An Interview with Fr. Doroteusz Sawicki
Poland has its own Orthodox Church, whose autocephaly—or independence— was acknowledged by the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1924 and by the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1948. It currently has approximately 500 parish communities across the country, as well as 10 monasteries, a theological academy, and a seminary. A native Pole, Fr. Doroteusz Sawicki is auxiliary priest at the Church’s Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene in Warsaw. He also teaches history at the Christian Theological Academy in the Polish capital, and is director of the Polish Orthodox Church’s charitable foundation, Eleos [Greek: mercy, compassion]. In late August the editor of the East-West Church Report met Fr. Doroteusz at his Cathedral’s offices to learn more about Polish Orthodox efforts to support refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine, many of whom are Orthodox. The original conversation took place in Russian.
When was Eleos, your charitable foundation, founded?
It was set up in 1996 to help people within Poland, for example through our Christmas Candle initiative. Every year we prepare candles that are sold during the Christmas period, and the proceeds from their sale go to help children in need. We have had some aid initiatives with an international aspect, such as after the 2019 earthquake in Albania, and during the 2021 crisis when many migrants from Syria and Africa came to Poland via Belarus.
This spring, did the Polish Orthodox Church experience a sudden, large influx of Ukrainian refugees seeking assistance?
Initially, we did not believe that it was really war. We hoped that hostilities would end after a few days, and that some kind of peaceful negotiations would start. So first of all we prayed. The war began on a Thursday, and special prayers were said in all Polish Orthodox churches that Sunday, for peace in Ukraine and for people to return home alive—these prayers are still being offered to this day.
The movement of people you are talking about appeared in Poland after a few days. We had to gather donations quickly, because they had typically fled taking very little with them. So we gathered clothes, food, hygiene and cleaning products from individuals and businesses, and wherever possible we organized places for people to stay. Our Orthodox schools, monasteries, and parishes gave up premises for this. Then, when it became clear that the conflict would not be over quickly, we also began organizing services to help people find accommodations, work, and legal information about their rights in Poland.
Our foundation, Eleos, also started more long-term projects in two areas: one to help displaced people within Ukraine, the second to provide everything the refugees needed in Poland. To date, we have sent 35 consignments of donations into Ukraine, each containing two or three [metric] tonnes of items such as food, clothes, hygiene products, and medicine, as well as other equipment like hospital beds and wheelchairs. Just yesterday we sent a consignment to the Kamianets-Podilskyi region [in western Ukraine]. Each consignment costs around $7,000-$8,000. Within Poland, we have sent around 30 similar consignments to places where large concentrations of Ukrainians are staying, such as old people’s homes.
The refugees also needed to learn Polish, so we organized classes for groups of 20-30 people. We paid for the necessary teachers and equipment, such as textbooks, so that they could learn Polish free of charge. There have been around 15 such courses to date.
In all of this it became clear also that history remains with people—we have not forgotten the very painful events of the 1940s concerning the Polish and Ukrainian populations in Volhynia. We understood that we could return to that, and that we needed to work on integrating Poles and Ukrainians— to find what unites us. [Editor’s note: In 1943-5 Ukrainian insurgents massacred tens of thousands of Polish civilians in eastern parts of then-Poland under Nazi occupation, including Volhynia province, which is now part of Ukraine.] A children’s event for Ukrainian refugees organized by Eleos (Source: D. SAWICKI)
How have you approached this task?
Through cultural activities, with Polish culture in Ukraine and Ukrainian culture in Poland as the main theme. We formed around 25 clubs in parishes as well as other locations, where we paid for renovations and some equipment. Other people prepared the program: meetings, choirs, art… any kind of activity that facilitated conversation. Meals were also required, so Eleos began helping to set up canteen-style kitchens where Ukrainians taught Ukrainian cuisine to Poles, and Poles taught Polish cuisine to Ukrainians. They then distributed the food they had made. We created spaces where people could talk and work, and playgrounds for children. Besides Polish language lessons, we also started computer courses for young people. When they meet and chat together about modern topics, the past is forgotten.
We see the misfortune of the Ukrainian people. This is a tragedy for them—bloodshed, burying loved ones—and as far as we are able, we are trying to alleviate their suffering. In all of this we try to forget those sad times in our common history, when there were similar events between Poles and Ukrainians. While not losing sight of that history, in everyday life we are trying to show love, because our Ukrainian brethren now need our help, just as—God forbid—we might need help from someone else in a similar situation.
How did you raise the funds to do all of this?
We have had different sources of funding, including our own
Did the resources of the Polish Orthodox Church form the largest part?
No, we only have around 500,000 people! To date all these activities have cost around two million Polish złoty… more than that, even—between $600,000 and $700,000. A huge amount of that sum was given by the Orthodox Church in America [OCA]. They found out what we were doing: First of all individual parishes and people who had family roots in Poland or Ukraine. Then the OCA as a whole asked if they could collect donations and send this money to us. This gave us the means to increase the scale of our work—to hire assistants, to forge links with particular organizations and foundations in Ukraine, to transfer aid.
There have also been other foundations: also in America, the IOCC [International Orthodox Christian Charities], and Filantropia in Finland [an agency of the Orthodox Church of Finland]. The Finnish Lutheran Church is also helping us, and individual Orthodox parishes in Western Europe contacted us and sent aid. So using our hands, other people took action—without their support, we would not have been able to do this work. Local people also made donations, of course, but only around a fifth of the total.
On breaking ties with Moscow in May, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Onufry announced that it would open parishes outside Ukraine in order to support Ukrainian refugees. Are there such plans in Poland, or do Ukrainian Orthodox come under the existing structures of the Polish Orthodox Church?
They come under our existing structures. The structures of the Polish Orthodox Church are almost everywhere in our country and, if necessary, we will create new ones. But just as we have never permitted another Orthodox Church to create structures on our territory, we will not do so in the future. If we did, others would demand the same, and we would be drawn into disputes that we do not need.
Whenever the Church in Ukraine unites, we will be able to return to this topic. While they are divided, we support the structure that existed prior to all these disputes, because we understand that—just as it took us many years to receive autocephaly, it will also take others a long time.
So currently you maintain contact only with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under Metropolitan Onufry, not the Orthodox Church of Ukraine under Constantinople? If we are speaking about general ecclesiastical affairs, then yes. If we are talking about charitable activity, then we do not ask who is who, only who is in need. We do not take into consideration a person’s religious affiliation.
