Петр Федорук
RECOGNITION OF AUTOCEPHALITY FROM THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN POLAND IN 1948.
The article analyses the situation in Polish Orthodox Church after the Second World War. Particular attention is paid by the author to the issues of the canonical and legal status of the Polish Orthodox Church, its relations with the Moscow Patriarchate and the issue of recognition of the autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox Church by the Moscow Patriarchate. This complicated process developed in the complex context of both the internal political situation in Poland during post-war period in 1945-1948 and its relations with the USSR. The situation was seriously complicated by the unwillingness of the Head of the Polish Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Dionisy, to leave the metropolitan see and recognize the non-canonical autocephaly of the Polish Orthodox Church in the interwar period. As a result, the "Act of Restoring the Unity of the Polish Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church and Recognizing Autocephaly", adopted by the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 22, 1948, finally settled the canonical status of the Orthodox Church in Poland.
