Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz)

Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) of Warsaw (1914-1998)

Włodzimierz may be spelt Vladimir, Volodymyr.

Basil may be spelt Bazyli, Vasili, Wasyly.

Early life of Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz

On 15 March, 1914, Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz was born in Cisy village in the parish of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Narew, in the then Hajnówka poviat, Białystok region of the Podlaskie Voivodeship of Poland.

He was born into the peasant family of Alexius and Maria Doroszkiewicz as one of 6 children.

Włodzimierz was thus raised an Orthodox Christian within the Polish Orthodox Church.

Higher education

From 1927-1936, Włodzimierz studied at the Orthodox Spiritual Seminary in Vilnius, which was at that time part of Poland. There, he obtained a high school diploma.

Vilna Orthodox Theological Seminary

After completing the seminary, he applied for admission to study at the School of Orthodox Theology at the University of Warsaw. His candidacy was rejected because he declared himself in a survey to be of Belarusian nationality.

He then went to Grodno, where Bishop Antoni (Martsenko) (a recent rector of the Vilna Seminary) directed him to work in the Orthodox parish in Svislach as a psalm-reader.

Diaconal ordination, 1937

On 6 September, 1937, as a married man, Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by Bishop Sava Gornjokarlovački. Bishop Sava recommended him to study at the School of Orthodox Theology in Warsaw, thanks to which he was accepted this time.

Presbyteral ordination, 1938

On 17 April, 1938, Deacon Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz was ordained to the Holy Priesthood.

Pastoral service

From 1940-1943, the Priest Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz was assigned to serve as a vicar-priest in the parishes of the Orthodox Church in Poland in Łyskowo ; Gronostajewice ; Świsłoczy ; Michałów ; Hornostajewicze near Wolkowysk ; and Gródek (Białostocczyzna), and then from 1943-1946 as the rector. Although (and likely because) he served all these communities during World War II, Father Włodzimierz was repressed by both the Soviet and German authorities (he was denounced to the Gestapo).

Father Włodzimierz’s higher theological education had come to an end with the start of World War II. He liked to joke that this had happened because he had been given a “vacation ticket” by Mr. J Stalin to cut wood in the forests during those years. Of course, he meant that he had been sent to hard labour for a time. The repression may be reflected in part by the apparent lack of assignment between 1938 and 1940.

Further education

In the 1950s, Father Włodzimierz attended the Moscow Theological Academy.

In Gródek (Białostocczyzna) he served from 1946 to 1960 (while also doing his academic work), and he directed the work of the erection of the parish church.

Between 1957 and 1960, with the blessing, he combined his pastoral ministry with the work of being a lecturer at the Orthodox Spiritual Seminary in Warsaw.

With his wife Margaryta, he had daughters Iraida and Mirosława and a son Jerzy.

End of marriage, 1959

In 1959, however, he decided that it was necessary to part with his wife, because of the call he felt to become a monk. According to his own memories, however, he indicated that one of the major motives for this decision was the difficult financial situation of the family. These were the times of Soviet anti-Christian pressures, which caused much hardship to the families of clergy. In other words, he became a monk in part in order to ease the stress on his family.

Monastic tonsure, 1959

On 20 December, 1959, the Priest Włodzimierz Doroszkiewicz was tonsured to be a monk in the Monastery of Saint Onufry in Jabłeczna. He was given the name Bazyli (Basil).

Jabłeczna Monastery

On 11 January, 1960, Hieromonk Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

Episcopal ordination, 1960

On 25 March, 1960, at the Cathedral Sobor of Saint Mary Magdalene in Warsaw, Archimandrite Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate.

Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene, Warsaw

Episcopal service

Bishop Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was assigned to serve as Bishop of Bielsk-Biała and Vicar-Bishop of the Diocese of Warsaw.

Bishop Basil, 1961

Diocese of Wrocław-Szczecin, 1961

On 5 May, 1961, Bishop Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was elected, transferred and assigned to the Wrocław-Szczecin diocese. In the new Wrocław-Szczecin diocese, he significantly contributed to the creation of its cathedral council, the council of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, which was organised in the former Temple.

In the same year, after Archbishop Tymoteusz (Timothy) (Schrötter) was elected to be Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland, Bishop Basil protested against this decision of the bishops' council as taken contrary to the statutes of the Church (the head of the local council was to choose the council).

In 1962, Vladyka Basil received the Master of Theology degree from the Moscow Theological Academy. His degree was based on a work devoted to the Roman Catholic Mariology in the first half of the 20th century. He thus was able to complete the studies he had begun before World War II.

During his episcopate in Wrocław-Szczecin, Bishop Basil was an effective organiser of the Orthodox Faithful who were refugees from the communist government's “Operation Wisła” in the late 1940s.

