Staroobrzędowcy w Polsce
Streszczenie
Orthodox Church members form a socio-religious group seperated from Russian Orthodox
Church in the latter half of the 17th century in result of reforms initiated by Moscow
patriarch Nikon.
Persecuted by the official Orthodox Church they searched for places appropriate for
practising their faith in the uninhabited regions of Russia and beyond its borders on the
territory of Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Austria and Prussia.
Divided into various religious groups (e.g. followers and opponents of the pope) as
a result of diversified interpretation of many religious issues, the Orthodox Church members
settled down in three regions of present day Poland: Mazury, Augustów, Suwałki and Sejny.
Strict religious dictates and injunctions made the number of “old faith” believers diminish
with time.
In 1994 their population in Poland amounted to 2137: 67 people in the historic region
of Mazury, 850 - in the Suwałki-Sejny region (722- in Suwałki itself), 1220 - in Augustów
region (910 - in Augustów itself and 130 - in Gabowe Grądy).
Having legalised their Church in the 1980s this small religious group has been carrying
out activities which aim at the development of their community. It is reflected by older
members’ adherence to their faith and transmitting it together with other traditions onto
younger generations. The fact that Orthodox Church members have one religion is not
equivalent with their belonging to the same nation (they consider themselves Polish, Russian
or German nationals). Most Orthodox Church members do not know Old Church Slavic
(even the liturgy) and at home depending on the region, they use Polish, Russian or German.
Now that interest in different ethnic groups has been revived, this small group with long
historical tradition merits to be brought closer to other inhabitants of the country whose
history they contributed to make. Staroobrzędowcy to grupa społeczno-religijna, wyodrębniona w drugiej połowie XVII w.
z łona rosyjskiego Kościoła prawosławnego. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie genezy oraz
współczesnej sytuacji staroobrzędowców w Polsce. Przedstawiono rozwój ich świadomości
narodowej, struktury religijnej, stopnia tożsamości etnicznej i kulturowej, konfliktów.