [[World War II]]. The ranks of pastors, teachers and other church leadership diminished due to persecution, imprisonment, and death.<ref name="Szczucki1799" /><ref>[[#Bartel|Bartel]], pp. 35-36.</ref> The majority of ethnic Germans [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II|moved west]] from 1944 onwards. During the early postwar years, a number of church properties were taken over by the Communist authorities to be used for other purposes, and the connections of Protestant Lutheranism to the [[German culture|German cultural]] sphere made authorities and Polish locals inimical towards the remaining Lutherans. Gradually, the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Poland has reshaped itself into an active body. On 12 October 2008, [[President of Poland|Polish president]] [[Lech Kaczyński]]—himself of the [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic faith]]—visited the Lutheran Protestant [[Jesus Church (Cieszyn)|Jesus Church]] in [[Cieszyn]], becoming the first President of Poland ever to visit a Protestant place of worship.<ref>{{in lang|pl}} ''[http://www.rp.pl/artykul/16,204049.html Lech Kaczyński w Wiśle i Cieszynie] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718023444/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/16,204049.html |date=2011-07-18 }}''</ref><ref>{{in lang|pl}} ''[http://www.luteranie.pl/pl/index.php?D=2421 Prezydent w kościele Jezusowym] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718095224/http://www.luteranie.pl/pl/index.php?D=2421 |date=2011-07-18 }}''</ref>
== Contemporary ==
The church's six dioceses form a wide swath from north to south down the middle of [[Poland]]—from [[Warmia-Masuria]] and [[Gdańsk]] in the north, near the Baltic, to the region west and southwest of [[Kraków]] in the south, toward the [[Czech Republic]] border. Direct descendants of Reformation forebears live in the south, around [[Upper Silesia]]. That is also where most Polish Lutherans can be found, with c. 47,000 of the church's followers (about three quarters of all adherents) living in [[Silesian Voivodeship]].<ref>[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 25.</ref> The 2011 census data points to a very uneven distribution of the Polish Lutheran population across the country, particularly scarce in the eastern provinces.<ref>[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 69.</ref>
The church has 133 parishes, 186 churches and 151 chapels, and is served by 153 pastors and other church workers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.luteranie.pl/o_kosciele/informacje_o_kosciele/statystyka_luteranie_w_polsce.html |title=Statistics: Lutherans in Poland (official website of The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg confession in Poland) |access-date=2017-06-22 |archive-date=2017-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622114944/http://www.luteranie.pl/o_kosciele/informacje_o_kosciele/statystyka_luteranie_w_polsce.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Many pastors serve multiple preaching points and are challenged by diverse demands as well as the need for innovation in a rapidly changing society. The congregations are self-governing, and each has its own parish council.
As of 2018, there were 61,217 adherent faithful in the church.<ref name="MRS" /> Though numbers of church members are currently lower than they were in the past (87,300 baptized members in 2000, 77,500 in 2005),<ref>[[#Ref500|Ciecieląg, Jóźwiak and Godfrejów-Tarnogórska]], p. 67.</ref> the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession still remains the largest [[Protestant]] body in [[Poland]].
As a Lutheran church in a country that is nearly 90 percent [[Roman Catholic]], the church faces challenges in upholding a Protestant education at various levels, whether in [[Sunday schools]], [[catechetical]] instruction, or in connection with the public schools, where Catholic religious education is part of the curriculum. The main priorities of the church are in deaconic work among single, old, and disabled persons; women's and youth work; and in evangelism.