In 1962, in a note from the "Office for Religious Affairs" (these were communist times), Bishop Basil was described as a "limited" man, with little political experience, associated with the 'most devout' circles of the Church". Four years earlier, a clergyman had been recruited to co-operate with the Służba Bezpieczeństw (SB : secret service) in Bialystok. In fact, the secret police of various soviet countries developed such files on many clergy of all levels of responsibility. Assorted misinformation and disinformation was included amongst some factual information in order to serve as a source for eventual discrediting of the authorities of the Church.

In the Diocese of Wrocław and Szczecin, Bishop Basil organised Church life amongst the population which had been re-settled to the western lands of Poland as a result of "Operaton Vistula" (Wisła) (1947), the repatriations from the Eastern Borderlands, and the previous forced move of Polish populations during and after World War II. He created 42 new parishes. He also directed letters to the Office for Religious Affairs in which he emphasised problems with the staffing of the diocesan parishes, the low level of clerical education. He suggested organising two-year courses in Wrocław for the priesthood as well as further theological studies at the Christian Theological Academy. He suggested that the courses could prepare priests for serving in Polish in the diocese, which would bring benefits to the Church and the state.

The bishop was an advocate of the "polonisation" of his diocese, and he was reluctant to defer to the Ukrainians living in its area. He believed that Ukrainian society could perhaps be revived within the Polish environment, which would then lead to internal conflicts in the Church (because of the strong emotions involved), and thus inhibit its normal functioning. Ukrainian nationalistic interests were quite different from those of the Polish (both because of language and political interests), and he did not want political interests to divide Orthodox Christians one from another.

Advocacy for more dioceses

Bishop Basil (Doroszkiewicz) acted for the creation of an Orthodox diocese covering the area of Podkarpacie, which was to provide facilities for missionary action amongst the Greek Catholic Ukrainians and Lemkos. In the 1960s, he sent several letters to the Office for Religious Affairs, in which he suggested the establishment of the Diocese of Kraków-Rzeszów or Sanok-Przemyśl, and that the Priest Aleksander Dubec become its leader after being tonsured a monk.

After the repose of Metropolitan Stefan (Rudyk) of Warsaw and Poland, Bishop Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was elected to be the Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland on 24 January, 1970. The state authorities supported the candidacy of Bishop Basil for the new head of the Autocephalous Polish Orthodox Church because of the content of the memoranda submitted earlier by him, proposals for transformations in the Church and the new national policy of the Church of Poland. The Office for Religious Affairs also recognised that Basil's favour was a result of his cautious attitude towards the Polish Catholic episcopate with simultaneous support for the ecumenical movement, as well as his understanding of the changes taking place in the world. Finally, it was found that Vladyka Basil, both in internal and foreign activities, was the spokesman for the Polish and socialist "raison d'etat".

Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, 1970

The enthronement of the new head of the Polish Orthodox Church took place on 1 March, 1970, at the Cathedral Sobor of Saint Mary Magdalene in Warsaw under the leadership of the Georgian Patriarch Efrem II (Sidamonidze), with the participation of the delegations of the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Georgia, as well as the Churches of Czechoslovakia and Greece.

Service as Metropolitan

There followed significant growth in the Polish Church. Two new dioceses were added to the Orthodox Church in Poland : the Diocese of Przemysl-Nowy Sącz (1983) and the Diocese of Lublin-Chełm (1989) were re-established. With the Holy Synod of Bishops, he also created the Orthodox Ordinariate of the Polish Army in 1994. Metropolitan Basil also encouraged education in the church arts : he blessed the formation of the school for iconography in Bielsk-Podlaski, and the Psalmist's Study Course in Hajnowka.

Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) also witnessed on behalf of the Church of Poland by actively working in the Polish Ecumenical Council and the World Council of Churches.

First Polish-language parish, 1970

On 12 October, 1970, Metropolitan Basil founded a Polish-language parish of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Wrocław, the only such pastoral institution in Poland at that time. He was convinced that only the polonisation of pastoral work in the diocese would prevent the development of national conflicts on its territory, as well as inhibit the departure of the Faithful to the Roman Catholic Church.

In the year of his election (and with Vladyka Basil's participation), the work on the new internal statute of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church was finalised, and also the statute for the parishes. In the same year, the bishops' council, under the direction of the metropolitan, reorganised the schools operated by the Church, including the seminary in Warsaw. A new publishing organisation was also established in the Orthodox Church in Poland, in addition to the Russian-language periodical. The "Polish News" of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church was published in Polish.

In the years 1971-1972 Metropolitan Basil corresponded with the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński in the matter of Orthodox-Catholic conflicts regarding the affiliation of sacred places in Polana, Komancza and Rokosowo. He also continued his efforts to create a diocese, or at least 2 deaneries, in Podkarpacie.

