Eight years after the foundation stone was laid, construction work on the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Warsaw was completed.
The happy news was announced to the faithful by His Eminence Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland himself.
The Primate of the Church of Poland thanked everyone for their financial, physical and prayerful support in the entire construction process.
Metropolitan Sawa mentioned that the Cathedral was built in honor of those who died and were exiled in the Warsaw Uprising and in the labor camps in World War I and II.
His Eminence also asked the faithful to pray for the repose of their souls, and for everyone to remember the sufferings of their ancestors.
Finally, Metropolitan Sawa invited all the hierarchs, clergy, monks and faithful of the Polish Church to attend the long-awaited festive consecration of the cathedral on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
This was the first Polish Orthodox church to open in Warsaw in a 100 years.
Father Adam Siemieniuk, the parish priest, says the church will serve believers in Warsaw’s Ursynow and Wilanow districts, who, before its opening, had to travel 20 kilometres to worship.
"Archbishop Sawa thought that the church he was trying to build in Warsaw should be a tribute to the cradle of Christianity, which is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul," said Father Siemieniuk.
Standing at over 20 metres tall, with a surface area of 1000 square metres, it was designed by APA Markowski Architekci. The Warsaw church is topped off with a copper-covered dome more than 16 metres in diameter, and its interiors are adorned with murals and mosaics.
The Polish Orthodox Church was established in 1924.
According to the Church's estimates, the number of Orthodox faithful in Poland stands at between 450,000 and 500,000. According to the Central Statistical Office, at the last census 156,000 people declared their adherence to the Orthodox Church in Poland.
There are about 30-40,000 Orthodox believers in Warsaw, who until now had only two active churches: the Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene, built in 1867-1869, and the Church of Saint John Climacus, built in 1905. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were several dozen Orthodox churches in the Polish capital, though most of them were destroyed in the 1920s.
The church is situated towards the town of Piaseczno, close to Warsaw’s southern border.
The happy news was announced to the faithful by His Eminence Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland himself.
The Primate of the Church of Poland thanked everyone for their financial, physical and prayerful support in the entire construction process.
Metropolitan Sawa mentioned that the Cathedral was built in honor of those who died and were exiled in the Warsaw Uprising and in the labor camps in World War I and II.
His Eminence also asked the faithful to pray for the repose of their souls, and for everyone to remember the sufferings of their ancestors.
Finally, Metropolitan Sawa invited all the hierarchs, clergy, monks and faithful of the Polish Church to attend the long-awaited festive consecration of the cathedral on Sunday, May 14, 2023.
This was the first Polish Orthodox church to open in Warsaw in a 100 years.
Father Adam Siemieniuk, the parish priest, says the church will serve believers in Warsaw’s Ursynow and Wilanow districts, who, before its opening, had to travel 20 kilometres to worship.
"Archbishop Sawa thought that the church he was trying to build in Warsaw should be a tribute to the cradle of Christianity, which is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul," said Father Siemieniuk.
Standing at over 20 metres tall, with a surface area of 1000 square metres, it was designed by APA Markowski Architekci. The Warsaw church is topped off with a copper-covered dome more than 16 metres in diameter, and its interiors are adorned with murals and mosaics.
The Polish Orthodox Church was established in 1924.
According to the Church's estimates, the number of Orthodox faithful in Poland stands at between 450,000 and 500,000. According to the Central Statistical Office, at the last census 156,000 people declared their adherence to the Orthodox Church in Poland.
There are about 30-40,000 Orthodox believers in Warsaw, who until now had only two active churches: the Cathedral of Saint Mary Magdalene, built in 1867-1869, and the Church of Saint John Climacus, built in 1905. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were several dozen Orthodox churches in the Polish capital, though most of them were destroyed in the 1920s.
The church is situated towards the town of Piaseczno, close to Warsaw’s southern border.