{| class="wikitable sortable" width="33%" style="float:left; margin:20px; font-size:95%;"
|+ style="text-align:center" |'''Followers of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Republic of Poland according to the 2011 census'''
! scope="col" |Voivodeship
! scope="col" |Number of adherents
! scope="col" |%
|-
|'''POLAND'''
| align="right" |'''70766'''
| align="right" |'''100'''
|-
|[[Lower Silesian Voivodeship|Lower Silesian]]
| align="right" |2140
| align="right" |3.0
|-
|[[Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship|Kuyavian-Pomeranian]]
| align="right" |688
| align="right" |1.0
|-
|[[Lublin Voivodeship|Lublin]]
| align="right" |339
| align="right" |0.5
|-
|[[Lubusz Voivodeship|Lubusz]]
| align="right" |630
| align="right" |0.9
|-
|[[Łódź Voivodeship|Łódź]]
| align="right" |1462
| align="right" |2.1
|-
|[[Lesser Poland Voivodeship|Lesser Poland]]
| align="right" |994
| align="right" |1.4
|-
|[[Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian]]
| align="right" |3593
| align="right" |5.1
|-
|[[Opole Voivodeship|Opole]]
| align="right" |1601
| align="right" |2.3
|-
|[[Podkarpackie Voivodeship|Subcarpathian]]
| align="right" |100
| align="right" |0.1
|-
|[[Podlaskie Voivodeship|Podlaskie]]
| align="right" |187
| align="right" |0.3
|-
|[[Pomeranian Voivodeship|Pomeranian]]
| align="right" |921
| align="right" |1.3
|-
|[[Silesian Voivodeship|Silesian]]
| align="right" |51009
| align="right" |72.1
|-
|[[Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship|Holy Cross]]
| align="right" |142
| align="right" |0.2
|-
|[[Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship|Warmian-Masurian]]
| align="right" |4466
| align="right" |6.3
|-
|[[Greater Poland Voivodeship|Greater Poland]]
| align="right" |1300
| align="right" |1.8
|-
|[[West Pomeranian Voivodeship|West Pomeranian]]
| align="right" |1194
| align="right" |1.7
|}
{{clear}}
==Leadership==
The senior ordained member of the denomination is called the Bishop of the Church. The office is filled by election, and the Bishop of the Church serves for ten years. He is based at the Church headquarters in Warsaw. The Church's official website describes the role of the Bishop of the Church as: "His service is to minister the Word of God and the Sacraments. He also guards the whole Church (episcope), so that God's Word is proclaimed faithfully and clearly. The Bishop of the Church is the “Pastor of the pastors” (Pastor pastorum)."<ref>English language version of [http://en.luteranie.pl/about_us/church_authorities.html official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220133413/http://en.luteranie.pl/about_us/church_authorities.html |date=2016-12-20 }}.</ref> The office is currently held by Bishop Jerzy Samiec.
Under the Bishop of the Church there are four authoritative bodies. The House of Bishops consists of the Bishop of the Church ([[Primate (bishop)|Primate]]) and the six diocesan bishops. The Church Synod is the main decision-making body, and consists of all ordained bishops, 15 representative ordained pastors, and 30 members of laity from across the diocesan synods. The Synod Council is a small standing committee, competent to conduct certain synodical functions between meetings of the full Church Synod. The Consistory of the Church is a senior steering group which has authority to make wide-ranging decisions in terms of the day to day administration of the church. It is chaired by the Bishop of the Church, together with a Vice-President, and six other members (three ordained, three lay).