Political attempts to undermine the credibility of the metropolitan

In 1971, Vladyka Basil was accused of being a secret collaborator (with the pseudonym Włodzimierz). His co-operation was based on an assumption by the "Służba Bezpieczeństw" (SB/Public Security), who infiltrated the Church and "nationalist circles" within it and abroad, as well as acting against the Roman Catholic Church. This "Włodzimierz" was supposedly one of the most valuable secret collaborators amongst the Orthodox clergy.

Renewal of monasteries and opening Temples in Poland

As the head of the Orthodox Church in Poland, Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) contributed to the reactivation of the Annunciation Monastery in Supraśl and the establishment of monasteries in Wojnowo, Białystok-Dojlidy and Ujkowice, as well as the erection of over 100 churches and chapels throughout the country.

Arson at Grabarka, 1990

In 1990, a fire was set by arsonists in the Temple of Transfiguration of the Lord at the Holy Transfiguration Monastery at Grabarka. Fire completely consumed the temple, and even the bells melted. Metropolitan Basil immediately blessed the beginning of the work of reconstruction.

Portuguese-Lusitanian Orthodox Church, 1990

In 1990, Dom Gabriel (da Rocha) of Portugal was received with all the Orthodox Catholic Church of Portugal into the canonical Orthodox Church, by the paternal hand of Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) of Warsaw and the Polish Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Gabriel had graduated in History and Philosophy from the University of Lisbon ; he obtained the degree of Baccalaureate in Philosophy from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland ; he had been a student in the "École Pratique des Hautes Études" ; he had a degree in Theology from the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint-Sergius in Paris, and he had received a Doctor of Theology degree through the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).

The Portuguese Church became an ecclesiastical province of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and her bishops were entitled to sit as members of the Holy Synod of the Polish Orthodox Church. The Portuguese Orthodox Church had at that time dioceses throughout Portugal, in Spain, and in Brazil.

In 1994, Metropolitan Basil and the Polish Orthodox Church adopted the 2 parishes on the Italian territory of the Autonomous Portuguese Orthodox Church. There were frequent visits of bishops from Poland to Portugal and from Portugal to Poland.

Some relationships began to develop with other canonical Orthodox Churches. However, on 19 January, 1997, Metropolitan Gabriel fell asleep in the Lord. Several years later, certain difficulties developed between the Polish Orthodox Church and the successor of Metropolitan Gabriel in Portugal, Metropolitan João (Ribeiro). As a result, the Portuguese Orthodox Church separated from the Polish Orthodox Church and it has yet to find an anchor in canonical Orthodoxy.

Orthodox Ordinariat of the Polish Army, 1994

In 1994, the Orthodox Ordinariat of the Polish Army started operating in the diocese.

Glorification of Saint Maxim, 1994

In 1994, Metropolitan Basil carried out the canonical glorification of the Martyr Priest Maxim Sandowycz (known since then as Saint Maxim[ilian] of Gorlice), which was the first such event in the Church.

Other pastoral activities of Metropolitan Basil

Vladyka Basil developed a wide co-operation with other Orthodox local Churches. During the time of his service, he visited the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church of Czechoslovakia, The Orthodox Church in America and the Autonomous Finnish Orthodox Church.

Vladyka Basil was also a participant in the ecumenical movement : he participated in the work of the Christian Peace Conference and was the vice-president of the Polish Ecumenical Council.

Metropolitan Basil developed the nature and scope of activity of the Polish Church's charitable and social activities.

In 1991, he initiated the establishment of the Post-Secondary School of Iconography at the parish of Saint Michał Archanioł in Bielsk-Podlaski.

In 1996, he blessed the establishment of the School for the Study of Psalm-reading and Choir Conducting in Hajnówka.

He also contributed to the creation of new organisations associating the Faithful of the Church, including the Brotherhood of Orthodox Youth.

Repose, 1998

In 1998, during the last part of his life, the metropolitan became very ill, and he suffered from a stroke. He spent a month in hospital in Warsaw, and he was unable to perform the duties of a metropolitan. On 11 February, 1998, Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) fell asleep in the Lord.

The Funeral Services for the Burial of a Hierarch took place on 13 February, 1998, at the Cathedral Sobor of Saint Mary Magdalene in Warsaw. Archbishop Sawa (Hrycuniak) (at that time the Archbishop of Białystok-Gdansk) presided over the funeral services in the presence of the representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (Metropolitan Jeremiah (Kaligiorgis) of Paris) and the Moscow Patriarchate (Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev) of Volokolamsk), as well as representatives of state authorities and of other Christian churches in Poland.

After the funeral services, Metropolitan Basil’s body was interred at the Orthodox Cemetery in the Wola district of Warsaw.

