Metody chrystianizacji na ziemiach polskich na przykładzie misji pomorskiej św. Ottona z Bambergu

Abstract

The principal documents of the Church stress the missionary character of that institution. The order of missioning is contained in the Holy Scripture in Christ’s words: „Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16, 15). We ask ourselves: what was the attitude towards mission in the ancient centuries? How was this order carried out in medieval Poland? It is worth knowing the contribution our homeland had made to the work of mission in the light of the sources, describing the Christianization of the West Pomoria in the twelfth century. These are the Lives of St. Otton of Bamberg. The saint conducted a missionary expedition in 1124 to Pomoria, a mission organized at the request of Polish Prince Bolesław Krzywousty. The sources in question contain an accurate report on that missionary action. Poland joined the mission as early as the first years after she had received baptism. In this respect we took advantage of the output of the whole Church. The mission which originated in Poland was grounded on the principle of the voluntary acceptance of baptism. Conversion would be conducted by word and not by force. Baptism would be preceded by the teaching about the basic truths of the faith, then followed baptism and moral principles were given. This structure of missioning, worked out in the Church from the times of Charles the Great onwards, had been used until the end of the Middle Ages. The descriptions of the mission from Pomoria that have been preserved contain also summaries of religious instruction on the occasion of baptism. The rite of that sacrament is accurately reported.