[[File:Bp Jerzy Samiec 2011.jpg|thumb|150px|Jerzy Samiec]]
{| class="wikitable"
!№
!In office
!Bishop
|-
|1
|1904–1942
|ks. [[Doctorate|dr]] [[Juliusz Bursche]]
|-
| -
|''1945–1951''
|''ks. [[Professor|prof]]. [[Jan Szeruda]]''
|-
|2
|1951–1959
|ks. dr [[Karol Kotula]]
|-
|3
|1959–1975
|ks. prof. [[Andrzej Wantuła]]
|-
|4
|1975–1991
|ks. dr [[Janusz Narzyński]]
|-
|5
|1991–2001
|ks. dr [[Jan Szarek]]
|-
|6
|2001–2010
|ks. [[Janusz Jagucki]]
|-
|7
|2010–
|ks. [[Jerzy Samiec]]
|}
==List of Bishops==
*[[#Leadership|Bishop of the Church]] (Primate and Metropolitan)
*[[Diocese of Cieszyn#List of Bishops|Bishop of Cieszyn]]
*[[Lutheran Diocese of Katowice#List of Bishops|Bishop of Katowice]]
*[[Diocese of Masuria#List of Bishops of Masuria|Bishop of Masuria]]
*[[Diocese of Pomerania-Greater Poland#List of Bishops|Bishop of Pomerania-Greater Poland]]
*[[Lutheran Diocese of Warsaw#List of Bishops|Bishop of Warsaw]]
*[[Lutheran Diocese of Wrocław#List of Bishops|Bishop of Wrocław]]
==Churches==
*[[Holy Trinity Church, Warsaw]]
*[[Jesus Church (Cieszyn)]]
*[[St. Matthew's Church, Łódź]]
*[[Evangelical-Augsburg Church Lublin]]
==Notable Polish Lutherans==
* [[Juliusz Bursche]], the first Bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland
* [[Jerzy Buzek]],<ref name = ewangel>{{in lang|pl}}'' [http://www.luteranie.pl/ewangelik/2007/2007_4_82.html Większość ewangelików w Polsce jest dumna z tego, że są ewangelikami] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323051051/http://www.luteranie.pl/ewangelik/2007/2007_4_82.html |date=2009-03-23 }}''</ref> prime minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001,  [[President of the European Parliament]] 2009 to 2012
* [[Adam Małysz]],<ref name=ewangel/><ref>{{in lang|pl}} ''[http://www.sporty.pl/index.php?s=karta&id=211 MAŁYSZ: Bogu dziękuję!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910084708/http://www.sporty.pl/index.php?s=karta&id=211 |date=2008-09-10 }}''</ref> Polish former ski jumper, one of the most successful ski jumpers in the history of the sport
* [[Jerzy Pilch]], one of the most important contemporary Polish writers and journalists
==See also==
* [[List of Lutheran dioceses and archdioceses]]
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* {{cite book|title=Protestantyzm w Polsce |last=Bartel |first=Oskar |publisher=Wydawnictwo Zwiastun |year=1963 |location=Warszawa|language=Polish|ref=Bartel}}
* {{cite book|url=https://stat.gov.pl/download/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5500/6/1/1/500_lat_reformacji_w_polsce.pdf|title=500 lat Reformacji w Polsce|editor1-last=Ciecieląg|editor1-first=Paweł|editor2-last=Jóźwiak|editor2-first=Ewa|editor3-last=Godfrejów-Tarnogórska|editor3-first=Agnieszka|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|year=2017|isbn=978-83-7027-667-6|location=Warszawa|language=Polish|ref=Ref500|access-date=2018-07-08|archive-date=2018-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709011047/https://stat.gov.pl/download/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5500/6/1/1/500_lat_reformacji_w_polsce.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of Protestantism|chapter=Poland|last=Szczucki|first=Lech|editor-last=Hillerbrand|editor-first=Hans J.|publisher=Routledge|volume=3|pages=1792–1802|year=2004|isbn= 0-203-57509-1|location=New York|ref=Szczucki}}
==External links==
{{Commons|Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Poland}}
* [http://www.luteranie.pl/ Official website of the Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession in Poland]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927175011/http://www.eemn.org/content.cfm?id=2069 Brief information about ECACP by EEMN]
* [http://www.kalme.net/kurzgeschichte-pl.html?L=1 Brief information about ECACP by KALME] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723060842/http://www.kalme.net/kurzgeschichte-pl.html?L=1 |date=2014-07-23 }}
{{Polish religions}}
{{Christianity in Poland}}
{{Lutheran Archbishops, Presiding Bishops, and Primates}}
{{Lutheran World Federation Churches}}
{{World Council of Churches}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland| ]]
[[Category:Lutheran World Federation members]]
[[Category:Lutheranism in Poland]]
[[Category:Protestant denominations established in the 16th century]]