Grave-marker of Metropolitan Basil

— Bishop of Bielsk-Biala 1960-1961. Preceded by : Bishop Sergius (Korolyov). Succeeded by : Bishop Jeremiah (Anchimiuk).

— Vicar-Bishop of the Warsaw Diocese 1960-1961.

— Bishop of Wrocław-Szczecin 1961-1970. Preceded by : Bishop Stefan (Rudyk). Succeeded by : Bishop Alexius (Jaroszuk).

— Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland 1970-1998. Preceded by : Metropolitan Stefan (Rudyk). Succeeded by : Metropolitan Sawa (Hrycuniak).

Reflections

Antoni Mironowicz highly appreciates the period of authority of the Metropolitan Basil in Orthodox Church of Poland, stressing the comprehensive development of the Church at that time. He also points out that the political changes taking place in Poland also influenced this process. In Piotr Gerent's opinion, the period of the ecclesiastical administration by Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) should be assessed as important and not easy, in which many initiatives significant for its development were undertaken.

In the past, the Polish Orthodox Church provided many clergy to the Orthodox Church in Canada, and many immigrants to Canada arrived from present and past Polish territories. The Polish Orthodox Church also provided refuge to many lay-persons, clergy and bishops during World War II, when people were fleeing westwards as the borders moved. Many of these arrived in Canada after the war.

Metropolitan Basil (Doroszkiewicz) was the seventh hierarch to lead the Polish Orthodox Church since it was granted autocephaly by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1924. In 1948, the Patriarch of Russia also recognised the autocephaly of the Church of Poland.

Awards :

• Commander's Cross with the Star of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland

• Officer's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland

• Knight's Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland

• Medal of the 30th anniversary of People's Poland

• Badge of the 1000th anniversary of the Polish State

• Order of Cyril and Methodius (Bulgaria)

References

Orthodoxwiki biography

Wikipedia biography

Russian Wikipedia biography

Slovar.cc via Drevo Encyclopaedia biography

Polish Wikipedeia biography

Polish Wikipedia biography (in Polish)

Orthodox Research Institute obituary memorial article about Metropolitan Basil

Additional information :

Czykwin, Eugeniusz, “I can die in Peace : Basil, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland, 1914-1998” (in Polish) (Białystok : Orthdruk, 1998). ISBN : 83-85368-44-2.

Gerent, Piotr, “Orthodoxy in Lower Silesia in 1945–1989” (Toruń : Adam Marszałek, 2007). ISBN : 978-83-7441-468-5.

Kazimierz, Urban, “The Orthodox Church in Poland 1945–1970” (Krakow : Nomos, 1996). ISBN : 83-85527-35-4.

Krzysztofiński, M & Sychowicz, K, ‘Apparatus of Repression in People's Poland (1944-1989)’ in "Byzantium", no. 1 (2008), pp. 87-88.

Michalak, Richard, “The religious Policy of the Polish State towards religious Minorities in the Years 1945-1989” (Zielona Góra : Publishing House of the University of Zielona Góra, 2014), p. 124 (in Polish). ISBN 978-83-7842-124-5.

Mironowicz, Antoni, “The Orthodox Church in Poland in the 19th and 20th Centuries” (Białystok : Publishing House of the University of Białystok, 2001). ISBN : 83-7431-046-4.

Papadakis, Aristeides, ‘The Historical Tradition of Church-State Relations under Orthodoxy’ in “Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twentieth Century”, vol. 1, pp. 37-60.

Ramet, Sabrina, ed., “Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture and Society since 1939” (Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, 1998)

Snyder, Timothy, “The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999” (New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, 2003)

Sychowicz, K, ‘The People's Authority and the Orthodox Church in the Bialystok Voivodship 1944-1956’ in “Polish-Belarusian Relations in the Bialystok Voivodship in the Years 1944-1956”, eds. J J Milewski & A Pyżewska (Warsaw : Institute of National Remembrance, 2005), p. 132 (in Polish). ISBN : 83-89078-95-3.

Wynot, Edward D, “The Polish Orthodox Church in the Twentieth Century and Beyond” (London/New York : Lexington Books, 2015). ISBN : 9781739198841.

Polish Orthodox blog, reference

Polish Orthodox Church history

Polish Orthodox Church web-site

Polish Orthodox Church general information

Orthodoxwiki article about the Orthodox Church of Poland

Wikipedia article about the Church of Poland

History of the Orthodox Church of Poland

Orthodoxengland article “Poland uncovers its original Orthodoxy”

Encyclopedia of Ukraine article about the Church of Poland

Encyclopedia Britannica article about Communism in Poland

Orthodoxwiki article about the Transfiguration Monastery at Grabarka